Maya Nut Institute

Maya Nut Institute alleviates poverty, malnutrition and deforestation in Central America and Mexico by teaching about the nutrition, uses and processing of Maya Nut. Maya Nut is a nutritious, delicious, versatile and easy to harvest rainforest tree, which can provide both food and income. The two $10,000 grants from the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation (2008-2009) were used to conduct Maya Nut workshops in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala.  With this and other funding, 16,000 women from 1100 rural communities have been trained, and more than 1.9 million Maya Nut trees have been planted.  In addition, 23 women’s microenterprises have been formed, which provide jobs and income for over 300 women.  In 2011, a third grant of $4,800 was awarded to train women in the departments of Choluteca, Lempira, and Copan in Honduras.  This was followed by a new grant of $10,000 in late 2011 to create a Maya Nut exporting industry with rural women in Chinandega, Nicaragua.   (www.mayanutinstitute.org)