OIA supports ad honorem in tasks of inspection, audit, certification and training in the Argentine Organic Standard, to accompany social insertion and promote entrepreneurship in prison environments, through organic production.

Next Friday, May 6, the event will take place where OIA, through its Technical Director, Pedro Landa will deliver the Certificate of Organic Product to the Organic Garden Project at the Ezeiza Federal Penitentiary Service (U.19 ) that has successfully completed the two years of transition as established by law.

The initiative emerged in 2019 from the public-private work of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, through the Organic Production area of ​​the Food and Bioeconomy Secretariat, the Ministry of Production, through the El Mercado en tu Barrio program , which is shared with the agricultural portfolio; Organización Internacional Agropecuaria S.A. (OIA); the Argentine Movement for Organic Production (MAPO); the National Seed Institute (INASE) and the Entity for Technical and Financial Cooperation of the Federal Penitentiary Service (ENCOPE).

The first experience that occurred was in Unit No. 19 of the Ezeiza Penal Colony, dependent on the Federal Penitentiary Service, where a training stage was carried out. In this initial stage, a theoretical-practical course was carried out, which included the methodological bases of a sustainable garden and the principles of organic production and circular economy. The training of the interns was in charge of Professor Silvina Ferreyra and Ing. Agr. Facundo Soria, from the Ministry’s National Directorate of Food and Beverages. Meanwhile, the provisions of organic seeds were from the Garden of the Municipality of Las Termas de Rio Hondo and the Directorate of Agriculture of the Ministry of Production of the Government of the Province of Santiago del Estero.

The main objective of the project is to supply the internal community of the institution with seasonal, fresh and differentiated quality food. Simultaneously, train the prison population through garden maintenance activities, which will provide inmates with skills so that, when released, their social reintegration is facilitated, giving them the possibility of working in productive enterprises of these features. Production surpluses may be marketed outside the Unit with the “Orgánico Argentina” seal, thus providing resources and generating an entrepreneurial profile in the participants.

Then, during the next stage of the project, OIA provided technical support and monitoring of the project, in addition to its own certification audits, in accordance with the provisions of Law 25,127 and by SENASA. Today the results of all the work and effort can be seen, with the harvest of quality products such as tomatoes (cherry, perita, platense), corn, squash, peppers, chicory, radishes, beets, eggplants, squash (anco and trunk ), arugula, lemon basil, lettuce, leek; among others.

Also the Secretariat of Food, Bioeconomy and Regional Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in conjunction with the Cooperation Entity of the Penitentiary Service of Argentina (ENCOPE), the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), the Organización Internacional Agropecuaria (OIA) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), signed a Cooperation Framework Agreement that demonstrates the importance of inter-institutional and public-private work.

The purpose of the Agreement is to establish cooperation, collaboration and technical assistance mechanisms to carry out joint actions in order to generate a work environment to deepen the activities already undertaken, while specifying new ones, with the main strength of having a multidisciplinary team.

The Agreement includes the strengthening of the Organic Garden project in the Federal Penitentiary Service Colonia Penal de Ezeiza (U.19) that began in 2019 and already presents encouraging results; Likewise, it incorporates two new projects: Production of Silkworms (Sericulture) in the Federal Penitentiary Complex IV of Ezeiza and Production of organic Oystercatchers in the Federal Complex of Young Adults (U. 24) of Marcos Paz, both in the province of Buenos Aires .

The agreement is thus one more example of public-private collaboration at the national level, which will also have an international echo and traces the beginning of an enriching path for all its participants. From OIA we are proud and satisfied with the achievements obtained and we hope to be able to replicate it in other penitentiary units.