Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

Indigenous Knowledge = ECO-FRIENDLY "extensive" agriculture

The community management success story from the The World Bank/WBI’s CBNRM Initiative that I herein “uncover” for mission 8 is entitled: “Raising Agricultural Production in the Hillside Zone of the Baños del Inca District” carried out in Perú (South America).

I chose this one because back in 1998 one of the main lessons learned from the study was “that there is a wh*** body of rural expertise and wisdom which has been left overlooked”.

The study does not elaborate further on this “rural expertise”, so I guess I will accomplish a Super-objective (although I have to admit that will not really be making an extra heroic effort) if I supply the follow-up information about this subject:

My intention is to share a farming technology which could be globally applicable, this is ancient indigenous knowledge to take into account at the time of working out our contemporary crisis: climate change, water management and food security.

I want to introduce you WARU WARU (in quechua language) or Sukakollo (in aymara language) which is a farming system conceived about 3000 years ago by the Incas (half my ancestors).

The system consists on raised field areas which can support crops affording the temperature and nutrients necessary for them to be productive under the roughest weather conditions (droughts, floods and frost). These platforms are created by digging the soil and piling it to form long platforms as showed in this picture:




The ditches are filled out with water and this water helps maintaining the temperature of the roots despite of low temperatures that are normal during the night at over 4.000 meters over the sea level (this is where I was born).

Water in stagnant condition allows proliferation of organic matter (i.e. algae) settling at the bottom of the ditches, this is a treasure used as
the perfect eco-fertilizer in every
upcoming farming season.

This organic and sustainable agriculture technology is the optimum way to grow potatoes, maize, quinoa and even the
powerful boost brew: maca root!!.


If you want to know more about this please visit:

http://www.mountainpartnership.org/initiatives/infocus/andes02.html

My pitch is backed by the fact that this agricultural system is Ecologic Knowledge, recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN as a Globally-important Ingenious Agricultural Heritage System.

More over, waru waru was featured by the United Nations University amongst 400 strategies that are currently being implemented by Indigenous Peoples around the world to combat or mitigate the impact of climate change (– the world’s “advance guard” of climate change –).

With a little bit of research and goodwill this system could become an extensive agricultural fashion without the need to harm the environment (it is my hope).

The final lesson: paying more attention to traditional knowledge and survival skills to trial adaptive responses to climate change we will find out that, above all strategies and coming form all remaining indigenous communities of the globe, the key rule and core request is:

RESPECT OUR BELOVED MOTHER EARTH!!!


Shall we?

Views: 728

Comment by Patricio Buenrostro-Gilhuys on May 3, 2010 at 6:26pm
They look very similar to "chinampas" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinampa also an organic, high yield agricultural system of the aztecs
Comment by Catherine Gentry on May 4, 2010 at 5:48pm
Wonderful post with great links for further information. Thanks Ternura. I'm linking this one to my blog for future reference.
Comment by Ternura Rojas on May 4, 2010 at 6:07pm
@Catherine: Hi, thanks for the comment. I would be VERY thankful if you spread this information! now I am stuck up trying to make a wooden model of this technology for ACT8 :-/.
@Patricio: yes, they both look similar, the concept is the same but Chinampas are costructed in a very different way. Chinampas are also GIASH, so fellow, do I have your permission to "cheat" & try to construct a chinampa for my ACT8 instead of a sukakollo? ;-)

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