Chlorophyll A and M
Colombia, Cundinamarca, Bogota
2020
Relation to energy
- Biomass utilization
- Food sovereignty and autonomy
- Harnessing human energy
Transition Area
Fair Energetics
- Optimization of mobility or transportation
- Changing patterns of energy use and consumption
- Relationships integrating different energy uses
Type of Technology
- Biomass
- Bicimáquinas
The idea was born in the pandemic as a result of the family being out of work. In addition, they were bored of being cooped up and they looked for the garden, talked to the person who coordinates the garden and she allowed them to work and shared with them some of the products produced by the garden. So, they saw that it was an opportunity, they took courses at the SENA, learning about cultivation, care and harvesting, how to make compost, fertilizers, all with organic material. In the pandemic they saw that people wanted to grow crops: they needed to be taught how to grow crops and they sold them fertilizer.
They also quickly realized that one of their weaknesses was that they had too much product and not enough trade. For this reason, they have also consolidated a trading system in which they mainly use bicycles. They use bicycles because they contribute to the care of the environment, the bicycle is a means of transportation that does not emit, it is easier to fix, it is faster, more efficient and more economical, so they consider it part of the TEJ.
In terms of their educational work, they have worked mainly with young women who are also mothers, and have focused on how vital it is to reuse organic waste. They started with eggshells, the egg is a nutritional source for households stratum 1 and 2 so they were taught the importance of egg nutrition in human food and for plants. With the coffee baskets they also teach them how to recycle, collect and store them. And third, they work around vegetable peel waste, teaching them how to process it into compost. In the gardens that they provide, they teach about waste, they are an organized community in terms of organic waste, which is no longer the dump but the garden.
Technical characteristics of the proposal
They deliver 70% of their products by bicycle. They make about 40 deliveries a week, so the bicycle is vital to their economy.
Bales are made from crates, dry material, soil, kitchen scraps. They also have 5 bins in which they make compost with accelerated organic decomposition for the production of bocashi. They also use 1 wheelbarrow, loader, pruning shears, shovels, hoes, sieves, sprinklers.
Productive, community, environmental, or economic processes or activities that were positively impacted by the implementation of the community experience of TEJ.
With this initiative, they have been able to supply products for their own consumption, which generates a 30% contribution to the family food basket. They have been able to save the money they used to spend on vegetables, which they can now spend on other foods, improving their food sovereignty.
Beneficiaries of the experience
8 women, 5 men, 2 adolescents and young people (between 12 and 18 years of age), 3 children (between 0 and 12 years of age)
Achievements and problems encountered during implementation
ACHIEVEMENTS:
- The most important achievement is the contribution to family health, enriching family nutrition in a healthy and economical way. They understand the family as the community, so there is room for buyers.
- The second achievement is how they manage to generate employment for three families.
- The third achievement is the contribution in training and pedagogy of the recovery of our food culture and organic material through techniques that allow its use in agroecology, returning to the roots.
PROBLEMS:
- One of the problems they have had is not having a website or a place to publicize their project.
- The second problem they have encountered is when their bicycle is damaged.
- The third problem has been when weather affects product delivery processes.
- The fourth problem has been when they do not have enough produce, because buying from other farms increases transportation costs.
- Also, some materials have deteriorated, such as the millstones and wheelbarrows.
Women’s participation in the TEJ community experience
The eight women in the family have been actively involved. The one who is 6 years old also has been in the process of washing the vegetables, or in the collection of peels, watering, etc. The adult women participate in marketing and indirectly train other women who are mothers, who teach them how to cook, how to prepare vegetables and how to process organic waste. They are currently training more than 60 families, approximately 500 people.
Impact of the community experience of TEJ on public policy
They have actively participated in citizen meetings, have generated proposals for the support of urban agriculture in different working groups in Suba and other localities of Bogota, as well as in the different courses they have participated in.