Caracas, October 2, 2023 (Mincomunas Press) – The Batalla Santa Ines Commune, in Maturin City, in Monagas State, has 460 hectares for agricultural production, so its members decided to manufacture biological inputs to improve the health of crops and soil characteristics, with a lower environmental impact.
According to German Guerrero, a spokesman for the Batalla Santa Ines Commune, Maturin is also considered a food production epicenter for the people due to its vast territory and its agricultural lands, currently cultivated with agroecological processes and practices to care for and conserve the environment.
“The initiative to create the inputs of biological origin arose from the need to take care of the territorial extension we were blessed. We have a close relationship with Mother Earth. Therefore, we have taken the foresight to manage the manufacture of bio inputs and biofertilizers with ancestral criteria with scientific methods to achieve a harmonious relationship with nature. From the agricultural point of view, all the projects are following the good agroecological practices established in the Homeland Plan, pursuing the protection and reproduction of life,” he said.
Guerrero also explained that, additionally, the community men and women of Maturin produce bokashi, an organic fertilizer rich in nutrients, used for the development of crops, obtained from the fermentation of several dry materials, such as rice husks, manure, and molasses.
“Our commune has a high agricultural vocation. We also dedicate to corn for seed and bean production for seed. We plant some vegetables such as sweet bell pepper, paprika, and eggplant. We have an agroecological training school called Bosques de Santa Ines Social Production Units (UPS) with ancestral practices. We have managed to begin to change the traditional paradigms of agriculture that are so harmful to Mother Earth. We are determined to carry out eco-friendly processes to produce local food for the people”, Guerrero pointed out.
The community spokesman added that this innovative work with bio-inputs has allowed them to promote community food security despite the financial blockade and unilateral coercive measures.
“We communal farmers differentiate ourselves from the capitalist producer because we do not see agricultural production as a commodity, but as a social good, and because we have a different relationship with the Earth. We promote barter with other communes in the state of Monagas. We have an exchange of products, but we also have an exchange of knowledge and know-how; we share this creative work. With this, we have managed to flow, generate common welfare, and resist the crisis”, emphasized Guerrero (Text: Karina Depablos).
