April 17 marks the International Day of Farmer and Peasant Struggles.[i] It is a day when we recognize the sacrifices of smallholder producer farmers who tend the garden and nourish the world.
Centro de Estudios Regionales para el Desarrollo de Tarija (CERDET), a partner of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, founded in 1989, is a regional NGO that works alongside Indigenous and peasant communities in the Gran Chaco region to defend human rights and provide legal, technical and social support. Through close partnerships with local organizations, it focuses on strengthening community leadership, gender equity, food security and climate resilience.
Its work includes securing land rights, supporting sustainable and agroecological livelihoods, improving access to water and food, and empowering women and youth. CERDET also helps communities build democratic governance, develop local economies, and respond to violence and environmental challenges.
Don Abel López, 74 years old, is the leader of the Weenhayek Indigenous community of Los Pozos, located in the far south of Bolivia, near the border with Argentina. He lives in the Gran Chaco region, where summer temperatures reach 44°C, the soils are sandy, and rainwater is scarce, making agricultural activities extremely difficult.
These Indigenous people, numbering fewer than 6,000 in Bolivia, dedicate six months of the year to fishing in the Pilcomayo River during autumn and winter — a season they consider the time of abundance, as it allows them to sell fish and generate income. The other six months, the hottest of the year, are the hardest for the survival of these families, who turn to harvesting honey from the forest, making handicrafts and gathering wild fruits.
Don Abel is one of the few community leaders who has continued the practices of growing corn, squash, watermelons and some vegetables during the rainy season. Through his efforts, he is gradually motivating and encouraging his children and grandchildren to learn how to grow food during the most difficult time of the year. With the support of CERDET through projects backed by Dutch Protestant churches and the Presbyterian Hunger Program from the United States, these Indigenous families are applying agroecological techniques and progressively improving their food security, while also encouraging other families to take up agriculture.
He says: “We are producing healthy food without using agrochemicals, and I am happy that my grandchildren help me and want to learn how to grow watermelons and vegetables.”
Since 1996, in memory of the massacre of 19 Brazilian landless peasants who were brutally assassinated, the Via Campesina, an international peasants’ movement, has declared April 17 to be the International Day of Farmer and Peasant Struggles, a day for recognizing the struggles of smallholder food producers globally and organizing actions in support of food sovereignty and food justice.
Guido Cortez Franco, the Chief Executive Officer for Centro de Estudios Regionales para el Desarrollo de Tarija (Cerdet)
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff:
Barry Creech, Senior Director, Denominational Identity & Formation, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Freddy Cruz, Program Assistant, Financial Planning, Organizational Planning and Operations, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Let us pray:
Creator, we pray today for the farmers and families of CERDET, who care for their lands in the Chaco with resilience, wisdom and deep love for their communities. We give thanks for their commitment to nourishing their people and protecting their territories. We pray for a world where Indigenous and peasant farmers can live with dignity, with secure land, access to water, and the ability to sustain their livelihoods in harmony with creation. Strengthen the leadership of women and young people, and uplift their voices in shaping a just and hopeful future. We pray for protection from violence, for justice where rights have been denied, and for healing in communities that have endured hardship. May all who work the land experience peace, security and your sustaining grace. Amen.
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