Moxviquil: An Institute for Social and Environmental Transformation

Moxviquil campus

At a Slow Foods event in Chiapas I met a young woman, Adelina, who is studying at the Institute Moxviquil where she is earning her degree in Sustainable Self-Management of Territories (Autogestión Sustentable del Territorio), a degree which covers many themes of agroecology. She offered to show me the campus, and we walked there together. I got to learn more about her studies, her work with Slow Food, and her community. Her studies have a focus on participatory methods, horizontal relationships, popular or grassroots education, and learning by doing.

One of the requisites to study at Moxviquil is to be a campesino (small-scale farmer) and/or of indigenous descent. Different organizations including the Kellogg Foundation cover 75% of the cost of the degree so students can study for an affordable price (Many agroecology organizations I have spoken to here receive funds from the Kellogg Foundation). Adelina told me that they begin each class taking deep breathes and checking in with their body. There is a very human component to the school. The campus is a nature reserve with tree nurseries and orchid sanctuaries. The bathrooms on campus are compost toilets and the buildings are bioconstructions.

Walking through Moxviquil campus

Adelina is also involved in Slow Foods. In her community of Nueva Palestina in Southern Chiapas, Adelina organizes a group of young people that form a Slow Food Community. She bought a small piece of land where she and other youth have a community vegetable garden. The day I met her, she had come into the city to purchase some materials for the compost toilet they are installing as an example for the community.

Adelina said that some government programs have come in with technicians and tried to implement agroecological practices, but the problem is that the technicians aren't well trained and they don't teach the methods well. Then farmers get discouraged with the practices and go back to the conventional methods they know. The ways they taught farmers to make compost or bokashi resulted in a product that smelt rotten and couldn't be used. These are some of the challenges of the practical application of agroecology. Adeline invited me to her community, and hopefully I will be able to visit one day!