Representatives of the Costa Rican Lutheran Church, Mr. Oscar Retana coordinator ACT Costa Rica. Mr. Rodolfo Mena Communication and with the funding of the ACT Alliance Coalition, visited the Indigenous Communities of Ujarrás, Cabagra Yuavin, Rey Curré and San Andrés, with the aim of initiating a series of workshops on the subject of Organic Agriculture and Mountain Microorganisms.

The main objective of the workshops is to give a contribution to the implementation of beneficial methods to agriculture and thus ensure a better quality in different crops. These workshops are part of the CRC171 program, which consists of carrying out different actions to help families affected by Storm Nate.

The workshop advisor Paulo Nájera comments us:
“One of the main functions in mountain organisms (MM) is to recover the life and health of the soil, facilitate the availability of nutrients to plants and also perform a biological control of pests. The objective of the present workshops is that small farmers can substitute as much as possible the chemical inputs to reduce environmental and soil pollution, mitigate the effects of climate change, produce healthier foods, reduce production costs and increase yields"

The project includes five sessions, of which the first was: Efficient production of Mountain organisms, agricultural compost and productive plots. The following workshops will focus on: Pest control, fertilization of fruits and plants, soil conservation, liquid fertilizers, association of crops, selection of seeds, fermented land and preservation of the seed.

Representatives from different communities participated in this first workshop, for a total of 177 people, of which 58% are women and 42% are men. About this issue on women´s participation Ms. Carmen Villanueva comments:

“These workshops are good and very well organized, specially because so many women were invited, and as you can see there are many women and we are happy because we are going to work, many with babies, but they say that even if they are in the house, behind the house they have the garden, it is an initiative that had not been done before, an appropriate initiative when taking into account populations that depend on crops”

During tropical storm Nate most communities were totally isolated, and affected by strong winds and floods, which destroyed roads and bridges and directly affect the families' economy.

The families look forward to any help they may receive, especially in the formation of new methods to improve crops and ensure the health of their families. The importance of these workshops of Organic Agriculture, which not only provide knowledge and training, but also return forgotten knowledge over time, and now with the ingredient of preventive actions, use of existing resources, individual, collective and institutional capacities, towards the achievement of a culture in harmony with nature.

In the following link you can download the narrative report of this tour!