27 June 2007

Northern El Salvador Prepares To Invest in Its People

Millennium Challenge Corp. funds roads, business development, education

 

The road northeast from Ciudad Dolores, El Salvador, ends at the Rio Lempa, where a ferry boat takes passengers to Nuevo Edén de San Juan. The Millennium Challenge Corporation is funding the construction of a 300-kilometer longitudinal highway across the northern zone that includes a bridge across the Rio Lempa linking Ciudad Dolores to Nuevo Edén de San Juan. (David Shelby/State Dept.)

A ferry boat carries passengers across the Rio Lempa, El Salvador's largest river. (David Shelby/State Dept.)

By David Shelby
USINFO Staff Writer

Ciudad Dolores, El Salvador -- Queso pueblo, a tangy, dry white cheese produced in Ciudad Dolores, is known throughout El Salvador for its distinct flavor.  Currently it is only produced and distributed on a modest scale, often sold in informal local markets, but funds from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) might soon change that.

Dolores' mayor, Orlando Romero, is convinced that given its renown, the cheese would have a large market in El Salvador and among Salvadoran immigrants in the United States, but the lack of investment funds and market access in Ciudad Dolores has prevented local producers from realizing that opportunity. Romero spoke to USINFO on June 25.

El Salvador is one of 41 developing countries that have qualified to receive assistance from the U.S.-government-funded MCC based on its commitment to sound political and economic policies.  The government of El Salvador has decided to devote the $460 million in MCC assistance to the country's northern zone, which has long trailed the rest of the country in terms of economic development.

One of the key impediments to development in the northern zone is the lack of good roadways.  Much of the region is served only by dirt roads, and it is often necessary to follow circuitous routes to drive between neighboring communities.  This will change, however, as MCC funds the building of a 300-kilometer longitudinal highway across the northern zone and another 240 kilometers of secondary farm-to-market roads.

The highway will include a bridge across the Rio Lempa, El Salvador's largest river, linking Ciudad Dolores to Nuevo Edén de San Juan.  Romero says it is difficult to overestimate the impact the bridge will have in lifting people in the northern departments of Morazán, San Miguel and Cabañas out of poverty.  The bridge will allow large trucks to transport goods through the region and will cut the commute from Dolores to the next major city across the river from two and a half hours to 30 minutes.

“The highway will improve our export capabilities and give us access to national markets,” Romero told USINFO.  He said he hopes to see local farmers take advantage of this improved market access to diversify their production from corn and bean crops to higher-value fruit produce such as mangos.  It might be difficult to convince farmers to abandon generations of tradition and launch into new enterprises with high front-end costs, Romero acknowledged, but he said the initial investment in fruit trees would pay large returns over the long run.

MCC has said it hopes to encourage growth in nontraditional agricultural production and has set aside $87 million to invest in business development for those farmers who wish to explore such opportunities.  The corporation is prepared to provide technical assistance and financial support to help farmers overcome the initial risk of changing their production patterns.

Support also might be needed to commercialize the production of queso pueblo.  Dairy cattleman Adolfo Ruiz says the local dairy industry will have trouble competing in a global market because its production methods are inefficient and lack good quality controls.  He has formed a cooperative of dairy cattlemen in Dolores and hopes to develop a mechanized processing facility that would allow the local cheese industry to produce cheese more cheaply and with better quality assurance.

MCC's assistant director for El Salvador, Kenny Miller, says these are the kinds of projects the corporation hopes to encourage.  He says, for instance, that MCC could provide better cattle feed to improve the cows' milk production and could help finance a cold storage facility to increase the producers' capacity to store and process the additional milk.  The corporation also could provide training in quality control, packaging and marketing for the dairy products.

In addition to new roadways and business services for the people of the region, MCC is investing in human development.  Ruiz welcomed this integrated development approach.  “The greatest patrimony of any community is its people,” he said.

MCC plans to provide education, technical training and skills development to the region's poorest inhabitants and to strengthen public services in water and electricity.  Currently, only 65 percent of Dolores' residents have electricity and 50 percent have running water.  Over the next five years, MCC plans to extend the electrical grid to serve 90 percent of the community and increase water access to 75 percent.

MCC is performing extensive environmental and economic impact studies before it begins executing its projects in early 2008, and every effort is being made to consider the interests of all those who will be affected by the program.  Even the ferryboats that currently shuttle cars and cows across the Lempa from Dolores to Nuevo Edén de San Juan have not been overlooked.  When trucks are carrying Dolores' queso pueblo and mangos across the new bridge over the Lempa, the ferryboats will be converted for tourist outings on the river.

For additional information about the MCC and its programs, see Millennium Challenge Account.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)