06/11/2019
Alessandro Vannoni and Tomas Etcheverry, are two winners of a scholarship funded by the non-EU Mobility Program of the University of Florence.
Thanks to this experience and the collaboration of Mani Tese, the two students have the opportunity to undertake a research period in Guatemala, guests of the Oriente-CUNORI University Center of the San Carlos University of Guatemala, in the Chiquimula Department.
The trip was made possible thanks to the international agreement (in force) between the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies (DAGRI) and the CUNORI Center, in collaboration with the Santiago de Jocotán – ASSAJO Association which is a partner of our project “Fight against undernutrition in the Chiquimula department”. The Coordinator of the agreement is Professor Federico Preti, who is also responsible for numerous projects of the University of Florence in Guatemala and Central America.
Alessandro and Tomas will remain in Guatemala until December, having the opportunity to carry out an analysis of the various critical issues in the area thanks to the support of operators from Mani Tese and ASSAJO.
Their research will focus on the analysis of the ecological, productive, and social contributions of eco-sustainable cultivation techniques, focused on a Kuxur Rum cultivation technique (in Ch’ortì: my humid land). An agroforestry cultivation technique that requires corn and bean plants to be interspersed with and shaded by Madrecacao bushes (Gliricidia Sepium) integrating agricultural and agroforestry production, so as to counteract the prolonged drought periods in the area. The field analyzes and interviews will be carried out with the contribution of ASSAJO in the project areas in order to consider the possibility of using them to ascertain the food insecurity of these families.
Good work to Alessandro and Tomas!
