Women in Argentina Create a Path Out of Poverty By Dehydrating Fruit

Instead of leaving surplus fruit crops to rot, as people in rural areas around the world often do, more than 200 women in rural Argentina have started dehydrating and preserving fruit, selling it at nearby markets, and becoming economically self-sufficient.

The Inter Press Service reports that local organization Estudios y Proyectos runs a Women Entrepreneurs Program in which they train women like Susana Robledo in skills from production to the marketing and financial know-how for boosting their success as businesswomen and producers. In a region where women are "invisible," the idea is to foster entrepreneurial skills to help women gain financial independence.

Robledo, who lives in the midwestern province of Mendoza, told IPS, "I had never worked before, and now I produce kilos and kilos of dried fruit to sell. They taught me how to dry peaches, tomatoes, peppers and grapes, and I decided on my own to try it with melons and pears - and they were spectacular."

The participants seem more than happy with the program. Another program participant said: "Our work was worth nothing in the past. The men toyed with us, hit us, threw us out of the house with our kids and moved other women in with them."

In many cases, women raise their children alone because their husbands left in search of work and never returned. With their newfound skills, women are now able to make a living for themselves