Community Empowerment Facility Profile

BACKGROUND

In Argentina the different provinces which constitute the Gran Chaco Americano are: Cordoba, Santiago del Estero, Chaco, La Rioja, Formosa; along with Salta, Jujuy in the Puna and Mendoza in the desert area, these provinces face different critical situations concerning the land tenancy rights.

In the region PUNA AMERICANA, situated in the north of Argentina, the population mostly comprises indigenous people (Coya). They are principally cattle-breeders and practise subsistence agriculture. These people are losing the chance to regularize their ancestral territories because of technical, administrative and logistical problems.

In the PROVINCE OF MENDOZA, in the northern area of the desert, while one group of cattle-breeders live on extended dry territories with high land degradation and without land titles, another group of small farmers and rural workers concentrated on the irrigated area, rely on very small parcels of land.

For the first group, at the provincial level, a plan aimed at legalizing land tenancy titles already exists (plan Arraigo de Puesteros). Unfortunately, this initiative generated serious land conflicts.

For the second group, the lack of credit, access to land and water for irrigation limits the potential for vegetable production.

The GRAN CHACO AMERICANO is a wide region situated in the centre-north of Argentina where the descendents of Creoles and immigrants reside; they are cattle breeders and small-scale farmers who practise subsistence agriculture. In the last 15 years this region there has been a strong agricultural expansion resulting in crops for export. This has been achieved through mechanization; use of chemical products,and genetically modified seeds.

A law on land title regularization exists in the province of Cordoba, although this has never been implemented, with the result that people are losing land because they are unaware of their rights.

In Santiago del Estero, land conflicts are cruel. Being the most rural area in the country, the presence of farmers is still considerable, but farmers who resist forced exploitation demonstrate to others the real possibility to maintain land and  underline the importance of being informed and organized.

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GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the project is to contribute to improving the well being of peasants and indigenous families living in the Puna and Chaco regions.

The Project objectives are:

• Increase awareness of small-scale producers on land rights.
• Raise the awareness of rulers and lawyers to land problems and discuss/explore strategies for resolving land conflicts in a participatory manner.
• Guarantee legal defence in the case of land seizure to the detriment of small-scale producers, and for access to communitarian lands.
• Organize small producers working in irrigated areas so as to promote awareness to their rights for water.
• Strengthen an organizational and internal information network system on water and land rights among farmers .
• Create a sustainable system to access information on land and water rights. Strengthen an organizational/internal farmers' information network.
• Support pilot initiatives on land access, management and preservation.

Activities

• Training community members on land rights.
• Meeting governmental institutions on technical achievement.
• Supporting organizations by giving juridical advice.
• Training on irrigation water rights.
• Networking for farmers.
• Supporting four regional pilot initiatives.

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WHO WILL BENEFIT?

The rural families living in the region of Puna, Chaco and the Desert of Mendoza are the direct beneficiaries of the project which enables small-scale farmers and/or indigenous communities to confront land conflicts and to develop awareness of their land rights.

GRAN CHACO AMERICANO - Provincia de Santiago del Estero; Federaciones provinciales de 2 grado del Movimiento Campesino de Santiago del Estero; beneficiaries: 5000 rural families.

Provincia de CORDOBA - "Asociación de productores del noroeste de Cordoba", Ucatras, Union Campesina and other local organizations; beneficiaries: 1000 rural families.

PUNA AMERICANA. There are 3000 families In the two provinces of Jujuy and Salta who will be the beneficiaries of this project.

DESIERTO DE MENDOZA in the province of Mendoza. Farmers organized in local associations of Jocolí and desert groups. There are 200 rural families who will benefit.

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CONCLUSION

This project gives organizations the opportunity to accomplish activities with rural communities, guaranteeing the participation of whole families and encouraging the participation of young people and women.

The principal strength of the project is the active participation of beneficiary organizations in taking decisions and evaluating and planning activities.

Other communities will be involved in the organizations and new organizations will enter this network. The project strengthens an already-existing process. The project will transform sporadic fights to defend land rights into articulated reclamations and will promote rural people's awareness of their land rights.

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