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PERU:
Fighting Hunger with Native Crops
By Milagros Salazar
PAUCARÁ, Peru (IPS) - As if he were
showing off a treasure, Dionicio Sarmiento
holds up his seed potatoes with a smile.
"Look how nice they are, all ready to plant.
It'll be a good harvest," says the peasant
farmer from Huancavelica, Peru's poorest
province, where most of the population
depends on subsistence farming.
Good seeds can make the difference between
going hungry or putting food on the table
for your family.
Sarmiento lives in the village of
Tinquerccasa, more than 3,500 metres above
sea level, where the houses are made of
adobe, farmers use simple tools, and food
production barely covers the families'
needs. Piped water is available here only
one hour a day, and there is no sewer
system.
Tinquerccasa is in the district of Paucará,
where more than 90 percent of the population
is poor. In Huancavelica as a whole, where
indigenous people make up the majority of
the population, nearly 86 percent of people
live in poverty, and approximately 45
percent of children in native communities
are malnourished.
Despite these grim statistics, the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
has found fertile ground in the village for
fighting hunger and promoting food security
through a project aimed at strengthening
community organisations, reviving
consumption of traditional foods, and
connecting farm production with markets, to
boost the incomes of local farmers.
While FAO has forged alliances with local,
provincial and central government
authorities, as well as universities,
perhaps the project's most important capital
is the traditional knowledge of the local
indigenous people and their dreams of
getting ahead.
FAO reports that global food insecurity has
worsened, and that it remains a serious
threat to humanity, due to high food prices
in developing countries. The U.N. agency
estimates that the number of hungry people
worldwide will increase by 100 million this
year, to more than one billion.
Bringing dreams to life
The project in Huancavelica is attacking the
problem of hunger from different angles.
"Planning is very important for local
development and to guarantee that local
families have food," Hernán Mormontoy,
coordinator of the FAO project, told IPS.
"And large investments are not needed, just
a great deal of ingenuity, energy and
commitment."
When Mormontoy, an agricultural engineer
from Cuzco with more than 25 years
experience in rural areas and excellent
people skills, visits the participating
communities, he walks from one end to the
other, talking to people all along the way.
He says planning is the key, and asks local
families to literally illustrate their
dreams by drawing on a piece of construction
paper, which is called their "future land
management plan."
In the drawing, the families graphically lay
out their hopes for improvements to their
homes and farms, and business possibilities.
"Over here is my organic garden, and a
little shed for my guinea pigs," Sarmiento
showed IPS. "Right here I'm going to put a
shed for my cows; on this other side will go
the pig sty; and in the front, we want to
put a restaurant and a hostel for tourists."
His son Bush, who is just five years old,
attentively listens to his father's
explanation, while his mother, Dionicia,
looks on with a smile, holding their
six-month-old daughter Zoraida.
"In this project, the whole family gets
involved," says Mormontoy.
"I help water the organic garden, where
lettuce and beets are already growing," says
Dionicia in Quechua, her native tongue. "I
also help select the seeds, and prepare the
clay for the adobe bricks used to make
houses. I help out in several ways."
The project has dozens of outreach workers
like Sarmiento, who are in charge of getting
other local families involved.
Through the project, more than 50
rustic-looking but effective seed storage
units have been built, which have helped
guarantee good harvests. The families
participating in the project have also cut
their food expenses 30 percent, while
increasing their incomes 40 percent, FAO
reports.
As part of the plan, large plots have been
planted with traditional crops like native
potato varieties, the Andean root vegetable
olluco (Ullucus tuberosus), and tarwi or
Andean lupin (Lupinus mutabilis), whose
seeds are used in different recipes.
The Lima-based Centre for the Study and
Promotion of Development (DESCO) provides
the farmers with technical advice, as part
of its aim to bolster production and
consumption of high-protein traditional
foods.
Other nutritional native foods are quinoa (Chenopodium
quinoa, also known as Inca wheat), oca
(Oxalis tuberosa), a root vegetable, and
amaranth (Amaranthus), a traditional grain.
But promoting consumption of tarwi and
amaranth is a challenge for FAO, because
local communities are not familiar with
their nutritional qualities or do not know
how to prepare and cook them anymore.
"We made tarwi once and it tasted like
poison, it was so bitter," 59-year-old
peasant farmer Pablo Vargas told IPS. He has
grown the crop but basically just to sell,
because he is unfamiliar with the technique
for preparing the seeds, which are bitter
due to a high alkaloid content. Preparation
involves soaking the seeds in water for
several days.
To boost consumption of these traditional
products, food fairs have been held, where
cooks - mainly women - showcase their
creative recipes.
There is also an alliance with the National
Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA) to
help diversify crops in the native villages.
IPS visited Tinquerccasa when INIA was
providing the community leaders with more
than 662 varieties of oca, olluco and mashua
(Tropaeolum tuberosum), another root
vegetable.
The INIA experts plan to observe in situ the
productivity of these different varieties
and their resistance to different
conditions, in order to replicate the
experience in other areas.
Without water, life is not possible
Food security and improved living conditions
among these communities are also related to
access to water for farming and consumption.
Julián Soto, a dedicated farmer and father
of five, and his family are building a water
storage tank.
Like in other Andean communities, water is
becoming more and more scarce in the area,
because climate change has reduced the
sources of water as a result of the melting
of the glaciers and changes in rainfall
patterns.
Mormontoy said this aspect has been taken
into account in the project.
Soto is a symbol of rural development
despite the adversities he has faced: not
only has he managed to increase his farm
production, but with the support of his
children he has refurbished and enlarged the
family home and founded a small dairy
product company run by his wife, Máxima
Silvestre.
"I have travelled up north, to Cajamarca, to
learn how to make cheese and yoghurt. I'm
going to make them myself, and sell them at
lower prices to the people in my community,"
said Silvestre, who did not stop weaving for
one second while talking to IPS.
In such a poverty-stricken area, many local
residents are in need of support, and the
FAO project cannot cover everyone's needs.
Félix Unocc, from the community of Padre
Rumi, asked Mormontoy to go with him to one
of his plots of land to see if it was
possible to build a water storage pond
there.
After a walk along a rocky path, the farmer,
the agricultural engineer and IPS reached
the hill where Unocc's field lies. Mormontoy
looked at the stream and the land, and told
the farmer: "We could dig a pond here to
collect the water that runs down the hill,
to irrigate your crops and those of other
families, because the water belongs to
everyone."
Unocc nodded and said of course he
understood that the water was for the entire
community. "We only want a little
orientation and help," he said softly, his
response reflecting the urgent need for
these remote indigenous communities to
receive help from the state to guarantee
their survival in the fight against hunger. |
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