The objective of the following work was to evaluate the agronomical behavior of two kinds of Swiss chard fertilized with earthworm humus, and at the same time to know the yield and the costs of production. This work was done in the community of Letanias, located 32 km. from the Department of La Paz and at an altitude of 3860 meters above sea level. Two kinds of Swiss chard were used in this work, Fordhook Giant and Petoseed C003. The three doses of earthworm humus, used as fertilizers, were a2, a3, and a4. The quantity of fertilizer used was 1314, 3560, and 5806 kg per acre, respectively. The Swiss chard was cultivated in a moderate environment, which was in an underground greenhouse with a depth of 1.80 meters. This was so due to the better thermal conditions. Fordhook Giant was the kind that had the best agronomical behavior, reaching an average size of 47.6 cm. for the length of the leaves. From the three levels of Factor A in study, level a3 had the best yield giving an average of 18.1 kg/m^2 of green matter, to which a dosage of 3438 kg. of earthworm humus was applied per acre. The length of the leaves reached an average size of 51.3 cm. The protein content in the Swiss chard leaves increased due to the application of earthworm humus to the ground, thus improving their nutritional quality. The physical and especially the chemical properties were affected positively by the incorporation of earthworm humus. The B/C economic analysis shows that when the earthworm humus is used, the net benefits increase, therefore the farmer family will have a higher income which will help them improve their quality of life.

Since Pre-Colombian time corn already formed part of the diet in Aztec and Mayan cultures, and actually represented in them a fountain of wealth and power. The cultivation is utilized in the region in multiple forms, not only for the human diet, but also as feed for animals. Corn is third place in the world production, following wheat and rice. It is cultivated in a total surface of 106 million hectares, its yield is 215 million tons, that represents an average of 2 tons per hectare. The cultivation of corn has special importance, given that this cereal constitutes the basic food the Latin-Americans. This cereal adapts extensively to diverse ecological conditions. Its high performance and future possibilities of even more improvement through genetics make this cereal one of the plants most promising to confront the threat of hunger in the world. For this reason, it is cultivated in almost every part of the world because of its ample range of elevations. It can grow from sea level to approximately 2500 meters. In the last few years, the world production of corn has grown an average of 3.2% per year, set against 1.1% of semi-annual growth, for surface sown. This difference comes from a strong increase of the average unit yield. This was possible thanks to use of highly productive hybrid corn, with the aid of improve agricultural techniques, such as greater plantation density, more resilient, uses of more effective pesticides and herbicides, etc. In Bolivia, the agriculture area has large potential to develop, but because of political causes not appropriate for our country, and the insufficient economic resources that destines the area to stay rural, these negative aspects are responsible for the backward movement and the misery, making it impossible to develop the agriculture area. The region of Cochabamba, constitutes the main supplier of food. In the country, the economic activity of the valleys are based mainly in agriculture and stockbreeding, being characterized as a growing zone and basically for cereal, whose preferential scale of cultivation is as continues: Corn, wheat, barley, alfalfa, and other. The population of Cochabamba varies because of the growing of corn is only in the seasons of summer and part of the fall, the rest of the time few people stay there. The farmers, to obtain better prices, try to harvest at the start and end of the growing seasons, this is possible when they make a good management of plant's health, irrigation, and soil. etc., due to the smaller effort, the prices are higher, but in the months of February and March is when the effort pays off, because almost all of the farmers harvest, and the prices of this product drops, many times even below the price of production, being consequence of the dry culture. The price of fresh corn on the cob is greater than dry corn. When corn is fresh it has different uses such as humitas, lawas and corn on the cob. El Valle Alta (Punata), the farmers do not market their produce in the markets, despite of the small farms of the area, for this cause merchants truckers exist that gather the produce of all the farmers, and take the majority of the profits, which is why it is necessary for industrialization of the agricultural production. The vegetables are directly or indirectly the source of all the food, because they are capable of using solar energy and to carry out diverse chemical synthesis, that cannot be performed by animals. The principles of the same they are photosynthesis, which consists of the application of the solar energy, to synthesize carbohydrates, and the fixation of nitrogen, which is the foundation for the synthesis of the proteins. The vegetables most consumed are the cereals, legumes, and tubers, they constitute the basic diet. The word ""vegetable"" includes an extensive range of vegetables, and the majority of the vegetables contain at most 60%-80% of the water.

The precipitation data of the El Alto, Tambillo and Comanche stations are homogenous and consistent. The meteorological data from Irpa Chico, Collana and Viacha are consistent, but heterogeneous. The monthly precipitation in Viacha in December, January, March and April are better examples of a normal distribution in comparison to the months of October, November and February. The average annual precipitation in Viacha, in a thirty-four year time period, is 559 mm. Some 76% of this precipitation occurs in November to March. The minimum precipitation in Viacha, with an 80% probability of absence for the vegetative period, from October to April is 269mm. January is the month with the most precipitation (75 mm). The estimated potential of evaporation-transpiration with the Penmen-Monteith method is 1,168 mm a year. October constitutes the month with the greatest value of ETP (116mm). The maximum volume of food storage in the Calacalani Lagoon is 137,000 m3, with annual losses of 48,218 m3. 82% of these losses are due to evaporation and 18% due to infiltration. The usable water volume, taking into account the conservation of 30% of the total volume in order to maintain the aquatic fauna and flora, is 47,740 m3. With some exceptions, the quality of the water is suitable for livestock consumption and with an estimated irrigation capacity of 7-11 hectares per year. The Jacha Jahuira River- Pallina transports an average volume of 38.5x106 m3 annually. This presents serious restrictions for water use in agricultural irrigation and human consumption. The use of the River's water for agricultural purposes has been conditioned for special handling operations, which can reach an irrigational surface of 5,199-8,665 hectares/year. The ground water level may vary from 3,867-3,843 m over that of the ocean level. This presents a fluctuation of 1.2 m in the deep valley receptors of the Letanias hill country and 0.1 m in the community presented an average flow of 0.13 l/s, which represents a volume of 4,100 m3/year. The artesian or subterranean water represents an interesting potential for its quality as well as its availability of 788,000 m3/year of volume. With 12 hours of daily pumping of this water, some 53-88 hectares/year are suitable for irrigation. This is in spite of the fact that the lack of infrastructure has provoked the abandonment of deeply excavated wells, estimating an annual lose of 145,00 m3. Artesian water has no restriction in quality, for animal and human consumption or for irrigation purposes. Some ground water wells have been restricted for human use, due to bacterial contamination. The Choquenaira Community is located in the middle valley of the Jacha Jahuira-Pallina. In the high valley the reduction of vegetation coverage is being observed, that when combined with seasonal rains, provokes water erosion and the transportation of sediment through drainage; Estimating an average transportation of 104 TM of sediments in suspension, especially during the rainy seasons (December-March). In the lower valley severe biological contamination (for human consumption) has been detected. This is due to the discharge of service water from the Viacha City sewer system and the Laja population; and so the sediment accumulation, increasing the risk of overflow and flooding. Extreme events, such as flooding that exceed 50 million m3 of annual drainage, have happened four times in 52 years; which is approximately every 13 years. There is an annual 76% probability that a major event will not occur. The micro-region of the Choquenaria covers a total area of 2,126 hectares. Some 12% (262 hectares) are covered with pastures in a humid environment and temporarily or permanently flooded areas (bofedales, and fertile plains); 19% (401 hectares) are covered steeps, shrubs, and rocky outcrops with strong inclines; 69% (1,463 hectares) correspond to dry land cultivations, pastures, and or bushes that lack distinction. The highest quality springs are used for human consumption, which is estimated to be 10 liters/inhabitant/day, representing an overall community consumption of 594 m3/year (148 inhabitants). This level of consumption is low in comparison to that of the Bolivian, 30-50 l/habitant/day, which is due to the difficulty in accessing the water source. With an average cattle possession in a family being five bovines and 40 ovine, the average consumption is from 450 l/possession/day. This represents an annual consumption of 10,374 m3 used for livestock water in the Choquenaira Community. The surface that undergoes irrigation in the winter does not exceed 600 m2, which is a surface that needs 440 m3/year. The requirement or unitary demand for a cultivation system, consisting of barley (57%), potato (28.6%), and alfalfa (14.4%) in the Choquenaira Community is about 4,443 m3/hectares/year, assuming an irrigation efficiency of 100% and 7,405 m3/hectares/year with a 60% efficiency using a surface irrigation system. The inhabitants of the community use an operational strategy of national resources (ground, water, cultivations, etc.) on the basis of availability and incidence of climatic resources, with the use of local ecological indicators to predict the climate. The commoners seek the reduction of agricultural risk, through specialization in hydric cultivation (dry farming) crops, the spatial operations (epochs), water conservation (water gathering) and the diversification of fountains/springs. There are oftentimes-distinct gender roles in the community. Agriculture is considered a productive activity, in which men play the dominant role. Whereas the women play a fundamental role in obtaining water, especially that which is used in human and animal consumption. The overall offering of the local hydraulic system, composed of the contribution of the Jacha Jahuira River, Calacalani Lagoon, the ground water, and artesian wells, is 39.3 million meters cubed per year. The actual demand of the community, that includes human and animal consumption as well as the irrigation in winter pastures, reaches 11,381m3/year. The potential demand, that includes both human and animal consumption, irrigation in winter pastures and the supplementary irrigation of dry farming, reaches 3.2 million meters cubed per year. The local hydraulic system offers volumes of water, sufficient enough to meet the community's actual and potential demand. However, its contamination and difficulty to access has caused the inhabitants to develop spatial and temporary strategies in order to access the water. The commoners consider the developments of these hydric resources, especially that of human consumption, as a short and long term necessity.

The present work was conducted in order to determine an adequate variety in the processing of small corn, in which a monitoring of all the cycle in cultivation was conducted. The behavior of the small corn was analyzed in the laboratory before the presence of three antioxidants, ascorbic acid, acetic acid and sodium sulfate in two concentrations in addition to subjecting them to thermal treatments that allows us to obtain a pleasant product for the consumer that is both resistant to treatment and nutritious for the health. The results indicate that the best variety of corn is muruchi yellow, the most effective antioxidant is sodium sulfate with a concentration of 1% and the thermal treatment of 10 minutes which obtained the best results, being most pleasing to those persons that evaluated the corn for its organic qualities followed by the ascorbic and acetic acid provided which provided a project of industrial feasibility that provides the information as a convenience to investment.

Lack of sufficient water for irrigation is a major problem in and around the valleys surrounding the town of Aiquile, Cochabamba Bolivia. In addition, much of the region is undergoing desertification compounded by drought, deforestation, bad traditional agricultural practices, over grazing and a "torrential" rainfall pattern leading to severe soil erosion and low agricultural production. Between 1992 and 1994, the author constructed a network of 24 small, mostly rainfed farm ponds to increase agricultural production and alleviate soil erosion and land-use problems by improving cover conditions. A 5-year post-impoundment analysis was carried out in 1998. The analysis examined current pond conditions, design criteria, irrigation water / crop production increases and the alleviation of land-use problems. Current pond conditions fell into four distinct categories with only 25 percent of the ponds being deemed as "functioning well." The project increased irrigation in the region and improved cover conditions in 66 percent of the pond sites.