An Overview Of Our Solution
The project intends to install 10 green houses of protected agriculture in the indigena sierra of Jalisco, Mexico. These green houses will include irrigation systems, and will involve the participation of local families in the construction, seeding of the plants, caring of vegetables, cooking process and consume and sales. Each greenhouse unit measurements are 45 m2 which represents the conservation of 1 ha of forest area, in a full measurement the project intends to conserve 10 hectare of forest plantation.
The diversity of vegetal products, the way of production and the inclusion of indigena communities make these project a viable effort.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Suburban
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: North America
General Information
Organization type
À but non lucratif
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Forests
Population impacted
60
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
540 m2
Production quantity
1000 kilos per green house, 2 cycles in the year, complete project 20 000 kilos
People employed
7
Solution
Describe your solution
The solution proposed is to install 10 green houses each one whit 45 m2, in this greenhouses families can produce different products that will nourish them and have more complete diet, greenhouses production will prevent destroying forest area. In addition to this greenhouses, there will be an accompaniment with capacity building in areas as seeding, crop rotation, soil conservation and reforestation.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
The installation of 10 green houses will take two months
Building Capacities Training will be for a month topics: organic composite, seeding, human development, forest conservation
Forest conservation activities: one month and a supervision of the actions
One of the key success factors is the experience the organization have, the acceptance of the communities, the principal obstacle is the distance to this isolated communities but the company have vehicles and the experience of 4 years that can assure a successful project
External connections
Provider.- the one that sales greenhouses and its implements
Government.- To give following to the actions
Desarrollos para un Futuro Sustentable, A.C..- Organization that manage the project
Climate Project. Org. Association that provide capacity building in climate project topics
European Union.- The organization personal, has been trained by European union in climate project topics.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
Traditional agriculture involves environmental destructive practices like forest burning, uncontrolled irrigation, in the study area each family need 5000 m2 for its own production of corn, so its diet its not variety, the bet of produce in green houses its orientated to save water and save forest area, adding to the green houses, reforestation and soil conservation practices. In Mexico deforestation affects 300 thousand to 400 thousand hectare of forest and jungle, one of the principal predators of forest conservation is agriculture,.
Describe the context in which you are operating
Wixarica Communities are indigena isolated communities, they belong to huichol indigena ethnic group, to get there its is needed to drive 5 hours in a terrace road, the conditions of poverty, lack of education has forced to this communities in some cases to produce marihuana plantations, the other activities that are developed in the area are the arts and crafts, production, as well the migration to bigger cities, threatening the permanence of the indigena community. For this ethnic group their relation whith nature is so important as they believe in nature as their mother, the conservation of their ecosystems is very important, agriculture and climate change threads the permanence of forest surface and water disponibility.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
The use of green houses will preserve semi arid forest environment including its vegetable and animal subjects.
The project Will impact positively in the local communities, its activities, ways of living and nutrition.
Language(s)
Spanish
Water
Protected agriculture contributes to save water, its controlled irrigation systems use technology that prevents the spend of water, marking a difference to traditional agriculture. The use of protected agriculture units, prevent deforestation of hundreds hectare forest, this conservation of forest contributes to conserve aquifer, soil, and subsoil.
Food Security/Nutrition
The implementation of greenhouses will improve the communities food security by having variety of vegetable products, and the availability of these products in their isolated communities The implementation of the project will improve in the nutrition of the communities by the diversity of vegetable products
Economic/Sustainable Development
The production of this units can be sold in 10,000 Dlls in a city market conditions, but considering the distance to this isolates communities the price of common products tends to increase. The production of this protected agriculture units will save $18,000 Dlls to the families benefited whit those protected agriculture units
Climate
Climate change represents a big challenge for isolated communities, de availability of water is decreasing, the desertification is growing, so the production of vegetable products in a controlled environment, taking care of the quantity of water that will be administrated insides in the diminution of forest logging. Traditional agriculture involves forest logging, and the change of soil uses, so the implementation of the present project that will develop agriculture in controlled environment in
Sustainability
Each greenhouse will produce vegetables to saving costs about the food in the families. With thus saves the producers could buy news seeds (the cost of the seeds is a 5% of the vegetables now). On the other hand the goverment have social programs to support this kind of projects.
Return on investment
Each Greenhuse, its irrigation system cost $2,000 dls
The implementation of 10 grenhuses cost $20,000 dls
The operation of the program, capacity building, transport, and following of the project $10,000 dls
The complete project cost $30,000 dls
Considering purchase price of vegetable products, 1$ per kilo, the production of 20,000 kilos of vegetable products per year, the investment will have a return time less than a year.
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Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
This same project has been realized in the past, the organization has built 44 green houses in the indigena communities, this past project was founded whit government resources, whit this application to agriculture and sustainability found its pretend to give continuity to the project, so the possibility of replicance has been proved, the organization Desarrrollos para un Futuro Sustentable, A.C. has worked in the indigena communities whit this type of project for more than 4 years.