Community gardens, a place where the indigenous women of Venezuela can feel safe

Due to their remote location, rural indigenous communities in Venezuela have been particularly affected by COVID-19 and the country’s socio-economic crisis. However, community gardens help the Wayúu women of Río Negro make ends meet and provide a refuge from violence.

In recent years, Venezuela has suffered a general decline in public services, such as electricity, domestic gas supply and public transport.

This crisis has led some members of the indigenous communities on Venezuela’s western border with Colombia, including Río Negro, to cross the border frequently to buy basic goods, including food. When their relatives or partners leave on these essential trips, the women of the Wayúu indigenous community are more defenseless and more vulnerable to gender-based violence.

Community gardens could be an answer to self-sufficiency and safety issues. A garden created by a local network of women, Jieyúú Kojutsuu (“Women of Courage”), supports local women and their families by helping them meet their subsistence needs.

Currently, there are 26 community members working together to grow corn, tomatoes, peppers, celery, black beans, melons, and other vegetables and fruits in Río Negro.

The young and the elderly are also at risk.

Included within this community are many of the most vulnerable groups of the Wayúu indigenous community, including youth at risk of being recruited by armed groups and older people who have had to resort to begging and heavy labor to survive.

“You imagine? There are more women than men working in the garden!” says Guillermina Torres, one of her partners. “Let’s grow our own food without having to depend on our husbands’ income. Young people who wandered the streets have also joined this project.”

“Traditionally, agriculture was one of the main means of life in the region. The older people have been able to integrate and share ancestral knowledge with the younger members of the community,” says Diego Moreno, Protection Assistant at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Maracaibo, who has been monitoring this initiative.

“Women who were at higher risk of gender-based violence when their family members or partners traveled to and from Colombia now have a safe space where they gather every day to grow food that will later benefit their families,” she adds.

sustainable solutions

With limited financial resources, the indigenous Wayúu community had to think of new, innovative and sustainable ways to harvest their crops. A positive side effect has been the move towards sustainable agriculturethis being less harmful to the soil.

To support these efforts, UNHCR has donated farming tools, seeds, water tanks and solar streetlights, helping to ensure the community has a clean and sustainable source of energy and water for irrigation.

In addition, the World Organization for Migration (IOM) has trained local families to make organic fertilizers and natural insect repellants. These products include ingredients that are readily available in the community, for example animal waste.

“We do not have to spend money buying chemicals that can also affect our crops and the environment. Instead, we learned how to make our own 100% natural fertilizers and repellents with ingredients that we can find right here in our community,” says Torres.

“The substitution of chemical fertilizers for organic fertilizers and agrochemicals for natural insecticides based on leaves of neem, tobacco leaves and vegetable ashes, as well as the creation of seed banks, guarantee a sustainable and eco-efficient way of life. They also promote healthier eating for families and the community,” explains Wolfgan Rangel, monitoring officer for IOM productive projects in Maracaibo.

hundreds of gardens

In total, UN agencies have supported more than 660 community garden projects in the states of Zulia, Táchira and Barinas.

Both UNHCR and IOM, through the development of sustainable smallholder agriculture initiatives, have donated the necessary tools and resources to support communities. In some of these communities local markets have also been created to sell vegetableshelping to generate alternative sources of income.

Given the remote location of the communities and the lack of public transportation, it is vital that community garden projects continue to expand. In this way, more indigenous families will be able to participate in these subsistence farming initiatives and stop relying on trips to neighboring countries to buy food.