The Puerto Rico Resilience Project (PRRP) is an effective action plan bringing together grassroots leaders, environmental organizations, academic institutions, and government agencies to advance cultural and ecological resilience and a new economy of outdoors recreation through a nationwide, citizen-driven movement of Promotores Verdes.

The Guagua Solidaria 2.0 in partnership with Recuperación Agrícola, is an agricultural support project carried out by a team of professionals and volunteers, and community environmental health workers who are ready, willing and able to assist in an agricultural task in order to restore the functionality of the farm.

 

OBJECTIVES

To provide recovery support services to agricultural and apicultural farms affected by hurricanes Irma and Maria with the purpose of assisting these farms to reach and/or improve their conditions and productivity after these atmospheric phenomena.

 

GOAL

Our main goal is to respond to the highest amount of applications from farmers and farm owners who have experienced damages and loss of materials as a result of hurricane Maria.

 

 

 

The Guagua Solidaria Team or 'Brigaderos' is responsible of performing a variety of tasks (non-specialized and defined below) which may be needed by the farmer and which vary from general clean-up of areas around crops (garbage, debris, weeds, fallen or dead trees, vector control -mosquitos-, and general light hand-labor). Brigadiers or Brigade Technicians select and purchase local produce for their daily meals and farmers are invited to share the prepared foods.

 

The second is carried out by the Brigadiers or Brigade Technicians but in addition to the basic intervention. 

Specialized Interventions

• Weeding

• Chopping trees

• Land clearing

• Road Clean-up

• Installation of fencing and light reparation of structures. i.e. light reparation of out-houses sheds yard greenhouses

 

Soil preparation and installation of irrigation systems, erosion control, seed germination, and planters and the installation of animal fences are all carried out with the assistance of up to 10 volunteers whenever necessary in addition to our Personnel.

 

In the majority of cases, the equipment used by the Brigade Personnel (Brigaderos) to carry out their tasks is hand-labor, i.e. shovels, machetes, rakes, etc., as well as weed trimmers, conventional lawn mowers and in some cases the use of a tiller, and whenever necessary, media-sized heavy equipment such as Bobcat may be used to the clearing and clean-up of land.

 

Weeding and/or soil preparation, the installation of irrigation systems, planting for up to one acre may take approximately one to two days of labor including time to prepare the ground, weeding and disposal, taking into consideration the conditions of the land and the weather at the time of the intervention. Chopping of trees depends on the number of trees which Brigade Personnel may have to chop and remove, i.e. cutting and removing 2 trees may take between one and two days to complete.