Report internship - informe pasantía CODESOCP - Philippe

PASANTÍA EN EL CODESOCP
INTERNSHIP IN THE CODESOCP
“DESARROLLO Y AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLES EN REGIÓN ANDINA”
“SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE IN THE ANDEAN REGION”
- INFORME FINAL –
5 DE DICIEMBRE DEL 2005 – 28 DE ABRIL DEL 2006
PHILIPPE REYMOND
SUPERVISADO POR GUSTAVO CABRERA (VISIÓN MUNDIAL ECUADOR)
Y PROF. DANI OR (EPFL)
NOTA
Al fín de está pasantía, he tenido que escribir dos informes, uno en inglés para la
Universidad en Suiza, y uno en español para Visión Mundial y el CODESOCP. Obviamente,
los dos destinatarios són diferentes, y, de la misma manera, los informes: el primero es
dirigido a personas que no conocen la realidad del Ecuador; el segundo intenta dejar
informaciones útiles a los que trabajan en el terreno. Así, el informe en inglés presenta el país
y las organisaciones, y los proyectos en detalle. En cambio, el informe en español enfoca en el
trabajo realizado y las experiencias hechas. Algunas partes aparecen en los dos informes y són
traducciones literales, como el relato de mi estancia en la comunidad de Jatun Era y el
diagnostico del proyecto de permacultura. Las otras són más dirigidas al uno o al otro
destinatario.
A fin de dejar un trabajo útil para tanta gente como posible, he reunido todo aquí. Este
informe final está así compuesto de tres partes: primero, el informe en inglés entregado a la
Universidad; segundo, el informe en español; tercero, las referencias y los anexos, entre los
cuales el material realizado para el proyecto de permacultura. Finalmente, he agregado un CD
en el cual pueden encontrar todos los textos en forma numerica así que todas las fotos
tomadas durante mi pasantía, clasificadas según los capitulos de este informe.
NOTE
In the end of this internship, I had to write two reports, one in English for the University in
Switzerland, and another in Spanish for Visión Mundial and the CODESOCP. The two
addressees are clearly different, and, similarly, the reports: the first one is intended for
people who don’t know the reality of Ecuador; the second one tries two leave useful
information to those working on the field. Consequently, the report in English presents the
country and the organisations, as well as the projects in detail. On the contrary, the report in
Spanish focuses on the work realized in Saquisilí. Some chapters appear in both reports and
are literal translations, as the account of my stay in the Jatun Era community and the
diagnostic of the permaculture project. The others are more specifically aimed to the one or
the other addressee.
In order to leave a work useful to as many people as possible, I have put everything
together here. Thus this final report consists of three parts: firstly, the report in English given
to the University; secondly, the report in Spanish; thirdly, the references and appendix,
among which the material done for the permaculture project. Finally, I have added a CD in
which you can find all the texts in the numeric form as well as all the pictures taken during my
internship, classified according to the chapters of the report.
TABLE OF CONTENTS / ÍNDICE
PRESENTATION OF ECUADOR.................................................................................... 2
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 5
Presentation of the organisations............................................................................................ 5
Historical context ................................................................................................................... 5
Environmental context and land use ...................................................................................... 7
ACTIVITIES ...................................................................................................................... 9
ANDEAN PERMACULTURE SPECIAL PROJECT....................................................... 9
Permaculture......................................................................................................................... 12
Organic home-made remedies.............................................................................................. 13
Worm compost ..................................................................................................................... 14
Agroforestry – plantations of native trees ............................................................................ 15
Water tanks........................................................................................................................... 16
External workshops ............................................................................................................. 16
FIVE-DAY EXPERIENCE IN JATUN ERA.................................................................. 17
Activities .............................................................................................................................. 17
Problems............................................................................................................................... 18
Life in an Indigenous community – personal experience .................................................... 18
DIAGNOSTIC ................................................................................................................. 19
Evaluation of the results ....................................................................................................... 19
Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 21
Future perspectives............................................................................................................... 21
PARAMOS AND WATER SUPPLY.............................................................................. 22
Tiloncocha Lake................................................................................................................... 22
Water tank of San Carlos community .................................................................................. 23
Páramo and water source protection .................................................................................... 23
FOOD SECURITY .......................................................................................................... 25
Chocho and quinoa project of McKnight-INIAP ................................................................. 25
OTHER PROJECTS ........................................................................................................ 26
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 28
ACTIVIDADES ............................................................................................................... 30
REALIZACIONES .......................................................................................................... 30
ESTANCIA DE CINCO DIAS EN LA COMUNIDAD DE JATUN ERA .................... 31
Actividades........................................................................................................................... 31
Problemas encontrados......................................................................................................... 31
Vida en una comunidad indígena – experiencia personal .................................................... 32
DIAGNOSTICO DEL PROYECTO DE PERMACULTURA........................................ 32
Problemas encontrados......................................................................................................... 32
Consejos y conclusión.......................................................................................................... 33
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 35
REFERENCES / REFERENCIAS................................................................................... 36
APPENDIX / ANEXOS................................................................................................... 37
Map of the communities / Mapa de las comunidades .......................................................... 37
Manual practico para granjeros ............................................................................................ 38
Croquis de la finca de Don Manuel Chicaiza – Jatun Era.................................................... 49
CD with pictures / CD con fotos .......................................................................................... 51
PRESENTATION OF ECUADOR
Ecuador is a country with many contrasts. It is divided into three regions: the coastal plain
(“Costa”); the Andes (“Sierra”), composed of two cordilleras and a central valley; the
“Oriente” (literally "East"), comprising the Amazon rainforest areas in the eastern part of the
country. The Oriente and the north of the Costa are characterized by a tropical warm-humid
climate and a great cover of tropical rainforest. The south of the Costa is drier, due to the cold
Humboldt Current, which goes up from Chile and Peru up to this latitude. Dividing the
country from north to south, the Ecuadorian Andes culminate at 6310m with the volcano
Chimborazo. They are undulating mountains, covered with grass, in the middle of which
some volcanoes stand out, covered with snow on their top.
Ecuador is a small country in Latino America with a surface area of 256 thousand sq km,
thus six times bigger than Switzerland. Its population counts about 13 million people. Most of
it is concentrated in the Sierra and the Costa. Although the Oriente accounts for just under
half of the country's total surface area, it only contains 5% of the population. 65%1 of the
population is made of “mestizos”, the mixed descendants of Spanish colonists and indigenous
Amerindians. Indigenes themselves form the 25%. The rest of the population consists of
white and black people. Black people descend from slaves imported from Colombia and the
Caribbean. They mainly live in the province of Esmeraldas and in the valley of Chota, north
of Ibarra. 95% of the population is Catholic, though Protestantism is expanding a lot. In the
rural areas of Cotopaxi, the proportion gets to half-half.
Literacy reaches 92.5%, though education is a big problem in Ecuador. On an economic
point of view, Ecuador gets its main income from export of petroleum, bananas and shrimp.
Ecuadorian coffee and cacao are quite famous too. Problem with these products is that
fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. The Panamerican
Highway is the vital artery of the country and is frequently blocked by demonstrators. Before
all, everybody denounces the corruption of the government, seen as the main cause of
economic stagnation.
In my different internships and trips, I’ve always discovered opened and warm people, in a
society which remains quite authentic, though deep changes undergoing, mainly with North
American influence.
Quichua women (runa warmicuna)
– Yarucpanga, 1st April 2006
1
Figures from Wikipedia
-2-
From top to bottom: Cordillera Occidental in
Cotopaxi provine (Zumbahua) – Ecuadorian coat of
arms – Amazonia: Arajuno river and Quichua
community.
A detailed map of the area where I worked is found
in the appendix as well as in the folder “maps” in
the CD.
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INTERNSHIP IN THE CODESOCP
“SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURE IN THE ANDEAN REGION”
- REPORT This internship has taken place from the 5th December 2005 to the 28th April 2006 with
Visión Mundial Ecuador in the CODESOCP (Comité de Desarrollo Social “Camino al Progreso” =
Social Development Committee “Path to progress”), in Saquisilí, province of Cotopaxi, Ecuador. It is
part of my studies in “environmental sciences and engineering” in the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology (EPFL). My supervisor in Ecuador has been the agricultural engineer Gustavo
Cabrera, responsible for the “Proyecto Especial de Permacultura Andina” (Andean Permaculture
Special Project) of Visión Mundial. In Switzerland, I’ve been supervised by Pr. Dani Or,
Director of laboratory of soil and environmental physics.
The aims of the internship were to know the problematic of the Andean region, the
environmental and agricultural challenges it has to face and to learn how to manage projects
in order to get a sustainable development in such a region. It has been a field experience, very
close to the Quichua inhabitants of the region and their daily life.
My internship in the CODESOCP has involved different activities:
-
Permaculture – organic agriculture
Agroforestry – plantation of native trees
Protection of páramos
Construction of water tanks and irrigation water supply
Food security
Improvement of Andean cultivations (chocho and quinoa)
All these activities are aimed to a sustainable development of the indigenous communities
forming the CODESOCP, through the protection of resources and the improvement of
cultivations. This has implied for me getting to know the way of living and economy of the
region Quichua inhabitants. Before all it has allowed me to take part in a development project
with integral vision in a region of great poverty and environmental problems.
In the text that follows, I will report what I’ve seen, lived and learnt during this internship.
About the intern…
Student in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne,
from the Swiss countryside (valley of Joux - Jura mountains of
canton Vaud), I’ve finished my third year of study, last of which I
spent in exchange in the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
Interested by rural sustainable development, food security, organic
agriculture, fair trade and cultures of the world, I decided to come
and live for more than eight months in Ecuador. This internship in
the Andes has been the first one. Then, I spent six weeks in a rural
development project in the Amazonian region, before heading for
another internship of two weeks in Esmeraldas canton, on the
Ecuadorian Coast, where I developed the same themes.
For any question: [email protected]
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INTRODUCTION
PRESENTATION OF THE ORGANISATIONS
World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org.ec/) is a Christian organisation founded in 1950,
working in more than 100 countries around the world. It is committed to the attention to
children and their families, emergency relief and to community development. In countries like
Ecuador, it raises funds with child sponsoring (currently more than 35.000 children sponsored
in the country). It assumes that poverty has to be treated from the roots. That’s why its action
is now based on integral projects, the ADPs (Area Development Project), which guarantee a
sustainable development. Ecuador counts already 19 of them and new ones are to be opened
before the end of the year. According to my interests, Visión Mundial Ecuador has sent me to
help in Saquisilí, letting me the possibility to go and know its other projects.
The CODESOCP is a second-grade organisation. It has been created in 1997 by World
Vision Ecuador (“Visión Mundial”) as the ADP Saquisilí. The CODESOCP is the
organisation of 18 communities of the cantons of Saquisilí and Latacunga. Its directive team
(“junta”) is composed by representatives of the Indigenous communities. Besides, the
technical team, composed of about ten members, mestizos and Quichua, who usually don’t
belong to the communities, manage the projects on the field. The CODESOCP is divided into
different areas: health, education, economic development, environment, community
management and prevention of catastrophes (CERDM). It takes care of more than 1.500
sponsored children and their families. I worked in the areas “environment” and “economic
development”. But as the CODESOCP is a small organisation, everybody needs to help in all
the activities.
On the financial point of view, Visión Mundial and the CODESOCP manage the
environmental projects in a very participative way. The beneficiaries have to pay the 12% of
the spending and have to bring the whole labour force. This ensures to a certain point
sustainability and appropriation of the project by the community. Indeed, such an implication
means motivation on their side, and that they will take care of the realisations after the
withdrawal of the organisations.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The region of Saquisilí has been occupied much time before the Incas. The pre-Inca epoch
is characterized through a population leaving in the lower parts and doing a non-intensive use
of soil. They use the higher parts, composed of páramo, for wood and medicinal plants
recollection and for the rabbit, game and dove hunt. When the Incas arrive, they begin a very
initial process of construction of terraces, thus producing maize in the lower parts and potato
in the higher ones. However the presence in the higher parts remains minimal.
Everything changes with the arrival of the Spanish. Then begins the epoch of the
“haciendas”, huge intensive exploitations. The conquistadores introduce sheep and bring them
to graze in the páramo. So begins as well the very harmful practice of burning páramo to get
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new shoots. The shrubs, which were dominant in the páramo (“matorral andino”), disappear
to let the place to a mainly low vegetation.
All the lower parts are subjected to intensive exploitation from the haciendas, where the
Spanish use the Indigenes as slaves. They also suffer a great deforestation, for the Spanish use
wood to warm up and for construction, two uses unknown for the local peoples. Things begin
to change in the middle of the 19th century, when some Indigenes get freedom, but without
having a space to survive. As the lower parts were occupied, they go and live in the páramo,
adapting to this new environment and creating the communities. For the first time, the páramo
turns to an intensive-production and housing zone. Since then the cultivations never stop to
spread. In 1937, the communities are legalized. In the seventies a land reform is set, which
ends the haciendas’ domination. Families can organise its own communitarian spaces,
managing to control a territory which has been the base of the ethnic renewal process.
Communitarian centres, schools and sport grounds are built and electricity is installed. It is
also the period when the evangelic and catholic churches arrive, ending up now with a halfhalf population.
These changes lead to some undesired effects: introduction of mechanisation and
monoculture practices breed tremendous erosion and a great loss of soil fertility. People begin
a thoughtless use of chemicals, thus contaminating their land. Besides, the native trees almost
completely disappear, in some parts replaced by pines and eucalyptus, two exotic species.
These grow quickly, but let the soil infertile. Construction of new roads and water ways
contribute also to erosion, breeding landslides.
The páramo has always been an extreme ecosystem. From the beginning, the population
living there has been poor and this great poverty has remained up to now. The region is
characterized through frequent frosts, droughts, lack of drinking and irrigation water, as well
as a lack of capital and technical training. Pressure on fertile land is excessive. At this
altitude, it is impossible to obtain good yields, which forces people, before all men, to migrate
temporally to the cities to work. To get an idea, an inquiry in the community of Chilla Pata
Calera had shown that average monthly income per family was 150USD, half of which was
coming from migration. This situation makes of the communities a world of women, children
and elders most of the time...
Quichuas have lost a lot of traditions in this historical process. In the region of Saquisilí,
they have little to see with the Indigenes from before the Spanish arrival. Above all, because
they have been forced to live in an environment which wasn’t theirs before. Thus they don’t
have any millenarian agricultural practices or this acute understanding of nature typical of the
ancient Andean peoples. Nevertheless they have conserved their communitarian way of life,
best illustrated by the communitarian works, or “mingas”. The mingas are planned in
community reunions, and the whole community or one representative of each family will
come to help, whether for road restoration, tree plantation, tank construction or terrace
building. Quichuas have also kept a very good knowledge of medicinal plants, what they still
use almost exclusively to cure themselves. As for the Quichua language, most of people in
our communities are bilingual, even if some elders and women still have great difficulties in
Spanish.
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ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT AND LAND USE
Saquisilí lies at about 2850m. The average temperature is 12°c and it gets a precipitation of
500-900 mm per year. As all the Ecuadorian Andes, it has two seasons: the rainy season, or
“winter”, from January to June, and the dry season, or “summer”, from July to December (see
climatic datas of Jatun Era in the appendix). Even in the rainy season it doesn’t rain a lot so that the
whole region is very dry and suffers regularly from lack of water. Saquisilí is located on the
western side of the Interandean valley, on the foot of the Cordillera Occidental. The project
touches communities on the slopes up to the top, at more than 4000m.
Up to 3500m, land is almost completely occupied by agriculture. From there one can see
páramo remnants. It is important to know that outside rainfall, all the water in the region
comes from páramo. There is neither snow nor glaciers. In case of drought, only the water
kept in the páramo can assure a basic flow. Due to destruction of páramo by cultivations and
sheep-pastures on the higher parts, the canton of Saquisilí has seen in the last thirty years the
water volume decrease by a 50 %. The protection of the páramo remnants is urgent.
Confronted to a lack of water always more important, the different communities are gaining
awareness.
The páramo is also called “high-altitude moorland” or “cold high steppe”. Indeed, this
ecosystem is characterized by a dry aspect and slow decomposition of organic matter. It is
characterized by dominantly no-arbustive vegetation, high UV-irradiation, low temperatures
and high humidity. Páramos’ vegetal cover in our region is overwhelmingly dominated by
“paja” (tussock grasses, mainly from the Calamagrostis and Festuca families), hence its
botanical categorisation as “páramo de pajonal”. Further up, from 4000m, another type of
páramo can be found, the “páramo de almohadillas” (cushion páramo). Cushion plants have
very small sclerophyllous leaves, and are densely branching with short internodes, so that a
dense pillow-like mound is formed. This plant form is an adaptation to the nightly frosts much
more frequent at this altitude. A great amount of medicinal plants are found in the páramo,
whose most emblematic of the region is the chuquiragua, also symbol of the CODESOCP.
Seasonality is daily and not annual: the temperature can vary from -6°c to 20°c on the same
day, due to the thinness of the air layer above; a lot of the coming solar energy go away
rapidly.
Soils in the region are andosols (from the Japanese “an”=dark and “do”=soil; also called
“andisols”), which are young volcanic ash soils. Their age doesn’t exceed 10.000 years. These
soils have little differentiated horizons and sandy loam texture, are very rich in organic
matter, hence their very dark colour, and have a great retention capacity and permeability. The
slow decomposition of organic matter is due to the low temperatures and specific
characteristics of volcanic ash (it contains much aluminium, which combines with the organic
matter to form vesicles very resistant to decomposition by microorganisms). This leads to
very deep soils, up to three meters, real natural sponge which can contain up to two times its
dry weight in water. It can stock up to 500mm rainfall! It is assumed that one square meter of
páramo can free 1 litre water per day in the dry season. Consequently, páramo acts as water
collector and hydric regulator.
-7-
These soils are very fertile (it is even marketed under the name “magic earth”!), but the
altitude and climate are harsh for agriculture. On a physical point of view, problem of
andosols at low temperatures is that they fix large quantities of phosphorus, making it
unavailable to plants. At least, it always permits a very good root development. Land use in
our region is the following: above 3800, we find almost only sheep-pasture. Below, the
Indigenes cultivate five main products: potatoes (“papas”), barley (“cebada”), lupine
(“chocho”), lima beans (“habas”) and leek (“cebolla”), to which one can add other local
tubers like melloco, oca and mashua. This is the base of their alimentation; consequently, it is
almost only composed of carbohydrates, which is quite unbalanced. They have only one
vegetable, land-cabbage (“col de campo”), which is used sometimes in soups. And they
haven’t any fruit, except some blackberries at times. It is to mention that at this altitude, it is
frequent to see all or part of the production destructed by frosts, drought or hail. Besides, land
let bare after harvest suffers from tremendous erosion. This happens even on cultivated fields,
if the plants aren’t placed in an alternated way: sometimes deep water-made furrows are seen
going down the slopes between leeks or potatoes. Large areas are becoming infertile. When
the earth layer goes away, land turns to a sandy area or, worse, lets appear the base of strong
volcanic stone, called “cangahua”.
Further below, people can grow maize and peas as well. Extension of quinoa cultivation
gets broader as we descend in altitude. At the altitude of Saquisilí, land gets flatter and the
cultivation conditions much better. The yields are consequently higher. There, one of the
symbolic trees may be the “capulí”, which is found everywhere around the fields and whose
delicious cherry-like fruit grow in abundance. If the population is purely Quichua on the
slopes, the lower parts around Saquisilí are populated by an important part of mestizos. Thus
the traditions are different, especially concerning the minga work.
People in the region breed several animals: sheep, put to pasture in the páramo; porks,
generally one or two per family; Guinea pigs (“cuy”), rabbits and hens, which are the main
meats for proper consume. Even if they’ve lost most of their ancestral agricultural knowledge,
the Quichuas have some good organic practices and, before all, an efficient use of their
products: nothing is lost. For example, rabbits’ and Guinea pigs’ excrement are used to
fertilize the fields. Before sowing potatoes, they tie the pigs with a rope to a pole in the fields
so that they will plough it, besides fertilizing it (system called “sogueado”). They use as well
an interesting property of sheep: they make their excrement mainly at night. Thus they will
lead them to the páramo every morning to bring them back at night into a small corral
(“talanquera”, about 3x6m), cleverly placed on a bare field. This corral will be moved every
two days, so that the whole field will soon be well fertilized! People also know about
rotations of cultures and use of legumes. The traditional cultivation cycle is potato, lima bean
or lupine (two legumes), barley and finally fallow (or oats and vetch, used to fertilize and as
food for animals). They are also used to mix maize and lupine. Mechanisation and chemicals
arrived recently. These have to be banned because they damage greatly the soil through
erosion and contamination. Quichuas are traditionally prone to organic agriculture. One
should help now with technical assistance to improve these organic practices in order to get at
least the same yields as with chemicals without putting environment at stake.
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ACTIVITIES
The CODESOCP has its office in Saquisilí. From there, the technical team uses to go by car
to the different communities. We were going out almost every day, except Thursdays, market
day in Saquisilí, when everybody would go down to town to sell their products, settle current
matters and visit the CODESCOCP office if necessary.
Most of the time, I was going to follow the environmental projects, working alongside a
young agricultural engineer. This has mainly consisted of monitoring of the permaculture
project, visit to farmers, delivery of native trees, training about plantations, monitoring of
Tiloncocha Lake and monitoring of lupine-quinoa project. In the permaculture project, my
role was to supervise the project on the field for the engineer in Quito and accompany him
each time he was coming. This has included also a visit to the project in Covche Alto (ADP
Achupallas – Chimborazo province) and Pilahuin (ADP Pilahuin – Tungurahua province).
Several workshops have also been hold within the framework of the permaculture project.
I’ve made one of them, about the fundamentals of permaculture. Besides, we’ve made
different practical workshops, about home-made manures and phytosanitarian remedies.
As said before, children are central in the action of Visión Mundial. On special occasions,
the whole technical team is involved in children issues. It is the case for the cookies
distribution on Christmas, or the quarterly meeting in schools with each of them. As all the
children are sponsored by particulars from Australia, the CODESOCP receives regular visits
of sponsors and VM Australian managers, whom I was normally accompanying.
Thus I have been able to get a very broad view of the various projects, which I am going to
describe below (see map in the appendix for the situation of the different communities and projects).
ANDEAN PERMACULTURE SPECIAL PROJECT
The Andean permaculture special project is from far the one in which I’ve most been
involved. It is managed directly by Visión Mundial, by the agricultural engineer Gustavo
Cabrera, my supervisor in Ecuador. It consists of delivery of vegetable, cereals and legume
seeds, plantation of native trees, workshops to know how to put in the field this way to
cultivate and construction of water tanks. It is to mention that it is also a pilot project. One of
its aims is to test the adaptability of different vegetables species to the high altitude and local
conditions. Permaculture itself implies an organic way of cultivating. However, the farmers
are also given chemicals for the traditional cultivations.
The project takes place in the community of Jatun Era, at an altitude comprised between
3500m and 3750 m. Fifteen families are part of the project, which began in December. Thus I
have been able to follow the project from the beginning to the first harvest. As I have always
been working near this community, my role has been to follow the project on the field. This
has implied living for five days in the community to follow the sowing of the vegetables,
participation in all the workshops and preparation of one of them, as well as material.
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ILLUSTRATION OF SOME ACTIVITIES
Women covering with “paja”
the recently sown terraces –
Jatun Era, 19th January 2006
Woman planting a native tree –
Jatun Era, 21st April 2006
Páramo and water source –
Yarucpanga, 1st April 2006
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Water tank of the San Carlos
community with the soon irrigated
plain – 25th April 2006
Tiloncocha, totally fenced area –
19th April 2006
Distribution of “navidades”
– San Carlos community –
17th December 2005
- 11 -
Before all, I should present Don Manuel Chicaiza, president of the CODESOCP, from the
community of Jatun Era and member of the project: he is pioneer in permaculture. He has
begun with these practices five years ago and has now one hectare cultivated this way. The
results are spectacular. His farm is the project’s showcase and has a great example value for
the other farmers. I spent the five days in Jatun Era at his place with his family.
As mentioned above, the permaculture project also concerns a group in the ADP
Achupallas and another in the ADP Pilahuín. I visited these other groups with Gustavo
Cabrera, to see the difference with Jatun Era... big differences indeed, as the Indigenous are
different, and the environment as well.
PERMACULTURE
“Permaculture” significates “permanent agriculture”; soil should be covered all the time. It
significates also an organic way to produce, with elaborate combinations and successions of
cultivations, in order to get a sustainable use of soil and yield improvements. Permaculture in
Andean region has two main aims: soil protection and diversification of agricultural
production. It consists of formation of terraces with sowing of vegetables, organic treatments
with home-made remedies, plantation of native trees and construction of water tanks for
irrigation-water.
The farmers are trained to organic agriculture practices. I made for the workshop a practical
guide to permaculture which we distributed to all the farmers (in Spanish – in the appendix). The
two first pages explain how to deal with vegetables; the next two give the bases of worm
compost production; then, the most common insects are described with the damages they do;
after that, tricks to protect cultivations against pests are given with recipes using local plants;
finally, the manual explains how and why to plant trees. I’ll describe below the most
important aspects.
First of all, we taught the farmers how to sow vegetables. Some can be sown directly, like
parsley and spinach, and others have to be sown indirectly, like the members of cabbage
family and lettuce species, with transplant when they get to five leaves. The species delivered
have been: three types of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, chard, leek, turnip, spinach,
beetroot, parsley, radish and carrot.
Two of the fundamental points in organic agriculture are the association of species in space
and the rotation of cultivations in time. Vegetables are divided into four categories: root (e.g.
carrot), leaf (e.g. lettuce), flower (e.g. cauliflower) and fruit (e.g. pepper); in our case lacks
the last category. Rows of root vegetables should be alternated with rows of leaf, flower or
fruit ones. The former help the latter and vice versa. First of all, they don’t focus on the same
nutrients. Secondly, the pests which attack aren’t the same for the different species: if we only
plant lettuce, the pest will go from plant to plant and eat everything. To put a row of carrots
acts like a natural barrier. It is also recommended to plant parsley, coriander or aromatic
plants on the edges of the terraces, as their strong smell will keep the insects away. Thirdly,
different species help each other through allelopathic effects, allelopathy referring to the
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effect that plants or micro-organisms have in stimulating or inhibiting the growth of
neighbouring plants or micro-organisms through the production of organic compounds.
All of this is also true for the rotations: the ideal rotation is root, leaf, flower, fruit/grain
(like lupine or pea). In this case, the latter act like green manure, as leguminous species give
nitrogen to soil. It is also recommended to plant oats and vetch (Avena sativa and vicia spp.),
between the plants of the cabbage family (cruciferes). Oats are rich in phosphorus and vetch,
as legume, is rich in nitrogen. After harvest of the vegetables, the legumes should be
integrated to the soil, during the floration period, or given to the animals. In the area, people
integrate frequently lucerne (“alfalfa”), a legume, in the cultivation cycle. It is the main food
of the small animals (Guinea pigs and rabbits) and permits to improve soil fertility.
Another fundamental point in organic agriculture is the influence of moon. Indeed, leaf
vegetables grow better during the new moon and waning moon, while root vegetables grow
better during the full moon and waxing moon! Thus it is very important to choose the right
period for sowing, depending on which part of the vegetable we want to use! The influence of
the moon is not limited to vegetable growth. It concerns all the agricultural practices, from
pruning to application of phytosanitarian products.
My internship began in December, short before the beginning of Ecuadorian winter, which
means the rainy season. That’s why it was also the beginning of the project: in the Sierra, one
has to profit from the winter rains to get something grow well, and to be able to harvest before
the drought period which begins in July. The construction of water tanks for irrigation should
partly resolve the problem and permits to produce all year round.
ORGANIC HOME-MADE REMEDIES
Who wants to turn to organic agriculture has to find alternatives to chemicals to be able to
fight against insects and keep fertility of soil. Many possibilities exist. Within the framework
of the permaculture project, we have done a practical workshop to train the farmers to these
skills.
Plants can be used for different purposes. Some act as insect repellent, some kill them
directly, some act as phytostimulator, some others combine different properties. Usually,
plants used have a strong smell or toxic behaviour. There are different ways to extract
substances from the plants, differing between species. Two have been used during the
workshop:
- purin (or maceration): one let the plants in cold water during one day. Most famous of
all is nettle purin, which is rich in nitrogen, stimulate plant growth and act as insect
repellent. In the region, people use a lot a plant called “marco”, which has a very strong
smell. They use to put it under their beds to keep fleas away!
- coction (or herbal tea): plants are cooked for a while. Then, juice is collected.
One can use alcohol or soap to increase the extraction power. Once the liquid obtained, it is
diluted and applied to plants with a manual pump. It is to mention that most common insect
repellent in the communities is a preparation of garlic and chilly.
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A good trick is to collect dead insects, make a powder out of them and dilute it in water
before applying it. Thus one uses the disease which has killed the insect (virus, bacteria or
fungi) to kill the others.
We have also put in application attracting tramps. These are made with 3 litres PET-bottles,
on top of which three holes are made. Then, treacle or sweet smelly mixture is put inside. The
insect are attracted, go into the bottle and can’t get out. These tramps have been placed all
around the terraces.
The farmers have also been taught that all the insects aren’t pests! And when they are, they
should be minimum five on one plant to take measures. The really important role played by
toads, lizards and salamanders to get rid of insects and slugs has also been cleared. In
permaculture, one has to act with nature as much as possible.
Another important compound in organic manure is compost. However, cold climatic
conditions make decomposition quite slow. The farmers already use animal excrements to
fertilize their fields. Next step will be vermiculture (“lombricultura”), compost fabrication by
worms.
WORM COMPOST
Worm compost is the best organic manure and it is easy to produce. It is perfectly adapted
to Andean conditions, without marked seasons and with small amounts of insects like ants.
Worm compost is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by some species of
earthworms, adapted to the environment of decaying organic material. Theses species only
thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure and, interestingly, are rarely found in soil.
In Ecuador, the species used is the brandling worm (Eisenia foetida – “roja californiana”).
This worm is characterized by a daily food consumption equivalent to his weight, half of
which is transformed into humus. It can live about 15 years and breeds about 1500 kittens per
year. In captivity, it can reach a population of 50.000 per square meter, thus producing up to
1kg humus per day.
Constructing a worm bed is quite easy. Each farmer should begin with a bed of 1m x 2m
for 40cm in height. This bed should be placed on an area with good drainage and permeability
and far from pines and eucalyptus, whose tannins and resins are poisonous for worms. Before
putting the worms, food should be prepared. The worms eat almost all vegetal and animal
waste; it only shouldn’t be too fresh. That’s why the food has to be let to ferment for one
month before being suitable. Then, in the example given, the bed should be filled with about
40 kg of food and 1kg of worms. After that, it should keep moisture of about 75% and a
temperature of 15-25°c. It’s important to cover it with branches and paja to keep away hens,
small animals and insects.
The first harvest of compost can be made after nine month, then two times a year. The bed
given in example will consume about 500kg of food per year and produce about 200kg of
compost. In Jatun Era, Manuel Chicaiza has already an installation and it works well. During
our workshop, we’ve introduced the principle to the other farmers. Next year, each one should
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have his own worm compost producing bed. It is an indispensable measure to get rid of the
lack of organic manure, at least for the terraces.
AGROFORESTRY – PLANTATIONS OF NATIVE TREES
Agroforestry (association between trees and cultures) is fundamental in organic agriculture.
It is an essential compound of the permaculture project. Planted around the terraces, they
bring different benefits to the cultivations:
Their roots permit to strengthen the soil, limiting erosion.
They install a micro-climate on the terraces: frosts are limited; they reduce strongly
the influence of the wind and help to keep moisture.
The green matter of the trees increases the organic matter of soil and improves its
fertility.
The trees work like nutrient-pumps: their roots take up nutrients from deeper soil
layers and bring them to the surface
The leguminous trees, like retama in our region, bring an important amount of
nitrogen to the soil.
The trees supply the families with wood, very scarce in the region.
The trees used in the permaculture project are the yagual (“paper tree”, name due to the
bark structure), quishuar (or chanchunka) and retamaliso. The result can well be seen in
Manuel Chicaiza’s farm. All his terraces are surrounded by native trees. His one-hectare farm
now looks like a lush island in a dry environment, and his yields are much higher than that of
his neighbours.
For more than one century, many eucalyptus and pines have been planted in Ecuador.
People like them because they grow quickly. However, it is important to know that these two
species shouldn’t be planted in cultivable areas, for their leaves contain acid substances which
damage the soil when they fall, making it infertile. It is important that people don’t use
branches of these two trees to cover soil or incorporate ashes from them to cultures. Besides,
they take a great amount of water from soil in a region where the water is already scarce.
Pines and eucalyptus have to be banned except in the very steep and erosionated areas.
As said above, the whole region suffers from very severe erosion, mainly due to
deforestation during the last centuries and bad agricultural practices. Replanting trees is a
priority for all development projects. Thus, there are tree plantations projects in all the
communities, not only for the members of the permaculture project. These are two different
things.
The plantations we are doing are of three types: breakwind fences, living barriers and
groves (see in the appendix for drawings). Breakwind fences help to prevent wind-erosion and to
protect the fields against frost. They are composed of trees of different sizes, in order to get a
dense wall from the soil to the top. In our case, yaguales and quishuares are middle-sized
trees, whereas retamaliso is considered as a shrub. It is to mention that for one meter in height
a breakwind fence protect five meters in horizontal form. As for the living barriers, they serve
against water erosion. They are placed against slope, along contour lines. In this case, only
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one species is used, at the farmer’s choice. Normally, we make a small canal just above the
tree line so that the water gets out of the field. Finally, as for the groves, they are planted in
very erosionated zones, in which it’s not possible cultivate anything. They are also placed to
protect sources and restore páramo (see chapter Tiloncocha for the photos). They are planted in
“tresbolillo”, which means, in alternated lines. Apart from the native trees, the local people
use for this purpose pines and eucalyptus. The project tries to limit these species to the most
affected zones.
The CODESOCP buys the trees from a tree nursery in the Ilinizas, at about the same
altitude as that at which we work. This is important as the small trees are quite sensible; they
will have much better chance to survive if they have been grown in the same environment as
that in which they will be transplanted. As always in the project, the farmers pay the 12% of
the trees. They can choose the number and the species they want. We teach them what they
can do and what to do, and then they decide what’s best appropriate for their own farm. After
transplantation, some farms suffer great losses. This can be due to environmental hazards, like
frost, but also to domestic animals and lack of water, in which case it is considered as
negligence from the farmer. A problem for the CODESOCP is to ensure that the money is
well inverted and that it won’t be lost for people who don’t respect the rules. It tries to make a
control, to see if all the trees have been planted and how many have survived. Normally, in
case of negligence, the farmer should pay for the loss. But in the practice, one realises that it
is very difficult to control the application and, after delivery, to reclaim anything.
WATER TANKS
The permaculture project has constructed a water tank for each family. It is a key
compound as the region is very dry, and, without an additive water supply, it wouldn’t be
possible to cultivate the terraces all year round. Each tank has a volume of 18 m3 and is only
supplied through rain water. An irrigation-system is also installed, mainly by aspersion.
Micro-irrigation systems can also be installed, for example for blackberry cultivation.
A local civil engineer is appointed to make the plans. Then, the farmers dig the holes in
minga (communitarian work) and construct the tanks themselves. One tank costs 2300$. The
project pays for the studies and materials and the farmers give their labour force, on top of the
communitarian financial contribution. It is always difficult to make a good tank with such
restricted money. The materials are expensive and there are always discussions in order to
make it to the minimum. The two main points are the thickness of the walls of course, but also
the height above the ground level. Indeed, the tanks are all placed on slopes; if the tank walls
aren’t higher than ground level, the tanks will fill with earth during heavy rains.
EXTERNAL
WORKSHOPS
Within the framework of the permaculture project, other contributors have hold workshops
for the farmers.
Three workshops about Andean cultivations management have been organised in
collaboration with the FEPP (Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio - www.fepp.org.ec).
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They have been given by agricultural engineer Xavier Castellano Cañizares. The FEPP is
responsible to supply the project with good quality seeds of traditional cultivations. The aim
of this organisation is improve the latter, permitting to get better yields and to maintain soil
quality, validate ancestral knowledge and give the participants ecological alternatives. They
offer a package: the three workshops come with the seeds. One hasn’t really the choice to
accept it or not.
The workshops, which have taken place for three mornings in the communitarian house of
Jatun Era, have been about quinoa, lupine, lima bean, green pea and organic manures.
They’ve remained quite theoretical, except for the organic manures, whose one has been
made. Personally, I think they won’t have much impact, as the farmers aren’t used to read.
With them, only field practice can have an effect. If not, they come, hear and forget. Above
all, I think it was lacking a small summary sheet with all the facts useful for practice.
Another three-day workshop, very practical, has been organised in the integral farm
(“integral farm” qualifies a farm exploited according to permaculture principles) of Ramiro Vela in
Toacazo. I haven’t participated to this workshop, but I have visited this model farm during my
internship. Toacazo lies in the interandean valley near Saquisilí; culture conditions are thus
far better. However, it is a perfect example of how to do. Ramiro Vela began fifteen years
ago. He is now cultivating on two hectares about 30 species of edible plants, in a totally
organic manner. He works in collaboration with the school for integral farms of Latacunga,
and specialises in workshops for students and farmers of the region. One day of this workshop
has been devoted to learning of vegetables cooking skills. This was absolutely necessary, as
Quichua women had never done it before. Ramiro Vela’s initiative gives good hope as for
implementation of organic agriculture in the area.
FIVE-DAY EXPERIENCE IN JATUN ERA
I’ve been given the opportunity to live for five days in the Quichua community of Jatun
Era, in the house of Don Manuel Chicaiza, president of the CODESOCP. This stay was aimed
at monitoring of the sowing of vegetables within the framework of the permaculture project.
It was also the opportunity to study deeper Don Manuel’s advanced permaculture project. He
has begun with permaculture five years ago and the hectare he is now cultivating this way is a
lush island in dry surroundings. The results are remarkable and motivate the rest of the
community to follow the example, hence the success of the project in Jatun Era.
Besides, this stay has been a unique occasion to share the daily life of a Quichua family and
a Indigenous community.
ACTIVITIES
First of all, I’ve been responsible for the delivery of the seeds, those of the vegetables, but
also of oats, vetch and lucerne, to which were added chemicals and remedies for animals. The
delivery took place in Don Manuel’s house.
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Then, we went directly to the terraces to begin to sow. The whole work has been done in
minga, which means we went to each one’s terraces. Fifteen farmers (“granjeros”) were
always there, one representative of each family of the project. The terraces were almost ready.
Only turning over and leveling of earth had to be made before sowing. Then, the farmers
divided the terraces between the areas for direct and indirect sowing. Indirect sowing implies
the making of “seed nurseries” (“semilleros”), 1.5m2 areas which are elevated of 10cm, in
order to facilitate the recollection of seedlings during transplantation. Eight species are
concerned, those with soft leaves except spinach, that is to say those of cabbage and lettuce
families. As for direct sowing, it concerns the rest, implying a 6m2 area for each species. Once
the seeds had been sown, we covered the terraces with “paja” or branches to protect against
rain and birds.
Have participated to this process a balanced proportion of men and women, persons
changing sometimes from one day to the other, the important being that each family was
represented. Minga work is managed by internal rules in the community and an absence
significates a sanction. It is to mention the presence of youngers, boys and girls, among the
workers.
Three days have been necessary for the fifteen farms (“fincas”). Besides following the
process and ensuring that it be correctly done, my role has been to take pertinent photos. It
has also been the opportunity to learn more about the other cultivations, animals and
medicinal herbs.
The two last days have been dedicated to know better Don Manuel’s farm and draw a
detailed map of the permacultural area (in the appendix).
PROBLEMS
There has been very few problems. However, one should care about two things. Firstly, that
the distance between furrows be respected; the farmers have always tendency to sow in a too
narrow way. Secondly, that they don’t sow too much; in this first trial, they don’t realise well
the quantity of vegetables which will go out and the space necessary for transplantation. For
example, 1.5m2 already give a great choice of seedlings; then, one should keep in mind that
they will be transplanted with 50cm between each furrow and 40cm between each plant! One
should also make the farmers understand that it doesn’t work like “The more we plant, the
more we get”, but that each plant needs a minimum space in order to grow well. Thus
supervision has been useful.
LIFE IN AN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY – PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
The welcome has been warm! Well, I already knew all of them. But the integration in the
community has been great. As for life with the Chicaiza family, it has been an extraordinary
experience. Cold nights, but much heart warmth. And they gave me a bed with thick
blankets... In the morning as at the return from work I was invited in the kitchen to warm up.
It is to mention that nowadays most Quichua families have concrete houses with roofs in
corrugated iron to live in. However, the kitchen remains in the ancient house, called “choza”,
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made of earth and usually with paja roof, even if in this case it has been changed for
corrugated iron as well. The only warmth source is there. For this purpose, they keep cooking
with wood fires.
The kitchen can get quite smoky. Around the fire, women peal potatoes and prepare to eat.
The ambiance is feminine most of the time. Meals consist of potato and cereal soups, whether
at breakfast, lunch or dinner, the meat and cereals changing each time. Food is accompanied
by different herbal teas (“agüitas”), like sweet origan, mint or tifo, or cereal sweet drinks
(“quaker, coladas”), made out of oats or barley. The granjeros offered me potatoes with meat
for lunch, whereas most of them only had potato soup. It is to mention the quasi absence of
vegetables and fruit, as well as the total absence of lacteous products. This shows the
importance of the project as for food diversification and enrichment.
Indigenous life has a natural rythm. They get up at dawn or even before, because the cars
for the city go down very early. After breakfast, the first task is to bring sheep from the
talanquera up to the high pastures, as well as the porks to a ploughed field. Then, they will
spend the whole day between the fields, care of the small animals (Guinea pigs, rabbits and
hens) and the kitchen. At dusk, before dinner, one or two of them will go up again to the
páramo to fetch the sheep and take them down to the talanquera and the porks to their shelter;
these measures are necessary against robbers and páramo wolves, which in fact are more
similar to foxes. So ends the day. Everybody goes to bed at eight in the evening, hour at
which everything is getting seized by the cold...
Five rich days...
DIAGNOSTIC
This chapter is an adapted translation of the diagnostic of the permaculture project I’ve
made for Visión Mundial and the CODESOCP. It evaluates the results since sowing and,
above all, give some recommendations for the following of the project.
EVALUATION OF THE RESULTS
People in Jatun Era are well motivated and very dynamic; it could even be considered as a
model community. However, various difficulties have arisen in the process. First of all, it
seems that theoretical workshops and written material don’t serve so much. Most of the
farmers haven’t read it and don’t apply what’s recommended, whether because they don’t
remember or for personnal vision. Presence of a technician on the field is thus indispensable.
The farmer’s attitude isn’t lack of goodwill, but one has to explain them doing it.
For this reason, the five days I’ve spent in the community have been a good thing. The
problems met there have already been explained. Others arose during transplantation. I
haven’t been able to go up to the community in these days, and, as they hadn’t revised the
manual, everybody did wrong: they transplanted in a too narrow way and in monoculture,
though different species should be planted in alternated rows, in order to improve yields and
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protect against pests. It is to mention that some of them have made monticules in which to
transplant, which is a very good thing, as air gets better to the roots and the seedlings are
better protected in case the terrace is flooded during heavy rain.
Indeed, environmental conditions don’t help. At some places, seedlings drowned under
heavy rain or earthslides, partly for lack of terrace canal maintenance. Hail caused important
damage as well.
We did with agricultural engineer Angelica Mena our last visit of each farm on the 16th
May. It was already harvest period. Some other problems appear. First of all, a negligence
from many farmers: some have transplanted very few seedlings; they haven’t removed weeds;
At some places, soil had become hard: we advised them turning it over. Besides, it hasn’t
rained for two weeks, but nobody had given water, even those who already had a water tank,
which is full at that period. Some have ask for deliver of watering can, to be able to water on a
spare mode; we recommended fabrication of home-made cans from big bottles or jerrycans.
Yields are low. The vegetables remain small and it seems that species like cabbage will
make more external leaves than heart leaves, which are the comestible part. We can see two
explanations: first one, altitude; the farms are located between 3500 and 3750 m. Altitude and
temperature effects can be noted in the defense mechanisms of plants: they make their flowers
very early, which permits the species to survive in stress situation. It also means that these
species will put the effort in their reproduction organs and not in the comestible parts which
interest us. Second explanation for the low yields is that the granjeros haven’t fertilised soil
before sowing, thus beginning on poor soils. The terraces have been built short before sowing.
Only thing they could have done in their situation is apply some Guinea pig’ and rabbit’
excrements. As the project tends to organic agriculture, they’ve been strictly prohibited to
apply chemicals.
As for pests, we have observed the presence of chewer worms, characterized by holes in the
leaves. In some case, it would be advisable to apply a home-made remedy.
Last but not least, a problem has arisen as for the harvest use: as they are not used to, a lot
of women didn’t know how to cook vegetables! Some have let them die on the terraces or
used them to feed the animals. Following our report, the cooking workshop has been
organised some weeks later. A little bit late for this time, but life is still long!
I left too early to be able to see the definitive results for every species. I have seen that
radish and beetroot have done good results, as well as parsley. In the farms with the best
conditions and care, some lettuces, cabbages and chards were quite good-looking, even if
small; I don’t know if they have grown more. As for spinach, it has been a catastrophy:
almost nothing has sprouted. We’ll see next year how it will go with better soil preparation
and maintenance during growing period. Irrigation will make a difference as well. The
terraces should also systematically be protected by native trees. The most motivated farmers
have already obtained some encouraging results. Hope is there, as Manuel Chicaiza has
obtained far better results than the others. This lets me even more optimistic as he owns the
highest farm, in view of the fact that the lower parts of the community usually have better
culture conditions. The granjeros seem ready to take the lessons. In all case, it is still too early
to draw conclusions about adaptability of species. Two years minimum will be necessary.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Evaluating the results, one should keep in mind that this is a pilot project and that the
farmers have never cultivated vegetables before. This project is a trial, and the results were far
from being guaranteed. Lessons have been taken of this year’s experience in order to improve
the results of the next productive cycle.
In view of the poverty of soil, the first recommendation will be to plant green manure like
lucerne or oats/vetch on the terraces after harvest. Then, before sowing, small animals’
excrements should be added to soil. After that, the manuals’ recommendations should be
respected (respect sowing and transplant distance, alternate species, remove weeds, turn over
the soil,...).
A problem for the granjeros is that they have very little organic manure at their disposal.
The solution will come from vermiculture. Manuel Chicaiza already produces worm compost,
showing that it works well in the conditions of Jatun Era. The project plans to construct one
installation for each farmer. They should begin as soon as possible, as nine months are
necessary before harvesting humus for the first time. Worm compost production will consume
all the harvest and domestic waste, which is good as the environment isn’t so favourable for
traditional compost.
In all cases, a good monitoring by a technician will be necessary further on. It is the
condition for the things to be well done, and by everyone. The granjeros have motivation and
enthusiasm, but if time lacks, vegetables are the first to be neglected. They still haven’t
understood completely the importance of food diversification; children remain small “because
of cold”. Important education efforts are also being made. Their luck is to have Manuel
Chicaiza’s example under their eyes.
FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
World Vision Australia has now accepted to financed the project one more year. We have
received the visit of the Australian manager in Don Manuel’s farm and he has seen the impact
permaculture can have. I hope the support will last longer than next year, because work on the
field has shown that permaculture needs a little bit of time to establish fully. It has to be an
integral process, with a lot of practical training and field demonstrations.
The farmers are now constituting themselves into a factual association (“sociedad de
hecho”), named “Comité de desarrollo de trabajadores granjeros de la comunidad de Jatun
Era” (Development Committee of farm workers from the community of Jatun Era). I have attended the
meetings for the redaction of the statutes. Constitution in a factual association will permit the
granjeros to be recognised by the other institutions. It gives them rules, duties and sanctions,
which is a factor of internal cohesion. It will facilitate the future marketing of their organic
products and the sharing of devices. It is to mention that this type of association implies a
registration by a notary but no juridical personality. This initiative is a very good thing for the
sustainability of the project, as it means it will survive the withdrawal of Visión Mundial.
When I left Ecuador, the farmers were constructing the last of their water tanks. This will
be an important progress, as everybody will have irrigation water supply. The exploitation of
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a source for drinking water situated in the lower parts of the community is under study. This
should bring good-quality water from next year. Besides, Swissaid has also recently decided
to collaborate with Jatun Era and is studying the construction of a very big irrigation water
tank on the higher parts. This will improve greatly the situation as well, as not only the
members of the permaculture project will have access to irrigation water. As a very
participative community, Jatun Era is now receiving a lot of help from development
organisations and will certainly turn into a model community in the area. They have now
great oportunities to improve their yields and turn to sustainable practices. In all cases, I am
already looking forward to going back and visit them.
PÁRAMOS AND WATER SUPPLY
As explained above, water supply in the region is indissociable from páramo. Given the
always more serious lack of water, many water tanks are being constructed in the area.
Together with these constructions, a lot of projects aim at páramo protection, in order to
protect water sources. It is also an important part of the CODESOCP’s work. It writes páramo
management plans with the communities and tries to create protected areas. During my
internship, I have been associated with two big water projects: Tiloncocha Lake and the water
tank of San Carlos community.
TILONCOCHA LAKE
Tiloncocha Lake project has been the great achievement for the CODESOCP in the year
2005. When I arrived, most of the work had been done and the visits were aimed at
monitoring.
The lake lies at an altitude of 4043 m, in the middle of páramo. The massif around reaches
4300 m. and opens on the Pumacunchi valley. It is covered by páramo “de pajonal” and
páramo “de almohadillas”, typical above 4000m. There, the climatic conditions are harsh; it is
reputed to be a very cold place. The páramo “de almohadillas” has the property to stock a lot
of water, making of Tiloncocha massif an important water source for the region, hence the
importance to protect it.
Tiloncocha Lake is artificial. People have turned to account the amphitheatre shape of the
massif, constructing a small dam on the open side under the auspices of the CODESCOCP.
The lake is the main water supply for the communities of Jatun Era, Cochapamba, Molentimí
and Pactac. In order to protect water quality, it was indispensable to keep the animals away by
surrounding the whole site with a fence. The whole hydrographic basin has been delimited,
representing 72 ha. It has been a huge job to bring the cement poles and three ranges of
barbed wire up to the top.
According to the elders, the páramo around Tiloncocha was far bigger and healthier thirty
years ago. Many more streams were coming out from it. Since then, it has been damaged by
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sheep and the amount of water coming out from it has been significantly reduced. It is a good
example to show the importance of páramo. Realising this, the communities have decided to
go for the project, and, after fencing, to restore the páramo inside the protected area. In the
massif, large damaged areas had been transformed through erosion in “arenales”, sandy
slopes. The only way to restore them is through plantation of native trees. The whole area has
been replanted, whether damaged or not, with a disposition in “tresbolillo”, typical for the
plantation of groves. The typical distance for plantation of native trees is three meters
between each tree, which signifies, for one hectare, more than 1100 plants! Making of the
fence and planting of the trees has implied mingas of more than one hundred people for
several weeks. If the CODESOCP has financed the project, the whole labour has been done
by the beneficiaries themselves.
Water has been brought to everyone in the communities. It is to mention that its iron
content is too high for human consume, restricting its use to irrigation. However, one
observes that the great majority uses it for cooking as well. As they don’t have any other
source... Other possibilities are now being studied for good-quality drinking water.
WATER TANK OF SAN CARLOS COMMUNITY
Another big water project during my internship has been the construction of a 3000 m3 tank
in the community of San Carlos, aimed to irrigate 450 ha. San Carlos lies on the foot of the
Ilinizas Mountains. Unlike the other communities of the CODESOCP, its territory includes a
large plain. However, as always, water lacks. Consequently, in collaboration with the
CODESOCP, it has decided to construct a big tank to irrigate all of it. This tank will cost
about 80.000 USD, which makes the communitarian contribution important as well, several
thousands of USD. Once again, the CODESOCP has given the materials and the community
has built the whole tank itself with minga work. I’ve lived most of the construction. When I
left Ecuador, the irrigation system still had to be done.
This project will have great effect on the community life. It will be interesting to see how
the yields will improve and if the cultivate species will change. Most important is that it is
really a community project, well-managed by the people themselves. I took part into several
Sunday reunions in the community, where budgets and construction dilemmas were discussed
with the persons in charge in the CODESOCP. It is to mention that in the Quichua community
reunions, at least one member of each family is present and that women play an important
role as well. As a matter of interest, the representative of San Carlos community in the
CODESOCP is a young woman.
PÁRAMO AND WATER SOURCE PROTECTION
The project in Tiloncocha is clear: to protect the páramo and water sources, one has to
fence the area, and restore the eroded parts by planting native trees. In this case, people have
become aware of the importance of the site. However, in most of the cases, protection of the
páramo is quite difficult.
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The two main causes for the destruction of páramo are conversion to cultivated land and
sheep-grazing. It is very difficult to act on the former, because it is mainly dictated by
demographic pressure. However, the farmers have sometimes to clear new parcels because
bad agricultural practices have made others infertile. Training to sustainable agriculture could
help stopping the extension of cultivated land. As for sheep, they damage in two ways:
directly, because they graze down to the roots, and indirectly, because people use to burn the
páramo in order to get new shoots, which totally damages soil and water retention capacity.
It is impossible to make the people renounce to pasture, because it is an important income.
However, there is an alternative already applied in some other communities of the region:
replace sheep by alpacas. Alpacas are very well adapted to these conditions, as they are native
of the Andes. Most important of all, they don’t damage the páramo and permit a sustainable
use of it. The alpacas can generate income with their wool and the handicrafts one can make
out of it. It is a great alternative, but it implies the women to change some habits and find
again skills they have sometimes forgotten. Nevertheless, it seems to work quite well in the
communities which have done the effort.
Another problem is páramo property. Some parts are private-owned, some others
community-owned, and doubt subsists for the rest. Community boundaries have been drawn
on old maps. Serious territory quarrels happen sometimes between communities. To protect
an area, everybody has to agree, which isn’t easy as few like to see their rights restricted on
part of their land. As for the water source, the problem is difficult as well: in spite the fact that
water is universal property, the owner of the land where the source is located tend to
appropriate. The inventory of the water resources of Cotopaxi province is going to be made in
the year to come by the CODERECO (Regional Development Corporation of Cotopaxi). Access to
Indigenous land won’t always be easy to get...
Experiences in other communities show that páramo conservation is more effective when it
is sustained by internal laws decided in communitarian reunion. Indeed, Quichua
communities still have and make apply their own laws and sanctions. When a law is decided,
people normally follow it because the sanctions are severe and it is difficult to get round it
secretly. It is to mention that Ecuador has a lot of environmental laws but that nobody
respects them. Consequently, a management plan should always be accompanied by internal
rules.
Even if it remains difficult to protect the páramo, positive point is that almost everybody
has now realised the role it plays for water. Paradoxically, this awareness brings other
problems: some páramo-owning communities know the value of service of the páramo and
want to get money from it. In the Pujilí canton, where I’ve been living, I’ve seen a páramoowning community offering to protect its páramo in exchange of money from the waterdependent communities downhill. The former was threatening the latter not to share the water
in case of non-payment. And if it doesn’t protect the páramo, for sure they will get short of
water... When I left, they still were in a deep quarrel. In all case, this breeds many
interrogations about whom should manage the páramo and the associated resources.
Some communities of the high valley of Pumacunchi river, which forms like a plateau,
have decided to associate in order to turn to account one of the river source for drinking
- 24 -
water. The whole páramo around the source would be protected and an important pipe system
would be constructed. We visited the whole area with the leader of the project in order to take
GPS points. It was very interesting as the source is located in a very well-conserved páramo,
in Yarucpanga, south of the road Pujilí-Zumbahua. One sees that some very good initiatives
are being taken. I hope it will work; as always, some communities are reluctant. For many
years tensions animate this area, mainly for resources.
FOOD SECURITY
Food is a problem in the region, as it is for most Indigenes living in the mountains. There
are two main issues: quantity and quality. Food may be lacking because of adverse climatic
conditions. As said, frosts, drought, hail and winds make great damage to cultures in the area.
But, above all, there is a quality problem: food may be there, but the diet is highly
unbalanced. It relies almost only on carbohydrates (mainly potatoes) to which people now add
inexpensive imported rice and noodles, easier to prepare. Rich cereal drinks (“coladas”) are
being replaced by cheap soft drinks (“colas”). In Cotopaxi, chronic child malnutrition is
evaluated at about 60%... Nutrition is a priority to get a sustainable development.
CHOCHO AND QUINOA PROJECT OF MCKNIGHT-INIAP
The CODESOCP is associated with the McKnight Foundation and the INIAP (National
autonomous institute for agricultural and livestock-breeding research) in a research project titled
“Sustainable production systems to guarantee food security in impoverished communities in
the province of Cotopaxi”. The project focuses on chocho (lupine) and quinoa. The aim is to
determinate with trials on the field which varieties are adapted to the particular local
conditions. Then, the farmers will be trained to good production practices, utilization for
improved human nutrition and marketing of surplus production for income generation.
Chocho and quinoa are two highly nutritious Andean crops. Chocho is a hardy legume and
is an Ecuadorian typical snack. It has the reputation to be “good for the brain”. Indeed, it is
full of proteins. As for quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), it has a high protein content and an
almost perfectly balanced amino acid composition for human use. It has also a high content of
calcium, phosphorus and iron. Especially its calcium content is interesting, as people in the
region don’t have cows or the money to buy milk and lacteous products. It is to mention that
quinoa isn’t a cereal, but related to spinach, as its scientific name suggests; it is qualified as
“false-grain” or “pseudo-cereal”.
I’ve collaborated in this project, helping on the field in the preparation and sowing of the
investigation parcels and following the plant growth. Investigations are made with farmers in
four communities. In each community, a Local Agricultural Research Committee (Comité de
Investigation Agricola Local – CIAL) has been established. Women volunteers have been selected
and trained to support the promotion of these foods. Agricultural work has been made with
- 25 -
agronomists and the owners of land. Then, we would regularly go and see the evolution of the
parcels. It was really nice to work with the Quichua farmers. For this project, they are really
motivated and do their job quite well. It was also an occasion to compare the results of their
traditional practices with those recommended by the INIAP. For example, in Chilla Chico, on
a sloping parcel, we have made the furrows along contour lines and a water-evacuation canal
at the top of the parcel. The farmers, in this case two women, have been able to see how the
erosions have been drastically reduced! Indeed, when we arrived, the field was lined from top
to bottom by deep water-made furrows, taking away rapidly the earth layer, phenomenon
which is unfortunately very common in the area. Another measure to take is to plant native
trees at the bottom of the parcel in order to fix soil. Such practical work, with the Quichuas,
has a great effect. One can really see the purpose of the theory. It is unfortunate one doesn’t
have enough time to go and work more often directly with them.
OTHER PROJECTS
Working in the CODESOCP has allowed me to learn about all the aspects of a project with
integral vision. Among others, I had a lot of contact with children, sponsored by World
Vision. They will come to the office, or many times we would go with a team of the
CODESOCP to community schools in order to count them. The CODESOCP helps to
construct classrooms, and equips sometimes with computers. A program which involves
many children is the “defence against natural catastrophes” one (CERDM). This program
receives lots of financial support and is aimed to learn what to do in case of earthquakes or
volcanic eruption. Of course, it is useful in the region... Such projects receive many
international visits, implying each time visits to school, theatre pieces, songs, simulations...
Visit by Australian sponsors is the occasion to enter deeper in the life of a particular child
and his family. We’ve once visited a family of six children, who had only their mother left
and who had seen recently the whole harvest destructed by frost... Some situations in the area
are very difficult.
Situation of children in the area is quite precarious. Usually, families are still very large;
children are used to help at home or to look after sheep in the páramo. Presence at school is
sometimes quite deficient. It seems that the CODESOCP has done quite a good job in its
action area. World Vision cares that parents let their children go to school, and, above all,
girls as well. Girls’ attention to school has a lot increased in the last years. The CODESOCP
delivers uniform and school material and gives grants to the best pupils to allow them follow
secondary school in Saquisilí or Latacunga. This is a big progress in education.
Education of adults has been important too. When the organisation arrived, the
communities were prone to important alcoholism and violence at home. Men were coming
drunk to reunions; women had to stay at home. Things have changed a lot. Even if these
problems are still very common in the whole Ecuadorian highland Andes, women have now
right to go out and participate to decisions. They occupy many leader and representative
functions in the communities. This phenomenon has also been encouraged by the fact that
- 26 -
men had to pass most of the time far from home for work. Alcoholism has been reduced (even
if Indigenous feasts remain drinking bouts without name) and familial planning is entering in
the habits. In Jatun Era, it is now rare to see a family with more than two children.
Some important progresses have been made but it should now be cared about NorthAmerican influence entering every house through television. This may bring new problems.
Young people are losing their traditions and attachment to land. It’s as if people were living in
twenty years the evolution we have lived in one century. Development won’t be always
progress...
- 27 -
CONCLUSION
The aims of the internship have been met; I have been able to get a global view of the
situation in the Ecuadorian Andes as well as precise technical skills. I’ve seen how to manage
a project in a sustainable way and the obstacles one meets on the field. With Jatun Era, I got
the opportunity to work in a model community and see how a project develops from the
beginning to the constitution of an association, which is the more important step towards
independence. I’ve learnt about the Quichua way of thinking and the way one has to work
with them. It has also been the discovery of new ecosystems and practices, and the way to
cope with great environmental problems like erosion and lack of water.
The way Visión Mundial puts the children in the centre of its action is quite good. Indeed,
children are the mirror of the society in which they live. I’ve appreciated the way they treat
the problems from the root, giving importance to environmental projects, and how they
manage them. It is not because a project is good that people will be motivated. It should be
discussed with them about their needs, and solutions should be searched together. They have
to be involved in the projects. The financial contribution that they have to pay and the fact
they realise everything by themselves is a guarantee for sustainability. Too much money has
been lost in the past for paternalistic behaviour.
Environmental challenges in the region are great. We’ve seen that things begin to move and
that people are gaining awareness. Many things are also changing because of the arrival of
North American culture and always larger possibilities for the young people to leave their
community; they are tired to cultivate in the traditional way; indeed, life is hard compared to
what they are seeing on TV or even in the plain. Facing social changes and environmental
problems, future of the communities has to pass through new practices. Hope it will be the
sustainable ones. Some models are already there and the results should encourage other
communities to follow. Way to sustainability is not easy, but not impossible...
This stay in Ecuador has been a great insight into cooperation work. I’ve seen however that
foreign engineers working in Ecuador are very scarce. Indeed, the country produces
sufficiently qualified national engineers to make the job. This is also a policy of the
cooperation organisations. Paternalism belongs definitively to the past and work by locals is
rightly considered as more efficient; knowledge of the area and indigenous way of life are
indeed key factors. I’ve had the opportunity to know some Swiss projects, sustained by
Swissaid or the SDC (Swiss agency for Development and Cooperation, called COSUDE in Ecuador); these
projects are managed by Ecuadorians, up to the direction in the case of Swissaid. One realises
that Swiss people only play the role of financial manager, monitoring the use of money and
controlling the results of projects; they don’t work on the field. The experience has been great
as an intern, but it will be difficult to live it again other than a voluntary. The demand for
foreign engineers is elsewhere, thus the need I have now to develop very good technical and
management skills. It remains that such experience is unforgettable and that knowledge of the
field and the people who live on are incomparable tools when it comes with the elaboration
and setting of cooperation projects...
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PASANTÍA EN EL CODESOCP
“DESARROLLO Y AGRICULTURA SOSTENIBLES EN REGIÓN ANDINA”
- INFORME FINAL Esta experiencia de trabajo en el CODESOCP ha durado cinco meses, del 5 de diciembre
del 2005 hasta el 28 de abril del 2006. Ha sido parte de mis estudios en “Ciencias y ingenieria
del medio ambiente” en la Escuela Politechnica Federal Suiza de Lausana (EPFL). Mi
supervisor en Ecuador ha sido el Ing. Agr. Gustavo Cabrera, responsable del Proyecto
Especial de Permacultura Andina de Visión Mundial. En Suiza, he sido supervisado por el Pr.
Dani Or, director del Laboratorio de Suelos y Física Medio Ambiental (LASEP).
Las metas de mi pasantía fueron conocer la problematica de la región andina, los desafíos
ambientales y agricolas que está enfrentando y aprender como manejar proyectos para
alcanzar un desarrollo sostenible en tal región. Más específicamente, está pasantía ha sido
destinada a mejorar mis conocimientos en los siguientes temas:
-
Permacultura – agricultura orgánica
Agroforestería – plantaciones de árboles nativos
Protección de páramos
Construcción de tanques reservorios y abastecimiento en agua
Seguridad alimentaria
Conocimiento de los productos y de las prácticas locales
Conocimiento de la cultura Quichua
Manejo de proyecto
Fue una experiencia de terreno, muy cerca de los habitantes Quichua de la región y de su
vida diaria.
A próposito del pasante…
Estudiante en la EPFL (ssie.epfl.ch), viviendo en el campo suizo
(Cordillera del Jura), he acabado mi tercer año, cuyo último he
pasado en la Universidad Técnica de Munich (www.wzw.tum.de).
Interesado por el desarrollo rural sostenible, la seguridad
alimentaria, la agricultura orgánica, el comercio justo y las culturas
del mundo, he decidido venir por más de ocho meses en el
Ecuador. Esta pasantía de cinco meses fue mi primera en el país.
Después hice una otra pasantía en Coca, también en una
organisación de desarrollo rural, con enfoque en la producción
orgánica de café y cacao. Finalmente, pasé dos semanas en un otro
proyecto en el cantón Esmeraldas, en donde he desarrollado los
mismos temas.
Por cualquiera pregunta: [email protected]
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ACTIVIDADES
Mis actividades en Visión Mundial han sido detalladas en los informes mensuales
entregados a los Recursos Humanos (en anexo en el CD). Mi actividad principal ha sido seguir
en el terreno el desarrollo del Proyecto Especial de Permacultura Andina en Jatun Era. Eso ha
implicado vivir por cinco días en la comunidad en la casa de Don Manuel Chicaiza,
presidente del CODESOCP. He realizado también un taller teórico, escribiendo un manual
practico para los granjeros.
Más que todo, he acompañado el Ing. Agr. Gustavo Cabrera, el Agr. Willians Olmos, así
que la Ing. Agr. Angelica Mena. Al lado del proyecto de permacultura, he participado al
proyecto de plantaciones de árboles nativos, al proyecto de chocho-quinua de McKnightINIAP y al monitoreo de los proyectos de Tiloncocha y tanque reservorio de San Carlos.
Además, he participado a las tareas diarias del CODESOCP, como los conteos de niños y
entrega de navidades. He acompañado también todas las visitas extranjeras.
Está pasantía ha comprendido también visitas con Gustavo Cabrera a los PDAs Pilahuín y
Achupallas, así que una visita al PDA Pujilí-Guangaje.
Durante mi pasantía, he tomado bastante photos para los proyectos. Ellas se ubican triadas
en el CD.
REALIZACIONES
Mis realizaciones son las siguientes:
- informe de los cinco días pasados en Jatun Era (abajo en el texto).
- diagnostico del Proyecto Especial de Permacultura Andina (abajo en el texto).
- manual practico para granjeros. Ese comprende diferentes capitulos:
1. agricultura orgánica
2. lombricultura
3. insectos plagas
4. remedios caseros
5. plantationes de árboles nativos
- presentación Powerpoint del taller de permacultura.
- coordinadas GPS de las fincas de Jatun Era (abajo en los anexos).
- datos climaticos de Jatun Era (abajo en los anexos).
- banco de photos triadas por tema.
- informe de pasantía para la Universidad (en Inglés).
El informe de pasantía para la Universidad explica de manera mucho más detallada mis
diferentes actividades en Visión Mundial. Los capitulos sobre los cinco días en Jatun Era así
que el diagnostico del proyecto son una traducción de los textos abajo. Todo lo que hecho
durante esta pasantía se encuentra en el CD.
- 30 -
ESTANCIA DE CINCO DÍAS EN LA COMUNIDAD DE JATUN ERA
Esta estancia se ha desarrollado del miércoles 18 de enero hasta el domingo 22 de enero del
2006 en la casa de Don Manuel Chicaiza, presidente del CODESOCP, en la comunidad de
Jatun Era. Tenía como meta principal la entrega de semillas de 13 tipos de hortalizas y el
seguimiento de la siembra dentro del “Proyecto especial de permacultura andina”, liderado
por el Ing. Agr. Gustavo Cabrera de Visión Mundial Ecuador; pero también fue una
oportunidad única de compartir la vida diaria de una familia y de una comunidad indígena.
ACTIVIDADES
Primero se han reunido los granjeros en la casa de Don Manuel para la entrega de semillas,
abonos y remedios agropecuarios. Las semillas fueron de avena, vicia, alfalfa y hortalizas:
col, col morada, col repollo, brócoli, coliflor, espinaca, perejil, lechuga, acelga, remolacha,
rábano, nabo y cebolla puerro.
En seguida nos fuimos todos para empezar la siembra. El trabajo se realizó en minga, es
decir que las 15 personas (una de cada familia granjera) trabajaron juntos en cada granja. Las
terrazas ya estaban casi listas. Solo faltaba revolver y aplanar la tierra para tener las mejores
condiciones de siembra posibles. Después formaron los granjeros los semilleros y las áreas de
siembra directa, ocho tipos de hortalizas necesitando una siembra indirecta (semilleros) y los
otros cinco una siembra directa (al voleo o en chorro continuo). Para los detalles de que
sembrar como, ver el “Manual practico para granjeros”, hecho para este proyecto.
Una vez la siembra realizada, tapamos las terrazas con paja o ramas para proteger las
semillas contra las lluvias y los pájaros.
A ese proceso participaron una proporción equilibrada de hombres y de mujeres, las
personas cambiando a veces de un día al otro, el importante estando que cada familia sea
representada. A notar también la presencia de jóvenes y jovencitas.
Tres días fueron necesarios para sembrar en las quince granjas, a este ritmo: 2.5 granjas el
primer día, 6.5 el segundo y 6 el último día. Además de seguir el proceso y asegurar que la
siembra sea hecha de manera correcta, mi papel fue tomar fotos pertinentes. Fue también la
oportunidad de conocer mejor los otros cultivos, el ganado y las hierbas medicinales de los
granjeros.
Los dos últimos días fueron dedicados a recorrer la finca de Don Manuel Chicaiza y dibujar
un mapa detallado de su terreno.
PROBLEMAS ENCONTRADOS
Hubo muy pocos problemas. Sin embargo, se debe tener cuidado con dos cosas. Primero,
que las distancias entre los huachos sean respectadas; los granjeros tienen siempre la
tendencia de sembrar de manera demasiado estrecha. Segundo, que no siembren demasiado;
en efecto, en esa primera prueba, no realizan bien la cantidad de hortalizas que saldrá y el
espacio que será necesario para el trasplante. Además tienen algunos la memoria corta en
cuanto a lo que se debe sembrar de manera directa o indirecta.
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VIDA EN UNA COMUNIDAD INDÍGENA – EXPERIENCIA PERSONAL
¡La acogida fue muy calurosa! Fue directamente muy bien integrado a la comunidad. En
cuanto a la vida con la familia Chicaiza, fue una experiencia extraordinaria. Noches frías, pero
mucho calor de corazón. Tenía una cama con cobijas bien gruesas. De mañana como al
regreso del trabajo fue invitado en la cocina para calentarme. Ahí está el sólo fuente de calor
de la casa. Por eso no dejan cocinar con leña. Alrededor del fuego, mujeres que pelan papas y
preparan a comer. El ambiente es femenino la mayoría del tiempo. Las comidas constaron de
sopa de papas y cereales, que sea por el desayuno, almuerzo o merienda, la carne y el cereal
usados cambiando cada vez. Comidas acompañadas de varias agüitas (orégano de dulce,
hierba luisa o tifo por ejemplo), o dulce de cereales (avena, arroz de cebada). Los granjeros
me ofrecieron por el almuerzo papas con carne, a pesar que la mayoría de ellos reciban sopa
de papas. A notar la casi ausencia de verduras y frutas, así que la ausencia total de productos
lácteos. Lo que muestra bien la importancia del proyecto en cuanto a la diversificación y
enriquecimiento de la comida.
La vida indígena tiene un ritmo natural. Se levantan al amanecer o aún antes, porque los
carros para la ciudad bajan muy temprano. Después del desayuno, la primera tarea es de llevar
los borregos de la talanquera hasta los pastos altos, así que los chanchos, puestos en el día en
un campo arado. Todo el día se pasa entre los cultivos, el cuido a los animales menores
(cuyes, conejos) y la cocina. Al anochecer, antes de la merienda, uno o dos personas sube de
nuevo al páramo para volver a traer los borregos a la talanquera y los chanchos a su casita.
Medidas necesarias contra los ladrones y los lobos de páramo, que, de hecho, tienen más las
características de zorros. Así se acaba el día. Todos se van a acostarse a las ocho de la noche,
hora a la cual el frío se apodera de todo...
DIAGNOSTICO DEL PROYECTO DE PERMACULTURA
Ese texto sirve a exponer los diferentes problemas encontrados durante el proyecto, desde
la siembra en enero hasta la última visita el 16 de mayo del 2006, en periodo de cosecha.
Tiene también y antes de todo a dar algunas recomendaciones para la continuación del
proyecto el año próximo.
PROBLEMAS ENCONTRADOS
En el proceso han surgido varios problemas. Primeramente, parece que los talleres así que
el material entregado no sirven mucho. Los granjeros no leen y por la mayoría no aplican lo
que se dice, que sea porque no se recuerden o por visión personal. La presencia de un técnico
durante las diferentes fases del proceso es así imprescindible.
Los problemas más comunes son que tiendan a sembrar de manera demasiada estrecha, a
sembrar demasiado (no se dan cuenta de la cantidad que saldrá y del espacio necesario para el
trasplante) y a confundir siembra directa y indirecta, aunque tienen todo explicado en el
manual. Por lo tanto esos cinco días pasados en la comunidad entonces una buena cosa.
- 32 -
Otros problemas surgieron en el trasplante. No pude subir en esos días. Como no habían
revisado el manual, todos hicieron mal: trasplantaron demasiado estrecho y en monocultivo.
La manera justa es de trasplantar en hileras alternadas, para mejorar el rendimiento y proteger
contra las plagas. A notar que algunos han hecho montículos en que trasplantar, lo que es muy
bueno.
Las condiciones ambientales no ayudan. A donde algunos granjeros, las plantitas se
ahogaron bajo los fuertes aguaceros y deslaves de tierra. Eso por falta de mantenimiento de
los canales. El granizo también causó mucho daño.
Hicimos con la Ing. Agr. Mena el último recorrido de todas las granjas el 16 de mayo del
2006. Ya estaba época de cosecha. Aparecieron otros problemas. Primeramente, un descuido
de parte de muchos granjeros: algunos han trasplantado poco; no han sacado las malas
hierbas; algunos tienen un suelo muy duro: les aconsejamos aflojarlo. No había llovido por
quince días, pero nadie ha regado agua, aún los que ya tienen un tanque reservorio, que en
esta temporada esta lleno. Algunos han pedido la entrega de regaderas, para poder regar
ahorrando el agua. Hemos aconsejado la fabricación casera de regaderas a partir de botellas o
galones.
Los rendimientos son bajos. Las hortalizas se quedan pequeñas y aparece que las coles y
nabos no se van a hacer repollo, lo que es la parte comestible de estas especies. Podemos ver
dos explicaciones a eso: la una, la altura: las hortalizas son normalmente adecuadas hasta
2500 msnm; aquí estamos entre 3500 y 3750 msnm. El efecto de la altura se observe por
ejemplo con los mecanismos de defensa de las plantas: hacen las flores muy temprano, lo que
permite asegurar la supervivencia de la especie en situación de estrés. Es decir también que
algunas especies, como el nabo, ponen sus esfuerzos en las flores y no en las partes
comestibles que nos interesen. La secunda explicación por los bajos rendimientos es que los
granjeros no han abonado el suelo antes de sembrar, dejando así un suelo pobre.
Referente a las plagas, hemos observado la presencia de gusanos masticadores. Es
aconsejable la pronta aplicación de remedios caseros.
El último problema observado concierne el uso de la cosecha. Muchas mujeres no saben
cómo cocinar las hortalizas. ¡Les dejan así en los huertos o les dan a los animales!
CONSEJOS Y CONCLUSIÓN
Eso fue para los granjeros la primera vez que han sembrado hortalizas. El proyecto empieza
y mucho tiene que ser mejorado para la próxima vez. Aunque hay muchos problemas y un
poco de descuido en la parte final, los granjeros han mostrado desde el principio mucho
entusiasmo y motivación. Así tengo buena esperanza que los resultados serán mejores en el
próximo ciclo productivo, esperanzas reforzadas por el hecho que los granjeros se van a sacar
conclusiones de la experiencia de este año.
Mis recomendaciones son las siguientes:
- preparar mejor el suelo: antes de la siembra, poner abono orgánico, que sea
compost, estiércol de animales menores o humus de lombriz.
- respectar las distancias de siembra aconsejadas.
- sacar regularmente las malas hierbas.
- 33 -
-
aflojar el suelo cuando necesario.
aplicar BIOL y otros tipos de abono foliar (por ejemplo macerado de ortiga)
regar cuando necesario. La construcción de los últimos tanques reservorios será de
grande ayuda.
trasplantar de manera alternada, según las recomendaciones del manual.
Eso implica de parte del proyecto:
- empezar ahora la producción de abonos orgánicos. Eso implica: mostrar en el terreno
como hacer compost; dar el material y la capacitación necesarios para producir humus
de lombriz. Eso es imprescindible a la buena continuación del proyecto, porque los
granjeros tienen muy poco abono orgánico. En cuanto a la producción de humus de
lombriz, debería empezar enseguida, porque se demore unos nueve meses antes de la
primera cosecha.
- acostumbrar a la aplicación de BIOL. Hacer una muestra practica de cómo producir.
- referente a las diferentes especies de hortalizas, será de seguir de cerca el desarrollo y
rendimiento de cada una, para ver las cuales estén adecuadas a las condiciones de
Jatun Era. Ahora que muchos errores han sido cometidos este año, es demasiado
temprano para decirlo. Sería recomendable esperar dos ciclos productivos más para
sacar conclusiones.
- una sugerencia por el futuro sería de brindar material para cubrir las hortalizas en caso
de riesgo e heladas, granizo o fuerte aguacero.
Estas recomendaciones deberían permitir la obtención de mejores resultados el año
próximo. En todos los casos, será muy importante un buen seguimiento del proyecto por un
técnico. Es la condición para que las cosas sean bien hechas, y por todos. Los granjeros tienen
motivación y entusiasmo, pero si falta el tiempo, las hortalizas son las primeras cosas que no
se cuiden. Todavía no han entendido completamente la importancia de diversificar la
alimentación. Un taller de cocina podría ayudar bastante. Por suerte, ellos tienen bajo los ojos
el ejemplo de Manuel Chicaiza, que tiene su finca desde cinco años y resultados muy
envidiables.
En conclusión, observamos que la permacultura necesita un poco de tiempo para
establecerse, y que no basta entregar semillas. Tiene que ser un proceso integral, con mucha
capacitación práctica y muestras en el terreno.
- 34 -
CONCLUSION
Esta pasantía ha sido muy enriquecidora; me ha permitido obtener una visión general de la
situación en los Andes ecuatorianos así que muchos conocimientos específicos en cuanto al
desarrollo rural en tal región. He visto como manejar un proyecto de manera sostenible y los
obstáculos que se encuentran en el terreno. En Jatun Era, he tenido la oportunidad de trabajar
en una comunidad particularmente dinámica y ver como un proyecto se desarrolla del
principio hasta la constitución de una asociación, lo que es el paso más importante hasta
independencia. He podido aprender mucho sobre la manera de vivir y de pensar de los
Quichuas. También ha sido el descrubimiento de nuevos ecosistemas y prácticas y de algunas
maneras de vencer grandes problemas medio ambientales como la erosión y la escasez de
agua.
La manera con la cual Visión Mundial pone los niños en el centro de su acción me parece
muy buena. En efecto, los niños son el espejo de la sociedad en la cual viven. He apreciado la
manera de tratar los problemas desde la raíz, dando importancia a los proyectos medio
ambientales, y la manera de manejar estos últimos. No es porque un proyecto está bueno que
la gente será motivada. Se necesita hablar con ella sobre sus necesitades y buscar soluciones
juntos. Tiene que estar involucrada en los proyectos. El aporte comunitario y el trabajo que
tienen que dar es una garantía para la sostenibilidad. Demasiado dinero ha sido perdido en el
pasado por comportamientos paternalisticos. Por eso, la metodología del CODESOCP y de
Visión Mundial me parece muy interesante.
Los problemas medio ambientales en la región son inmensos. Por suerte, la gente empieza a
tomar conciencia y a moverse. Ojalà siguen en está dirección. He podido ver también que
muchas cosas están cambiando por la llegada de la cultura norteamericana y las posibilidades
siempre más largas para los jovenes de dejar su comunidad; en efecto, la vida está dura
comparada con la que pueden ver en la televisión o aun en el valle interandino. Con estos
cambios sociales y problemas medio ambientales, el futuro de la comunidades tiene que pasar
por nuevas prácticas. Ojalà sean las prácticas sostenibles. Unos modelos ya están aquí y los
resultados deberían animar a otras comunidades para que siguan. Camino al progreso
sostenible no es fácil, pero no imposible...
Esta experiencia es inolvidable. Ocho meses y media representan muchos momentos
compartidos, encuentros, paisajes, sabores y sonrisas. De las noches frías en el páramo con
sus miles de estrellas hasta la orilla de un río amazonico o en una casita abierta sobre el
Pacífico... De los Quichuas de los Andes, sus sombreros, las chalinas coloradas, el cuy, las
sopas de papas, hasta los Quichuas del Oriente, acercando un tazón de chicha, la yuca, el café,
hasta los Negros de Esmeraldas, la salsa endiablada, los corviches, los encocados, y todos los
otros... Las tortillas de maiz de Saquisilí, el morocho con empanadas del Salto, la colada
morada, el cafecito con los compañeros, la amistad de la gente...
Del fondo del corazón, quiero agradecer una vez más todos los compañeros del
CODESOCP y de Visión Mundial por este tiempo pasado juntos, por su ayuda y su amistad, y
por todo lo que me han mostrado y permitido de aprender...
- 35 -
REFERENCES / REFERENCIAS
Books / Libros
- “Agricultura organica: alternativa tecnologica del futuro”, Manuel Suquilanda, UPS-Abya
Yala-Fundagro, 1995.
- “Manual de Prácticas Agroecológicas de los Andes Ecuatorianos”, IIRR.
- “Los Páramos del Mundo”, Hofstede, Segarra, Vásconez, 2003.
Web sites / Sitios web
-
http://www.worldvision.org.ec/
http://mcknight.ccrp.cornell.edu/projects/lupine/lupine_quinoa_project.html
www.fepp.org.ec/
http://www.paramo.org/
http://www.fao.org/ag/aGp/agpc/doc/Counprof/Ecuador/ecuador.htm
Reference persons / Personas de referencía
- Ing. Agr. Gustavo Cabrera, Visión Mundial Ecuador: [email protected]
- Willians Olmos, CODESOCP.
- Ing. Agr. Angélica Mena, CODESOCP.
Addresses / Direcciones
Visión Mundial Ecuador
Av. Gaspar de Villarroel E3-62
Casilla: 17-03-40
Quito
Phone: 00593.2.2272220
CODESOCP
Calle Garcia Moreno s/n y Sucre (esq.)
Saquisilí
Telefax: 00593.3.2722182
Logos
The CODESOCP’s logo shows a flower of chuquiragua, a native plant typical of the local páramo, with the
bright colours characterizing Quichua women. / El logotipo del CODESOCP muestra una flor de chuquiragua,
una planta nativa típica del páramo, con los colores luminosos caracteristicos de las mujeres Quichua.
- 36 -
APPENDIX / ANEXOS
MAP OF THE COMMUNITIES / MAPA DE LAS COMUNIDADES
This map is available in a bigger form in the CD, as well as wider map of the region. / El mapa es disponible en
el CD, con una mucha major calidad, así que un mapa más ancho de la región.
- 37 -
MANUAL PRACTICO PARA GRANJEROS
SEMBRAR: de manera directa o indirecta (semillero).
- directa: - al voleo: semillas mezcladas con tierra seca.
- chorro continuo (por la espinaca por ejemplo): un huacho cada 40 cm.
- indirecta: - hacer un huacho cada 10 cm.
Siembra según las fases de la luna:
Las hortalizas de hoja crecen mejor en las fases de luna nueva o luna menguante,
mientras que las de raíz crecen mejor en las fases de luna creciente y luna llena!
¡Por eso, es necesario elegir el tiempo de siembra según la parte aprovechable (por ejemplo,
zanahorias en fases de luna creciente o llena)! Así:
- Luna nueva: a partir 5º día, hortalizas de hoja + especies medicinales
- Luna creciente: a partir 5º día, hortalizas de raíz + hortalizas de flor
- Luna llena: a partir 5º día, hortalizas de raíz + granos (habas, maíz…)
- Luna menguante: a partir 5º día, hortalizas de hoja + especies medicinales
TAPAR: con paja y/o ramas (¡pero no de pino o eucalipto!) para proteger contra las
lluvias y los pájaros, especialmente de las gallinas. Sacar la paja cuando emergen las
plantitas (al cabo de 8 a 14 días).
TRASPLANTAR las plantitas de los semilleros:
- Ver las indicaciones visuales para cuando trasplantar.
- Trasplantar a las últimas horas de la tarde. ¡No hacer el trasplante si hay
demasiado sol!
- ¡CUIDADO con las raíces! Ellas son muy frágiles.
- Distancia de 50 cm. entre cada hilera.
Cómo arreglar las hortalizas: Alternar hileras de plantas
de raíz (zanahoria...) con plantas de hojas, flores o frutas
(lechuga...).
SIEMBRA DIRECTA
SIEMBRA INDIRECTA
(SEMILLERO)
Hortaliza
Col
Col morada
Col repollo
Coliflor
Brócoli
Lechuga
Acelga
Cebolla puerro
Nabo
Espinaca
Remolacha
Perejil
Rábano
Zanahoria
Culantro
Tipo
Cuando
trasplantar
hoja
hoja
hoja
flor
flor
hoja
hoja
raíz
raíz
hoja
raíz
hoja
raíz
raíz
hoja
5 hojas
5 hojas
5 hojas
5 hojas
5 hojas
5 hojas
5 hojas
tallo grosor lápiz
-
- 38 -
Distancias
siembras
(cm)
40
40
40
50
40
20
25
15
20
25
5
5
2
5
5
Cosecha
después
5 meses
5 meses
5 meses
4 meses
5 meses
2.5 meses
3 meses
6 meses
2.5 meses
2.5 meses
3 meses
3 meses
1 mes
4 meses
3 meses
RALEO: para las hortalizas de siembra directa, se sacan las plantitas hasta que quede
entre ellas la distancia mencionada (por ejemplo, 25 cm. en la espinaca), dejando así
una disposición en tresbolillo.
Tresbolillo, en el caso de una distancia de 10 cm. entre siembras.
ABONO: ¡siempre orgánico! Es decir: compost: materia orgánica de origen vegetal,
animal, domestica, y ceniza o cal (¡CUIDADO: no cenizas de pino o eucalipto!); humus
de lombriz; BIOL.
ROTACIONES: en el mismo sitio, es aconsejable de alternar los cultivos. La sucesión
ideal es hortaliza de raíz > hoja > flor > grano/fruto (por ejemplo chocho o arveja).
Rotaciones
Alternar hileras de plantas de raíz con plantas de hojas
COMENTARIOS:
- cebolla puerro: al trasplantar, cortar las puntas. Así se van a crecer mejor.
- Después del trasplante de las hortalizas de la familia de la col (col, col morada, col
repollo, coliflor, brócoli), se pueden sembrar avena y vicia al lado de estos, como
abono verde. Después de la cosecha de las hortalizas, incorporar la avena y la vicia al
suelo o utilizar para alimentar los animalitos.
- Poner perejil al contorno de las terrazas. Ese se va a alejar a los insectos.
- Evitar la presencia de chilco cerca de las terrazas, ese árbol siendo un hospedero de
insectos plagas.
- 39 -
PRODUCCIÓN DE HUMUS DE LOMBRIZ
¿QUÉ ES LA LOMBRICULTURA?
La lombricultura es la crianza intensiva de lombrices, capaces de
transformar los desechos vegetales y animales en abono.
¿QUÉ LOMBRIZ ES ADECUADA?
La lombriz roja californiana (Eisenia foetida):
-
Tamaño de 6 a 10 cm.
-
Consume una cantidad diaria de alimento equivalente a su peso. Más de la
mitad de este consumo se transforma en humus.
-
Se alimenta normalmente de noche y huye la luz.
-
Vive 15 años aproximadamente.
-
Alcanza su madurez sexual a los dos o tres meses de vida y luego deposita cada
7 a 14 días una cápsula de 2 a 20 huevos que eclosionan después de 3 semanas.
Así una lombriz adulta puede tener en un año 1500 crías.
-
Puede vivir en cautiverio en poblaciones de hasta 50.000 por metro cuadrado,
produciendo así hasta 1 kg. de humus por día.
CONSTRUCCIÓN DEL LECHO (O CAMA)
El lecho se construye sobre el suelo, a manera de cajonetas, utilizando tablas y estacas,
o ladrillos.
Dimensiones: - 1 m. de ancho
- 2 m. de largo
- 40 cm. de alto.
Construir el lecho en un terreno con buen drenaje, permeabilidad y alejado de árboles
como pino y eucalipto, cuyos resinas y taninos son venenosos para las lombrices.
PREPARACIÓN DEL ALIMENTO
Para alimentar a las lombrices se necesita:
-
Materiales de origen vegetal: desechos de cosechas, sobras de la cocina, paja,
malezas, pastos, ceniza. (¡pero no de pino o eucalipto!)
-
Materiales de origen animal: purines, estiércoles, pelos, plumas, desechos de los
camales y curtiembres.
¡CUIDADO: hacer fermentar ese alimento un mes antes de darlo al las lombrices! Para
evitar la proliferación de moscas y los malos olores, será necesario de cubrir el montón
con paja.
- 40 -
¡CUIDADO! No utilizar para el alimento:
- estiércol muy fresco, porque tiende a acidificarse y calentarse durante la fase de
fermentación, lo que puede dañar a las lombrices.
- estiércol muy viejo, debido a su bajo contenido de minerales.
- estiércol de animales purgados.
- galpones de aves.
COLOCACIÓN DE ALIMENTO Y LOMBRICES EN EL LECHO
1. poner en el lecho 80 libras del alimento que ha sido descompuesto por 1 mes.
2. depositar las lombrices, en cantidad de 1 libra (= 1 puñado de dos manos) por
metro cuadrado, distribuidas a lo largo del lecho en pequeñas colonias.
3. recubrir con paja, para proteger contra los animalitos y el frío.
4. tapar con ramas (¡pero no de pino o eucalipto!)
Cada vez que el montón de alimento disminuya su volumen debe reponer un
poco.
¡CUIDADO! Debe conservar una humedad de 75% y una temperatura de 15 a 25ºC.
Evitar siempre condiciones extremas, muy secas o muy húmedas, mucho frío o mucho
calor, lo que ocasionaría la muerte de las lombrices.
RIEGO DE LOS LECHOS
El riego debe ser fino (nunca en chorro). Se debe regar para mantener el lecho húmedo,
pero sin encharcar.
ENEMIGOS DE LA LOMBRIZ
Aves, ranas, sapos, insectos, ciempiés, hormigas, ratas, chanchos.
Defensa: - construir un cerramiento al contorno de la explotación.
- regar cal y ceniza.
- poner una cobertura de ramas o mallas.
COSECHA DEL HUMUS
La primera cosecha de humus se puede hacer luego de 9 meses. Después, la cosecha se
puede realizar dos veces por año, de la siguiente manera:
1. retirar el alimento que no haya sido consumido.
2. separar las lombrices del humus efectuando los siguientes pasos:
a. abrir un canal en el centro del lecho.
b. poner en este canal nuevo alimento; las lombrices van a buscar el nuevo
alimento.
c. Retirar después de 3 días el nuevo alimento del centro del lecho con las
lombrices incluidas.
3. cosechar el humus y ponerlo a secar a la sombra.
4. cernir el humus.
Después, revolver las lombrices a su lecho con nuevo alimento.
Un lecho de tamaño 120x120x40 cm. consume 500 kg. de alimento por año y produce
200 kg. de humus.
- 41 -
INSECTOS PLAGAS
INSECTOS CHUPADORES
INSECTOS MASTICADORES
BABOSA
INSECTOS BARRENADORES
NEMÁTODO
- 42 -
BARRENADORES
MASTICADORES
CHUPADORES
Plaga
Pulgones (negros y
verdes)
cultivos atacados
coles, coliflores, habas,
flores
Mosca blanca
Forma de ataque
Forman grandes colonias localizadas
en los tallos y en el envés de las
hojas de las plantas
lechuga, acelga,
espinaca, fréjol
Trips, saltahojas,
coles, coliflor, brócoli,
chinches
cebolla
Gusanos: Trozador, coles, coliflor, acelga,
Cortador, Medidor, lechuga, maíz, habas,
de la Col,
fréjol
Cogollero
Pulguilla
fréjol, haba, papa
Minador de la hoja lechuga, acelga, fréjol,
haba
Grillos, langostas
hortalizas
Perfora las hojas
Forman galerías serpenteantes en las
hojas
Perforan las hojas y los tallos
Ácaros, arañitas
cebolla, fréjol
Daños en el envés de las hojas
Babosas
hortalizas, especialmente
lechugas, acelgas,
zanahorias y remolachas
hortalizas
Muy activas durante la noche o en
días de lluvia. Huecos grandes en las
hojas.
Perforan tallos, raíces, frutos y
bulbos. Las plantas terminan
secándose.
Gusano alambre o
alfiler, Barrenador
del Tallo,
Perforador del
Fruto
- 43 -
Se posan en grandes colonias sobre
las hojas
Atacan el follaje
Comen las plantitas después del
trasplante, hacen galerías en las
coles y en las coliflores
Remedios caseros
- macerado de ortiga
- tabaco
- agua de papas cocidas
- cebolla paiteña
- ají rojo
- ajo
- tabaco
- cebolla, ajo y vinagre
- cebolla, ajo y vinagre
- harina de trigo
- macerado de guanto
- tabaco
- macerado de insectos muertos
- macerado de guanto
- cebolla, ajo y vinagre
- tabaco
- ajo o cebolla
- macerado de insectos capturados
- macerado de insectos muertos
- tabaco con jabón
- azufre
- saquillos húmedos o pedazos de tablas
- ceniza o cal alrededor de los huachos
- trampas en el suelo
- tabaco
¡CUIDADO! Eliminar las partes afectadas del
cultivo y quemarlas.
REMEDIOS CASEROS
¡CUIDADO: todos los insectos no son plagas, bien al contrario! Un insecto debe considerarse
plaga si a simple vista se ve una población de más de cinco insectos por planta, que estén
haciendo daño.
En ese caso, se pueden aplicar remedios caseros o también se pueden atrapar y eliminar los
insectos con la mano.
¡CUIDADO: si en su huerto hay sapos, lagartijas y salamandras, PROTÉJALAS! Pues son los
principales controladores de las babosas e insectos.
******************
AGUA DE PAPAS COCIDAS: aplicar con una bomba manual el agua donde se han cocido papas.
AZUFRE: diluir una cucharada de azufre (en el mercado se encuentra bajo el nombre de Cosan, Tiovit,
Kumulus) en 1 litro de agua.
BIOL: para aumentar el tamaño de las raíces y hojas.
- En un balde, colocar 5 libras de estiércol fresco de vaca o de gallina.
- Agregar 10 litros de agua fresca.
- Tapar con un plástico grueso, cerrando fuertemente la boca del balde.
- Después de 45 días, sacar el líquido, filtrar y añadir 10 litros más de agua fresca.
- Aplicar al suelo con una regadera.
CEBOLLA, AJO Y VINAGRE: machacar, moler o licuar una cabeza grande de cebolla y 4 dientes de
ajo en 2 litros de agua. Agregar a esta mezcla 1 taza de vinagre, mezclar bien, filtrar y aplicar a los
cultivos afectados con una bomba manual.
CENIZA O CAL CONTRA LAS BABOSAS: poner ceniza o cal alrededor de los huachos donde se
encuentran las plantas que son atacadas por las babosas, estas no pasaran por encima de estos
materiales pues al entrar en contacto se deshidratan y mueren.
JABÓN O SUERO: se puede agregar en las cocciones para incrementar la efectividad de los remedios.
MACERADO DE INSECTOS CAPTURADOS: capturar unos 12 insectos y matarlos aplicando una
tasa de agua caliente. Machacar los insectos, luego añadir agua fría hasta completar 1 galón, dejar
reposar la mezcla dos días y aplicar con aspersión.
MACERADO DE INSECTOS MUERTOS: buscar en el follaje de los cultivos o en el suelo a
insectos que hayan muerto de manera natural (5-10 insectos), machacarlos y luego diluirlos en dos
litros de agua. Aplicar con una bomba manual. Con ese remedio utilizamos la enfermedad (hongos,
virus, bacterias) que mató a los insectos que recogimos. En este caso, los insectos mueren enfermos
y no envenenados.
SAQUILLOS HÚMEDOS O PEDAZOS DE TABLAS: contra las babosas. Colocar saquillos
húmedos o pedazos de tablas junto a las plantas que están siendo atacadas. Al día siguiente buscar a
las babosas debajo de estas y eliminar manualmente.
TRAMPAS EN EL SUELO CONTRA BABOSAS: conseguir pequeños recipientes como latas de
atún, tarrinas o pequeños mates, abrir hoyos junto a las plantas atacadas y enterrar los recipientes
hasta su borde; a continuación llenar estos recipientes con agua azucarada con levadura. Las
babosas acudirán en la noche atraídas por el fermento, beberán el líquido y embriagadas caerán a los
recipientes donde quedarán atrapadas para morir ahogadas. Retirar al siguiente día los animales
muertos y dejar que la trampa siga funcionando. Se puede colocar una trampa cada dos metros.
- 44 -
Nombre común
Parte usada
Altamisa = marco
hojas, flores
y tallo
Usado
contra
insectos
Dosis
Preparación
Aplicación
Efectos buscados
4 libras por 2 litros de
agua
machacar y dejar enserenar
durante 24 horas. Diluir en 15
litros de agua
cocción durante 20 minutos
pulverización
10 dientes por 1
galón de trago
macerar los dientes machacados
por 24 horas. Disolver un litro de
la solución en una bomba de 20
litros.
1 atado de materia
fresca por 1 litro de
agua
2 kg. materia fresca
por 10 litros de agua
1 libra en 1 litro de
agua
cocción más de 1 hora
pulverización en el follaje
de los cultivos afectados.
Guardar el sobrante en un
lugar sin luz.
pulverización en pleno sol
por tres días consecutivo,
cada 10-15 días
pulverización localizada
Lucha contra
pulgones, pulgas y
hormigas
Lucha contra
pulgones y otras
enfermedades
Lucha contra
pulgones y otras
enfermedades
10 dientes por 1
galón de agua
Ajo
dientes
insectos
hongos
Cola de caballo
planta entera,
excepto raíz
insectos
hongos
Diente de león =
taraxaco
Guanto
¡CUIDADO: planta
toxica!
Llantén
toda la planta
insecticida
hojas, frutos,
flores
insecticida
toda la planta
insecticida
Manzanilla
toda la planta
insectos
hongos
Ortiga
planta entera,
excepto raíz
insecticida
2 kg. materia fresca
por 10 litros de agua
Retama
tallos, hojas
abono foliar
Saúco
hojas y flores
insecticida
Tabaco
hojas
insecticida
19 kg. en 20 litros de
agua
50 gr. por 1litro de
agua
1 atado de materia
fresca en 1 galón de
agua
1 kg. materia fresca
por 10 litros de agua
2 atados por galón
- 45 -
cocción por 30 minutos
purín: macerar durante 48
horas; diluir en 20 veces su
volumen
infusión
pulverización en el follaje
de los cultivos afectados
aspersión
aspersión
cocinar a fuego lento hasta
que la cantidad de líquido se
consuma hasta la mitad.
macerar durante 24 horas
aspersión
dejar en reposo en 20 litros de
agua
decocción de flores
aspergear a las plantas
cocinar durante 20 minutos,
dejar enfriar, filtrar y agregar
agua pura hasta completar 30
litros
pulverización
pulverización
(¡pero no en pleno sol!)
aspersión
Resistencia a
enfermedades
Estimula el
crecimiento
Matar a los insectos
Lucha contra los
pulgones y chinches
Resistencia a
enfermedades
Mejorar la resistencia
de la planta y repeler
a los pulgones
Mejorar el desarrollo
de las plantas
Contra los pulgones
de los frutales
Lucha contra los
chupadores,
pulgones,
cochinillas, larvas
MANUAL PARA LAS PLANTACIONES
DE ÁRBOLES NATIVOS
La práctica ha mostrado que la presencia de árboles tiene un papel muy importante en la
lucha contra la erosión y el mejoramiento de los cultivos. Ese manual tiene por meta de
describir cómo plantar los árboles de mejor manera.
ÁRBOLES NATIVOS:
- altos:
aliso, acacia, capulí, cholán
- medianos: yagual (árbol de papel), quishuar (chanchunka), chinchil, tilo,
guanto, saúco, lechero, foconero
- arbustos: retamaliso, retama escoba, chilco, supirosa
ÁRBOLES EXÓTICOS (altos): pino, eucalipto, ciprés
¡CUIDADO! No es aconsejable de plantar pinos y eucaliptos en zonas cultivables, por esas dos razones:
1. las hojas de los pinos y los eucaliptos tienen substancias acidas que dañan al suelo y a los
cultivos cuando caen.
2. los pinos y los eucaliptos sacan mucha agua del suelo.
La manera de plantar varia según lo que se quiere hacer: cortina rompevientos, barreras
vivas o bosquetes.
a. CORTINA ROMPEVIENTOS: Se utiliza para proteger a los cultivos de erosiones eólicas
(por acción del viento), y contra las heladas. Alternar árboles altos, medianos y
arbustos, de la siguiente manera:
Si sólo hay a disposición quishuar (Q), yagual (Y) y retama (R), plantar como sigue:
Es importante hacer notar que por cada metro que crece un árbol se protege 5 metros
en forma horizontal. Así:
b. BARRERA VIVA: Para luchar contra la erosión hídrica (provocada por el agua). Se
planta en contra de la pendiente del terreno, es decir, siguiendo las curvas de nivel.
Plantar solo un tipo de árbol por barrera, haciendo líneas de yaguales, quishuares o de
retamas, de la siguiente manera:
Las barreras vivas se las debe plantar de acuerdo a la pendiente del terreno. En suelos
con una pendiente menor se plantan las barreras cada 40-50 m; en cambio en terrenos
con mayor pendiente se las hace cada 10-20 m. Puede ser bueno hacer un pequeño
canal por arriba de los árboles, para que el agua pueda salir del terreno más fácilmente.
c. BOSQUETES: con plantas nativas (para la protección de vertientes y ojos de agua) y
con plantas exóticas (para terrenos con mucha pendiente y erosionados). Plantar en
tresbolillo (ver dibujo), con una distancia de 3 metros para las plantas nativas y 4
metros para las plantas exóticas.
COMO HACER LOS HUECOS:
Hacer huecos de 40 cm. de ancho, 40 cm. de largo y 40 cm. de profundidad, porque las raíces
necesitan suficientemente espacio para abrirse y alimentarse. Llenar el hueco con tierra suelta
de buena calidad hasta más que la mitad, de manera que el árbol sea a la superficie del suelo.
¡COMENTARIOS!
- Comprar las plantitas en un vivero que tenga condiciones más o menos parecidas al lugar
donde se va a realizar la plantación.
- Plantar en invierno entre los meses de septiembre a abril para asegurar prendimiento de los
arbolitos.
- 47 -
COORDENADAS DE LAS FINCAS
Las fincas aparecen según su posición al largo de la carretera, desde la parte baja de la
comunidad hasta la parte alta.
PROPIETARIO
Alejandro Espinel
Negrete + Doña Nelly
Gonzalo Vargas
Rafael Negrete + Isabel
Chicaiza
Joaquin Cofre + Isabel
Toapanta
Miguel Lasso + Doña
Esther
Eleseo Vargas
Rafael Cofre
Fidel Vargas
Antonio Vargas
Anguisaca
Jorge Vargas
COORDENADAS
17749583 E
9911980 N
17749566 E
9912019 N
17749556 E
9911936 N
17749618 E
9911585 N
17749479 E
9910956 N
17749035 E
9910265 N
ALTITUD (MSNM)
3540
3531
3556
3602
3618
3680
(Punto en la carretera)
17748838 E
9910188 N
17748770 E
9910108 N
17748725 E
9910063 N
Doña Marta
Manuel Chicaiza
Anguisaca + Doña Maria
Dolores
Elsa Vargas
Manuel Condolli
3723
3702
3690
17748950 E
9909919 N
3745
17748454 E
9909547 N
3729
(finca Manuel Condolli)
Coordenadas tomadas con GPS el 16.05.06 - A. Mena y Ph. Reymond
Las partes en gris tienen que ser controladas.
DATOS CLIMATICOS DE JATUN ERA
E
F
M
A
M
Epoca de lluvia
Epoca de sequía
Epoca de heladas
Epoca de granizo
Epoca de viento
- 48 -
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
CROQUIS DE LA FINCA DE DON MANUEL CHICAIZA – JATUN ERA
- 49 -
PARTE 2
- 50 -
CD WITH PICTURES / CD CON FOTOS
Content:
1. Report in PDF format.
2. Photos report CODESOCP: the pictures I took during the internship, classified
according to the chapters of the report.
3. Taller permacultura: the PowerPoint presentation of the workshop I made in Jatun
Era.
4. Activities Saquisilí: the journal of my daily activities with Visión Mundial and the
CODESOCP.
Contenido:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Informe en formato PDF.
Fotos de la pasantía en el CODESOCP, clasificadas según los capitulos del informe.
Taller de permacultura en Jatun Era: presentación PowerPoint.
Actividades: el diario de mis actividades con Visión Mundial y el CODESOCP.
- 51 -