making clay potsWomen in the program make clay pots that will help them fight the drought. Photo: CWS-LAC
GRAN CHACO REGION, Paraguay — In the vast, dry Chaco region of South America where water and prosperity are scarce, indigenous women of the Paraguayan Chaco are now growing abundant vegetables by burying handmade clay pots in their gardens to help capture, retain and utilize the little rain that does fall.
The simple and ingenious technology is part of humanitarian agency Church World Service’s initiative to help indigenous people in Central and South America find ways to develop better and sustainable food and nutrition security by mitigating the effects of climate change. The program is also generating extra income for families.
Just 21 inches of rain falls each year in Chaco, which spans parts of Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil, and the dry season is now unpredictable and severe. New York City by comparison has an average of 50 inches of rain each year.
Combating those challenges, indigenous women from small villages across the Paraguayan Chaco are traveling to attend intensive, four-day training sessions at a center that specializes in experimental water management and irrigation technologies.*
At the center, the women learn how to make and use handmade clay pots that act as slow-release water irrigation sources. The women farmers fill the pots with water, bury them in the ground, and plant vegetables and fruit trees around them. Water is slowly released through the porous clay pots’ walls as perspiration and then is absorbed by the roots of the surrounding plants.
At one village garden, Paraguayan agronomist Rosa Galloso points to a 90-day variety of corn growing there and notes that traditional farming and irrigation methods require 50 gallons of water for the water-thirsty crop to grow to harvest. “Using clay pots you only need four-and-a-half to five gallons,” she says.
The slow-drip water absorption technique allows plants near the water pots to absorb the water they need, with little waste, as compared to water lost in the ground or in run-off with conventional irrigation or rainfalls.
The agronomist leading the program says do the math: 50 of the simple clay pots require a total of eight gallons of water per week and sustain the growth of 30 percent of the vegetables a family needs for a year.
Women in the Chaco training learn how to use different versions of the clay water pots and also how to make them in their own communities using local clay. Returning home, training participants are able to put the new techniques and knowledge to use right away.
Josefa, one indigenous woman who graduated from the course, said, “I can’t wait to start my own garden with this system. I want to plant tomatoes, pepper, watermelon, lettuce, onion, pumpkins and more.”
Beyond sufficient food stores for their own consumption, families will also be able to generate more income by selling harvest surpluses at local markets.
The Church World Service-supported initiative, in collaboration with local partner the Committee of Churches for Emergency Assistance in Paraguay, also is making a difference in the lives of the region’s women, with time and energy saved for other pursuits.
One young woman in the program used to collect a five-gallon bucket of water four times a day, walking a total of 10 miles a day to carry the water. Now, having “planted” clay watering pots, instead of 20 gallons of water a day, her garden needs only eight gallons a week.
Globally, Church World Service supports achievable and sustainable water resource and food and nutrition security programs under the relief, development and refugee assistance agency’s Enough for All initiative. As part of the organization’s commitment to ensuring safe, accessible water for all in both rural and urban environments, CWS will again this year participate in the international World Water Week symposium in Stockholm, Sweden, August 21-27, 2011.
* Source: Centro Experimental de Uso Racional del Agua, Riegos Alternativos y Sistemas de Filtros.