A chair or a hammock? Why not both? An innovative piece of furniture called "hamadora", exclusively produced in El Salado is one of the success story of the reborn village.

 

The United Nations ordered over
100 units this year.

 

For a few Salaeros that produce the the furniture, their live made a profitable turn.

 

One of them is Blas Romero. He says: "I wanted a change in my life. Thanks to god that he brought the hamadora."

Innovation

El Dorado Tobacco

 

Blas Romero still remember the old days. "We all were tobacco farmers. From the profits of it, we could be anything we needed."

 

Tobacco was the most planted crop in the area making El Salado the tobacco centre of Colombia.

 

But after the massacre, things changed.

 

The rain, that brought prosperity to the fertile lands of the area, stayed away.

 

"The golden days of tobacco are over now", says Blas.

New owners

Land grabbing after rural populations have been displaced are one of the current key issues in Colombia.

 

Alejandro Reyes, consultant of the Colombian Ministry for Agriculture says: "Over two million hectares of land are in dispute between farmers and big business. The Argos Group has had many claims brought against them regarding the land they bought in the area of El Salado."

 

The cement company responding to the allegations says: "We are an active  participant of the application of the  Law for the Restitution of Land and Victims.

 

Further we own only 9000 hectares of land in the area, which makes up about 1.2 percent of the total."

 

But over 30 percent of farmers in El Salado have only informal lease contracts for small parcels of land  with the big companies who own the lands now.

 

With a further absence of rain, the Salaeros could face a food crisis.