Utiel (Valencia) (EFE).- An insect farm run by three “women of science” organized as a cooperative in Ayora or a livestock farm of 1,000 endangered goats in Bicorp are some of the Valencian initiatives to establish population in areas of the interior of the Community.
This has been revealed during the celebration in Utiel of the II Congress of Intelligent Solutions for the Rural Environment, organized by Next Education, Diputación de Valencia, Cajamar, European Climate Foundation and with the support of the Utiel City Council.
Aixa Ávila, Minerva Ávila and Helena Vicente are the cooperative members of Ah Insect, which emerged in Ayora due to the concern of its founders about the upcoming closure of the Confrents nuclear power plant.
“We began to propose work alternatives, and quality work, and we decided to respond to the food needs of livestock and humans,” explained Helena Vicente.
Insects, “very interesting companions”
For this reason, they decided to focus on insects, which they considered “very interesting companions due to their quantity and what they provide as a food benefit” and, as the three “could contribute part of the work”, they formed a cooperative.
With the help of the Valencian Federation of Cooperative Companies (Fevecta), they began to look for a place to install their farm, a “very complicated” task because there were “many warehouses in the area but unusable because they had been abandoned for a long time.”
After a year-long search, they have found “the perfect location” in San Benito, an urban center very close to Ayora.
The three partners use the land around the farm to feed the insects in an installation that “does not have a connection to the electricity grid”, so they have opted for a photovoltaic installation with storage batteries so that the company is “self-sufficient”.
Circular economy inside the insect farm
In addition, as part of a commitment to the circular economy, they dedicate part of the facility to composting processes, which they manufacture from the hummus of the worms they breed and the skins of other insects, with which they are going to develop a compost ” of great quality”.
The Ah Insect facility has “a potential client for compost” in the agricultural fabric of the area, specializing in olive, almond and vine trees.
“We want to demonstrate that a sustainable and circular business model can be launched in an unfavorable and unindustrialized territory, which allows three women scientists like us to develop professionally, who have children of the age to leave town and we want them to have a reason to stay or return”, he concluded.
Herding 1,000 endangered goats at Bicorp
The II Congress of Intelligent Solutions for the Rural Environment of Next Educación Pepe Serra, promoter of an extensive livestock farm in the town of Bicorp, has also intervened.
Serra and his colleagues started this farm that today has 1,000 goats, although they continue to do forestry work as well, since a farm of these characteristics “provides a full-time salary for two people and just enough to make ends meet.” , but they have decided to have more people working a shorter day.
He explained that, after training organized by the Ministry of Agriculture on livestock matters, they thought a lot about the type of farm, because the land was abandoned and with “little food and little traffic”, although “50 years ago in Bicorp there were cows , goats and sheep”
Celtiberian white goat
They finally opted for the Celtiberian white goat, an endangered species, “very rustic and that has been raised all its life in the area.”
Serra and his companions set up a warehouse, a firebreak area, mobile fences and a trough where 150 goats can drink at a time, as well as a sheepfold, all around this town of 300 inhabitants where they now graze 2,000 hectares. .
“We have always opted to use endogenous resources, because no strange company is going to come to set up Bicorp”, considered Pepe Serra, who has concluded that “if in the Valencian Community we have to be the refrigerator of Europe, we will have to be a quality fridge.