De la Mata a la Olla - Organic Agriculture with Añamisi


Our agriculture partner organization has been doing exciting things in the realm of organic farming lately, and Luke, one of MPI Ecuador's agriculture PDs, would like to give a shout out to our wonderful friends at Añamisi:


What is better than food?  If you ask the men of the Manna house the answer would be “Nothing!”   In my eyes they are right, (I happen to be one of these men of the Manna house) but only partially.  The correct answer is organic food!  Yes I know, it is a bit of a trick question.
The distressing reality is that not everyone has access to organic produce and products, and even some that do don’t take advantage of the environmental/health benefits of organic produce and products .
De la Mata a la Olla (roughly translated as “from the earth to the stove pot”), a project started by our agriculture partner organization, Centro de Investigación Enrique Añamisi, works to remedy this problem.  Within Quito and the surrounding Chillos Valley, De la Mata a la Olla supports the agrarian livelihood of many local farmers while giving the opportunity for families in Quito, without yards of their own, to enjoy the benefits of organic produce.  As Christian and Laura, the founders of Centro de Investigación Enrique Añamisi, describe it, their project is an online social network connecting organic farmers with local household buyers, and is the first of its kind in Ecuador.  Christian and Laura work as the intermediaries, picking up the preordered fruits and vegetables from the organic farmers and delivering them to the families that have purchased them.  Furthermore, this service is virtually free of charge for the local producers.  They only pay a small fee to cover the traveling expenses of Laura and Christian.  Sounds too good to be true for the organic farmers, right?  If you want to learn more about De la Mata a la Olla and/or support their project, check out their website for more information at http://delamataalaolla.wordpress.com/.
 
Hope all is well with our Manna readers/supporters!