400 producers from Pichincha and Azuay place their products through a web platform

The farmers of Pichincha and Azuay have managed to venture into the virtual field to sell their products online, through the project the day's harvest.

Around 400 farmers from Pichincha and Azuay - mostly women - have managed to venture into the virtual field to sell their products online, through the websiteThe day harvest.

This initiative, of the Heifer Foundation, seeks to promote sustainable food systems with the participation of producer associations, based on the fulfillment of quality standards (products without chemicals), environmental (reduction of fossil fuels), of fair trade and digital safety (online sales).

In a tour made by this newspaper in mid -June through the collection center that the project has in Tabacundo, at an hour and a half to the north of Quito, Arturo Espinoza, a 70 -year -old farmer, said his experience.

Dressed in a wool and hood chompa, he walked happy through his vegetable plot, beans, corn, potatoes and medicinal plants. "I like to breathe, sow and eat healthy with my family," he said smiling. He lives with his wife, two children and two grandchildren in the Chimbacalle neighborhood, in the La Loma sector.

As soon as he woke up, in a rental truck he went to the collection center. There, along with ten other colleagues, he delivered his products and helped prepare the baskets that will then be exhibited online.

Farmers who participate in the basket of the day, which is aOnline store, are part of the Regional Association of Food Sovereignty of the Kayambi territory (Resak), the Pamar Chacrin Association of the Sígsig canton, Azuay; the network of guayabillas producers of the Parish of Pact, Pichincha; and of the Association of Agroecological Producers (APA) of Azuay.

Before the pandemic they sold their products in markets and fairs, but since the confinement was decreed everything stopped. Although little by little sales were recovering over time, they only consolidated when they joined and, practically, they transferred the fairs and markets to the digital world, with the website:The day's harvest.

"We knew that we should update, because our sales fell a lot in quarantine. We have trained to continue selling our cultivated products respecting our Pachamama," said Nelly Morocho, agricultural producer of the resak.

Nelly Sagbay, 26, of the Pamar Chacrín Association, of the Sígsig canton, commented that with the project Las Sales have improved, but that it is still expected to reach more customers.

The initiative is part of the Food future program, which is carried out in Pichincha, Azuay and Galapagos. Rosa Rodríguez, director of the Heifer Ecuador Foundation, explained that in this way the local economy of each city in which they deliver their products is energized.

"The harvest of the day is favorable, because before we were victims of the intermediaries, who were the ones who benefited the most and we were offered very cheap prices. In addition, NGOs have always encouraged us to have our own trade, our own fairs to sell our products directly to the consumer," added Arturo Espinoza