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[PCUSANEWS] New Eco-Palm Project helps increase farmers wages, protect ecosystem


From News Service <newsservice@CTR.PCUSA.ORG>
Date Wed, 10 Jan 2007 13:38:52 -0500

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This story located at http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/07024.htm

07024 January 10, 2007

Branching out

New Eco-Palm Project helps increase farmers' wages, protect ecosystem

by Toya Richards Hill

LOUISVILLE - Just as palms marked Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, these symbolic fronds also are waving in a new era for communities in Guatemala and Mexico that are taking part in a program sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).

The Eco-Palm Project, a new component of the PC(USA)'s Enough for Everyone program, is paving the way for increased wages and a better-protected ecosystem for the communities that harvest palms, widely used by Christian congregations on Palm Sunday.

The project is a joint effort by the PC(USA), Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the University of Minnesota, which initiated work with rural farm cooperatives in Mexico and Guatemala to decrease over-harvesting and waste by selecting only the highest quality fronds. In turn, the farmers receive a better price for their quality palms, thereby improving their livelihoods.

Farmers typically are paid by volume, so ordinarily the push is to collect as many as possible despite the fronds' condition. Up to 50 percent, or more, of the palm branches get discarded because of poor quality.

The farmers' yield - and pay - will now based on quality verses quantity, said Melanie Hardison, associate for Enough for Everyone. By harvesting in this new manner, farmers' incomes are increased between five and six times over what they previously were, she said.

"My sense is that this has been very successful for them, said Hardison, who will visit communities involved in the program Jan. 14-21.

The University of Minnesota did a pilot project with LWR to sell the Eco-Palms for Palm Sunday in 2006, and this year the PC(USA) and CRS joined the effort.

Hardison said collectively PC(USA), LWR and CRS have a goal of facilitating the purchase of 1 million Eco-Palm fronds for Palm Sunday, which is April 1. Congregations can download an order form and mail or fax it in. The last date congregations can order in time for Palm Sunday is March 14.

The cost, not including shipping, is $47.50 for a small case of 200 stems, $69 for a medium case of 300 stems and $133.50 for a large case of 600 stems. Eco-Palms also can be ordered in bunches of 20 at $6 a bunch.

"It is an easy, hands-on project that many churches can participate in and make a difference in the world," said Barbara Hipple, mission and outreach coordinator for Homestead Presbytery in Eastern Nebraska. She is working closely with Hardison to help execute and promote the Eco-Palm Project.

Hipple, a long-time advocate for environmental justice issues, said she took order forms to her presbytery meeting in November and nearly every form was taken. "I was pleased by that. Even if a few churches start * it's a start, and I think it will grow."

Approximately 300 million palm fronds are consumed in the United States annually, and a congregation of 1,250 members orders approximately 700 fronds for Palm Sunday services, according to information from the Eco-palm Project.

Collectively, congregations can have a "major impact," said the Rev. Dennis Testerman, convener of the stewardship of creation mission group for the Presbytery of Charlotte. He, too, is working closely with Hardison on the project, and also has shared information on the presbytery level.

Hopefully, "the word will start to get out that this is a good thing," said Testerman, a former PC(USA) mission co-worker who also has an undergraduate degree in forestry. "It's just a matter of raising awareness."

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