Caracas, August 31, 2023. Press Mincomunas/Karina Depablos – The men and women of “Tierra Cafetalera” Socialist Workers’ Commune, in La Primavera, Guarico parish, Moran municipality, Lara state, launched a massive tree planting project (fruit and timber trees) to restore deforested areas by traditional agricultural production, as well as for the conservation of native species, the protection of water bodies, fertilization and soil conservation.
According to Victor Pineda, a spokesman for “Tierra Cafetalera” Socialist Workers’ Commune, caring for Mother Earth is a serious and urgent matter that requires everyone’s action and commitment since the effects of the systematic devastation of the environment are already noticeable and heartbreaking.
“Without forests, without plants, life on Earth would not be possible. It is essential to recognize that we are part of nature. Respect for biodiversity and the environment is a daily training topic in our commune. That is why we focus on ecological restoration. We have fruit trees, such as chacha fruit, avocado, and orange. We have timber trees, such as cedar, ceiba, and saman. We also have fig trees and mountain immortelle, which protect the water. We have 50 lulo trees, 50 cocoa trees, and more than 150 medicinal plants, such as mint, mallow, peppermint, rosemary, and rue. We have 180 plants of criollo and macadamia nuts. In addition, we have 17 thousand agroecological coffee plants, 100% Venezuelan.”
The spokesman explained that the “Tierra Cafetalera” Socialist Workers’ Commune is also part of the Communal Economic Coffee Circuit, for which they created an Agroecological Integral Productive Farm School that has had great results in only one year.
“The circuit is made up of eight communes. We started from scratch. We built a nursery. We gave life to the farm with a lot of effort. In the agroecological school, our methodology is to go to the schools to share this new agroecology model based on respect for life with children and parents. We have trained 139 boys and girls, 140 producers, and worked with 60 young people from the Sucre Mission. We share knowledge about the care of soil and water, what planting has to do with life, and the food that reaches human beings. We talked about organic fertilizers, vermiculture, humus, biofertilizers, organic seeds, eradication of transgenic products, and much more,” he said.
According to Victor Pineda, the members of the “Tierra Cafetalera” Socialist Workers’ Commune promote the rescue, conservation, and multiplication of native coffee seeds, as well as other strategic items to provide native food to the population.
“Our commune has 17 communal councils and has 1,581 families. We produce coffee, potatoes, tomatoes, leafy vegetables, carrots, beets, sugar beets, bananas, oranges, tangerines, avocados, and others. We have 986 producers committed to agroecological production methods and processes. For our community, agroecology is a way of life. The work is done as a family. Children are part of everything. They assist in the practice of planting, growing, and harvesting food. We face the crisis by retaking the ancestral culture. We produce for local consumption. We are working to honor Commander Chavez, stop being dominated, and become a community of life. If we can live like a commune, we can fulfill Chavez’s dream of decolonization, independence, and sovereignty,” he pointed out.
