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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.