Drought, exhausted or infertile soils, high costs of agricultural inputs (fertilizer and pesticides), along with low prices for farm products, intensified by the limited resources of the producers leads to inefficient use of these inputs or agricultural practices, resulting in low levels of productivity and profitability. Other difficulties are the high incidence of plagues and diseases, as well as the scarcity of feed for livestock during the dry periods.

Bicycles have become something of a tradition in the department of Carazo, forming part of the local culture. Students, workers, women, even the elderly mobilize themselves with this environmentally friendly means of transport.

The housing deficit in southern countries is increasing steadily, as is migration to urban areas, while imports either from abroad or from urban centers remain the order of the day in the construction materials sector.

Plaster analysis in Guatemala
One of the students involved in the joint Ecuador-Guatemala plaster investigations will focus upon the mineralogical composition of all the more than seventy samples tested in Guatemala, This is a result of the analysis of the broad field research from November until April in both countries. They will now concentrate upon deepening the analysis on a selected group of samples and expose them to weathering conditions, while performing different tests.

Participative design for urbanization
The first step of a new housing project in Diriamba involves the future owners in a process called participative design. They meet with the SofoNic team and discuss ways to use the available land and in work groups tackle the distribution of the rooms. The design team works these out and comes up with an urban design and several house types for the next meeting. Tough choices must be made. However, by involving the people directly things work out and the team comes away ideas to go on to the next step.