Solento's giveback to Jalisco | The importance of organic
From day one Solento has been committed to organic and sustainable farming. A portion from every bottle of Solento purchased is donated to a Mexican non-profit organization working in Jalisco (in partnership with local organizations) to protect farmers, women, children and biodiversity from pesticides and to produce healthy foods.
Why is this work important?
In at least three communities in Jalisco (Agua Caliente in Poncitlán, and El Mentidero and Ahuacapán in Autlán), 2-12 pesticides are found in the urine of the local children. It is suspected that the use of chemical pesticides is a cause of diseases such as the kidney failures that occur in children from these areas.
In the report “Causes of kidney failure in preschool and primary school children in the El Mentidero community”, pesticides were found in the urine of adolescents, Glyphosate and 2,4-D were found in 100% of the students, and molinate and picloram in 17% of them.
Insecticides, such as malathion and glyphosate, have been considered “probably carcinogenic to humans”, not to mention malathion can kill bees (and is even banned in other countries.) Glyphosate, is a hormonal disruptor and the cause of serious reproductive disorders, as well as harmful to beneficial microorganisms of the soil and aquatic organisms.
What can be done about these health problems among the children of these communities?
Researchers from CIESAS Occidente and UdeG have proposed agroecology as an option; in other words, to stop the intensive use of chemical pesticides that damage both health and the environment.
What are we doing to help?
One of the initiatives funded by the Solento giveback: School garden, the seed of agroecology in new generations.
Rodolfo González Figueroa's family has over the last decades been dedicated to planting from the perspective of agroecology. Among the different projects they have promoted is one of a school vegetable garden at the Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez Federal Elementary School in La Ciénega (El Limón municipality).
In the orchard, the students, their mothers or fathers, and the teachers have been involved in all the work, from the design of the grow beds to the work of hauling soil, bringing medicinal plants, adding compost, obtaining native seeds, sowing, watering, weeding and tending the crops.
School gardens, such as those promoted by Everardo or Rodolfo, have already been replicated in 50 schools in Jalisco, which implies an important seed of agroecology in the new generations.
To learn more information about the local organizations we are working with check out their Facebook pages: Centro de Formación en Agroecología y Sustentabilidad AC - CEFAS and Huerto Escolar Josefa O. de Domínguez, La Ciénega
