EPIC’s agricultural programs, like Baja Verapaz: Sustainable Agriculture and La Semilla del Progreso, are teaching people to raise fish in family fish ponds. The family or a group of neighbors dig the pond, and the EPIC program staff provide instruction on caring for the pond and the young fish. Then 150 small fish, called fingerlings, are bought from another fish farmer to stock medium-sized family fish pond. These fingerlings grow and reproduce to fill the pond. Families can then harvest one or several fish for a dinner and leave the rest to continue growing. Telapia is a fish that is easy to raise in Central America, and a pond can continue to provide food for years.

Many children suffer from malnutrition in the regions of Guatemala and Honduras where EPIC is working. They usually are especially deficient in protein because it is the most expensive part of the diet. Fish can provide children with much needed protein, and eating fish is considered very special.