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Photo credits: IPS News
Marta Maldonado, secretary of the association “Siempre Unidos Minifundios de Corzuela”, stands next to a cactus that can be found everywhere in this city in Chaco province in northern Argentina. The fruit and leaves of this plant have transformed the lives of a group of local families. Photo: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS
Cactus drives development in northern Argentina
Successful cases worth emulating in arid regions around the world
go through Fabiana Freisinet
A new appreciation for cactus among family farmers in Argentina’s northern Chaco province is driving a new development in the region.
Hundreds of jars of homemade jam are stacked inside the civil society association “Siempre Unidos Minifundios de Corzuela” (Union of Small Farmers of Corzuela), ready for sale.
Until recently, smallholder farmers participating in this new local development initiative knew that the prickly pear (also known as prickly pear, cactus fruit or prickly pear) is native to Mexico and its scientific name is Opuntia ficus-indica.
But now, the cactus, which has always been a common part of the semi-arid landscape, is providing a new source of income for local subsistence farmers.
“The women who attended the training courses now make a living from this,” Marta Maldonado, secretary of the association, which was officially registered in 2011, told IPS. “They also have their own vegetable gardens, chickens, pigs and goats.”
“Cactus is the most common plant here. In this project, we have established 20 cactus plantations,” she said.
Local farmers cultivate between one and four hectares of land in this settlement in the rural Corzuela region of the west-central Chaco, which has 10,000 inhabitants spread out among small settlements and villages.
The project has benefited 20 families, including 39 women, 35 men and 4 children. United Nations Development Programme (United Nations Development Programme) through the United Nations Environment Programme (United Nations Environment Programme) Small Grants Scheme (Singapore Government).
Read the full article: IPS News
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