Local Futures

  • Home
  • Media room
  • Blog
  • Store
  • Contact

The Economics of Happiness

Donate
Menu
  • About us
    • Who we are
    • Founder, Helena Norberg-Hodge
    • Our history
    • Get involved & support us
    • Close
  • Projects
    • Economics of Happiness
      • The film
      • Economics of Happiness conferences
      • Powerful talks
      • DIY Economics of Happiness workshop
    • Global to Local
      • Voices from the Field
      • Localization Action Guide
      • World Localization Day
      • Local Futures Podcast
        • Jeremy Lent: Shifting Paradigms
        • COP, carbon and high-tech: who is setting the agenda?
        • Beyond Conspiracy: Framing Meaningful Activism
        • Unpacking Global Empire from an Indigenous Perspective
        • More than Just the Vegetables
        • Food Sovereignty in the Global Economy
        • Transition, Tradition, and Trade
        • Not-for-Profit Businesses
        • Love, Values, and Wellbeing Economies
        • Growing a Farmers Market from the Ground Up
        • Beautiful Places: A Conversation with Wendell Berry
        • Creating the Framework for a New Economy
        • From GDP to GNH
        • Rebuilding Healthy Communities: The Growing Ecovillage Movement
        • Seeds of Resilience, Seeds of Sovereignty
        • Why Local Ownership Matters
        • Local Alternatives to Globalized Development: A View from India
        • How to Feed the World? A Political Agroecological Approach
        • Helena Norberg-Hodge on how corporate ‘free trade’ deals threaten local communities and economies worldwide
      • Webinars
        • Sacred Activism in a Post-Trump World Webinar
        • Talking Climate Webinar
        • People Power: Democracy and the Economy Webinar
        • Beyond Trump: The Path to Real Change Webinar
        • Bringing the Food Economy Home Webinar
        • A World Without ‘Free’ Trade: What it would look like and how to get there
        • Beyond ‘Free Trade’ – Alternatives to Corporate Rule
        • Education: Promises, Myths & Realities Webinar
        • Debt and Speculation in the Global Economy Webinar
        • A New Activism Webinar
        • Climate Change or System Change Webinar
        • Going Local Webinar
      • International Alliance for Localization (IAL)
        • Join the IAL
        • IAL members
          • IAL member organizations
          • IAL Listserv
      • Planet Local
        • Culture
        • Eco Communities
        • Ecology
        • Health
        • Local Business & Finance
        • Local Energy
        • Local Food, Farming & Fisheries
        • Local Policy & Community Rights
        • Place-based Education
        • Sharing & Repairing
    • Our work in Ladakh
      • Past work in Ladakh
        • Experiences in Ladakh 2018
        • Experiences in Ladakh 2017
      • Local Futures’ history in Ladakh
        • Women’s Alliance of Ladakh
    • Close
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • World Localization Day
    • Economics of Happiness conferences
    • Other past events
    • Close
  • Action resources
    • Learn about our work
      • Globalization – drivers and impacts
      • Localization – a solution-multiplier
      • Big Picture Activism – rethinking basic assumptions
    • Action tools
      • Localization Action Guide
      • Covid-19 response: let’s localize like never before
      • Maps of alternatives
      • Organizations for change
      • Independent media sources
      • Films for change
      • Recommended readings
    • Close
  • Books, reports & videos
    • Books and reports
      • Local is Our Future by Helena Norberg-Hodge
        • Endorsements for Local is Our Future
        • Translations of Local is Our Future
      • Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge
      • Free reading materials
      • Newsletters & annual reports
      • Translated resources
    • Films and short videos
      • LOCAL: A Story of Hope short video
      • Going Local: the solution-multiplier animation
      • Insane Trade short video and factsheet
        • Insane Trade! & factsheet translated
      • The Economics of Happiness film
      • Ancient Futures film
      • Planet Local short film series
        • 1 – Introduction: The new local food movement
        • 2 – Diverse farming systems
        • 3 – Local food webs: Exploring systems of distribution
        • 4 – Local food processors: AKA making delicious food
        • 5 – Challenges & solutions
        • 6 – Ecovillages & networks for new farmers
        • 7 – and finally… Here’s a little more inspiration
    • Close
You are here: Home / Coronavirus / In Peru, ancestral values shine during COVID-19 crisis

In Peru, ancestral values shine during COVID-19 crisis

August 8, 2020 by Melissa Valdivia 1 Comment

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peruvians are facing exceptional challenges as individuals and communities throughout the country confront job losses and food shortages in addition to the virus itself.

However, these difficult times have an upside, in that they bring out the best in each of us, generating acts of solidarity; in the case of Peruvians it shows how ancestral values of solidarity, reciprocity, and balance remain in practice.

One such action is that of the Association of the Communities of the Potato Park, who on May 13th distributed more than 1 ton of native potatoes to migrants and other vulnerable groups in Cusco, including to migrants in quarantine at the local soccer stadium, a Geriatric Center, and Casa Mantay, a shelter for single abused teenage mothers.

The Potato Park is a biocultural heritage territory located in the district of Pisac, Cusco, composed of five indigenous Quechua communities.[1] The area is globally renowned for its work conserving native potato (they conserve more than 1,300 varieties of potato, making the area home to the greatest diversity of potato found anywhere in the world) and has recently been recognized as an Agrobiodiversity Zone by the Ministry of Agriculture of Peru. The coronavirus has yet to arrive in these communities, but even so, the farmers have implemented exceptional health and safety measures.

Despite COVID-19, the harvest this year has been strong. “This is the result of 20 years of consistent work in re-localizing our food system, which ensured sufficient supply of healthy foods,” explained Mariano Sutta Apocusi, a local expert from the community of Pamapallaqta. “Focusing on the local has helped us to improve access to and affordability of a great diversity of food products, especially native potatoes, quinoa, kiwicha, other Andean tubers, and maize, which we cultivate using indigenous agroecological methods,” noted Sutta.

As part of their efforts, the Potato Park has also created responses to climate change, the other crisis hitting hard Andean communities, using old Inca strategies for caring for the environment, particularly for conserving native biodiversity, food-producing habitats, and natural water systems. “This has been fundamental for our food and nutrition security,” said Ricardina Paco Condori, a local expert from the community of Paru Paru. “Healthy land produces healthy foods; and farming native crops is much better because we know these strengthen our immunity and resistance to diseases like COVID-19.”

Assuring healthy food for the entire population, however, will require changes in agricultural and food policies. “The pandemic is directly connected to the current global food system, and its corporate nature is creating a parallel food crisis that has deepened the misery of millions of people worldwide” says Cesar Argumedo, Director of Asociación ANDES of Cusco.[2] “To prevent further suffering, our government needs to ensure that trade and investment agreements do not undermine local food systems, but instead promote respect for human rights, sustainable livelihoods, and food sovereignty. The Potato Park is showing us that the most significant wealth that we have as a country is our traditional Andean agriculture and food system, not only for the high quality food it produces but because it carries the values that we badly need to pull us out of this crisis. This is the right moment to re-value and strengthen it,” concludes Argumedo.

Lorenzo Huayta Bayona, the president of the Association of the Communities of the Potato Park asserts that “the potatoes that we bring today to our brothers and sisters who lack food in Cusco is a demonstration of Ayni, the Andean principle of solidarity and reciprocity which we have practiced since Incan times. Our food systems are profoundly connected to the principles of Ayllu (community), Ayni (reciprocity), and Chaninchay (equity), and these define our economy, health, and well-being. Our native potato is helping us to maintain these practices and encourages us to do more Ayni.” said Bayona.

“The government should recognize the biocultural heritage of our ancestors and promote agriculture and food system with values as part of implementing the Right to Food. We hope that with these potatoes that we are sharing today, we are contributing to reorienting the response to the current crisis towards the Andean principles of solidarity and reciprocity. Thank you, potato” concluded Aniceto Ccoyo Ccoyo, a local expert from the community of Saccaca.

 

[1] The Potato Park is composed of five indigenous communities: Amaru, Chawaytire, Pamapallaqta, Paru Paru, and Saccaca. Its work focuses on the promotion of Food Neighborhoods, protection of indigenous rights, and the creation of innovative livelihood options.

[2] Asociación ANDES is an NGO based in Cusco, Peru that supports the Potato Park with independent research, coordination, and capacity building.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Related

What does self-reliance really mean? Amazing stories from India’s villages
What Indigenous Wisdom Can Teach Us About Economics

Filed Under: Community, Coronavirus, Environment, Food and Farming, Free Trade and Globalization, Indigenous worldview Tagged With: agriculture, community, culture, farming, indigenous, local food, trade agreements

Author: Melissa Valdivia

Melissa Valdivia is a reporter for El Comercio, the most influential newspaper in Peru.

Comments

  1. Michael Baker says

    August 9, 2020 at 2:03 am

    Thank you for sharing this information on the situation in Peru.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept the Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Economics of Happiness Blog

Sign up for our email updates

Latest Blogs

  • Pandemic Blues

    April 20, 20224 Comments
  • The Radical Roots of Community Supported Agriculture

    April 6, 20222 Comments
  • Repairing broken economies

    March 31, 20221 Comment
  • The Flower of Transformation

    March 23, 20221 Comment
  • On Ukraine and the failed Pax Capitalis

    February 28, 202213 Comments
  • Attending to the world

    February 23, 20221 Comment

Blog posts by Category

  • Capitalism (10)
  • Cities (2)
  • Climate Change (54)
  • Community (32)
  • Consumerism (6)
  • Coronavirus (19)
  • Democracy (4)
  • Development (24)
  • Economic Growth and Degrowth (34)
  • Economics of Happiness Conferences (4)
  • Education (9)
  • Energy (2)
  • Environment (43)
  • Food and Farming (68)
  • Free Trade and Globalization (43)
  • Happiness (5)
  • Health (25)
  • Indigenous worldview (16)
  • Inequality (7)
  • Inner transformation (16)
  • Livelihoods and jobs (38)
  • Local energy (9)
  • Local finance (5)
  • Local food (11)
  • Localization (55)
  • Nature (4)
  • New economy (19)
  • Resistance and Renewal (18)
  • Technology (36)
  • The Economics of Happiness (17)
  • Transportation (1)
  • Uncategorized (4)
  • War (1)

About
Contact
Store
Blog
Privacy Policy

Projects
World Localization Day
Localization Action Guide
The Economics of Happiness

Sign up for our email update

Donate

Local Futures © Copyright 2022 | site by digiflip
 

Loading Comments...
 

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.