Bolivia – A Salesian project in Kami to promote food sovereignty

27 April 2021

(ANS - Kami) - A project of the Salesian NGO "Bosco Global", supported by the Agency for Development Cooperation of Extremadura (AEXCID), has made it possible to improve the life of rural communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia, following criteria of eco-sustainability. This project involves the "Construction of a productive, participatory and equitable model that promotes food sovereignty in the rural communities of Cochabamba", which has been essential in promoting the development of the communities starting from the improvement of agro-pastoral productivity.

The formation and training of agro-pastoral promoters was a clear priority of the project, and also aimed at extending the project's range of action, allowing to replicate the knowledge transmitted in each community. At the same time, the project has also worked to promote food sovereignty - that is, the possibility for farmers and ranchers to also control the mechanisms and policies of food production and distribution - and fostering the involvement and empowerment of women.

The project's fields of action concerned:

-       Growing potatoes and vegetables in greenhouses;

-       Pest management and control and open field nurseries for pine production;

-       Community breeding of pigs;

-       And community breeding of fish, especially trout, in special tanks.

The beneficiaries of this project today testify: “At the course we learned how to manage the cultivation of potatoes, and by returning we shared the knowledge with our base camp. This is important for us, to be able to learn something.” “We have improved our nutrition compared to our previous life,” adds another farmer; while a young woman shares: “They helped us to create the fields, in the construction of trout tanks ...”. And yet another farmer adds: “In the countryside we have always lived on agriculture. This is our life, and we are grateful for all of this.”

The use of improved seeds in potato cultivation, in addition to the correct use of fertilizers and fungicides, has made it possible to obtain much higher yields than usual, since they have reached an average of 25 tons per hectare, while with the use of traditional (unimproved) seeds, yields of between 6 and 12 tons per hectare were barely reached.

Furthermore, up to the 2019 management, the potato harvest benefited 54 families, while in 2020 it directly reached 91.

In the pig farm, the project involved 10 beneficiary families from 7 different communities and the pig farms have been improved and expanded. Now the farm is in full swing: from the communities of Calacalani and Chuchuata, pigs are already being brought to the Kami center for slaughter; and the pork processing process, labeled "Embutidos Kami" (Kami cured meats), with products such as serrano-type ham, smoked ham, pork salami, llama salami, grilled chorizo, is successfully marketed also in the Hipermaxi and Ticti markets, north of the city of Cochabamba.

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ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007.

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