The community collection of carob pods in the heart of the Chaco Impenetrable has once again demonstrated that it is possible to generate local income without destroying the native forest.
This year, 113 families neighboring the National Park organized to gather 16 tons, doubling last year’s harvest. The fruit has already been sent to a mill in Salta, where it will be transformed into carob flour, a natural food with growing demand due to its nutritional properties.
A regenerative economy in motion
The initiative is part of the “Entrepreneurs by Nature” program by the Rewilding Argentina Foundation, which has been promoting this practice for five consecutive years. In 2025, the territorial reach expanded to 250,000 hectares of carob groves, attracting almost twice as many participants as the previous edition.
According to Lucía “Luli” Kronhaus, regional community coordinator for the Foundation, the goal is “to add value to standing carob trees and protect the forest”. To improve yields, simple but effective measures were applied:
- Soil cleaning to facilitate collection.
- Separation of livestock in harvest areas.
- Installation of elevated solar dryers.
- Incorporation of two seven-ton silos each for storage.
The everyday life of the harvest
The community movement had its own postcard: neighbors arriving by car, motorcycle, wheelbarrow, or on foot with bags full of pods. When there were no means of transport, the organization took care of fetching them. “The more pods harvested, the greater the income for the neighbors,” Kronhaus emphasized, highlighting that the activity is consolidating as a concrete economic alternative.
Most of the collectors belong to the Wichí community, for whom it represents a key additional income in December. Carob flour is also positioned as an identity product of the territory: gluten-free, rich in fiber, proteins, and minerals, obtained without chemicals or industrial processes.
Culture and local roots
The strategy includes gastronomic training, dissemination of recipes, and community events like the Carob Festival, which brought together about 300 people in Nueva Población to celebrate the start of the harvest.
These actions aim to strengthen the cultural roots and local ownership of an ancestral product that is once again taking a central place in community life.
The challenge for the future
The next step is to consolidate the province as a carob producer and achieve the installation of a mill in the region, which would allow for the generation of local employment and expansion of the value chain. Kronhaus called for coordinated efforts between municipalities, government, cooperatives, and the private sector to achieve this goal.
Meanwhile, the forest remains standing and productive. The carob pod, ancestral and resilient, reaffirms itself as a symbol of a regenerative and sustainable economy, with deep roots in El Impenetrable and the ability to project a fairer future for local communities.
