The Central American country was besieged by civil war for the latter part of the 20th century. It is prone to deadly natural disasters such as hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and mudslides. And poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition are rampant.
Another severe blow, Hernandez said, came in 2005 when Guatemala was ravaged by Tropical Storm Stan. Roads and highways were washed out, bridges collapsed and scores of communities were isolated without food or water -- or any way to communicate to others in the country that they were in need.
"We lost our houses, schools, clinics and plantations. But we felt like we were the lucky ones," Hernandez said through an interpreter as she stood before hundreds of state agriculture experts packed into Rudder Theatre on the Texas A&M University campus. "Some of our neighboring communities like Panabaj were completely gone, buried in mudslides. Thousands of people drowned."
The country and its people were devastated, Hernandez told the crowd attending the second day of the 2008 Texas A&M AgriLife Conference.
Then, A&M -- specifically, representatives from the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture -- stepped in. Their goal was to provide technical assistance and training to the poorest Mayan farmers in Guatemala, allowing them to diversify, process and sell their crops, according to institute officials.
Working through the federally funded Food for Progress program, the Aggie professors and students helped the coffee farmers in Hernandez's small community of San Lucas Toliman create business plans to export their crops, train in soil management, crop diversification and budgeting, and even create a compost unit.
The Food for Progress program is designed to provide agricultural commodities to developing countries committed to launching and expanding free enterprise in agriculture, according to the USDA Web site.
"Texas A&M gave us hope," said Hernandez, leader of the IJATZ Cooperative in Solola, Guatemala.
Before working with the institute, most small coffee growers earned less than $1 per day, Hernandez said. Some earned nothing, she noted, failing even to recoup their costs if the market was poor. With the new compost unit installed by Texas A&M, the farmers will be able to sell bagged compost, which Hernandez said is expected to double their daily wages.
Texas A&M also is working to turn the community's small kitchen into a processing center where crops can be preserved. It also will serve as the headquarters for a new canning business, she said, explaining that students had taught the women to can pickled vegetables, jellies, ice creams, soy products and salsas.
Hernandez said her center alone will help support roughly 700 people -- all relatives of the 144 members at the IJATZ Cooperative.
A&M, she said, also has helped provide neighboring communities with greenhouses, irrigation systems, seeds, fertilizers and supplies to grow fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers. Some were taught to grow bioenergy crops and process biodiesel, she said, while others learned to process tropical fruits, turning them into new products such as snow cones and smoothies, she said.
Hernandez stressed that Texas A&M is making a difference in the future of the women and children in Guatemala.
"From the bottom of my heart and the hearts of the thousands of Guatemalan farmers you have helped and will continue to help, I want to thank Texas A&M and USDA for giving us hope for a better future."
• Holly Huffman's e-mail address is holly.huffman@theeagle.com.