Neuquén is located in the north of the Patagonian region of Argentina, and with a population of 265,000 is the largest city in Patagonia. The Neuquén province is known for its diversified agriculture, especially cold climate fruits like apples and cherries. More recently it has become a major centre of petroleum production, the so-called vaca muerta. The influx of investment and highly paid workers has created a phenomenon of the two-speed economy, mining and non-mining, which is very familiar in Australia. This has caused rents and the cost of living to increase, putting considerable strain on those who do not participate directly in the mining economy

 

Programa PRODA was established in 2003, inspired by the example of the Puesto de Capacitación No 2 de San Patricio del Chañar (Training Centre No.2 of San Patricio el Chañar). Its strategy has been the creation of a network of 30 Huertas Protegidas (Protected Gardens), which involve the recuperation of vacant and at times contaminated land, and its conversion into productive spaces that also serve as community hubs and educational centres. 

The productive activities undertaken include:  

• Organic vegetable growing
• Worm farming
• Bio-intensive agriculture
• Edible mushroom cultivation
• Making of preserves
• Under-cover production: greenhouses and macro / micro-tunnels
• Family farming: raising chickens in coops
• Seed saving
• Aromatic and medicinal plants

PRODA works closely with 40 local governments throughout the province; as well as schools, health centres, libraries, churches, universities and others.

500 families participate in more than 30 of these ‘Protected Gardens’, located in diverse low-income neighbourhoods of the city of Neuquén and in other provincial centres.

The Huerta Protegida in Cuenca 15 (see photo) has been established for three years, but already is producing a large amount of vegetables, a reflection of the amount of work that the huerteras – most of them are women, in common with the majority of urban gardeners throughout Argentina – have undertaken. A notable feature of this huerta is the strong presence and leadership of a small group of women, especially Marta. More than 40 different varieties of fruits, flowers and aromatic herbs are being grown, which serves multiple purposes:

• Educational and capacity building, in terms of the huerteras gaining experience with different types of plants and their performance under different growing conditions
• Agro-ecological, in terms of minimising the risk that too much of the huerta might be lost to pests or disease through companion planting
• Productive, in terms of generating enough produce to satisfy the requirements of the families of the huerteras and also some surplus for sale

There are currently 16 families working in this huerta. Six have greenhouses and micro-tunnels. The garden is well maintained, and there have been no cases of pests or diseases observed. Water is provided by the provincial water company, and there is no charge for its use for this social project.

"This is at times the most difficult [part of our work], because in some families you are dealing with three or four generations that are accustomed to receive subsidies. So, one of our biggest challenges is to work, and invite residents to work the land, without receiving a subsidy, which is different to what happens in other provinces…In Rosario, people charge a certain amount of subsidy, in lieu of working for the municipality, in order to work the land…Here it was a very different process of social and cultural construction in the communities. Here also the huerteras have to get used to working the land in a different way, in harmony with nature, to learn to conserve water and irrigate the plants in a different way, and to see how they can secure resources without depending on the State. We are a State programme, but we’ve managed to work with the goals of autonomy and self-management [for our communities] since the beginning."   

Ariel Zabert, Coordinator of PRODA, pointed out that, unlike similar programs in other provinces, the huerteros receive no payments or government subsidies. This was emphasized as important feature of the program in terms of achieving its first thematic priority: improve the attitude towards work.  Hence the plots within the huertas protegidas are all individual; and infrastructure improvements to them – installation of a greenhouse, planting a stone fruit tree, the opportunity to cultivate mushrooms, the costs of each of which are covered by PRODA – are allocated on an incentive and performance basis. In other words, the more diligent a huertera is in the cultivation of her plot, the more likely she is to secure (for example) a greenhouse or a micro-tunnel, which in turn will enhance her productivity.