In 2001 the drought and the fall of the prices of the coffee aggravated the existing extreme poverty that affects the Guatemalan families of the rural area. The nutrition crisis that spread quickly through Guatemala obliged the women of Jocotán, Chiquimula to have to choose between buying food or medicine. Should they pay $3 to transport their sick children to the clinic -- or to use that money to buy food? The $5 monthly that the women earned for the sale of mats (carpets of palm) in the local market could not cover their basic needs, much less medicine to help their sick or hungry children.

For the purpose of improving the incomes in the area and to prevent another crisis similar to that of 2001, USAID helped purchase 30 knitting machines and the women formed the Association Ajpatnar Chortí. Now the association employs 400 women chortís who produce up to 20,000 palm fiber cases for bottles of rum each month. In association with the local organization Kiej of the Forests, USAID provided the women financial aid and training in the areas of business administration, management and marketing.

The demand for handicrafts grew along with the productive capacity. At the start of the program, 30 women did 300 cases for bottles in a month; now 400 women do 20,000. The women that only produced mats to sell in the local market now produce a variety of articles for department stores and factories of Guatemala City. The globally recognized Ron Zacapa Centennial is wrapped in a case of palm woven by the women chortís.