Menno Colony - Economy

Economy

For a long time, the life of Mennonites in the Chaco was marked by extreme deprivation as a result of the new arrivals' complete lack of agricultural experience under tropical conditions. The relationship between the climate and the earth, especially the dryness of the winter months, turned out to be more extreme than the writing of the Paraguayan promoters had led them to believe. These circumstances were made even more difficult by voluntarily doing without modern agricultural equipment. Marketing products was extremely challenging because of the isolated location of the colony and as a result, most economic activity was related to subsistence farming.

An economic upswing in the central Chaco began in the 1980s when the agricultural co-operative, with the help of World Bank credits, invested in dairy production. The introduction of the drought- and heat-resistant buffalo grass from North America in 1955, which created the foundation of an extensive cattle industry, and the construction of the Trans-Chaco Highway to Asunción in 1965 were significant predecessors to economic growth. An important factor in the economic improvement was the reform of the school system and a general liberalisation.