Women in La Pampa
The Provincial Women’s Council was created in 1992 and reported to Ministry of Welfare. In 1995, after the Law of Ministries was enacted, it reported directly to governor Rubén Hugo Marín. This commitment of the Provincial State is today a Constitutional mandate, since the Council is responsible for the observance of the convention on the elimination of any kind of Discrimination against Women (Law 23179). Likewise, it is related to the design, planning, and promotion of government policies like the incorporation of women in different positions, which is rendered in a joint work for the construction of a new constitutional model, by generating, consolidating, and protecting the equitable and supportive relationship between men and women, thus deepening the democratization process. By the creation of Municipal Women’s Areas, the Council of La Pampa covers, more than 92% of the province territory. Therefore, any woman in La Pampa can know her rights and has the opportunity to work for the main goals: women’s progress and equality.
Besides, the Council is the Focus Point of the Patagonic Region, and it has promoted the creation of Women’s Councils through regional meetings held in other patagonic provinces.

La Pampa is Patagonia

The Summit Meeting of Patagonian Governors, held on June 25 and 26 of 1996, had the following attendance: José Arturo Estabillo, for Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur; Néstor Carlos Kirchner, for Santa Cruz; Carlos Maestro, for Chubut; Pablo Verani, for Río Negro; vicegovernor Ricardo Corrado, for Neuquén; and Rubén Hugo Marín for La Pampa. During the meeting, the six representatives of the provinces executed the Foundational Treaty of the Patagonian Region, in which they agreed to create the Patagonian Region by signing the document. In its sections, the Treaty sets forth that the region "shall have as a general aim to promote human development and socioeconomic progress by strengthening the provincial autonomies."

The Colorado river’s bank

THE COLORADO RIVER’S BANK,
A RIVER OF PROGRESS IN FULL DEVELOPMENT
The Colorado River’s Valleys and Plains. As regards geomorphology, the pampean bank is included in the upper and medium course of the Colorado River. In the upper course -from the confluence of the Grande and Barrancas rivers, up to Paso de los Huelches- wide valley areas (like El Sauzal and Colonia Chica) alternate with areas of patagonic plateaus (Planicie 25 de Mayo, Casa de Piedra), where the river flows narrowed between the thatched walls. In the medium course -from Paso de los Huelches, near to the mouth of the Curacó River, up to the V Meridian, the border between La Pampa and Buenos Aires- valleys predominate and the river progressively adopts the features present in the plain area.
The bank is longer than 500 km and has wide valleys and open plain areas that can be irrigated. It also presents some isolated places like Gobernador Ayala, La Japonesa, and dispersed points between this point ant the Curacó River’s mouth, apart from the marginal valleys in the last track of the provincial bank.
Productive aspects. The productive aspects of the river and its surrounding areas are very important, and in general people only know activities like the cultivation of fruit trees or fodder plants and mining. It should be mentioned that beside the rive coexist two main kinds of cattle breeding: goats and beef cattle. The pampean margin, from the area the river enters the pampean territory in the X Meridian and exits it in the V Meridian, has an important cattle production, which is the sustenance of many families. The goats are breeded by ranch hands that occupy the river bank bordering Mendoza Province up to Gobernador Duval approximately. The main breeds are Criollo and in some cases the Angora goats. Beef cattle is located along the bank, but its concentration increases in the lower course of the river, where the agroecological conditions are better. As regards beef cattle, the main breeds derive from Britain blood, and the main specimens are Aberdeen Angus and its crosses. In a lesser degree, but equally important, horses make a good contribution to the producer’s economy.
There are other minor activities related to the irrigation areas: diaries, rabbit and bee keeping, poultry breeding and pig crop. There are two farms engaged in the pig crop that should be mentioned, one is located in 25 de Mayo, which has included important genetic works and the other is La Adela, which probably is the largest in La Pampa, with about 1,000 heads.
Along the whole river bank, the vegetal production, out of the irrigation area, is mainly natural grass, except for the Caleu-Caleu, where the countries grow green in winter and sometimes producers cultivate double-purpose wheat. At present the irrigated area of the 25 de Mayo comprise:
“El Sauzal” Farming system. The Colorado River Multiple Development Program assigned to “El Sauzal” Farming system 4,000 hectares in the valley, 3.761 of which are irrigated. Over 98 % of the plots utilized for the cultivation of fruit trees and planted forests are systematically arranged in this area. In the last farming cycle 2,695 hectares were cultivated. The plots are approximately 20 hectares; however, there are sectors up to 5 hectares and forestal units with fodder crops that take the largest parcels.
The productive structure comprises mainly fruit trees and in a lesser degree vegetables. As regards fruits, the apple tree is the most known specie, which is basically represented by the Red Delicious variety, mainly through clones like Atwood (Chañar 34) and Angius (Chañar 28). In a lesser proportion there are also varieties like Red Kin Oregon and Starkrimson (dardíferas). The Granny Smith variety is utilized as a pollination purposes. Pears participate in a minor proportion almost exclusively with the William’s and Packman’s varieties. Stone fruits participated in the early productive activities of the “El Sauzal”, but as they were frequently affected by late frosts, the cultivation decreased sharply. At present, the most cultivated specie is plum (President and D’Agen varieties), which is in most part dried and the rest is sold fresh.
90 % of the fruit is traded by the companies located in the Upper Valley of the Negro River and Neuquén. This applies to the first production, which is sold fresh. These companies also commercialize the industrial fruit, which is 100 % utilized to prepare natural juices (concentrated juice, mainly).
As regards cold preservation, there are cold packaging warehouses -one pertains to the private sector an the other is public- in which the fruit is processed and stored to be later traded in domestic markets and, depending on the circumstances, in international markets. Besides, two private packaging plants are established in the area.
Vine cultivation is resurging due to the improving conditions in the wine market, which has been oriented to fine varieties that perfectly adapt to our agroecological conditions. Vine has its apogee in the ’80s with varieties like Merlot, Malbec, Tocai Friulano, Semillón, and in a lesser degree Sauvignon; 270 hectares were cultivated by that time. As regards vegetables, tomato is the main crop. In the same decade this activity was very important due to the presence of the processing plant that belonged to “Canale”, which took up domestic production. The last productive cycle was in 1993-94, when the plant closed down like it did the parent company. Other minor crops of the area are: pimiento, egg plant, pumpkin, watermelon, melon, and sweet corn in small plots. It should be mentioned that onion has been successfully cultivated in plots that are larger than the usual ones.
Vegetables are also alternatively cultivated in hothouses with excellent results.
The logging (salicaceous) area comprise 300 hectares, of which 200 hectares represent the tree stand cultivated area and the other 100 hectares is arranged like curtains or trenches. There are three sawmills engaged in the primary industrialization (stripes) of wood in the location. Most of the production is processed in the Upper Valley and Mendoza.
25 de Mayo Land Multidevelopment System - Section I. This plain area, which has started operations later than El Sauzal, has replotted more than 60 % of its surface (4,689.9 net irrigable hectares). In the last cycle, 2,804 hectares were cultivated. The productive units vary between 150 and 500 hectares.
This area is basically engaged in the production of fodder plants, which are mostly used to manufacture bales, pellets, alfalfa flour and certified alfalfa seed. Grain and oil-seed crops have obtained acceptable yields. Tomato cultivation fluctuates and depends on the placement possibilities of the market.
25 de Mayo Land Multidevelopment System - Section V. This section in the Valley, more than 6,000 hectares of irrigable land, comprise three sectors called: Sector I “Los Ingleses”; Sector II “Ex Isla”, which is divided into the North and the South areas; and Sector III “Ampliación” or “Sector Noreste”.
At present the surface under irrigation comprises Sector I and II -North area- and took up 1,598 hectares in the last productive cycle. The main activity is represented by the forestal plants (salicaceous), and take up a tree stand cultivated area of 270 hectares. Bolts are unwound for the production of plywood and stripes. Grain corn, alfalfa hay for pellet, tomato, and onion follow in the production gamut according to their importance. In the last seasons sunflower was cultivated. A new undertaking is being developed: diary, pasteurization and sachet packing plant.
The production of this section is traded as follows:
• Pelletized hey: it is exported to Brazil and domestically traded for blended food mainly. • Alfalfa seed: it is mainly traded in the dairy area of Buenos Aires, La Pampa and Córdoba. • Grain corn: its commercial destination is mainly located in the south of the Colorado River • Industrial Tomato: it is traded through brokers, industries located out of the area (basically in Mendoza Province). • Milky production and other vegetables: they are traded in the region.
Meat Processing Plant located in La Adela. A meat processing plant, which belongs to “Pilotti S.A.” is located in this last town of our pampean bank. The daily slaughter amounts to 160 bovines. Beef cuts are traded in vacuum packaging. This company commercializes its production all over the Patagonia.
Mining production. Different minerals deposits are found in the region. There are sodic bentonite, diatomite, and gypsum. Furthermore, La Pampa has an important production of natural gas and oil.
Bentonite, diatomite and gypsum. The sodic bentonite deposit, located in Colonia Chica, has 17 mines with an estimated reserve of 1,000,000 tons for different applications: oil, smelting, waterproofing substances, wine production, pelletization, paints, blended foods, decolorants, sealers, conditioners, cosmetology, raincoat industry, etc. The diatomite deposit, located in Casa de Piedra, has three mines and a reserve of 500,000 tons. This mineral is mainly used for filtering lands. The gypsum deposit, located in Colonia Chica, has an estimated reserve of 500,000 tons. This mineral is mainly used in construction works, agriculture and handicrafts. The deposits belong to Minero José Cholino e Hijos and Minerales La Pampa S.R.L.. Both companies have two mills, one located in the Industrial Park of 25 de Mayo, and the other in the quarry of Colonia Chica. Other minerals worked in the quarry are: sand, basalt, calcareous minerals and rubble.
Natural Gas production. In Colonia Chica, “Petroquímica Comodoro Rivadavia” has a plant for processing and compressing natural gas, which allows to deliver the product in marketable conditions to “Transportadora Gas del Sur”, and through the latter to the National Distribution System. The plant’s monthly production is 20,000,000 m3. It should be mentioned that 85 % of the natural gas that the Sweetening plant located in Río Negro Province processes, which belongs to “Gas Medanito S.A.”, comes from deposits located in La Pampa Province.
Oil production. The province has three oil fields: “25 de Mayo Medanito”, “Medanito” and “Jagüel de los Machos”. They have 380 wells and an average monthly production of 38,000 m3.
The production is processed in our Province, in the treatment plant of “Petroquímica Comodoro Rivadavia” and is transported to the main oil pipeline system. (Puerto Rosales - Bahía Blanca).

Mining and production map (click here)

Related Link: "Cities: 25 de Mayo"

“Cruce del Desierto” Resort and Service Center.
This complex comprises a gas station and a service center, a three-star hotel, a well established restaurant and it is becoming a recreational resort and a sports complex. The premises are located in a privileged place, the intersection of the National Highway Nº 151 and Provincial Highway 20, near the prodigious Colorado River, where an impressive view point looks out on to the river area, which simulates a delta. There, the restless spirit of the Lorca family, headed by Rufino Lorca -the visionary man, who more than 30 years ago came from Mendoza and settled in the area definitely- has forested the 120 hectares, where there will be a regulation horse racetrack of 2,500 meters, a car racetrack of 3,000 meters made of flattened soil, and a karting track. All of this will be strategically complemented with grills, a camping area, rest rooms, etc. The hotel -which is well-known all over the country- offers the tourist or traveler all he or she needs for a good rest or meal, and suggests at the same time touring the area to appreciate its beautiness, and promotes the south region of La Pampa Province, mainly the Colorado river bank, “a river of progress”.

Patagonia-Protected Production
For over six years, the Fundación Barrera Zoofitosanitaria Patagónica (FUNBAPA) (Foundation for the Patagonic Sanitary and Phytosanitary -SPS- Barrier) has conducted inspections and carried out programs to make the Patagonia an area free of plagues and diseases. The aim is to control the products of this region and allow them to enter into a wider international market.

In 1992, the scourge of foot-and-mouth disease urged farm operators in the region to improve sanitary conditions, and thus the penetration into national and international markets. In that year, the Comité Regional de Barrera Patagónica (CORBAPA) (Regional Committee for the Patagonic Barrier) decided to create the FUNBAPA to execute and manage the Programa Zoosanitario de los ríos Barrancas y Colorado (Sanitary Program for the Barrancas and Colorado rivers).
The first goal to achieve was to eradicate the foot-and-mouth disease from the southern region of the country, which required a great joint effort between the private and the public sector. Diverse sectors of private producers joined the organizations that CORBAPA comprises –the government of the following provinces: Río Negro, Mendoza, La Pampa, Buenos Aires, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego; the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Animal (SENASA) (National Service for Animal Health and Quality), and the Instituto Agroalimentario de Sanidad y Calidad Vegetal (IASCAV) (Food and Agricultural Institute for Plant Health and Quality).
As a result of the success attained, the program was continued through public and private organizations. The FUNBAPA then implemented a system based on the signature of agreements between municipal and provincial governments, national and international organizations, producer associations and other foundations.
During these six yeas, FUNBAPA has generated new niches and programs to perform its function as well as possible. The permanent action program comprises thirty barrier control posts in the highways and airports of eight provinces, which operate 24 hours a day, all year long.
It was created the Plant Health Commission, which comprises the Federación de Productores de Frutas de las provincias de Río Negro y Neuquén (Río Negro and Neuquén province’s Federation of Fruit Producers), the Cámara de Fruticultores Integrados (CAFI) (Chamber of Integrated Fruit Producers), and the Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (National Service for the Food and Agricultural Health and Quality) (the merge of SENASA with IASCAV). This Commission carries out programs for the Control and Eradication of the Fruit Fly (PROCEM) and the Carpocapsa (codling moth) Control, both vital for the best commercialization of the production coming from the irrigated patagonic valleys.
PROCEM managed to declare the Andean Area free from the plague, ensuring the access of products to American and Asian markets. In turn, the Carpocapsa Control Program works to eradicate scrublands at sanitary risk, and by training the producers, it aims to reduce the quantity of agrochemicals utilized in the production process, thus obtaining a more natural product.
Besides, FUNBAPA works together with the Animal Health Commission, which comprises the Federación de Sociedades Rurales de Río Negro (Federation of rural Associations of the Negro River), Asociaciones Ganaderas (Farmer’s Associations), the SENASA, and provincial governments. This Commission is in charge of the Laboratorio Patagónico de Diagnóstico Agroalimentario (Patagonic Laboratory for Food and Agricultural Diagnosis), where different diseases relative to production are diagnosed.
Another member of the Foundation is the Horticultural Commission, which comprises the producers and packers of Patagones and Villarino (Buenos Aires), Río Negro Province, and the respective provincial and municipal governments. The horticultural sector issues the certificates of origin for onions, whose export has been opened to Brazil and regional ports.
The first achievement of FUNBAPA was to declare the Andean Area free of fruit fly. Subsequent efforts promote the primary production, thus turning this organization in one useful tool for rural producers. The Foundation’s main goal is to grow by generating a production that benefits the other organizations through: deeper penetration of products in the market, higher income, and thus the creation of new positions.
Since 1992, FUNBAPA has been committed to the productive development of the country region, and day after day it renews its commitment, by creating niches so that any interested party may make his or her contribution or discover new horizons. For this reason, the Foundation invites you to send your opinion to its e-mail address: [email protected] or to call the telephone number (02941) 45-2151. Further information is provided on the Web site at:
www.funbapa.org.ar

Water Resources

Surface Water Resources
La Pampa Province has scarce surface water resources. They are of paramount importance for man, and its lack constitutes a main constraint for the socioeconomic development of the territory. The two main river systems are interprovincial and they are also the only drainage channels (Colorado and Atuel-Salado-Chadileuvú rivers); La Pampa Province does not have an autochthonous river system, except for some minor streams.
The Colorado River is the most important permanent resource, mainly fed by thaw.
The Salado-Chadileuvú River is undergoing a clear-cut hydrological deterioration as the provinces located in the region of its upper course have made use of its tributary rivers, which caused a tremendous environmental deterioration in the pampean land. The Atuel River has its sources in Mendoza Province and its drainage system in La Pampa Province. But since the construction of the “Sistema Presas Los Nihuiles” (the Nihuiles Dam) in Mendoza, more than fifty years ago, waters do no reach the pampean territory, except for occasional extraordinary surpluses, which are impossible to use due to their unpredictability.
To the west, in the Basaltic Plateau, there are approximately fifty springs resulting from the water intake of the volcanic rock that emerge in La Pampa.
There are numerous lagoons irregularly scattered in the territory, most of them are located in the west area -where the majority are of fresh water- and in the central area, but it should be mentioned that the largest group is located in the south and center of the province, and it is represented by the Puelches lagoons. They are used for different purposes when there is enough water, as they are also subject to the sporadic flows of the Salado-Chadileuvú.
The largest isolated marshy body of La Pampa is the “Gran Salitral” (large saltpeter deposit), located in the western region of the province. The lagoons disserve special attention due to their economic importance as many of them, which are salt marshes, produce salt for consumption. Most of them are situated in south of the province and some have become well known as they are therapeutical resorts.

Subterranean Water Resources
The presence of subterranean water and the possibility of its use is mainly subject to three natural factors: climate (rains and temperature), Geology (lithology and tectonics), and the Geomorphology. The existence of subterranean water depends on the interrelation among these factors.
The most important water-bearing bodies are: Valle Argentino, 1,600 km2; Santa Rosa-Anguil-Catriló, 625 km2; Valle de Chapalcó, 400 km2; General Pico-Dorila, 71 km2; Meauco, 1,500 km2; Speluzzi, 69 km2; La Puma-Trilí, 100 km2. Others, 200 km2.

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