Facts
Aims
The aim of the project is to protect and support indigenous women and men in their natural habitat. Their food they rely on should improve in quality thanks to agroecological farming. With the introduction of chicken, their diet will become more varied and also richer in protein. The project is focusing in the first instance on women, helping them become actively involved in decision-making processes.
This project is co-financed by the SDC program contribution.
The project is over. Read about its success here.
Four Embera communities call the indigenous reserve on Colombia’s Pacific coast their home. They live from hunting and fishing, gathering wood and picking forest fruits. But the animals they hunt are retreating deeper and deeper into the forest, and in the rivers, fish are increasingly rare. To feed themselves, the Embera are forced to clear more and more forest areas and to plant fields. With traditional cultivation methods abandoned over time and much knowledge now lost, the yields they achieve are still small. And more and more forest is disappearing. It is a vicious circle.
Through agroforestry and organic farming, the indigenous women and men are improving their food situation for the long term and taking a stand against the destruction of natural resources in their area.
Reforestation and other options
The project in Bahía Solano will give indigenous women, men and children greater long-term food security and improve their chances of making a sustainable living. The following specific measures will be implemented:
- 137 nutrient-rich agroforestry plots will be created, on which crops such as manioc, sugar cane, cocoa and avocado can grow alongside.
- The smallholders will attend workshopes to learn about agroecological farming.
- Four tree nurseries will be created for reforestation.
- A sustainable chicken farm will provide indigenous families with a source of protein other than that of wild animals.
- A press will be installed for the extraction of nutrient-rich sugar cane juice.
- Efficient cookers will help to save wood.
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Break the vicious circle
With these measures, the Embera communities will make a stand against the destruction of natural resources. By adopting agroforestry and organic farming principles, they will create sustainable farming systems and thus improve their food situation in the long term. Their harvest yields can be doubled, so as to meet the families’ own needs – with the chickens, their diet will become richer in protein. What is more, by selling part of their harvest and some chickens and eggs, the families will finally be able to earn extra income. The riverbanks will be reforested and more fish will spawn among the mangroves. The vicious circle will be broken and will be replaced by a cycle that protects the forest sustainably as a place for indigenous people to live.
The project is over!
The project improved the food and income situation of 700 members of the Embera community, based on sustainable agriculture, the promotion of community forest management and the development of alternative sources of income.
Agroeclogy
– 102 families have implemented agroecological practices on 130 hectares and have been able to increase their agricultural production by diversifying their plots. Their crops include yucca, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, corn, rice and pineapple.
– The farmers have considerably reduced their use of pesticides and fertilizers, or in some cases, even eliminated them altogether.
– The harvest is large enough to feed families and sell surpluses. It increased the income of men and women. The families mainly sell products at markets in the El Valle district, around 1.5 hours away by canoe.
Seeds
– The seeds supplied and self-selected (corn, rice, yucca and bananas) have optimized the use of existing cultivated areas. Crop production increased by almost 90% with the introduction of the project.
– Nearly 5,000 tree seedlings were planted after being cultivated in four newly-created municipal nurseries. The tree species planted can reach up to 15 meters in height and ensures that the river banks are better protected from erosion.
Diversification
– 76 families have set up chicken farms. Chickens provide eggs and meat, making them a valuable source of protein.
– The 26 more energy-efficient stoves designed in 2019 are working perfectly. Wood consumption has been reduced compared with traditional stoves, and harmful smoke emissions have been cut.
