Starting with the plantation of the fruit trees in a water saving way 

Monday, February 19

This week we start the planting process at the project areas (veredas). We have programmed visiting 13 areas, with a total of 203 women members and 1015 Waterboxx® plant cocoons will be given. In total, we will plant 1030 fruit trees (140 avocados, 305 lemons, 95 papayas, 270 passion fruits, 205 blackberries and 3 control plants of each specie).

The area characteristics are almost the same in all the 13 areas:

• Roads with large potholes and difficult access (landslides in many parts due to rains);
• In the high hills, the weather is cold and there are strong winds;
• In the down hills, it is very sunny and warm, mostly very hot;
• Rainy season in all the places;
• Planting sites are located on hillsides or in slopes, some of them are not easy to access;
• There is a lack of water;
• Clayey soil with difficulty to filter the water;
• Corn crops and orchards of vegetables. Everywhere we can see crops of coca, it was the main activity of the farmers years ago. Now, those trees grow but they don’t work more with them, at least, they say that. 

The landsides, due to the heavy rainfall, the routes couldn't give any access for hours!

People are a little bit shy, but very kind with interest in the Groasis Technology. Everybody is very curious to know if the Waterboxx® will work in those places. We have decided to start the trip to the farthest place from Almaguer. Today we have 5 places to visit. It will be a long day! Our team will be represented by: Jeyson, Diego Bravo and Ana Terranova. The team of PMA will arrive today after midday, because they had to travel from Pasto.

Tarabita 2 is the first place to visit. It is in the downhill and it is very warm. Those people have a lot of problems with water normally, but the rainy season makes a difference. Tarabita 2 is to 9km far from Almaguer (normally it is a 1-hour drive, but now it takes 1hour 30 minutes due to the bad road). In Tarabita 2 we have 16 participants. We have planted 81 fruit trees: 41 avocados (40 in Waterboxx® and one without) and 40 lemons. See the numbers of the boxes here. 

Tarabita 1 is the biggest group of participants with 25 women. Tarabita 1 is 8 km far from Almaguer. The weather is hot and the soil is clayey. The holes were filled with water due to the rain and it was a difficult process to filtering for clayey soils. They have received 128 fruit trees: 46 lemons (45 in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 1 control plant) and 82 papayas (80 in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 2 control plants). See the numbers of the boxes here.

Elvecia was the 3th place visited. Elvecia has 13 beneficiaries and all of them received passion fruits (maracuya): 65 in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 1 control plant. See the numbers of the boxes here.

We decided to visit Palizada, before Gonzalo. In Palizada, there are 18 participants and they received 91 passion fruits: 90 in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 1 control plant. Here, we do not use the Growsafes, because plants are small (less than 20 cm high). They received the Growsafes and we will put them on from March. Here in Palizada, PMA´s team joined us. See the numbers of the boxes here.

Our last place was Gonzalo. But we were at 18 p.m. there. So, we decided to give the Waterboxx® plant cocoon and plants and come back next day. Gonzalo has 13 beneficiaries, 66 passion fruit trees: 65 in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 1 control plant. See the numbers of the boxes here.

Tuesday, February 20

We have returned to Gonzalo to implement the planting process with the Waterboxx® plant cocoons. In Gonzalo, they received 66 fruit trees: 65 passion fruits in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 1 control plant.

Pitayas is our next stop. Here are 21 participants: all of them received lemons, 105 in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 2 control plants. See the numbers of the boxes here.

Herradura was our last place to visit today. In Herradura, we have 10 participants. They received 50 passion fruits in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon. No control plants here. We were invited to an event of PNUD and ONU Mujeres. We were named there like Proyecto Groasis with PMA. 

Wednesday, February 21

Yunga is 7 km far from Almaguer. There are 16 participants, and we gave 81 trees: 45 avocados in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 1 control plant; and 35 lemons. See the numbers of the boxes here.

Altillo has 12 participants. They received 61 trees: 30 avocados in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 1 control plant and 30 lemons.

There are 10 participants in Yacuanas Bajo. They received 51 trees: 25 avocados and 1 control plant; and 25 lemons.

Thursday, February 22

The people of Gabriela with the first planted Waterboxx® plant cocoon in this area 

Gabriela was a little cold. There are 16 participants and they received: 81 trees (80 blackberries and 1 control plant). See the numbers of the boxes here.

In Hato Viejo, we only left the Waterboxx® plant cocoons and plants. Women were not organized and we agreed come back next Tuesday 27th. They are 21 beneficiaries: they received 105 blackberries and 1 control plant. See the numbers of the boxes here.

Friday, February 23

Ruiz is the smallest group with only 6 participants. The bad point here is the road. It is a real mess. They received 31 trees: 30 papayas in a Waterboxx® plant cocoon and 1 control plant.

Tuesday, February 27

Definitely, Hato Viejo is the most difficult place to visit. The planting site is 20 minutes far from the main road. I went up by a horse and my partners were walking. The place was very difficult access! But, in Hato Viejo we had a very good time. We had all the time to explain them, we took very nice photos, they were satisfied with the explanation.

First half of March

After a week of exhaustive planting (from February 19 to 27), we have kept a constant telephone monitoring with the leaders of the 13 sidewalks during the first half of March. The purpose of the monitoring was:

• To keep in touch with the beneficiaries of the project;
• Verify that the instructions given were captured and the recommendations made;
• Elucidate any concerns or comments;• and thus obtain the best results in this program.

The month of March is a sacred month in Colombia with 15 days of general holidays (schools, high schools, public and private entities) due to Holy Week and the Minor Week. Thus, Colombia dedicates a large part of these days to Masses, processions and rites of the Catholic community. 

Participants of the Passion of Christ