A garden named “The romance”
(23.04.2013) FAO’s project, titled “Apoyo de emergencia para la Seguridad Alimentaria y nutricional de personas afectadas por la violencia en el Departamento de Putumayo” was funded by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, and enabled FAO to apply the “learning by doing” methodology in the Municipalities of Villa Garzón, Puerto Asís, Mocoa, Puerto Caicedo and San Miguel in Colombia.
The “learning by doing” methodology requires strong collaboration between the participant families and FAO technicians. Several training demonstration centres were established, in which FAO technicians trained participant families on good food production, seed procurement and small animal keeping techniques, as well as better agro-ecological management.
Since men generally work in the fields and women handle food preparation at home, it is rare to meet men who actively or permanently work in one of these centres. Many of the participants are women, some of which are heads of households. It was in the village of Santa Ana in Puerto Asís that we met Mr Jose Ismael Barragán, the only male member working at a training demonstration centre that was built on land provided by the parish for the project.
The women respect and admire Barragán, and appreciate that a man is enthusiastically participating and helping them. He says he’s been a farmer since childhood, but lacked the technique. “We had negative thoughts, we thought that here you don’t give what’s given in the cold”, says Barragán.