From btorres@io.comThu Jul 13 18:52:57 1995 Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1995 14:03:52 -0400 From: Bob Torres Reply to: agenvir-l@io.com To: agenvir-l@io.com Subject: Andean Agriculture, etc. Hello everybody! I just returned from a trip to Peru; I hope that the mailing list went well during my absence. It doesn't look like there was much traffic, so perhaps this can start a thread. At any rate, I noticed that the list got spammed with some kind of "russian love letter" stuff -- sorry about that, but it was really beyond my control. And some people love to abuse the net. I try to keep the list as "clean" as possible. I was working with a program funded by the McKnight foundation to study the sociology, biology, and ecology of Andean root and tuber crops. We worked in a community near Cusco, Peru, high in the Andes. I was amazed at several things during this trip, but to me the most amazing things are the biodiversity of the Andean crops and the altitude at which they grow. To begin with, most of the crops we studied grow at 3500+ m - quite high. These would include oca and olluco, two crops which are completely unknown (outside of academic circles) in the North. These, along with many varieties of potato, present the staple diet of the campesinos of the high Andes (at least in Peru). I also saw potato being grown as high as 4200m which seems incredible, but I tend to believe the altimeters. Additionally, many of these crops were grown literally on the sides of mountains, on slopes that were very steep. The variety was incredible; there are at least 5 or 6 common varieties of oca and olluco with many, many more that are less commonly used. With regard to potato, I saw 20 different varieties growing in one woman's plot. Almost always, these varieties are grown together, and frequently some of the native grass is left in with the plots. They are able to grow all of this without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers. Although some of the richer farmers that we talked to were able to afford chemicals, I never met anyone who used them. They simply used the manure from the corral to fertilize. There is also an incredible respect for the fragility of the land; typical fallow periods range from 4 - 7 years after growing potato, oca, and olluco in succession. Despite the nutritive values of the typical crops, there is concern that these crops are being produced less and less in substitution for cash crops like onion, barley, carrot, and other vegetables. I could see this happening in the community where I worked; electricity had just been installed and people had to produce something to pay for it, so more and more onion has to be produced and sold at the market. Farming methods were also interesting. Many people still use the chaqui toalla (spelling?) to plant potato and other crops - as you may or may not know, this is an ancient tool which dates back to the Incas. It is like a spade with a handle and a foot hold. Much of the technology for field preparation has remained the same over the last several hundred years. Additionally, there were some interesting cropping patterns that I saw - for instance, growing lupine around fava beans to prevent the cattle from eating the fava - and also, some claim, for anti-nemotodal properities. Well, I've written enough and I could easily write more. If you have any questions, please ask. It was an amazing month for me and an incredible learning experience. Cheers, Bob Agenvir-l list admin.