Despite the increasing industrialisation of agriculture, the great majority of the farmers in the Andes are peasants, or small scale producers. They still farm the valleys and slopes with traditional and subsistence methods. After centuries of cultural and biological evolution, traditional farmers have developed and inherited complex farming systems, adapted to the local conditions. These have helped them to sustainably manage harsh environments and meet their subsistence needs, without depending on mechanisation, chemical fertilisers, pesticides or other technologies of modern agricultural science.
ILEIA Newsletter • 12 nº 1 • April 1996
Indigenous knowledge re-valued in Andean agricultura
Despite the increasing industrialisation of agriculture, the great majority of the farmers in the Andes are peasants, or small scale producers. They still farm the valleys and slopes with traditional and subsistence methods. After centuries of cultural and biological evolution, traditional farmers have developed and inherited complex farming systems, adapted to the local conditions. These have helped them to sustainably manage harsh environments and meet their subsistence needs, without depending on mechanisation, chemical fertilisers, pesticides or other technologies of modern agricultural science.
The terraces throughout the Andean slopes, and the waru-waru (raised fields) and qochas in the Altiplano are sophisticated ｅxpressions of landscape modification that have historically rendered more than a million hectares of land for agricultural purposes (Rengifo 1987). The past and present existence of these and other forms of intensive agricultural systems document a successful adaptation to difficult environments by indigenous farmers. In fact, applied research conducted on these systems reveals that many traditional farming practices, once regarded as primitive or misguided, are now being recognised as sophisticated and appropriate.
Agroecological and ethnoecological evidence increasingly indicates that these systems are productive, sustainable, ecologically sound, and tuned to the social, economic, and cultural features of the Andean heterogeneous landscape (Earls 1989). Cultural adaptations that farmers have developed in the Andes include:
• domestication of a diversity of plants and animals and maintenance
of a wide genetic resource base;
• establishment of diverse production zones along altitudinal and vertical
gradients;
• development of a series of traditional technologies and land-use practices
to deal with altitude, slope, extreme climates, etc.;
• different levels and types of social control over production zones,
including sectoral fallows.
Captivated by the ecological intricacies of ancient Andean agroecosystems, many scientists are beginning to show interest in traditional agriculture as they search for ways to remedy the deficiencies of modern agricultural development, recognising that indigenous farmers and their systems may hold messages of hope for the future of Andean agriculture. Today, it is widely accepted that indigenous knowledge is a powerful resource in its own right and complementary to knowledge available from western scientific sources (Denevan 1995).
So, in this new emerging conception of agricultural development, rural people’s knowledge about plants, soils, and animals gains unprecedented significance. Scientists involved in small farm development must quickly systematize and incorporate farmers’ knowledge, before this wealth of practical knowledge is lost forever, given that most traditional farming systems are rapidly disappearing in the face of major social, economic and political changes occurring in developing countries.
Destructive economy
Economic change fueled by capital and market penetration are leading to an ecological breakdown that is starting to destroy the productivity and sustainability of traditional agriculture. After creating resource-conserving systems for centuries, traditional cultures in areas such as the Andes are now being undermined by external political and economic forces. Biodiversity is decreasing in farms, soil degradation is accelerating, community and social organisation is breaking down, genetic resources are being eroded and traditions lost.Under this scenario and given commercial pressures and urban demands, many developers argue that the performance of subsistence agriculture is unsatisfactory, and that intensification of production with modern inputs and varieties is absolutely essential for the transition from subsistence production to commercial production (Brush 1990).
Most agroecologists oppose this view and argue that the challenge is how to guide such transition in a way that yields and income are increased without raising the dependence and debt of peasants and without further exacerbating environmental degradation. Agroecologists contend that this can be done by generating and promoting agroecological, resource-conserving technologies a source of which are the very traditional systems that modernity is destroying.
Although it may be impossible to return traditional agriculture to its original state of equilibrium, what is possible is to revert the current process of agricultural "involution" spearheaded by short-sighted development, guiding the transition of the various phases of "modified" peasant agriculture to a more sustainable rural society.
Search for alternatives
As the inability of the Green Revolution to improve food security, production and farm incomes for the very poor became apparent, a quest began in the Andes for affordable, productive and ecologically sound small-scale agricultural alternatives. In many ways, the emergence of agroecology stimulated a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other institutions in the region to actively search for new kinds of agricultural development and resource management strategies that, based on local participation, skills and resources, enhance small farm productivity while conserving resources.
Photo: Drawing: Minka
Technicians initially assisted local farmers in reconstructing some 10 hectares of the ancient farms, with encouraging results. For instance, yields of potatoes from waru-warus can outstrip those from chemically fertilised fields. Recent measurements indicate potato yields from waru-warus of 10 tons per hectare compared with the regional average of 1-4 tons per hectare (Erickson and Chandler 1989). The combination of raised beds and canals has proven to have remarkably sophisticated environmental effects. During droughts, moisture from the canals slowly ascends the roots by capillary action, and during floods, furrows drain away excess runoff.
Waru-warus also reduce the impact of extremes of temperature. Water in the canals absorbs the sun’s heat by day and radiates it back by night, thereby helping protect crops against frost. on the raised beds, night-time temperatures may be several degrees higher than in the surrounding region. The system also maintains its own soil fertility. In the canals, silt, sediment, algae, and plant and animal residues decay into a nutrient-rich muck which can be dug out seasonally and added to the raised beds.
This ancient technology is proving so productive and inexpensive that now it is actively being promoted throughout the Altiplano. It requires no modern tools or fertilisers, the main expense is for labour to dig canals and build up the platforms.
Restoring abandoned terraces
Also in Peru, several NGOs as well as government agencies have engaged in programmes to restore abandoned terraces and build new ones in various regions of the country. For example, in the Colca Valley, PRAVTIR (Programa de Acondicionamiento Territorial y Vivienda Rural) sponsors terrace reconstruction by offering peasant communities low-interest loans or seeds and other inputs to restore large areas of abandoned terraces. The main advantages of using terraces is that it minimises risks in times of frost and/or drought, reduces soil loss, amplifies the cropping options because of the microclimate and hydraulic advantages of terraces, and improves crop yields.First year yield data from new bench terraces showed a 43-65% yield increase in potatoes, maize, and barley compared to yields of these crops grown on sloping fields. one of the main constraints of this technology is that it is highly labour intensive, requiring about 350-500 worker/days/ha (Treacey 1989). Such demands, however, can be buffered when communities organise and share tasks.
Despite the onrush of modernisation and economic change which has promoted intensive reliance on expensive machinery, chemicals and seed strains, has encouraged agroindustrial monocropping, increased the concentration of landholdings and wealth in the countryside, and accelerated the exodus of small farmers to overcrowded cities, a few traditional agricultural management and knowledge systems still survive in the Andes.
These systems exhibit important elements of sustainability, namely: they are well adapted to their particular environment, they rely on local resources, they are small scale and decentralised, maintain biodiversity and conserve the natural resource base (Rengifo and Regalado 1991). Therefore, these systems comprise a Neolithic legacy of considerable importance, yet modern agriculture constantly threatens the stability of this inheritance.
Promising options
These microcosms of traditional agriculture offer promising models for other areas as they promote biodiversity, thrive without agrochemicals and sustain year-round yields. It is particularly evident from the examples provided, that ancient agricultural systems and technologies can aid in the rescue of today’s Andean peasants from the vicious cycle of rural poverty and environmental degradation.For agroecologists, what has been especially useful are the ecological principles that underline the sustainability of traditional farming systems, which once extracted and systematised can be combined into alternative production systems for peasants. Agroecological research convincingly shows that the crop and animal combinations evolved by traditional farmers can often be adapted to increase productivity when the biological structuring of the farm is improved and labour and local resources are efficiently used.
This has been documented by IDEAS’ model farm design in the San Marcos province of Cajamarca (Chavez et al. 1989). The main aspects of IDEAS’ agroecological proposal included:
• Rational use of local resources, including human and animal labour;
• High diversity of native and exotic adapted crops and animals grown
in polycultural and rotational patterns;
• Recycling of organic residues and optimal management of small animals.
The agroecological module consisted of a one hectare model farm inserted in
an area with similar conditions facing the average campesino of the area. The
farm was divided into four plots, each following a particular rotational design.
After three years of operation, field results showed the following trends:
• Organic matter content increased from low to medium and high levels,
and N levels increased slightly. Additions of natural fertilisers were necessary
to maintain optimum levels of organic matter and nitrogen;
• Phosphorous and potassium increased in all plots;
• Crop yields varied among plots, however in plots with good soils high
yields of corn and wheat were obtained;
• Polycultures overyielded monocultures in all instances;
• To farm 1 ha. of the model farm it was necessary to use 100 man-hours,
15 oxen-hours, and about 100 kgs. of seeds.
These preliminary results indicate that the proposed farm design has potential to enhance the diversity of food crops available to the family, increases income through higher productivity, and maintains the ecological integrity of the natural resource base.
Knowledge combined
Realistically, the search for sustainable agriculture models for the Andes will have to combine elements of both traditional and modern agroecology. Traditional patterns and practices encompass mechanisms to stabilise production in a risk-prone environment without external subsidies and to limit environmental degradation. Such stabilising qualities of traditional agriculture must be supported and complemented by agroecological practices that enhance the soil, water, and germplasm conservation potential of traditional technologies, and that also provide diversification guidelines on how to assemble functional biodiversity so that peasant systems can sponsor their own soil fertility, plant health and productivity.For example, it may be possible to utilise Lupine, or other adapted legumes that produce high biomass, as green manures to improve traditional fallow systems or to incorporate such legumes in intercropping systems to break the monoculture nature of potato systems. This would allow farmers to derive benefits on soil fertility and pest regulation that emerge from well planned rotations and polycultures.
Miguel Altieri, University of California Berkeley, 1050 San Pablo Ave, Albany CA 94706, USA
- Altieri, MA. 1995. Agroecology: the science of sustainable agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder.
- Araujo, H. et al. 1989. Ecología, agricultura y autonomía campesina en los Andes. Fundación Alemana para el Desarrollo Internacional. Feldafing-Lima-Hohenheim.
- Brush, SB et al. 1981. Dynamics of Andean potato agriculture. In: Economic Botany 35: 70-88.
- Brush, SB. 1990. Diversity and change in Andean agriculture. In: PD Little et al. (eds). Lands at Risk in the Third World. pp. 271-289. Westview Press, Boulder.
- Chavez, J et al. 1989. Propuesta de agricultura orgánica para la Sierra. IDEAS-CONYCET, Lima.
- Denevan, DW. 1995. Prehistoric agricultural methods as models for sustainability. In: Advanced Plant Pathology II: 21-43.
- Earls, J. 1989. Planificación agricola Andina. COFIDE, Lima.
- Erickson, CL and KL Chandler. 1989. Raised fields and sustainable agriculture in the lake Titicaca basin of Perú. In: JO Browder (ed.). Fragile Lands of Latin America. pp. 230-243. Westview Press, Boulder.
- Rengifo, G. 1987. La agricultura tradicional en los Andes. Editorial Horizonte, Lima.
- Rengifo, G and E Regalado. 1991. Vigorización de la chacra Andina. PRATEC-PPEA, Lima.
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