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The Maya Nut Programme works to improve food security, family income and forest conservation by increasing production and sales of the Maya Nut – a nutritious, delicious, sustainable and commercially viable non-timber forest product.

The Maya Nut Programme – a collaboration of international and local NGOs, local authorities, international business and local hospitals – creates economic opportunities for poor rural women and their families while benefiting the environment.

The Maya Nut is a delicious, nutritious and easy to harvest rainforest tree seed. In less than two weeks, a family of five can collect enough Maya Nut to sustain themselves for a year.

There is a growing local and international market for dried and processed Maya Nut. Unfortunately, knowledge about and consumption of the Maya Nut has radically dropped, threatening food security and resulting in increased logging of the species for timber and fuel.

The Maya Nut Programme targets women as the entry point to addressing family nutrition and health and takes an integrated, partnership approach to improving food security, women’s incomes, and forest protection and management.

Starting in Nicaragua and Guatemala, its educational programme will revive traditional knowledge of the nut. Rural women will learn how to sustainably harvest
and process it for sale, and will also be provided with access to health information and services.

The programme will establish quality control, processing and packaging standards to enable access to markets in Central America, the US and Europe through collaboration with local and international businesses.

The programme has the potential to expand and address nutritional deficiency, preserve biodiversity and stimulate economic development across much of Central America.