Farmers from Colonia Agrícola de Pintados Celebrate their First Harvest of Melons and Watermelons

In the Tamarugal pampa, with its characteristic extreme climate, the members of Asociación Juventud del Desierto (Desert Youth Association) demonstrated that it is possible to plant, grow and harvest melons and watermelon. This achievement was attained thanks to support and technical advising from SQM’s Tamarugal Tierra Fértil Program.

Sixteen years ago, Orlando Ramos decided to make his home in Colonia Agrícola de Pintados. He began farming in the heart of the Tamarugal pampa, a challenge he approached with optimism. It brought him great satisfaction to see his products reach different markets in the region, which enabled him to educate his four children. Today, they are all professionals.

Mr. Ramos, together with other members of Asociación Juventud del Desierto, are celebrating a long-desired milestone: the first harvest of melons and watermelons. These crops were produced with support from SQM, the mining company that is providing technical advising for farmers as part of a collaboration agreement.

In order to make this dream come true, thus enabling them to diversify their crops and strengthen local farming, SQM’s Tamarugal Tierra Fértil Program supplied them with a tractor to till and restore the soil, 34 thousand melon and watermelon plants, and complementary seeds to expand the sown areas. The support also included donations of a deep well pump to extract water and twenty-four 25-kilo sacks of fertilizer. This 100% natural product is produced by SQM in Coya Sur and sold on six continents.

“Once more, with these new products (melon and watermelon) we have proven that it is possible to farm in the desert. No one ventured to innovate with these crops, since the seed is very expensive. Today, with support from SQM, we have expanded to six hectares of crops, and are now harvesting top-quality melons and watermelons that are highly valued in cities like Antofagasta, Pica and Pozo Almonte,” explained Orlando Ramos.

The farmer then added: “With support from SQM, we hope to make more progress in 2020. We want to increase the planted area and incorporate new varieties of melon and watermelon.”

Cecilia Choque is one of the two female members of the association. Regarding the first harvest, she explained that: “The experience has been very nice because we had never planted watermelons or melons. We proved that they do grow in this soil, and the best part is that the process only took three months. The most positive thing is that we could innovate with another product, beyond the carrots, garlic and onion that we normally grow.”

Pablo Pisani, Director of Communications, Sustainability and Public Affairs at SQM, highlighted that: “For the past 10 years, SQM has been continuously supporting this Aymara indigenous association, whose members have a strong vocation for farming. This joint effort and technical advising for the local farmers will last four years, during which time we hope they can make progress and improve their farming processes.”

Asociación Juventud del Desierto is made up of 22 Aymara farmers who have decided to join forces to accomplish the medium-term goal of turning Colonia Agrícola de Pintados into a distribution point for fruit and vegetables for the entire north of the country.