The Cañamomo Lomaprieta Colonial Resguardo (Reservation) and AGROSAVIA close the Territorial Innovation System, a community initiative that strengthens food sovereignty and agricultural innovation

• The Caldas TIS promoted actions aimed at improving agricultural productivity, fostering environmental sustainability, and strengthening community well-being, integrating ancestral knowledge, technical support, and innovative practices.
• Community members shared their learning and experiences, showing improvements in production, soil care, crop management, and the adoption of agroecological practices.
• During this event, which had the support of territorial entities and the Resguardo's council, four publications were launched. These compile practical, pedagogical, and culturally significant recommendations that will remain at the service of the communities.
• The closing event became the ideal setting to share with attendees two exhibitions: a photographic display and an exhibition of artistic works created by children of the Resguardo.

 

Manizales, Caldas. December 3, 2025. Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria (AGROSAVIA) and the Cañamomo Lomaprieta Colonial Resguardo held the closing event of the Territorial Innovation System (TIS). This initiative strengthened the productive, technical, and organizational capacities of families in the territory, integrating traditional knowledge, science, and innovation processes toward an agroecological model with its own identity.

Over the past year, the Caldas TIS promoted actions aimed at improving agricultural productivity, fostering environmental sustainability, and strengthening community well-being. This process integrated ancestral knowledge, technical support, and innovative practices, making the Resguardo and its communities a benchmark for participatory territorial development.

Territorial Innovation Systems (TIS) in Colombia are legally supported by Law 1876 of 2017 and are recognized as spaces for coordination among public, private, and community actors to boost innovation in territories. In this case, the Caldas TIS activities were energized with the communities settled in the municipalities of Riosucio and Supía, through the corporate capacities of the Eje Cafetero Regional Office and the La Selva and El Nus Research Centers.

The event began with a spiritual harmonization as an act of gratitude and honor to the forces that sustain life in the territory. Next, the main achievements reached in the prioritized lines—plantain, sugarcane for panela, small livestock, and medicinal and household gardens—were shared, highlighting improvements in production, adoption of sustainable practices, and the strengthening of agroecological systems adapted to the Resguardo's context.

One of the central moments of the event was the presentation of learnings by participating families. With clarity and a sense of community, members shared their knowledge and experiences, showing improvements in production, soil care, crop management, and the adoption of agroecological practices.

This sharing exercise was accompanied by AGROSAVIA's professionals and staff from the Resguardo's Food Sovereignty Program, who complemented the presentations with technical explanations and collective assessments, demonstrating the union between scientific knowledge, traditional wisdom, and the direct experience of community members in their plots.

The event was accompanied by the Secretariat of Agriculture of the Caldas Governor's Office and the agricultural teams from the municipalities of Riosucio and Supía. These entities highlighted the relevance of the TIS in energizing production, strengthening local capacities, and contributing to the rural development of the Indigenous territory.

One of the most significant moments was the launch of several publications collectively developed by community members, Resguardo technicians, and AGROSAVIA's professionals:

1. Production guides for small livestock, aimed at strengthening family economies.
2. A production guide for medicinal and household gardens, which rescues ancestral wisdom and promotes community health.
3. A manual for managing diseases in sugarcane for panela, developed with producers' direct participation.
4. An illustrated planner that integrates photographs of the process, Indigenous children's artwork, and organizational principles of the Resguardo.

These publications compile practical, pedagogical, and culturally significant recommendations that will remain at the service of the communities, thus strengthening territorial processes.

Through art, the new generations expressed their feelings

The closing event became the ideal setting to share with attendees two exhibitions: a photographic display portraying the different phases of the process, and an exhibition of artistic works created by the children of the Resguardo, produced days earlier during a painting workshop.

This activity not only showcased the perceptions and feelings of the new generations but also the way they integrate ancestral principles into their worldview, principles that have guided their people for centuries.

Through their drawings and colors, they recognized the deep value of everything around them: nature as a living, sacred being; family as the first space for learning and spiritual protection; crops and land as a mother who sustains and nourishes; and animals as younger siblings with whom they share the territory.

Each stroke reflected the importance of balance, reciprocity, and respect for life—values that are part of their cosmovision and continue to be passed down from generation to generation.

For the Cañamomo Lomaprieta Resguardo, the closure of the TIS does not mark an end but the beginning of a new stage of community innovation, territorial strengthening, and food sovereignty. This process reaffirms that when tradition, research, and collective will come together, it is possible to generate real and lasting transformations for good living.