Vegetation in the River Chota valley. - - Special Programme for Food Security Fruit and Vegetable Processing: ECU/98/30. The aim of this Special Programme for Food Security is to improve the level of a poor Afro-Ecuadorian community in the dry rural valleys of Ecuador, through the establishment of a micro-enterprise for fruit and vegetable conservation and processing, which will generate job opportunities, reduce post-harvest losses and make available safe processed fruit and vegetable products.

A women's group in the area, which has benefited from the project has taken the initiative to undertake productive projects to improve their precarious situation and they are now producing guava jam.