Ecological agriculture school San Juan

Huge soya monocultures in the hands of large-scale landowners and pittance wages for seasonal workers with no land are a feature of Paraguay’s agriculture. Lemonaid & ChariTea Foundation wants to strengthen smallholding structures and therefore supports the ecological agriculture school San Juan in Paraguay.

The history of the school is that of a struggle for independence from the all-powerful large-scale landlords and agricultural concerns. A struggle that has borne fruit: in 1993, around 500 farming families managed to gain a piece of land for themselves and farm ecologically.

The school was a natural progression, in order to allow the farmer’s children to organise their own lives and earn their own living. Working together with the Paraguayan NGO „Centro de Capacitación y Desarrolo Agrícola” and the ProParaguay Initative e.V., the school currently allows over 80 male and female students to gain a high school diploma in agricultural and technological studies.

The Lemonaid & ChariTea Foundation finances teacher’s wages and the infrastructure of the school. As well as a basic general education, the young people learn practical subjects. Agriculture, fruit and vegetables, sowing and cultivating, animal husbandry, feeding and care are all subjects that appear on the timetable. The students can put their knowledge into practice immediately on the school garden, or the goat and cow farm that is in the planning stages. In this way, the smallholders’ traditions are preserved and the social and cultural life of the small community supported and enhanced.