FROM SCEPTIC TO LEADER
PALENQUE, CHIAPAS
Noemí has 21 years with her oil palm plantation in the ejido community of Miguel Hidalgo II, in Palenque, Chiapas. A little over a year ago, when she was told that her plantations had to be certified under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Smallholder Standard…
THE STORY OF TWO EMPOWERED WOMEN
TENOSIQUE, TABASCO
She laughs about it now, but Isaura remembers how less than 20 years ago, when oil palms were first sown in Mexico’s southeastern region, the small bits of fruit produced by the plants were thrown away or fed to pigs and horses. In 1998, a government program gave away…
LEARNING: A CONTINOUS JOURNEY WITH
A PROSPEROUS END
CATAZAJÁ, CHIAPAS
Five hectares may not seem like much for a farmer to have. But that plot of land could provide a living and a future for a family like that of Luis Méndez Alba, a Chol indigenous man from Palenque…
DETERMINED TO CARE FOR THE PLANET
VILLAHERMOSA, TABASCO
Ricardo Ruíz Sevilla was one of the last people to plant oil palm in 2012. Until then, he had a career in the public service as the head of the government of Tabasco’s short-cycle crop department. His mission was to provide farmers with technical knowledge…
BRINGING OPPORTUNITIES TO RURAL COMMUNITIES
PALENQUE, CHIAPAS
Teacher Miguel Ruiz Pérez is a member of the ejido community of Miguel Hidalgo II. He admits to having been doubtful about the oil palm. And even about farming itself. His plantation is recent, having started planting just eight years ago…
THE WISDOM OF PORFIRIO MUÑOZ
TENOSIQUE, TABASCO
Porfirio Muñoz Cruz views life with the wisdom that comes with age. Born in 1939 in Tenosique, his existence can be summed up in two words: rural life. For more than 60 years, this man with an unhurried gait has sown dozens of different kinds of fruit…
WOMAN, LEADER AND BUILDER OF AN OIL PALM TRADITION
CATAZAJÁ, CHIAPAS
Female farmers play a vital role in Mexico’s growing sustainable palm oil sector. Ana María Miranda Sarao believes in the tradition, that what you learn you should teach others so that best practices can be applied across all farms…
OIL PALM IS A WINNER
NUEVA ESPERANZA, CHIAPAS
Enrique Guzmán took the biggest gamble of his life eleven years ago. Along with the land his father left him, he had his life savings. To add to his good fortune, his fourth child had just been born. Although not an ejido farmer, he had been taught about one thing…
