The legendary chinampas of Mexico city are ancient stationary artificial island built on freshwater lake for the purpose of agriculture, that provides many ecosystem services and are still productive today. They are popularly called as the floating garden and this indigenous practice has significant potential for addressing the challenges of food security in this century. This is considered as one of the best examples of how humans can thrive with nature.
History- How it began?
Around 14th century in the valley of Mexico Aztecs developed the Chinampas in the shallow lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco. Their legendary capital city was Tenochtitlan. This was a fertile area and is now a part of Mexico. Mexico city basin is located in high altitude and used to be covered with five lakes, and in order to grow food in this flooded landscape a novel form of agriculture called the 'Chinampas'.
" Artificial islands and peninsulas were developed in order to recover the land for agriculture and these were termed as the Chinampas. The Chinampas covered the lakes, raised bed was developed with canals providing water thus land was recovered for farming."
Over the last 500 years after the conquering of the city by Spanish and other developments most of the lakes were drained and covered by land. This vast agricultural system has almost been erased except for one location the Xochimilco, where even after 500 yrs after the reign of Aztec this system continues to exist.
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How are Chinampas built?
The lakes over there was very shallow so it was not a very difficult task to put of the swamp and construct the artificial island of approximately 12-30 m long and 2.5 to 12 m wide. The Chinampas were constructed by keeping the Willow stakes in the perimeter as a fence such that the willow (called 'ahuajotes') stakes could touch the bottom of the lake as anchor and reeds were woven around the stakes. Inside those rectangular container like plots they placed branches, aquatic plants, bushes, decaying vegetation and whatever organic material was available that made a big sponge of organic material, then over this the lake mud was scooped by using shovels or other equipment and then layered over along the organic material. Following this organic material and swamp mud were layered to get Chinampas of desired height.
Over a period of time the organic material broke down to become a whole mass of organic fertile soil where crops could be planted also the willow stakes germinated and grew large and deep marking a definite fence for the Chinampas to keep them in place. The Chinampas became stable for many crops to be planted. If we dig even 1.5 m the lakes can be found, that are convenient for the trees to get water.
Agricultural modernization: Specialities of the Chinampas
- The Willow trees at the border can obtain water within 1.5 m and are actually pumping the water into their leaves and other parts which when added to the soil enhances the organic matter to the soil along with increasing the water retention capacity.
- All sides of Chinampas have easy access to water for irrigation and boat transport of food crops, organic matter and soil, the salt accumulated in chinampas are also drained in the water being an added advantage.
- The canals are divided into three:
- Primary- Large enough for boats to travel to transport lake mud, swamp residues.
- Secondary - For narrow boat or canoes
- Tertiary- Small channels for irrigation purposes, and for protecting ecosystem, many endemic species like axolotes salamander are conserved.
- The Chinampas, a made made intervention has created beautiful enormous biodiversity and the soil there is having reserves of nutrients and minerals decomposed from over a thousand years.
- The organic matter content of soil is 11% whereas the average organic matter content of Indian soils is 2.5-3%.
Relevance of Chinampas, and associated benefits:
1) Enriched biodiversity: Many endemic species are reintroduced in the tertiary canals of Chinampas, they play an essential role in preserving the natural ecosystem. One peculiar example is by providing habitat for axolotl, a salamander, which acts as bio-indicator of the water.
2) Maximum space utilization: When considering the dwindling area for crop production, the Chinampas are one of the most efficent way of increasing the yield in small area.
3) Good water management: The natural irrigation system by means of the canals, reduces the need for irrigation.
4) Carbon sequestration: The organic matter along with the plant life it supports helps in capturing and storing carbon.
5) Community engagement: Chinampas are now also used for recreation and relaxation along with fostering local communities thereby promoting social interaction.
Arka tierra project
This a project in Xochimilco, Mexico links farmers with people in the city through agriculture. There is also a tourist project where people are invited to visit Chinampas to strengthen the biological and cultural values of Chinampas.
The Chinampas are now facing the modern problems that is most of the sewage water mixes with the Chinampas, along with other sources of pollution contaminating and endangering the Chinampas are concerning.
Arka Tierra project, now applies permaculture and other ecological management system to this ancient system facing modern day problems, trying to rehabilitate the water system problems in the city of Mexico. Their aim is to make farming as a means of regenerating landscape, food, culture, social relations, and this is gaining huge momentum.
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Modern day projects inspired by Chinampa technique
The potential of Chinampas has inspired many, and led to development of few projects that include:
- The floating gardens of Bangladesh
- Green float project in Osaka Bay, Japan
- Urban rivers project in Chicago, USA
The Chinampas are thus considered a living thread that weaves the past with the future and is one of the most amaing ancient method of agriculture with highly fertile soil in existance.
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