XOCHIMILCO, Mexico — In the 70 years Miguel del Valle has worked on his family’s chinampa in Xochimilco, a neighborhood in the south of Mexico City, he has witnessed a huge change in the environment and the attitudes of his neighbors. “Xochimilco was always famous for its vegetables and flowers,” the 80-year-old farmer, also known as a chinampero, told Mongabay, while looking out at the rows of lettuce, radish and broccoli planted across almost every inch of his family’s 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) chinampa. “Now, there is none of that. And that makes me sad.” Chinampas are an agricultural system developed by the Aztec Empire in shallow lakes or marshes in the southern valley of what is today Mexico City. They consist of elevated, narrow mounds of earth used as fields for farming, surrounded by water canals that are connected to ditches. The mounds are constructed with mud excavated from the water channels and fences made of ahuejote (Bonpland willow, Salix bonplandiana), interwoven with reeds and branches of other plants. Miguel del Valle, 80, has worked on his family’s chinampas his entire life and wants to see the knowledge left by his ancestors passed onto future generations. He said it is now his turn to share this knowledge with his children and grandchildren. Photo by Aimee Gabay. The ground beneath del Valle’s feet is one of the few chinampas still used to grow food. Many chinamperos have left the fields to find work in the city, to improve their economic situation or…This article was originally published on Mongabay
The post Ancient farming system and campesino livelihoods at risk in Mexico City first appeared on EnviroLink Network.