Dignified and communitarian life of women in semi-desert landscapes of southern Tolima through family productive patios.

The community is located in Pueblo Nuevo, a territory separated from the Tatacoa Desert by the Magdalena River. This area is drying up due to poor land management and the effects of climate change.

There is sunshine most of the year, but there is no access to water or energy on a constant basis; we have tried to find solutions that integrate local knowledge and take advantage of the sun’s energy.

The community experience is based on the use of solar energy to cultivate products that require high luminosity such as strop, fruit trees such as melon, watermelon, mango, tomato, corn, beans, hibiscus flower; from ancestral seeds that consume little water.

The company has experience in drying and processing products that are offered in the local market and, to a lesser extent, to solidarity markets in Bogotá. In addition, there are also small flocks of sheep and Creole hens, which are also adapted to the climate. Sunny weather is good for plant, animal and human health.

The productive strategies seek to counteract the effects of climate change, based on the conservation, propagation and exchange of native seeds and creole breeds, food production using leguminous plants and organic fertilizers, the use of water crops, the transformation of agricultural products grown in backyards and farms, and the promotion and use of community savings funds.

With this commitment, we have been able to count on healthy and sufficient food to have a diversified production that allows us to have a more stable economy throughout the year.

Technical characteristics of the proposal

Equipment: hand mill, 9-foot refrigerator, 3″ diesel motor pump, 0.5″ electric pressure motor pump, traditional ovens, fuel-saving stove, seeds and traditional knowledge associated with the use of local biodiversity, cisterns.

Productive, community, environmental, or economic processes or activities that were positively impacted by the implementation of the community experience of TEJ.

The community energy experience is linked to the production of clean food for self-sufficiency and commercialization through organizations such as Agrosolidaria Engativá and Coosaviunidos.

It also integrates the research learned from the Manuel Quintín Lame School and the strategic action of Asfumujer, which provides opportunities for women and their families through the use of native seeds and their own resources. This is in addition to the victims’ processes in the municipality of Natagaima, Tolima.

The production and commercialization of animal protein is associated with the strategies of community savings groups, which are an alternative to self-manage their own projects, such as the purchase of tools, equipment and land preparation, etc.

The aim is to create a network of hen producers to market eggs and meat from free-range chickens. The goal of Coosaviunidos is to create a market for healthy, culturally based products from the urban area of Natagaima, Tolima.

Women’s participation in the TEJ community experience

The experience was possible thanks to the work of the women, some of whom are heads of household and most of whom are victims of the conflict. Their interest was to advance projects that would benefit the families and, in the process, contribute to halting the advance of the desert. Women have the capacity and sensitivity because they love the field and are in constant training to improve processes and quality of life.

One of the most important steps they had to take was the creation of the organization Asfumujer, which became a process of women and their families, to which partners came to support.

Women’s leadership is evidenced by the fact that there have already been several indigenous women governors and vice-governors. In the victims’ processes, in Asfumujer and in the Manuel Quintín Lame School, women’s participation and decision-making have been key.

Impact of the community experience of TEJ on public policy

Local organizations submitted proposals to be included in the Municipal Development Plan «Por amor Natagaima 2020-2023», in which the following goal was positioned in Strategic Axis 2: Natagaima with productivity and competitiveness for economic development: creation and implementation of the «home gardens» program in the urban and rural areas of the municipality.