Until recently, Raul Antonio Monges was one of Paraguay’s many landless farmers, supporting his wife and 10 children by growing sesame on other people’s fields. With only a sixth-grade education and no land of his own, Monges, 50, didn’t have many chances of making more money to raise his children’s quality of life.

San Pedro is one of the poorest departments of Paraguay. Many of its farmers that were previously cultivated traditional crops, such as cotton, have been adversely affected by low prices and unfavorable climate, so they were looking for new products to earn money and to feed their families.