SAN GREGORIO ATLAPULCO, Mexico, Sep 18 (IPS) – Mexican Crescencio Hernández orders radishes, herbs and lettuce to be shipped to another market in west-central Mexico City.
Vegetables are harvested for him it has a mapa pre-Hispanic swamp farming system that occupies three areas south of Mexico’s capital, although it is surrounded by many threats.
Hernández, 44, married without children, said the success of the traditional process is due to good habits. “We make sure that there is no sewage in the canals, which are not built in this area, we do not use agricultural and forestry chemicals every year,” explained the owner of Crescen de la Chinampa when he visited the area. it has a map with IPS.
With three employees, Hernández harvests about 500 kilograms of vegetables each week, including tomatoes, peppers, peppers and spinach, from the plant. it has a map he owns and borrows the other from the city of San Gregorio Atlapulco, home to about 24,000 people and part of the state of Xochimilco, known as the ‘land of flowers’.
From the municipality of Acambay, in the state of Mexico (adjacent to Mexico City), Hernández has been a city. it has a map a farmer (china apple) for 28 years, the work he shares with his brother, who rents one of these lands to produce for farming.
In 2017, he stopped using agrochemicals and now uses compost from organic matter produced by the farm. In June, he moved the greenhouse inside it has a map planting tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber.
“The basis of this program is water, we conserve it. I produce various products to meet the demand, as I am asked for many products, and I take care of the soil,” he said.
But what about him and others it has a map farmers protect, destroyed in nearby areas, in accordance with the authorities, who are responsible for protecting these unique areas.
Improper urbanization, the use of pesticides, the effects of extreme weather, over-exploitation of the aquifer and neglect have dug holes in their guts. it has a mapaccording to the study of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Zone Authority (AZP) in Xochimilco, Tláhuac and Milpa Alta.
AZP, established in 2014, manages the preservation of the special wetlands ecosystem to maintain its World Heritage designation.
To be vague
It was used by the first people inampasa word from sweetwhich in the native Nahuatl language means ‘reed fence’, long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 15th century.
This technique creates small, rectangular gardens in the wetlands of a small region, using artificial fences ahuejote (willow), a common tree of this ecosystem that can tolerate a lot of water.
Under the it has a map rich in silt and organic waste, which provides nutrients for plant growth, irrigated with water from canals, in one of the most studied areas in the center of the country.
I inampas a vegetable garden that partially feeds the 22 million people of Mexico City and its suburbs.
I the chinampas the system conserves water, produces fish, vegetables, flowers and medicinal plants, and saves water compared to traditional irrigation, with a network of 135 km of canals.
Luis Zambrano, a doctor of basic ecology at the Institute of Biology de of the public National Autonomous University of Mexico, believes that inampas they had good times and bad times.
“They are chinamperos who want to work the way they used to work, and that helps sustainability and local food production. But it’s getting worse, because urbanization, such as housing, football stadiums and night clubs is booming,” he told IPS.
This, he said, because “Xochimilco is very threatened by the local public policies that encourage these activities, where the land call will produce”.
In 1992, the Priority Zone for the Preservation and Conservation of Ecological Balance was established as a Nature Protected Area (NPA), which includes ejidos (public farms on public land under concession) of Xochimilco and San Gregorio Atlapulco, with a total of 2,507 hectares.
I chinampera The area is 1,723 hectares, which is equal to 68 % of the NPA.
The city holds three sites in this area ejidos Xochimilco, San Gregorio Atlapulco and San Luis Tlaxialtemalco, still have canals and host 2,824 workers. the chinampas of the existing 18,524.
Of the active points, 60% use the ampero system, 12.5% of greenhouses, recreation areas and football fields, 9.4% were given over to pastures and 16% were converted into residential areas.
In Xochimilco there are 864 in operation inampas of the 15,864 registered over 1,059 hectares, corresponding to 47% of the total area of the traditional system. This place holds the greatest value inampas with the potential to be restored.
San Gregorio Atlapulco has 1,530 active the chinampas of 2,060 registered, in an area of 484 hectares (22% of the total), making it the area with the largest presence of these active areas.
San Luis Tlaxialtemalco is the smallest, with 103 hectares (5% of the area), and 430 in operation. inampas out of 600 registered.
Xochimilco, with a population of just over 442,000 people in an area of 125 square kilometers, has been a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) World Natural and Cultural Heritage site since 1987.
Additionally, its lake system has been part of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, known as the Ramsar Convention, since 2004, especially as a waterfowl habitat.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) distinguishes inampas as part of the Ingenious Systems of World Agricultural Heritage, as they preserve plant diversity, adapt farmers to climate change, ensure food security and fight poverty.
But this recognition did not prevent destruction, and restitution has been an ever-present, unfulfilled promise.
The protected natural area has lost at least 173 hectares in recent years due to urbanization, the construction of greenhouses and spaces for large events, such as festivals, according to the calculations of Zambrano and his scientific team. The 2018 ANP management plan prohibits such activities.
Adding to the despair, in 2021 the capital’s government is building a vehicular bridge over the swamp, which increases the threats to the ecosystem and has led to many complaints to Unesco, which have not yet been resolved.
A possible future
In this dire situation, the chinamperos and sow the hope that flows in the local canals.
Biologist Zambrano leads a project that includes research, conservation and protection of the axolotl, working with 25 and 40 farmers. the chinampas who distribute their product to shops and restaurants’chinampera label’.
In 2024, the restoration project has a budget of about USD 250,000 from private donations.
The amphibian axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is endemic and threatened with extinction due to habitat loss.
At the moment, they are analyzing the profit and the increasing production, to encourage more farmers to join.
Farmer Hernández highlighted the joint work and government support as things that give hope.
“I can see the solutions but it depends on the government releasing money, we need farmers to be careful about the use of water,” he said.
Zambrano called for a ‘socialist army’ to force regional and national governments to return Xochimilco.
“Today they need funding, the price is very low and the competition is high. This is a race against the power we have brought in the past decades,” he said.
He predicted a future full of opportunities. “There will be areas full of tourists, urbanization and decline. But if we can change the balance and increase production, if the government supports it, we can have a very profitable area,” he concluded.
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
Source link
