From Goat Herder to Agricultural Visionary: Pedro's Journey of Success, Sustainability, and Generational Impact

At 52, Pedro can still hike quickly up the hills that surround his property and home. His goats all respond to his unique call, and they come running when they hear the sound. Pedro grew up with goats that his parents raised and he remembers when he was 7 years old, his Dad had him go door to door to sell goat milk. “I learned that I didn’t want to sell the milk from just one goat, I wanted to raise more goats, so I didn’t have to go door to door.”  

Pedro grew up on the family farm, the youngest of seven siblings; but at 14 years old, his life changed when his father was murdered, it was such a tragedy for Pedro. “I was so sad and felt so bad.” Growing up, he didn’t have a dream about his future, but he knew he would have a good future and he wanted to keep working with goats. 

When he was 15 years old, he was attending an agricultural high school and realized that to be sustainable he needed to grow the crops that the goats would eat, to decrease his costs and maximize his profit. Now, many years later, his property is filled with green grasses that feed his goats. 

He is currently the owner of the family farm since buying out his siblings’ share of the business. His business has been growing and his last loan with VisionFund was for US $16,000 to acquire more cows to add to his 600 head goat business. He also helps train other people in his community and university students agricultural techniques he uses to manage his farm. 

Joining Pedro for our interview were three generations of the Marroquin family. In addition to Pedro both his mother and his daughter shared their stories. His mother, Juana, now 90, wanted to be a teacher and encouraged him to study. She said, “The most important thing is to raise successful children through good education, otherwise it’s a failure for me.” Smiling, she said that when Pedro was younger, he was very mischievous and would take some of the goats and sell them! “Pedro is very similar to my husband. He has multiplied the business and he has a great vision,” said his mother admiringly. 

Pedro is pleased that VisionFund has provided more digital solutions for clients – he said it used to take about two weeks to get a loan approved, with a lot of paperwork, and several trips to the branch office. Now he can get a loan approved in three days without the paperwork and without losing time by going to the branch office.

Both of Pedro’s two adult children are working with animals – his son is working as a veterinarian and his daughter works with animals who are sick and helps bring them back to health. 

His daughter, Paola (26), said she loved the animals when she was growing up, and then studied agriculture like her dad. She is currently an entrepreneur and she is learning how to use goat milk to create women’s beauty products like lotion, moisturizer, etc. “I want to continue to work with my dad and goats – but I have a different angle with the goats.” 

Pedro has a unique mindset to grow his business, help others in the community learn his trade, and support his family. His vision is an inspiration to many in his community.