Andean agriculture

Within the past century, there have been important changes in the climate of the Andean region attributed to climate change. Precipitation has decreased, and due to the Anden region's already arid climate, this decrease in precipitation has led to increasing droughts.[5] Run off from the mountains have also shown relevant decreasing trends in the early part of the last century with increases between 1960 and 1985.[5] Surface air temperatures of the area have increased 2.8 degrees Celsius marked with various cooling patterns.[5] Though these are general trend of the region, different areas are contending with the changes in a variety of ways from reaching out the ancestors to adopting more modern practices to contend with the shifts and anywhere in between.[4]

Rituals:[1]

• Alpata Garapashun/Allpa Pagamanchi: Ritual to feed Mother Earth (Pacha Mama)
• Jircat Garaicushun/ Cerrugpag Ofrendapag: Offering to the Mountain
• Observaman: Astronomic reading
• Senalcuna Plantacuna/ Animalcuna Manuchusheque Climangpag: Predicting climate through the use of animals and plants as learned signals

Seed procurement and dispersal are essential components of Andean farmer's lives as it effects their spatial, environmental, and social spheres. In spatial terms, seed procurement affects the physical organization of farmland dictating where specific crops are cultivated. Specific varieties of tubers do well at differing altitudes, thus necessitating spatial planning depending on which species of seeds are available. In environmental terms, seed flow within and between communities has a causal effect on adaptations of specific crop varieties as well the mineral composition of cultivated land. Farmers also make use of locally domesticated species (traditional landraces) as well as highly regulated internationally domesticated species (cultivar strains) depending availability and cost. Lastly, many of the upper Andean communities have strict gender roles which dictate who is responsible for seed procurement withinin the community as well as outside of it. Beside gender roles, there are also complex systems of seed procurement between neighboring communities, with large seed fair being set up in common spaces for easy trade.[3]

Seed management in the Andean region is viewed as a household or community-wide endeavor. Generally speaking, seed are procured from outside of the community during initial stages and sourcing, and self-provisioned during regular seasonal planting. The four distinct landscape styles of Hill, Ox Area, Early Planting, and Valley all cover a broad range of agroecological habitats with varying methods of seed procurement. Within Hill units seeds are largely procured from other the farmer's own household or other local hill units since it spans many different environmental niches. This means that the seeds are grown in, sourced, and dispersed among hill units to other hill units within the area. To add variety as well, a percentage of the seeds are sourced from distanced communities. Within the Ox Area, seeds are also largely procured from farmer's own household as well as from outside units within the community. More so than in Hill units, farmers mix cultivars and traditional land races. These cultivars are purchased through development institutions within nearby urban centers. The Early Planting units are a bit more difficult for seed procurement and cultivation since they have year-round humidity. This kind of humidity is not conducive to seed production, therefore it is not common for seeds to come from the same unit or household. Most of the seeds are procured from other units (i.e. Hill or Ox Area) from neighboring communities, with a large percentage coming from the development institutions which specialize in cultivars.[3]

The gender dynamics concerning seed procurement within communities typically vary between type of farm unit (Hill, Ox Area, Early Planting, or Valley) and also depend on if trading and purchasing happens within the community, neighboring communities, or outside of the area. Within the Hill unit women and men have similar levels of involvement in extracommunity trading and procurement whereas women who participate in the Ox Area Unit procure the seeds from local sources, while men procure them from outside of the community. On the whole, women are more likely to be involved in procurement within the community, equally likely to be involved within extracommunity procurement, and less likely to procure from development institutions in urban centers.[3]

In post-green revolution practices, farmers are encouraged to adapt their own domesticated strains for the particular environmental unit in which they cultivate. However, this intense localized domestication based on environmental niches is not conducive to the climatic fluctuations of the Andean region, thus why most farmers also rely on extracommunity strains procured through seed fairs and markets within neighboring and distanced communities. This is a traditional practice that ensures that variety is retained within the traditional landraces. Limiting specialization in this case, contrary to the culture of the Green Revolution, produces more variety and higher-yields rather than relying on a single domesticated species, thus creating tensions between the priorities of post-green revolution agriculture and traditional agricultural practices of the region.[3]

Practices instilled during the Green Revolution emphasizing high yields also had effects on the landscape of agriculture. In producing a high yield of a single crop, farmers began to cultivate land that would be optimal for a single kind of crop rather than a variety creating monocultures. Within the Andean region, the Ox Area unit typically traverses less environmental niches and is thus better suited for monoculture production as opposed to polyculture. Thus, due to the Green Revolution, the Andean region saw a decrease in cultivated hill fields and an expansion of Ox Area units.[3]

Changes in farming unit types within the Andean region has also had indirect effects on downstream ecosystems. Specifically within Colombia, with the expansion of Ox Area units causing deforestation, over 63% of the land cover has been replaced by agriculture indirectly increasing the concentration of NH3-N in the water as well as sedimentation. The increase in nitrogen is attributed to run off from fertilizers, nitrogen fixing crops, and animal waste. High levels of NH3-N can be highly toxic to water ecosystems and pose a risk to the biota within these streams.[8]

Around the end of 1980s early 1990s multiple in situ conservation efforts were initiated. Some of these efforts include cultivating high variation within crops as well as specialized production managements that reflect the specific ecological and environmental floors of the various farm units.[1]

Participatory plant breeding is a collaborative process in which farmers, marketers, processors, consumers and policy makers all get a say in the plant breeding program. With this strategy, farmers can input local knowledge of soil and rainfall patterns to account for these factors when cultivating variety breeds. This kind of plant breeding is being instilled in particular areas within the Andean region to combat some of the negative effects of Green Revolution practices. Many of these efforts rely on climate-soil zonation to organize zones of testing. However, in the case of Andean farmers, most farm unit span many different climate-soil zones, and thus methods solely reliant on this zonation are not practical for farmers of the area. Efforts are being made to create Participatory plant breeding programs that do not rely on climate-soil zonation as a result.[9]