“… I want to show that we also have the ability to perform the same work as male machinery operators,” says one of the students who is taking the Agricultural Machinery Operation and Maintenance course, through which the tradition that the operation of machinery is an exclusive affair of men is being broken.
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“… I come from a family that has always worked with crops, but machismo has been around for a long time, only men could drive tractors there and we were from the house, but we realized that we can do things like this, move machines…” , explains another of the students of this promotion.
This course is developed as a contribution to corporate social responsibility and is the result of an alliance between the Fomenta Foundation, a subsidiary of the Casa Toro company, which is dedicated to training in agricultural machinery, and the Pajonales Organization, which is a renowned agro-industrial company. .
The process began with an open call in the Ambalema area, in the department of Tolima, to which 30 women responded, demonstrating their interest. After an interview, 19 women were selected, including housewives, mothers head of households, wives and daughters of agricultural machinery operatorsthere are rice shredders and up to two professionals.
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Four of them fully trusted this project and quit their jobs. The average age is 29 years, the youngest is 17 years and the oldest 38 years.
adjusting the schedule
Despite the fact that the course commits them to eight hours a day for the next two months, these women continue to be mothers and wives and have managed to adjust everything to continue fulfilling their household and especially their children.
The methodology used is ECAS or field schools, developed by FAO, which aims to break the paradigm of the untouchable teacher and the distant student.e, here a respectful camaraderie develops in which the participants get to know each other, share experiences and doubts are resolved without fear.
Initially, there was concern about the rejection reaction from the different machine operators present, taking into account that this union has traditionally been very macho, which was put to the test by integrating them as instructors by asking them to correct the students in the identification of parts of the machines and implements with the good result of acceptance and support.
The course started with real knowledge of the tractor and its components.
Subsequently, the different implements used in mechanized tillage were presented, as well as their respective calibration.
Seeding is a fundamental aspect, therefore, they were presented with the seeders, their parts and their respective calibration. The machines and implements require special care, therefore the students receive training on care and maintenance of both the tractor and the implements. This includes the preoperative stage as the final to the operation.
Throughout the teaching process, both theoretical and practical, all the safety regulations that an operator must always keep in mind are presented and applied.
“… The training can open up opportunities for me that I haven’t had so far, I want to stay in the countryside…”, concludes another of the women who is focused on learning everything that the Fomenta Foundation has taught them so far with the support of Pajonales .
Luis Arango Nieto
