Rain pours in Raúl A. Oviedo, a rural community 250 km from Asunción. Luis Espínola, a mandioca farmer, gathers his entire production and stores it in a small and improvised gallery under a thatch roof.
He had planned to take his harvest to a collection center in the city of Campo 9 but he will not be able to for another 4 or 5 days, when the road conditions improve and he can travel 80 km of dirt road to the city.
Agriculture represents 21% of the economic activity of the country and is one of the most vulnerable sectors in terms of connectivity problems in Paraguay, where about 90% of the 60,000 km of interurban routes are unpaved.
"I can't wait for this road to be paved", he says, “sometimes products are lost because they don't withstand storage and the work of months is lost".
Little by litlle, Espínola´s wish will come true thanks to “Ñamopora Ñanderapé” program that will build drainages, bridges and improve 142 km of dirt roads. Small farmers like him will no longer depend on road conditions to sell their products.
