Promote Sustainable Agriculture in Chiapas, Mexico

In the past year, DESMI conducted a total of 22 workshops and 83 follow-up visits on Sustainable Agriculture, reaching 950 participants in 131 communities. The participants are “agroecology promoters” chosen by their communities to attend the workshops while making a commitment to training their neighbors in sustainable agriculture techniques. This has a multiplier effect, reaching many more people that those who attend the initial workshops. By region: o In the Southern Zone of Chiapas: 486 people (288 men and 180 women) participated from 48 communities. In follow-up visits, DESMI found that 90 families had created new backyard gardens and 148 families had implemented sustainable agriculture on existing corn, bean and vegetable fields. Of these, 60 families have been implementing such techniques for three years. For those families, production has increased on average by 500 kilos to 1000 kilos total (or double). o In the Highlands Zone: 301 people (167 men and 134 women) participated from 62 communities. A key focus of the trainings in this area was on the promulgation of fruit trees as a source of nutrition and income. Grafting and disease prevention were the skills taught and reinforced in many of the workshops and follow-up activities in the field. o In the Northern Zone: 163 people participated from 21 communities. In this area of Chiapas much of the land is concentrated in the hands of large landowners while many indigenous families have very small plots of land. The training emphasis is on improving soil quality and increase crop yields to make the most of limited land. An important practice is the use of liquid fertilizers and soil amendments. On follow-up visits DESMI found in 12 of the target communities, the participating agriculture promoters had conducted 31 community workshops with their neighbors to share what they had learned from DESMI.