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I've investigated in the internet and found some interesting projects funded by IFAD (International Fond for Agricultural Development). A row of three projects in Peru has caught my eyes. These projects empowered communities to rebuild their livelihoods based on natural resources and to restore their once lost knowledge of terrace farming by using the communities' cultural identity and pride as driving forces for change.
Most of cultivation practices of the region's terraces date back to pre-Colombian times. Although much of the knowledge and skills had been lost over the centuries, one small community managed to keep them alive and serve as the source for their reintroduction.
"Water is distributed among terraces of varying sizes (from 100 to 2,000 m2 – depending on the gradient of the mountain). Stone walls of up to 4 metres in height contain packed soil, which is planted with maize and fodder for livestock. Some terraces are irrigated. This requires considerable skill to avoid saturating the soil profile, which can lead to the collapse of the walls. Most women in the community have acquired the skill of judging when the soil profiles are sufficiently watered, and they use composturas – a long-forgotten, zig-zag furrow irrigation system."
The reason why the projects became successful, is that they have built knowledge exchange platform for the farming communities, like farmer-to-farmer training, technological practice competitions between individuals and between communities based on their competitive nature, "Talking maps" used to develop community action plans, make collective decisions and ultimately enrich the community's oral tradition.
Some families have moved from subsistence farming to a position of increased food security and financial assets. They have assumed ownership of the project and an increased sense of responsibility for something that is theirs already: the terraces, houses and pastures, as well as a labour-intensive technology that produces high returns with little or no external input. Above all, they have assumed ownership of community-friendly activities that involve technologies rooted in their culture and ancestral practices. The regaining of ownership is another reason of the project's sustainability.
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