The marigold flowers grown in four penitentiary centers have already bloomed, and not only have an ornamental purpose, they can also be consumed thanks to the organic treatment given to them by the Persons Deprived of Liberty (PPL) who have procured them in the last four months.
This year, 579 seedlings were acquired and transplanted into pots to be cared for by 30 inmates, shared Raúl Hernández, Head of the Departmental Marketing Unit of the Mexico City Penitentiary System.
22 inmates from the Santa Martha Acatitla Men’s Social Reintegration Center, the Mexico City Penitentiary and the Oriente Men’s Center for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions participate, as well as nine women from the Santa Martha Acatitla Women’s Social Reintegration Center. They were treated with natural products such as worm castings leachate with seaweed extract, natural repellents, rock water and other substances.
Its environmentally friendly cultivation makes it possible to continue the tradition of beautifying the altars in the Day of the Dead celebrations and for them to be consumed in dishes, desserts, snow and teas.
“What we are trying to do is for them to appropriate these techniques, it is a possibility of reintegration once they are released because it gives them the possibility of having an (economic) income without initially depending on shelter from private initiative” , he pointed out. The plants between 20 and 25 centimeters will be transplanted into decorated pots, on the occasion of the Day of the Dead, by inmates where they will express their feelings. They will be put on sale the last week of October in institutional stores under the brand “Hazme Valer.” They also planted marigolds, which are more than one meter high and are planned to be sold by the bunch to visitors in the penitentiary centers. With what is left over, the PPL will be taught to make repellents so that they can use it with other crops. It is also planned to use it for the production of chicken eggs with a more intense yolk color, the official said. “It gives them excitement because with products that they are producing inside they feel a projection towards the outside,” said Hernández.
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