Farming for the Future
Program Overview
Our Farming for the Future initiative is inspired by the community’s commitment to sustainable agriculture and by the need to diversify crop production to ensure access to healthy, nutritious food. In 2024, we hope to encourage the production of fruits and vegetables through agroecological processes, friendly to the environment, and to see a market for the surplus production! We will also work on developing workshops focused on the nutritional value of the food we eat and how to properly consume oils.
Caminos de Accion kicked off organic agriculture workshops in 2018 to educate and empower the community toward a more sustainable and healthy future. In El Salvador, environmental degradation and food insecurity go hand in hand. Years of manipulation by industrial farming and modern food system pressures have eroded indigenous food capacity and environmental stewardship.
Rather than providing opportunity, current farm systems have caused the disappearance of local food cultures, agricultural wisdom and ecology-minded foresight. Traditional knowledge of sustainable agricultural techniques coupled with organic approaches to cultivating indigenous perennial crops helps to create food sustainability, health & nutrition, resource preservation and increased income.
Food unites all of humanity. Food is global as it is local. Fostering community-based organic agriculture and sustainability practices will help the citizens of rural La Paz to eat healthier and feel better, all while providing increased income generation opportunities.
The Farming for the Future Program is an umbrella term for the work that we do concerning education and the environment. Our Program is accompanied with Leadership training, organic agriculture workshops, and a children’s agroecological program! Our Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Program is also part of our Farming for the Future Program as well.
Aided by one of our partners, the American Friends Service Committe (AFSC), we were fortunate enough to have a professionally made video showcasing what our Farming for the Future Program is about!
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
We know that water is life, yet for the community of Tehuiste Abajo and Tehuiste Arriba, access to clean water is a daily struggle. The local water source - the river - is drive for six months of the year leaving the community to gather water from puddles or forcing women/children to resort to walking miles to other communities. The community’s water is highly contaminated with feces and E. coli, and 82% of the population has parasites from fecal-oral contamination. We’re continuing our work with local government and citizens to change this as we envision a day when the entire community has access to safe, clean water.
To learn more about the work we do to supply clean water to Los Tehuistes click below!
Children’s Agroecological School
The Children’s Agroecological School was born in 2019 as a response to a problem the community raised in relation to waste management and the lack of training on the environment, recycling, reforestation, and agroecology. Run by our Scholarship Students, younger kids from schools in Tehuiste Arriba, Tehuiste Abajo, and San Jeronimo participate in rotating monthly workshops focused on understanding what the environment is, the three R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle), and how to take care of the environment.
Through this program, students also learned how to create organic fertilizers and plant fruits and veggies. Fruit and timber trees, through CONFRAS from El Salvador, were planted on the banks of the two rivers surrounding the communities, and cleaning campaigns were also carried out in the streets of the community.
To learn more about the Children’s Agroecological School Click the button below!
