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Fighting hunger
with native crops With best wishes,
Good seeds can make
the difference between going hungry or putting food on the table for
your family. Sarmiento lives
in the Tinquerccasa is
in the district of Paucara, 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 UN
agency estimates that the number of hungry people worldwide will increase
by 100 million this year, to more than one billion. BRINGING
DREAMS TO "Planning is
very important for local development and to guarantee that local families
have food," Hernan Mormontoy, coordinator of the FAO project, told
When Mormontoy,
an agricultural engineer from 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 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 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. 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, Food security and
improved living conditions among these communities are also related
to access to water for farming and consumption. Julian 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, Maxima 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 In such a poverty-stricken
area, many local residents are in need of support, and the FAO project
cannot cover everyone's needs. Felix 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 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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