Women in one of the urban gardens of Quito
CONQUITO
Support for urban, community and institutional gardening for home consumption and the sale of leftovers
People are trained in organic production, management skills, nutrition, food processing and marketing. AGRUPAR provides producers with seeds, seedlings, poultry, guinea pigs, bees, inputs and equipment. It supports community gardens, family gardens and gardens in schools and other institutions, as well as small livestock production units. It also promotes vertical farming. Community gardens are established on communal land, or on land that the municipality rents out for a minimal price to growers, and receive an organic certification by AGRUPAR, whilst family gardens are established on individually owned land. It should be noted that that AGRUPAR does not provide official land titles. In 2018, AGRUPAR had plans to open an additional 200 gardens.
- AGRUPAR provides training and inputs
- AGRUPAR arranges for communal land or land that is rented from the municipality
Not all orchards require an official organic certification, for example the orchards intended for family self-care do not require this process. For this reason, the project has implemented an internal control system (SIC, which is very similar to a system of participatory guarantees) for all orchards (certified or not) to ensure compliance with Ecuadorian organic production regulations.