Empowering farmers in rural Colombia

The sum of knowledge and experience resulted in an excellent teamwork between Fundación Espavé and the beneficiaries. During August they built three greenhouses with enough capacity to supply the species for 20 forest parcels from Bojayá, Vigía del Fuerte and Puerto Conto. (Atrato´s River basin-Chocó).

It was a long process and little by little the farmers found the best areas with the right conditions: plots that were well located, with good water availability and close to towns. With their own hands they cut the wood, built the greenhouses and set the pots for the seeds. In order to make the greenhouses productive, the farmers named someone in charge who will be responsible for the maintenance of the greenhouses and the communication with the Fundación Espavé´s technician.

For now there are just greenhouses, but shortly there will be plants that will be productive and help the beneficiaries to increase their incomes and improve the quality of life for their families.

This was a learning process; everyone involved realized that when people work together and join efforts, the results are satisfactory. The farmers from Bojayá, Vigía Del Fuerte and Puerto Conto have proved that they are leaders with initiative, committed to their families and their communities.

Over the last 3 months AMICHOCÓ and Fundación Espavé have been developing the training workshops and activities with the beneficiary families of the analog forestry project in the Atrato river basin. This is the first step towards the creation and consolidation of family parcels of analog forestry and the future commercialization of the parcel products in international markets.

 The project has sensitized the communities and we have signed participation agreements with 16 families. Additionally, the project has successfully motivated these families and trained them in the analog forestry methodology which is critical for the achievement of the remaining milestones. During the initial phase of the project 20 families were involved but during the last month 4 families have left the project for various reasons: they decided they didn´t want the commitment or they left the area. Nevertheless, we have already been contacted by other families who wish to participate in the project and we are now getting them up to date on the activities and workshops done previously.

Presentation and motivation workshops

In the presentation and socialization session we had with the community the following topics were addressed:

• Meaning and essence of the productive chain of forests products
• Purpose of productive chain of forests products
• Origin of the productive chain
• Communities, organizations and institutions involved in the project.
• How the process works
• Process achievement and goals
• Short and medium term challenges
• Importance of the main species in the process: jagua, milpesos y murrapo.  
• The concept of analog forestry
• Materials, resources and assistance provided to the beneficiary families

Training workshops

The analog forestry workshops were done to train local farmers in the analog forestry methodology, the design of the parcels, how to measure the plot of land, how to dig the holes for the seeds and how to plant them.  During the workshops it was also presented to the farmers the chronological order in which the parcels will be planted, which species will be grown first and why? Additionally, a practical example was provided for the beneficiaries on each of the topics covered and agreements were signed between Espavé and each family representative to formalize the assistance that will be provided and the commitments made by the families. 

During the workshops 2 groups of 8 beneficiaries were trained during a 2 day period. The farmers received training in the following areas

- Basic concepts on analog forestry

- Benefits and importance on the analog forestry methodology

- Advantages and disadvantages of growing different species in simultaneous association

- Species that will be used in the analog forestry parcels

- Relevance of each species in the parcel system

- Criteria used for the selection of the species in the parcel arrangements: Origin, adaptability, market potential, diversified uses

- Order of introduction of the species into the system: initially murrapo will be planted then corn and the plantains.

- Distribution of the species in the analog forestry parcels: An image of how the parcel will be planted was presented to the assistants. The murrapo will be planted in 2 meter long lines, the seeds will be planted 50cm apart one from the other; Corn will be planted without any distance parameter; the Plantain will be planted in lines 4 meters apart from each other and 4 meters apart one seed from the other.

 Additionally, the field team has begun working on the individual design of the family parcels with each family unit. A general guideline was drafted in the analog forestry workshops which will be used by all of the beneficiary families and our team has gathered relevant information of the parcels current condition which will serve as a baseline for the design of the parcels. 

 The forestry arrangement that the field team proposes to implement is made up of the following species:

-          Murrapo

-          Plantains

-          Corn

-          Árbol del pan (serves as a wind breaking barrier)

-          Forrajero peanut

-          Mil pesos palms

-          Don Pedrito

-          Chontaduro

-          fruits such as borojó, jagua, guama, arazá, lemon

-          Timber species like cedro, roble, caidita, tachuelo, capitancillo  andgüino.

The design proposes to introduce 4 species simultaneously to the system: árbol de pan, murrapo, corn and plantain. These last two species will become productive in the short term (between 6 and 9 months after being planted), while the murrapo will take up to 2 years to produce “palmitos” and 3 years to produce fruit. The remaining species mentioned before will be introduced in the system in the third semester, according to a chronological order designed beforehand.

 Finally, the construction of the greenhouses has begun and we plant to have completed all of them by the end of July.