The Association for Rural and Fisheries Development of Lanzarote will launch the educational project "Life in the Orchard. Agroecological Education". ADERLAN has signed a collaboration agreement with the Canarian Employment Service to carry out this initiative, which is entitled "Life in the Orchard. Agroecological Education", in the current school year. The project is aimed at children in infant and primary education. It aims to bring the little ones closer to the "concepts of sustainability, ecology, agriculture, environmental care and healthy nutrition", through the different didactic units programmed between the months of November and April.
A total of 16 schools will participate, with a total of 751 children from 6 different municipalities. Likewise, the blog huertoescolarecologico.wordpress.com will be created, from which the participation of other schools will be promoted, with proposals for activities and content that motivate the interest of teachers and students in the topics included in the project.
Another purpose of this blog is that the students participating in "Life in the Orchard. Agroecological Education" have other content and activities available to them. In this way, it seeks to "encourage and promote the continuity of the program beyond the sessions in the centers".
For the development of the project, ADERLAN has hired through the Canarian Employment Service, and financed with funds from the European Social Fund and funds received from the State Public Employment Service, an Agricultural Technical Engineer, a Graduate in Teaching and an agricultural worker.
These will carry out different activities with the students in the orchards located in the schools. Among them, there will be the preparation of the soil, sowing and transplanting of different horticultural plants, preparation of seedbeds, care and maintenance of the orchard. They will also be presented with some native plants that will be planted in the schools. Students will also learn pest control and fertilization techniques in organic farming, and will learn the importance of consuming organic products obtained with these practices.
The centers registered in the program are CEIP Alcalde Rafael Cedrés (Tías), CEIP Argana Alta (Arrecife), CEIP Capellanía del Yágabo (Arrecife), CEIP Concepción Rodríguez Artíles (Tías), CEIP Dr. Alfonso Spínola (Teguise), CEIP Famara (Teguise), CEIP Guiguán (Tinajo), CEIP La Garita (Haría), CEIP Mercedes Medina Díaz (Arrecife), CEIP Nazaret (Teguise), CEIP Guenia (Teguise), CEIP Soo (Teguise), CEIP Playa Honda (San Bartolomé), CEIP Ajei (San Bartolomé), CEIP Benito Méndez Tarajano (Arrecife) and CEIP Los Valles (Teguise).