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Support for vegetable gardens for the Wichi Indians, Salta, Argentina

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Support for vegetable gardens for Wichi Indians in Argentina


The Wichi are traditionally hunter gathering forest dwellers, indigenous to the tropical lowlands of Northern Argentina. Wichi families have traditionally grown a few crops to supplement their diet, but this has proved more difficult in recent times. Vast areas of land have been cleared so that commercial farms can grow crops such as beans and cotton. The environmental changes caused by this deforestation led to higher summer temperatures and more frequent droughts and flooding.

Alec Deane, an Argentinean agriculture engineer,  has been living and working for 39 years alongside the Wichi people who live in the Salta area, at the foot of the Andes mountains. He is a passionate advocate for the rights of this indigenous group and has started several successful initiatives for them. Using his expertise in agriculture he has set up a garden project with the local Wichi people for better access to water and food.

Alec’s Garden Project came about after a young Wichi girl died of protein deficiency.
Alec felt sure that the situation for Wichi families could be improved, if they had some support and learnt good gardening techniques. Thus the “Yachuyaj wo” (Wichi word for "Gardener") project was born.

The garden project helps the Wichi to be self-sustainable. It gives food, (self-)employment and dignity to an otherwise unemployed and mostly uneducated group of indigenous people. Unlike other projects in this sector, Yachuyaj Wo employs mostly Wichi trained agriculturists to teach garden development. These Wichi "teachers" know the culture and/or speak the language ensuring that there is good communication about the work that needs to be done.

The secret to good harvests is incorporating drip irrigation and providing good seed. The garden project hopes to offer water solutions to over 20 Wichi communities, that comprise around 80 families. The wells are bored with hand tools, extracting water from 25 to 30 meters deep. It also organizes summer and winter gardens with protections from the frosts. 

The request for funds from Moments of Joy now is to help 4 of the communities so they can access water and necessary items for their crops.

1. Water system for the Carboncito community. Pesos 49,852 - € 2040
This includes:  Digging, pipes, a filter, a pump, a tank of 1100 lts, agicultural items and the pay for the teachers who help the clan with the realization of the project.     

2. Pump for  the Fiscal Embarcación community. Pesos 9,775 - € 400. They have dug the well for this family but do not have the money for the ¾ HP pump they need to push the water up.

3. Two spraying kits. (Each Pesos 3277,5)  - 2 for €270  Without this they can´t produce their winter crops (tomatoes and peppers) with 4 families.
The summer crops, maize and pumpkin, do not need spraying. The more intensive winter crops do. If not controlled by fungicides and insecticides, the  plant louses and other insects bring viruses that destroy the harvest.

4. Pipe for water connection for Pablo Orquera in La Cortada community. Pesos 2412,7 - €100. Pablo has dug the trench to get the water from the town system which is over 300mts away. He now only needs a pipe.