SAN GREGORIO ATLAPULCO, Mexico, Sept 18 (IPS) – Mexican Crescencio Hernández orders radishes, herbs and lettuce for shipment to an alternative market in west-central Mexico City.
The vegetables are harvested from his Chinampaa pre-Hispanic system of wetland agriculture that still exists in three neighborhoods in the south of the Mexican capital, although it is surrounded by multiple threats.
Hernández, 44, married with no children, attributed the success of the traditional technique to good practices. “We make sure that there is no sewage in the canals, no construction in this area, we do not use agrochemicals and we reforest every year,” the owner of the Crescent of the Chinampa brand explained during a tour of his Chinampa with IPS.
With three employees, Hernández harvests about 500 kilos of vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers, chili peppers and spinach, every week from a Chinampa he owns one and borrows another in the town of San Gregorio Atlapulco, which has a population of about 24,000 and is part of the Xochimilco district, known as “the land of flowers.”
Originally from the municipality of Acambay, in the State of Mexico (next to Mexico City), Hernández is a Chinampa farmer (chinampero) He has been doing this for 28 years together with his brother, who rents another piece of land for agricultural production.
In 2017, he stopped using agrochemicals and now uses compost from the organic material produced by the farm. In June, he installed a greenhouse in the Chinampa to plant tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers.
“The basis of the system is water, it sustains it. I diversify production to meet demand, as different products are requested from me, and also to take care of the soil,” he said.
But what he and others Chinampa protecting farmers, is being destroyed in nearby areas, with the complicity of the authorities responsible for protecting these unique sites.
Irregular urbanization, pesticide use, the impacts of the climate crisis, overexploitation of the aquifer and neglect have their swords in the bowels of the Chinampaaccording to a study through the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Zone Authority (AZP) in Xochimilco, Tláhuac and Milpa Alta.
Established in 2014, AZP manages the conservation of the wetland’s special ecosystem to maintain its World Heritage status.
Ambiguity
The original peoples used chinampasa term that comes from chinampiwhich means “in the reed enclosure” in the indigenous language Nahuatl, long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 15th century.
The technique creates small, rectangular gardens in the wetlands of the microregion, using fences of ahuejote (willow) poles, a tree characteristic of this ecosystem that tolerates excessive water absorption.
The bottom of the Chinampa is rich in mud and organic waste, which provide nutrients for plant growth, and is irrigated with water from canals. It is located in one of the most studied areas in the center of the country.
The chinampas are the vegetable garden that partly feeds the 22 million people of Mexico City and the metropolitan area.
The chinampas The system conserves water, produces fish, vegetables, flowers and medicinal plants and saves water compared to traditional irrigation, with a network of navigable canals of about 135 kilometers.
Luis Zambranodoctor in basic ecology at the Institute of Biology of the public National Autonomous University of Mexico, believes chinampas have had their ups and downs.
“There are chinamperos who… want to work the way they used to work, and that helps resilience and local food production. But it is getting worse, because urbanization, like housing, football pitches and nightclubs, is gaining ground,” he told IPS.
This, he said, is because “Xochimilco is seriously threatened by local government policies that promote these activities, when the land should be productive.”
In 1992, the priority zone for the Preservation and maintenance of ecological balance was established as a Protected Natural Area (NPA), which includes the following areas: eggs (community farms on public land under concession) of Xochimilco and San Gregorio Atlapulco, with a total of 2,507 hectares.
The chinampera The area covers 1,723 hectares, which represents 68% of the NPA.
The municipality comprises three zones in the eggs Xochimilco, San Gregorio Atlapulco and San Luis Tlaxialtemalco, which still have canals and 2,824 active chinampas of the 18,524 existing.
Of the active points, 60% fit the chinampero system, 12.5% consists of greenhouses, recreational areas and football fields, 9.4% is designated as pasture and 16% has been converted into residential areas.
In Xochimilco there are 864 active chinampas of the 15,864 registered more than 1,059 hectares, which corresponds to 47% of the total area of the traditional system. This area preserves the largest number of chinampas that have potential for restoration.
San Gregorio Atlapulco has 1,530 operational chinampas Of the 2,060 registered sites, spread over an area of 484 hectares (22% of the total), this is the site with the largest presence of these active sites.
San Luis Tlaxialtemalco is the smallest, with 103 hectares (5% of the territory) and 430 active chinampas of the 600 registered.
Xochimilco, with just over 442,000 inhabitants in an area of approximately 125 square kilometers, is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Natural and Cultural Heritage site since 1987.
In addition, the lake system has become part of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importanceknown as the Ramsar Convention, since 2004, primarily as a habitat for waterfowl.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) classifies the chinampas as part of the Ingenious Systems of the World Agricultural Heritage, because they conserve agrobiodiversity, prepare farmers for climate change, ensure food security and combat poverty.
But these recognitions did not prevent destruction. Restoration was a promise that was always there, but never fulfilled.
The protected nature reserve has at least 173 hectares lost in recent years due to urbanization, the construction of greenhouses and spaces for mass events, such as festivals, according to calculations by Zambrano and his scientific team. The ANP Management Plan 2018 prohibits these activities.
The desperation was further compounded when the capital’s government built a road bridge over a wetland in 2021, posing an even greater threat to the ecosystem and prompting several complaints to UNESCO that remain unresolved.
A possible future
In this unfavorable context, the chinamperos also sow optimism that flows through the channels of the area.
Biologist Zambrano leads a project that includes research, site maintenance and axolotl protection, in collaboration with 25 farmers and 40 chinampas who distribute their products to stores and restaurants with the ‘chinampera label’.
In 2024 the restoration project has a budget of approximately $250,000, which comes from private donations.
The amphibian axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is endemic to the area and is at risk of extinction due to habitat loss.
They are currently analyzing profitability and production increase to encourage more farmers to join.
Farmer Hernández cited collective work and government support as encouraging elements.
“I see solutions, but it depends on the government giving money. We have to make farmers aware of water use,” he said.
Zambrano called for a “social force” to force the regional and national governments to restore Xochimilco.
“Today they need subsidies, the value is very low and the competition is high. This is a race against the dynamics that we have brought in the past decades,” he argued.
He predicted a future full of possibilities. “There will be places that are full of tourists, a lot of urbanization and decline. But if we can change the balance and increase production, if the government supports it, we can have a very profitable area,” he concluded.
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service