CHIXINKIN, Mexico, Nov 25 (IPS) – Maria Bacab, a Mayan native, cares for her milpa, an ancient Mesoamerican polyculture that mixes corn, beans, squash and other vegetables, calling herself a “seed.” “Guardian of.” Practice and use in Mexico.
“I have worked with my parents and learned with them since I was young. Milpa benefits because he does not buy corn. We love it because we’ve been doing this since we were kids.” She spoke to IPS from the X’box (black, Mayan language) community in Chansinkin, a municipality in the southeastern state of Yucatan. Mexico.
Peasant farmers combine farming with caring for their families. Bacap, 41, a divorcee and mother of seven who prepares breakfast and takes the children to school, works on one hectare of land and returns at 11am to look after the children who attend secondary school. Plant again.
She grows 750 kg of grain each year, raises pigs, a species native to this region of Mexico, and supplements her income by weaving hammocks. Her three older children help with the farm.
Bacab is the only woman among X’box’s group of 11 milpa producers who saves and exchanges seeds. They select the best and store them for a year to guard against shortages or losses due to floods or droughts. There are at least two seed banks in the municipality.
Each farmer in the group plants a variety of varieties, so a variety of corn options persist, including several drought-tolerant varieties, and some have hives for sale and self-consumption. They adopted seeds from the southern state of Chiapas and brought them all the way to neighboring Campeche, with which they share the Yucatan Peninsula.
The peninsula is home to the majority of the Mayan population, one of Mexico’s 71 indigenous groups and one of the most culturally and historically representative groups.
Corn is not only Mexico’s staple crop, but also a staple in the diet of its 129 million inhabitants, making it part of the country’s cultural roots that go beyond cuisine and are linked to indigenous peoples.
During the harvest season, typically from January to March, the furrows of corn fields are bright with green stalks, with ears of corn hanging from the furrows, waiting for the harvester. From that line will come the grains that go into dough, tortillas (flat bread made from nixtamalis grains), atole (a strong drink) and various other dishes.
Mexico’s 3 million maize farmers grow maize on about 8 million hectares, of which 2 million hectares are grown for family consumption. Mexico has 64 species of the crop, 59 of which are native.
Mexico is the world’s seventh-largest producer of corn, the world’s most widely grown grain producer, and the second-largest importer. About 27 million tons are harvested every year, but another 20 million tons still need to be imported to meet domestic consumption.
Like the rest of the country, milpa is a mainstay of the Chansinkin municipality’s diet. As of 2023, there are 3,255 people living there, with 9 out of 10 living in poverty and one in three living in extreme poverty.
plant the future
The Milpa para la Vida project, funded by the US-based John Deere Foundation, will be implemented from 2021 by Heifer International, a US non-governmental organization, to promote the improvement of milpa populations such as X’box.
The plan is one of several in Yucatan aimed at defending its territory and providing economic options for rural areas.
It aims to increase the income of participating farmers in 10 communities in Yucatan and two others in Campeche by at least 19%, increase milpa productivity by at least 41%, and increase the area of land under sustainable management by 540 hectares.
Since 2021, 10,800 people have benefited from this project, and the goal is to reach 40,000 by 2027.
Compared to 630 kg of conventionally harvested maize in 2021, the pilot farm achieved a maize production of 1.3 tons per hectare through agroecological practices such as the use of indigenous seeds and biofertilizers.
However, restrictions on pesticides and fertilizers donated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs still remain.
In the neighboring municipality of Tahdziú (home of the Mayan zui bird), 65-year-old Mayan farmer Leonardo Puc values his seeds as his most precious commodity.
After a severe drought in 2023, there was enough rain this year, but “there are a lot of difficulties because there are a lot of sprouts (to eat corn).” We need corn to feed us, and producing it is what we do. We cannot sit back and do nothing,” the farmer told IPS.
“This is why nature teaches us.” said the married father of six and coordinator of the 28-member Flor de Tajonal group, named after the region’s iconic flower.
There are five seed banks in the Tahdziú region. The hut, with its high roof made from huano trees and local palm trees and its wooden beam walls, is lined with shelves lined with clear plastic jars with white lids. They are a key part of peasant life: the seeds of yellow and white corn, pumpkins and black beans.
Tahdziú also lives in poverty, as almost all of its 5,502 residents are poor, half of whom live in extreme poverty.
Chicken that changes your life
Flora Chan’s mother used to buy and raise chickens, so she was familiar with the cage-free poultry egg raising program she joined in 2020 to improve her family’s economy.
“When we started, it was difficult because people didn’t know about our eggs. Now they buy things every day.” She spoke to IPS from the courtyard of her home in the city of Maní near Chacsinkin (where it all happened in the Maya).
Chan, who is single and childless, has 39 hens and wants more. She collects 40 to 50 eggs every day. She cleans the chicken coop early and checks water, feed and production levels. She also weaves and oversees 100 stingless Melipona bee hives, which are native to the region and use precious honey.
A group of 217 female farmers (19 from Mani) have formed the Kikiba Collective (a very good thing to do in Mayan), with each unit stamped with a hen.
The breeders are part of the Mujeres Emprendedoras initiative, launched in 2020 in 93 communities in 30 municipalities in Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán with the help of the Heifer organization.
The program aims to strengthen local livelihoods to alleviate hunger, undernutrition due to lack of animal protein and low income due to lack of market access.
Of Mani’s 6,129 residents, three-quarters live in poverty and one-fifth in extreme poverty.
Each participant receives training in setting up a backyard chicken coop, animal care and business management. Every year they replace the 50 birds they receive and pass them on to new members. When the birds stop laying eggs, the women use them at home or sell them at local markets.
The program targets 796 female farmers and aims to reach 1,000 by 2026. Kikiba Collective delivers 4,300 free-range eggs each week to two restaurants in a popular Mexican restaurant chain in Mérida, the capital of Yucatan. It also makes retail sales and allocates 30% to family consumption.
At first, Chan’s neighbor Nancy Interiano wasn’t interested in the project, but her friend convinced her to check it out. Today, the 43-year-old businessman is married with three children and raises 60 laying hens.
“The results show that other women are interested in joining and those who are already participating want to expand their poultry holdings. We advise new people based on our knowledge and experience,” she told IPS.
In Mexico, 14.7 million women live in rural areas, accounting for nearly 23% of all women and 12% of Mexico’s total population.
Due to a shortage of laying hen suppliers, breeders are limited in their ability to meet the growing demand.
While working on this problem, Chan and Interiano enjoy watching the hens every day scratch the ground, climb wooden beams, settle into their nests, and lay the eggs that have changed their lives.
© Interpress Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Interpress Service
