Grow Clean Food & Harvest Water in Rural Oaxaca

Grow Clean Food & Harvest Water in Rural Oaxaca

Summary

We provide practical solutions for improving quality of life for 30 rural families in Oaxaca by teaching them how to grow their own food, catch rainwater for irrigation, and cook with solar energy.

More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

Rural communities in Oaxaca, Mexico face severe problems related to overexploited agricultural lands, water scarcity, and natural resource depletion. Technical and practical knowledge in green technologies is necessary to increase local self-sufficiency, create better living conditions, and preserve the region's biodiversity and cultural identity. This project offers hands-on training and practical solutions for communities to restore the landscape, grow their own food, and use renewable energy.

Activities

Organic gardens teach families how to grow clean food to improve their diets. Rainwater storage tanks provide a reliable source of water in arid landscapes. Solar energy ovens use renewable energy to cook and reduce the dependence on fossil fuels.

“Water and Food Security for Small Farmers in Oaxaca, Mexico”
(A project by the Group to Promote Education and Sustainable Development)


1.- BACKGROUND

The Group to Promote Education and Sustainable Development (GRUPEDSAC, the Group) was born under the name of “Volunteer Ecologists of Tecamachalco” and started working as a group of volunteers in 1987 to aid in the solution of environmental and poverty problems in Mexico.

Most of its work was dedicated to environmental education and to develop sustainable development projects in marginalized, rural communities.   In January of 1990, the Group became legally constituted according to Mexican Laws as a non-profit organization. 

In 1992, the Group began the construction of its first training and demonstration center: “Sustainable Rural Development Training Center” (CEDER), using appropriate technologies.  Our intention was to offer technical and practical training and demonstrate sustainable living solutions to small farmers, indigenous peoples, and the overall community.

The correct application of appropriate technologies demonstrated therein, allowed people to become self sufficient in water, housing, food, and energy.  It also improved their productivity and income, and thus, their quality of life.

During 1992, we began projects with women on reproductive health, human development, cultivating of organic family gardens, health and nutrition improvement activities, food processing, handicrafts, and literacy.

In 1994, the Group changed its name to Group to Promote Education and Sustainable Development, and obtained authorization from the Mexican Treasury Department to give tax deductible receipts to its donors.

In 1996, funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Group started a pilot project with 60 families in the State of Mexico, who received training at the CEDER and micro-credit loans to begin sustainable small businesses.  The results of this project were outstanding and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation decided to send groups of people coming from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean to receive training and be able to replicate and apply the acquired knowledge in their countries.

In 2002, GRUPEDSAC began the construction of another training and demonstration center in Ejutla, Oaxaca with seed money from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  This was part of an initiative to provide donations to organizations who had been trained at the CEDER, and were committed to building similar centers to promote appropriate technologies.

We chose to take action in the state of Oaxaca because of the extreme poverty conditions that exist, the accelerated deforestation rates, and the environmental losses that plague the state, which simultaneoulsy boasts the highest biodiversity in Mexico. 
The Group’s idea was to be able to demonstrate and offer viable sustainable solutions for rural communties in the semi-dry tropic areas of Oaxaca.

Among GRUPEDSAC´s most important accomplishments has been the construction of these two training centers where hundreds of people have been able to learn and adopt practical solutions in order to satisfy their basic needs of water, food, housing, and energy, with a focus on using regional materials and preserving their natural resources.

GRUPEDSAC created a successful model that has been replicated by other organizations throughout Mexico and in the rest of Latin America.

GRUPEDSAC specializes in training small farmers, members of other non-profit organizations, government officials, students, and industrial sector employees, among others.

Rural community development projects have been carried out in the states of Oaxaca, State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Yucatán, San Luis Potosi, Chihuahua, Sonora, Jalisco, Morelos, and Michoacán.  These communities received training to create water storage cisterns, green houses to produce organic vegetables, organic family gardens, stables for sheeps, chicken and rabbit pens, manual pumps to be able to easily pump water from a well, wood saving stoves, solar fruit dehidrators, solar stoves and ovens, and sewage and grey water treatment systems.  Additionally, individuals have learned how to build homes and other needed structures using locally available natural materials such as mud, strawbales, cob, and bamboo.

In 1993, GRUPEDSAC received the Environmental Merit Award from the State of Mexico Government.  In addition, it received the 2006 National Merit Award from the Federal Environmental Department.

GRUPEDSAC is credited with the following publications:  “Sustainable Development Model in a Rural Mexican Community”; “Monitoring and Evaluation of a Microfinancing Web of Institutions” and “Sustainability and Development: Women Voices”. 


2.- CHALLENGES TO BE ADDRESSED BY THE PROJECT

Water scarcity
Water pollution
Land erosion and poor soil
Use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agricultural lands
Lack of food security
Low income
Malnutrition
Lack of awareness on possible sustainable solutions

3.- PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Provide 30 families with clean water to cover their basic needs.
Train 30 families in sustainable agricultural practices, soil restoration, appropriate water management, and rainwater harvesting.
Installation of 30 organic biointensive family gardens to produce large amounts of food in small spaces and guarantee their food security.
Increase family income through the marketing of organic products.
Improve the nutritional diets and overall health of 30 families through the availability of fresh produce and medicinal herbs for home remedies. 
Provide facilitation, decision making, and self-management skills to improve the  community’s negotiation abilities.
Create a model program with 30 families to be replicated in the future.

4.- EXPECTED RESULTS

Thirty families will each have a 10,000 liter cistern to collect and store rainwater. 
Thirty families will have retrofitted their household roofs to harvest rainwater.
Thirty families will have learned and applied land restoration techniques.
Thirty families will be maintaining organic biointensive gardens to produce enough vegetables for their consumption and will have remnants to sell.
Thirty families will eat a more balanced diet by consuming the products from their local garden.
Thirty families will gain knowledge on water management, rain water harvesting,  building rain water collection cisterns,  cultivating organically,  restore their eroded soils, making compost and vermicompost as well as natural pesticides and biological plague control techniques.  The beneficiaries will be able to share their new knowledge with  others in the community.
Thirty families will learn to administrate small family businesses.
Families will be better organized for their self development.