A Model Farmer in Land Conservation
José’s family admiring the fruits of their labor in their plot protected by stone walls.
Land Conservation was a virtually unknown practice until a year ago in the Pampas Punta community. But now the practice is becoming widely recognized thanks to the example of a model farmer

To understand and change the model is quite difficult at first, because it is something outside of our farming customs. It is common to see eroded plots of land due to rain which puts at risk the stability of the productive base and in the long term can put at risk general Food Security.

So with the support of the Sustainable Food Security Project, carried out by CARE International Bolivia, we have been able to reflect on the distinct elements that compose the productive base which sustains our farming (water, land and vegetation) and how ill-advised actions can put at risk this fragile equilibrium, and which can be avoided if preventative measures are taken to conserve the land.

As a result of these reflections the first fruit of this process has been borne, such as in the case of Jose Loayza, who against the advice of his peers began to practice ground conservation on his plots. Today with great satisfaction we can now see plots which are well protected by simple structures, using the same rocks found on the land which perhaps in many cases had been obstructing the agricultural labor.

One fact worth mentioning at this point is that the production in the plots protected by stone walls have increased their yield considerably, our example farmer managed a production of potatoes with a relation of 1 to 15, that is to say for 1 Arroba of potatoes sown post harvest he yielded 15 Arrobas, while the plots without such conservation structures have a yield relation of 1 to 4. But apart from this experience in his community many decided to do this work and in only one year managed to build 6.312 meters of stone walls and irrigation ditches in order to stave of erosion and protect 8,7 Hectares. 		  My name is José Loayza, I am 41 years old, and I live in the Pampas Punta community in the municipality of Sopachuy (Department of Chuquisaca- Bolivia), I am married and have 5 children. In my community as in any other community, families have never given thought to the land which we cultivate, and the most impoverished even less so, we only take account of each year when our land yields poor quality produce, but we have never asked why our land is yielding poor quality produce. But thanks to the instruction and support we are receiving from CARE, we now take account of what we are loosing each year from our land due to erosion.  
  The land is the only thing I can leave to my children and if I don’t take care of it What can I leave them tomorrow? How are they going to live if I leave them something that doesn’t work?  
 
 
 
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