Bolivia | Peru: Organic farming in the Andes
Here, the climate crisis is compounding already extreme conditions: in the Andean highlands, fewer and fewer families are able to make a living from farming. As their villages disappear, so do their communities and cultures.
Your donation makes Misereor’s work possible all over the world. For example, it helps people to restore depleted soils to fertility and to free themselves from poverty and hunger for good.
- Latin & Central America
A good harvest, a secure future
Misereor’s partner organisations, such as the Asociación Agroecología y Fe, help families and village communities to develop sustainable farming practices – even in the face of the climate crisis. In their courses, they teach participants how to propagate hardy seeds and produce organic fertiliser. They demonstrate how to revitalise completely parched soil. But they also provide support with infrastructure, particularly when it comes to the scarce resource of water. For example, by working with local people to construct large rainwater catchment basins, cisterns and canals. This ensures that fields and greenhouses can be reliably irrigated even during the unpredictable dry season. Silos protect crops and livestock feed, safeguarding supplies throughout the year. On the land owned by the participating families in the Cochabamba region, hardy potato varieties, nutrient-rich vegetables and fodder crops now grow at an altitude of just under 4,000 metres. Rows of trees and hedges surrounding the fields protect the soil and alter the microclimate.
Helping people to help themselves, which strengthens the community
Until now, many young people in particular have had to leave their villages to seek sources of income in the larger towns and cities. A bleak prospect: living in a slum, cut off from family and friends. Hard, precarious, poorly paid work. Thanks to the new, sustainable farming methods, families are now able to grow surplus produce, which they sell at local markets. This gives the younger generation, in particular, hope for a secure and dignified life in their home region.
On agriculture and social participation
In Peru, Misereor’s partner organisation REDES is achieving success with a similar, holistic approach. Through courses on regional development planning and civil rights, as well as its own radio programmes, it also strengthens the political self-confidence of village communities, enabling them to represent their interests with confidence.
Here’s how your support makes a difference:
- Soil regeneration: High-yield arable soils are regenerated and preserved naturally – through targeted erosion control and plant protection.
- Agroforestry: Around 210 fruit and vegetable fields, managed according to modern agroforestry principles, have already been established around Cochabamba.
- Water security: Irrigation systems with large water reservoirs safeguard harvests even during prolonged periods of drought.
- Local food security: 150 high-yield kitchen gardens and ‘productive courtyards’ in areas close to the city help families to feed themselves well.
- Rights: Training and radio projects empower communities so that they can play an active role in shaping policy.
Would you like to find out more about our charity projects? Then read our magazine “Weiter.wirken” now. The magazine about and for the people who make a difference at Misereor.
When making a donation by bank transfer, please quote the reference “S63402 Bolivia/Peru: Organic farming in the Andes” in the payment reference field. This lets us know which project is particularly close to your heart; your contribution will be channelled as a general donation towards this work and Misereor’s overall global mission.
To ensure that your donation has an impact in the long term, Misereor uses a small proportion for important administration an related tasks. This way, we make sure that projects are selected carefully and implemented responsibly and that their effects are regularly monitored. Should it not be possible to use your donation as planned, we will use it where it is currently needed most.
Our local partner organisations
Fundación Eclesial "Agroécología y Fe"
Misereor has been working with several parishes in the Bolivian department of Cochabamba since the 1980s. Since then, important advisory work has been carried out on ecological farming methods that protect nature and enable farmers to produce their own seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. In recent years, the Sipe Sipe, Tacopaya and Santa Vera Cruz parish teams have supported small farming families in improving their production and generating a small income through suitable soil protection measures, small irrigation systems and the creation of vegetable gardens. In 2017, the three teams joined forces to form the "Agriculture and Faith" consortium(Fundación Eclesial "Agroécología y Fe").
REDES
Misereor's project partner in Peru is the organisation REDES. It began its work in 1989 as an advisory organisation in the areas of peacebuilding and human rights. Since 1993, it has been supporting small farmers and village communities in areas such as rural development, erosion control and the implementation of climate-adapted agriculture.
Suzanne Lemken
Donor Communications
- Telephone
- +49 241 442127
- suzanne.lemken@misereor.de
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