The largest sunflower sanctuary in Oaxaca, a refuge for bees

Author: Source
/ Monday, February 10, 2020 9:51 am

The largest sunflower sanctuary in Oaxaca, a refuge for bees

The largest sunflower sanctuary in Oaxaca is located in the municipality of Villa de Tututepec; It covers three hectares and is part of the Foundation's International Corn and Wheat Improvement Center

The largest sunflower sanctuary in Oaxaca, a refuge for bees
THE DAY

Oaxaca.- A field painted yellow by more than 200 thousand sunflowers that give life to bees, insects today in danger of extinction, is part of an agrotourism project that was born as a pilot test in 2019 with 80 peasants affiliated with the Agribusiness Integrating Society Río Verde, which this year organizes for the first time the State Sunflower Fair, which is held in the Llanos del Espinal community of the municipality of Tututepec and will conclude next May. 

The three-hectare land that houses the Rural Technology Validation and Transfer Center, located in this municipality, is considered the largest sunflower sanctuary in Oaxaca, which awaits families and students in the flower plantations, and in crops such as native corn

In the place, specialists and farmers share their knowledge about the importance of privileging the countryside and improving ways of life in the face of climate change.

The International Center for Corn and Wheat Improvement of the Walmart Foundation promotes the Sunflower Sanctuary, where producers are advised by students and specialists from institutions such as the Autonomous Chapingo, Sea and Coast Universities, and the Pinotepa National Institute of Technology, who instruct them in the development of techniques for resistance crops.

The site gathers five sunflower species: 354, Fool Zoom, Daytona, Hornet and Confitero, which can be appreciated until the end of March, when the flowering stage will conclude. Visitors can buy flowers by piece or volume, explained José Esteban Sotelo Malinche, representative of Río Verde, who commented that sunflowers were planted in the region as a crop of resistance to climate change.

Once the flowering is finished, the natural residues of sunflowers are used as feed for cattle and as fertilizer for other crops made the rest of the year as native corn, pineapple, coconut palm and lemon.

According to Sotelo Malinche, the sanctuary is part of a tourist corridor where it is expected to produce edible sunflower oil and not only sell honey from the apiary, but also make shampoo, creams and soaps with it.

Chinese honey fight

Beekeepers of the place indicated that although they produce honey in the area for five years, their product used to cost 50 pesos per kilogram and today it is offered at 20, due to the invasion of the candy of Chinese origin, of lower cost.

Pirate honey that comes from China contains fructose and they sell it cheaper; This has damaged our economy, we no longer sell as before, so now what we have done is transform honey into products such as soaps, shampoos, creams and honey (sold) per liter and half a liter, they detailed.

Jorge Salinas Ramírez and Juana Gómez Ramírez daily go to their apiaries, watch their bees produce honey, and agree that the Sunflower Sanctuary has been elementary for insects to proliferate, because with the drought they die due to lack of flowering .

This is a cycle, and as such should be respected, explained the beekeepers, who said they will continue to privilege the Sunflower Sanctuary to protect bees and encourage their reproduction.