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Cultural Action Workshop

Synthesis of work performed Wild fruit pickers in the Bío Bío Region


Cultural Action Workshop TAC is an organization oriented to cultural rescue, recovery of historical memory, popular education and research within the programs this organism is possible to highlight the great progress that has been in the field of NTFP gatherers Region Bio-Bio, which is why roughly mention some of the activities carried out by way of disseminating initiatives that are completely necessary to replicate.

work program "Wild Fruit Pickers" was born in 2000, after a diagnosis of the situation of women in the Eighth Region of Bío Bío.

The starting point was the information provided by the study "The activity of collecting wild fruits" made in 1998 by professionals in the Country Service Program of the National Foundation for Overcoming Poverty. Thereupon they went to the communities of Santa Juana, Hualqui Ranquil Pemuco, Curanilahue, San Ignacio, and Carmen Campus to meet collectors attempting to improve their working conditions, in diverse ways. Simultaneously leaders interviewed farmers, some professional service, Country Indap officials and the chairman of the Coordinating Committee of Women Producers of Ñuble

The investigation led to the conclusion that the gathering was a large segment of women who gathered in scattered, not recognize that this activity was a job but instead considering a humiliating obligation. For this reason

organized around it lacked any sense. Among women who gathered throughout the year to distinguish between two types: some gathered wild fruits Small-scale machinery, pacifiers, blackberry, murtilla, hip, digüeñes', and sold nalcas to local buyers. Other collected mañío, hazelnuts, challenging, fungi, etc. that delivered on a larger scale to resellers or distributors who were in other cities and even exported. Most critical periods, even the children left school to join the gathering.

Almost all women were heads of households or their husbands were unemployed. They lived and live surrounded by forest companies, which is why they and their husbands have no alternative job. The majority have not had previous organizational experience and schooling is very low. Because they constitute a completely invisible, no institution working with them, even though levels of poverty in which they lived were extreme.

With this background we developed a project that was funded by Oxfam and is aimed to: a.

Legitimize the collection activity as a stable and sustainable source of employment,

b. Provide methodological elements that would allow - to groups - to improve its working and optimize production,

c. Build organizational experience - training that would likely be played by collectors in other parts of the country. D.

Develop an outreach campaign that would make visible the reality of gatherers.
To carry out the work selected six groups located in the communes of Curanilahue in the mining sector, Hualqui closer to the city of Concepción, Los Corrales between forest in the Cordillera de la Costa, Batuco amid vineyards, along the Cordillera Campus of the Andes and in a community Culenco campesinos.También accept the invitation to participate that we made the Women's Production Coordinator Ñuble.

The organizing process began with the group of foragers, which gradually were organized as far as they were training have been acting as the Productive with legal personality.

same time, as organizations began to feel the need to coordinate their activities and formed the Regional Coordinator of collectors and collectors of the Bío Bío which operates as a management organ, marketing, representation, which reinforces and enables them to act in a corporate. Today

consists Coordinating Committees:

"The Hope of Culenco" Pemuco commune;

Rebirth of San José de Colico "Curanilahue commune;

"Center Artesanal El Nuevo Amanecer de Los Corrales "Cobquecura commune;

" Coihuico Collectors Committee - Deshifrut "Cabrero commune;

" The Collectors Committee those of El Rincon Ninhue commune;

"Taller Laboral Cuyimpalihue" of Cañete SODEAGRO Company Ltd., Los Patos sector of the commune of Birth

"The Rebirth of Education Workshop Totoral "- St. Nicolas.

is working through two lines then increased to three:

a. Accompanying the process of their own community groups to deliver elements of methodology to enable them to advance their goals and achieve the development they sought. B.

Bringing together all the collectors in three or four annual meetings, to perform an exchange that will help them strengthen their identity and dignity of collecting

c. Conducting monthly meetings with leaders seeking further training, encouraging exchange visits between the groups, participation in forums and seminars such as Social Forum of Porto Alegre where the year 2005 he attended Quena Valdebenito (catcher Culenco Committee), invited by ANAMURI.

As in that foragers were organized, he went looking for them how to improve their working conditions, taking into account that the price they received for their products was too low and harvesting periods were interrupted by other they did not have any income, all of which kept them in a miserable situation.

After noting that the price paid was not substantially greater agribusiness intermediaries to start to find alternatives to add value to the products harvested. So they found a crudely done by collecting experience from Corrales and a subsequent more successful by Coihuico committee under the direction of the program and training PRODESAL Alfredo Zenteno, Food Technologist and head of the Department of Agribusiness University of Concepción. The two consisted of the dried mushrooms and the second also included the drying of fruits and vegetables.

committees Curanilahue Currently, Cañete, Birth, Pemuco, Cabrero and Cobquecura have their dehydration plants built with input from Oxfam, Municipalities permit, Fosis Prodemu, their communities and the TAC.

Marketing, which is essential for the Committee to assume its role as a source of work for us was a challenge set out to transform it as a means to contribute to the educational development of the foragers and gatherers. The first step was to ensure that they were, little by little, to market their products jointly through the Regional Coordinator

Collectors direct-sales Rural Fairs and Exhibitions that take place annually in different cities. They establish a relationship face to face with a buyer who comes to the fair looking for products that sold only in those places,

-Sale in Fair Trade networks, which provide educational conditions require both the producer and seller a fair exchange, and subsisted both in values \u200b\u200bof Justice.

-sale through conventional exports and national distribution, it is also necessary because they allow to sell in higher volumes, although the price received for the products is lower.

Since the inception of the program, the TAC has been guiding the work so that the collectors to build their craft through a process of dialectical relations with various actors from business, academic, environmentalist, student, labor, groups, etc. The results have contributed significantly to the collection acquired projections that open a hope for the future of thousands of farmers who have made it a source of income.

in 2000 began making contact with agribusiness companies with whom we interact and be involved in a common problem. The Department of Agribusiness at the University of Concepción delivery advice for dried wild fruits, the Faculty of Agronomy of the same university welcomes us to visit their plantations, share knowledge and train gathering skills in regard to medicinal herbs.

In France Andres INIA (research) gives them special skills, among many things, about how to collect fungi reproduction stimulating and protecting the environment. In INFOR and Fundación Chile its researchers were provided with access to research "Technological Innovation and NTFP in Chile," they announced in our country there are 220,000 collectors. They also learned the possibilities of extending the range of products to collect, the properties of these fruits and wealth offered by our forests in relation to them. This he opened and is still open significant perspectives to the work of the collectors, while maintaining a continuous exchange.

Similarly important has been the relationship established with the municipalities (municipal governments) whose authorities have opened a space in which the collectors have been legitimized as workers and have been in contact with various state institutions they have provided funding for dehydrating plants. Finally, the relationship with the Media has been fundamental to the collectors to showcase their work and achieve social recognition of their status as working women and their craft.
However, they note, missing the relationship with the forestry companies is critical because the fruit processing requires collecting volumes much higher than before and to this end, the collectors need seamless access to their land, while companies must prevent forest fumigated at the time of fruit harvest wild.

Given all this, the November 21, 2004 called to participate in the Seminar - Workshop on NWFP in the Bío Bío Region, projections and challenges "held at the University of Concepción and resulted in the formation of a Working Group.

For this Bureau proposed the following objectives:

1. Making the shared experience various members of the group, allows us to display the collection in all its complexity. Dimension ie work, social, historical, cultural, economic, technical, ecological and political.

2. Making joint reflection give us a wider dimension and with more perspectives on the wealth of the forest, so we believe the appropriate forum for joint action that benefits us all.

3. Ensure that the dialogue developed among participants reach the necessary fluidity to build together a horizon to guide the work of the Bureau and each of its members.

The Board held its first meeting on 18 May 2005 at Headquarters from Infor (Forestry Institute) and homeowners involved, the President and Secretary of the Regional Coordinator of collectors and collectors, Mayor Raul Betancourt and President of AMDEL Yumbel, representatives of Forestal Mininco Masisa , Forestal Arauco, the Municipality of Prodesal Cabrero, the Rural Development Department of the Municipality of Yumbel, Ninhue Country Service and Cultural Action Workshop. To these were added other forestry companies (Celco, Bío Bío, ...), Monteaguila officials from other municipalities, representatives of the University of Concepción, etc. Later
officers continued to meet monthly and specifically achieved:

- free access to the premises collectors of forest enterprises. Including signing the first agreement between the company Forestal Celco and the Committee of Gatherers "The Hope of Culenco" Pemuco commune, signed on December 14 last.

- Fumigation agreement of the logging companies collecting committees,

- The delivery of dead wood from the forests (companies) to be used by the committees.

also formed a team composed of several participants of the Bureau, which began work on the design of an investigation that will reveal and relieve the "Economic Impact Social and NTFP collection is in the Eighth Region, in order to design and promote public policies for the sector. Work is at an early stage.

In September 2003 printing out the book "Wild Fruit Pickers, office of women in the Bío Bío region" containing the results of research by a team consisting of TAC members and three outside investigators. This was funded by Oxfam Chile and has been a fundamental contribution to our work, for collectors, municipalities, institutions and various actors from both Chile and abroad.

In this connection established with researchers from Infor and Fundación Chile and then to the university, municipalities, etc.

Finally, the process of visibility has also been opening new fields of action such as in 2005, the TAC was invited to join Fair Trade cooperative.

2005 were also invited to participate in the Chilean initiative by the Independent Forest Certification (ICEFI) which is the Chilean working group of the Forest Stewardships Council (FSC) is headquartered in Bonn, which aims to create standards certification under the FSC principles and criteria,

The main objective is to ensure that the collection is decent work for all who live on it . This implies that constitutes a trade that actually dignify and improve quality of life of its characters, which is recognized by society, that foragers are incorporated into the production process of our country and to take care of the environment.