Older adults in Caracas are trained in Urban Agriculture and Composting
Published at: 10/07/2024 07:33 PM
On a day full of learning and recreation, grandparents from several parishes in Caracas met at Organoponic Bolivar 1, located in Fine Arts in Caracas, to participate in the activity “Cultivating Love with Grandparents”, organized by the Ministry of Popular Power of Urban Agriculture (MINPPAU), as part of the actions of the Bolivarian Government that supports the social security of older adults.
Naisurime Medina Madriz, director general of the MINPPAU Citizens Service Office, gave a brief history of the Bolivar 1 Organoponic, which was inaugurated by Commander Hugo Chávez more than 20 years ago, which is an emblematic place of food production in the heart of the city of Caracas.
He said that “our Commander had already thought of Urban Agriculture as a method to advance food sovereignty; and the lesson he leaves us is that healthy, tasty and sovereign food can be planted and produced from any space.
He also mentioned that the Ministry will issue certificates to grandmothers and grandparents as part of the record of the activities “Cultivating Love with Grandparents”, who will be grandmothers and grandparents who are producers of the Fatherland”. Medina said.
For his part, Alfonso Giménez, a specialist in Bioinputs at the CIARA Foundation, gave a workshop on compost production, where he addressed the advantages and benefits of a quick procedure to reproduce a large number of microorganisms and their nutritional composition.
He explained that when we talk about Urban Agriculture, we talk about planting in urban spaces, he said that compost needs a source of organic matter, a mineral and biological source. He also explained that dry materials such as dry straw, dry leaf contain carbon and fresh materials, such as fruit peels, green leaves, weeds, are energy sources.
Giménez highlighted that the objective and importance of making compost are to have healthy soils and thus obtain healthy plants. “Compost helps the soil and the plant; what compost does is help to correct or improve the soil, it protects it from excess sun.”
Meanwhile, Raiza Correa, coordinator of Inass Baruta, commented that, “this is a wealth, a strength that we must take advantage of and copy for our communities. I'm already making links to bring this idea to Baruta. It's important to plant everyone in the house.”
Also, Roberto Pineda, grandfather of Casa Hogar El Conde, said that “you can sow in any material we have, a little bit of soil, whatever crop we can plant for our food; chives, coriander, paprika, sweet chili, some things that we can have, that doesn't take up much space, in a small piece of land that we have”.
Isbelia Tirado, a member of the El Valle de la Pastora Life Club, said that “This event was super spectacular, because they explained to us well how to make compost, we had the wrong idea”. He took the opportunity to express a few words of thanks to the Ministry of Urban Agriculture for the organization of this activity. “You have to unlearn to learn,” he said.
Mazo News Team