Las Gilces seeks recognition as an ecological commune for its peculiar way of producing rice and salt

portoviejo

The Las Gilces commune is located about 30 kilometers west of Portoviejo. It is perhaps the only or one of the few communities that has the privilege of being bathed by an estuary and at the same time embraced by the Pacific Ocean.

The route of the Portoviejo River, which rises in the Santa Ana mountains, culminates in its territory. With an extensive mangrove area, where eleven species of birds live, its nearly 3,000 inhabitants began two years ago to obtain international support with the that seek in a little less than a decade to be recognized as an ecological commune in Ecuador.

With the support of non-governmental organizations, such as Heifel Ecuador, the Foundation for Research and Social Development (Fides) and even the Ministry of Agriculture, they began a process to eliminate the use of chemicals in their production, mainly in rice and salt.

Two years ago, with the advice of Fides, farmers began to grow rice without agrochemicals. Walter Salazar is one of the organic rice producers, who sells it in some markets or stores in Portoviejo.

From there, the Raíces Manabas company was born, with some 64 members from Las Gilces, a community belonging to the Crucita parish, in Portoviejo. Residents of the San Roque and Santa Teresa communities, which belong to the Charapotó parish and which are neighbors to Las Gilces, also participate.

In Manabí, a reduction in corn production is estimated due to high fertilizer costs and irregular winter

Biol is one of the organic fertilizers used in rice crops. Cow manure, granulated yeast, legume leaves and even ash are part of the components of this alternative to protect the grass.

Eliminating the use of chemicals from crops represents an average saving of between $400 and $500 per crop for farmers in Las Gilces. But it is not the only novelty.

With the advice of other organizations and even the Ministry of Agriculture, the rice-duck proposal was implemented two years ago, which allows these birds to coexist with the crop and even improve it, because even their waste is considered as fertilizer.

“We started in a plot with 200 ducks, which help control weeds, control insects, and the feces they defecate also serve as fertilizer for rice; and, when it runs through the crop, it oxygenates the water in its path”, recalled Salazar.

Techniques for the process of obtaining salt are also associated with organic fertilizer. In the Las Gilces salt mines, more than 28,000 metric tons of this product are produced, to which members of the Artisan Salt Production Association (Asoprosal) are dedicated.

José Lucas is one of those 20 members of this association, who must overcome some inconveniences and who hope to have support to start the process of having a sanitary registry and thus give added value to this product, which is even acquired by dialysis companies in Manabí , who buy about 400 quintals monthly.

“Salt is used to clean dialysis machines, because apart from being healthy because it contains magnesium and calcium, it is an essential support for dialysis equipment,” said Lucas.

Some 80 families benefit directly from this work and another 200 indirectly. Lucas indicated that the lack of roads becomes a recurring problem, especially in winter, in a population that is supplied with water from wells and even from tankers since it does not have a drinking water system.

Portoviejo enters the Unesco Creative Cities for its gastronomy

Tourism and the defense of the environment are essential within this proposal to be the first ecological community in Manabí.

Bolívar Aragundi, president of the Las Gilces commune, stated that all these initiatives are instilled even in children, about reducing the use of plastics, defending the mangrove swamp and avoiding throwing garbage on the street.

With the campaign “I am a mangrove, I am life, I am a community” support and resources were obtained to implement the first plastic processing plant.

“The idea is to recycle the plastic that comes to us through the Portoviejo River estuary and have that collection and processing center. By the end of this month we hope to have this space, and also by that date we hope to have a gutting center, where it is sought that the fishing obtained from the sea has asepsis,” Aragundi said.

The mixture of sea products with agricultural crops generates a wide range of foods. Proof of this is that the viche de Las Gilces was part of the products for which Portoviejo was recognized as part of the network of creative cities in gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( Unesco).

Norma Demera believes that more than 50 dishes based on seafood and vegetables that are collected in this population are made in this population.

“We want to continue being an example. For this reason, we defend all these processes, because we want to leave a mark of being a healthy population and make ecology a way of life,” said the woman. (YO)