The BWF Alternative Fair and CEDESA: Water and Food Sovereignty 
By Holly Yasui February 20, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

Art Exhibit
Alternative Fair of Women Artisans
Chela Martínez speaks on Water & Food Sovereignty
Sat–Sun, Mar 7–8, 11am–6pm
Bernard Weisman Foundation
Quebrada 67

En El Charco Del Ingenio Sab, 27 de feb, 6:30pm–medianoche 30 pesos

The Centro de Desarrollo Agropecuario (CEDESA), a grassroots campesino organization, is coordinating several collectives of organic food producers at the Alternative Fair sponsored by the Bernard Weisman Foundation. One of the co-founders of CEDESA, Chela Martinez, will give a talk at the Fair about food and water sovereignty, which is becoming an increasingly critical issue in our region.

The Independence aquifer, which underlies several municipalities including Allende, has become contaminated because so much water has been extracted (mostly by agribusiness) that high concentrations of naturally occurring substances like fluoride and arsenic now pose serious health hazards. In rural communities, most people have no other choice but to drink well water and suffer from the slow but eventually lethal ill effects of fluoride and arsenic poisoning. And contamination aside, if we continue to extract water at current rates, there will be no water left in the aquifer in 15-20 years, according to some experts.

CEDESA is currently hosting a 10-month course for campesinos about groundwater, taught by the recognized expert on the Independence aquifer, Dr. Marcos Adrian Ortega of UNAM. In her talk, Chela Martinez will discuss some of the issues raised in the course, and regional strategies for defending our water resources: working in coalitions to demand regulation of well-drilling and commercial water use, and educational programs to inform people about alternatives and ways to minimize wasting water.

Rain collection, recycling of gray water, drip irrigation and dry composting toilets are water-saving technologies that CEDESA promotes and can be implemented by city dwellers as well as campesinos. Our rainwater is free of contaminants, and the use of these systems enables efficient cultivation of fruits and vegetables in the yards of family homes, which is a step in the direction of food sovereignty.

CEDESA has been working toward that goal for 30 years, originally motivated by the severe devaluation of the Mexican peso in the seventies, which caused a huge increase in the cost of living. In response to the acute lack of cash needed to buy basic foodstuffs, CEDESA initiated several projects to produce food within the communities, including beekeeping, vegetable gardens and animal husbandry.

The production of honey was so successful that after the second harvest they were able to sell the surplus and create a revolving loan fund to help other campesinos get started and maintain apiaries in the monte or uncultivated parts of their land. In the 1980s, the struggle for water and land took up much of CEDESA's energies, but those campaigns also helped create a sense of solidarity among communities that supported each other in their petitions for land and water. In the nineties, CEDESA started an integrated program to develop sustainable agriculture in the communities it serves.