Help Rural Communities in their access to food

In the framework of this project ACDI started working with smallholder farmers in Los Perez, a small rural village in the south west of Tucumán, Argentina. In March 2022, after three months of project launching in the area, over twenty families started and grew their own garden, and even a communitarian one was started and run by this project’s members!

These gardens in Los Perez add up to the over one hundred ones reached by this project in Tucumán. 

Four lines of intervention are being displayed simultaneously in order to achieve this: training in agroecology; introduction of the use of the KOKUE mobile application; seed distribution to start these gardens as well as a monitoring system held on by agroecological promoters on the ground. Also, our team is permanently seeking other families interested in joining this project.  

We believe that sustained territorial presence and digital support of the mobile app Kokue are the keys to reaching this goals:  

ACDI has a territorial team working on the area for the follow up and support of families in situations of economic and social vulnerability, since 2017.

This team has been trained by ACDI through the years. To name some, we can highlight topics such as the study of strategies to promote entrepreneurship, community development, family savings and house management, leadership and women's empowerment, among others. Today, community promoters continue to be trained, this time, in agroecology and in the use of the Kokue mobile application, for management and monitoring of gardens.

In their day to day role, promoters visit thegardens and carry out technical advice to the smallholder producers using together the digital support of the Kokue Mobile Application. Kokue app is a really valuable tool that families have at their disposal with  information that allows them to improve the productivity of their crops.

The most remarkable thing about Los Perez is that, thanks to the territorial influence of ACDI, a community initiative was quickly organized: the installation of a communitarian garden. We can affirm that communitarian initiatives such as this one, contribute to weaving networks in the area and strengthening neighborhood ties through self-organization; ; lead to collaborative learning and set a precedent for possible joint marketing and commercialization strategies. This last item is particularly important due to the isolated characteristic of Los Perez, not only geographically, but also marginalized from the centers of political decision-making.

Experience taught us that, it is by the sustained long-term commitment to the communities through investments, training and accompaniment projects with an integral perspective, the way in which transformative experiences and improvement in the territories are achieved. Support this project so that more families can find in the installation of agroecological gardens an alternative of food sovereignty and strengthening of the family and local economy!