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crops in their village. Young migrants helped their families during these important moments and personally took care of their furrows. Also residentes paid regular visits to their communities to sow and harvest in their plots.
Permanent migrants owing land and relying on a certain availability of money tended to buy seeds from the market rather than using the traditional channels of genetic material acquisition analysed above. “Compro semilla certificada en la feria (de El Alto) […] porque quiero que produzca bien” (“I buy certified seeds from El Alto market […] because I want my production to be good”) Doña Rosmery, residente from Okola, told me proudly (21-03-2013).
Although residentes participated in community life at best of their possibilities, their personal connections with community members and access to “traditional” channels of seed acquisition were weakened by their prolonged periods of absence. Furthermore, migrants prioritised high yields and varieties that required little care, unable to spend too much time in the fields (6.3.3).
The appeal of urban products and the trust that many farmers put in technology, turned migrants into important vehicles of introduction of new genetic material in rural communities (7.2.1, 7.2.2, 6.4.3 and 6.4.4). Both temporary and permanent migrants procured seeds in urban markets and shops and then passed them, upon request, to family members and friends in Altiplano villages. “Esta (variedad) me la trajo mi hija de El Alto” (“My daughter brought this variety for me from El Alto), acknowledged Doña Delfina while showing me one of her potato seed varieties (14-04-2013). “Mis abuelos siembran la semilla certificada que yo les traigo”
(“My grandparents sow the certified seeds that I take to them”), a staff member from PROINPA with Aymara origins told me (03-12-2012). Her parents migrated to El Alto when she was little. As an agronomist, her relatives trusted her fully and she often gave her family the seeds that scientists considered the best performing ones. Every year she would travel from the city to her village of origin with her husband and daughter to participate in the sowing.
Afterwards her parents would reserve a portion of the harvest for her.
5.4.2 Inter-generational and intra-generational knowledge transfer: the emergence of new transmission channels
Knowledge is transmitted in parallel with seeds. Genetic resources (“material flows”) and agrobiodiversity-related knowledge (“non-material flows” - Subedi et al. 2003) travel together.
According to the literature, along with seeds, “information like traits of the materials, management practices or how they would perform in different conditions as well as their uses associated with the genetic materials is also acquired” (Subedi et al. 2003, p.48). I will now
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show how around Lake Titicaca knowledge concerning agrobiodiversity conservation was transmitted through both inter-generational and intra-generational channels. In the analysis below, while inter-generational knowledge transmission mostly refers to traditional mechanisms of genetic material transfer, intra-generational exchange occurs both in circumstances that can be ascribed to “tradition”, and - increasingly - according to recently emerging dynamics.
I mentioned previously that in rural communities women were better than men at recognising crop varieties, because of their involvement in seed selection during the post-harvest phase.
Most farmers could not recognise varieties during the sowing season (Fieldnotes 30-01-2013).
Tuber seeds, with the exception of the few types occupying most space, were sown all together in the same furrows. When I took part in sowing sessions, I noticed that farmers did not pay attention to the exact spot where they placed specific seed varieties within a furrow.
Later on, when colourful flowers appeared in the fields, it was difficult for them to take stock of all the tuber varieties they owned. As Alarcon Vicente (2011) and Mamani Alvarez (2011) suggest in their studies, and as I observed in Cachilaya and Coromata, only a few exceptional farmers could identify papa varieties by looking at the size of the plant or the colour and the shape of the flowers. Based on these parameters, they could identify the “family”, which tubers belonged to (Imilla, Luki, Qhati, or only sweet potato or bitter potato), although they could not name specific varieties. In Cachilaya, Doña Lucía stood out for her remarkable ability to recognise potato varieties during the flowering season, just by looking at the plants (Fieldnotes 13-03-2013). It was easy, indeed, to be confused by varieties with similar plants and flowers. This job would become much easier for farmers after the harvest, when tubers were taken out and more elements were available as classification criteria - i.e. colour, size, shape of the tuber. In the post-harvest phase tubers were not yet wrinkled and dehydrated and still had their original colour and shape. As explained in 3.3.2, the post-harvest phase was the moment when farmers - women in particular - showed me all of their agrobiodiversity-related knowledge. Gender partly determined the distribution of roles and responsibilities within families and the community; knowledge, transmitted together with practices, followed the same pattern.
Children participated often in agricultural activities. It was evident that formal education absorbed a significant portion of young people’s time in the communities. Furthermore, the prerogative of many teenagers in the framework of family-level task distribution was to take care of livestock by leading cows and sheep to pastures early in the morning and back to their
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stables in the evening. However, youth were knowledgeable about agricultural cycles, practices and processes for crop production. By being present during the sowing and harvesting moments, and by helping their family with the activities of “aporque” (the process of covering up with soil the stems of tuber plants after germination) and “deshierbe” (weeding) they could learn from their parents and older relatives. Girls - by getting involved in seed selection, and learning how to cook, transform and use agricultural varieties for preparing meals - acquired relevant knowledge from their mothers and grandmothers. Information and skills connected with farming, cooking, and transforming products was - in fact -passed down from father to son and from mother to daughter. However, as many farmers reported, “los jóvenes de hoy” (today’s youth) are not familiar with fundamental agricultural practices that - due to the incompatibility between agriculture and the plans that many of them have for their future - they leave in the hands of their parents (6.3.3). “Los jóvenes de hoy ya no quieren aprender. Prefieren vivir en la ciudad. Vienen para cosechar y se llevan (el producto). No saben escoger semilla, o para hacer chuño o tunta. No saben cuándo se siembra. Ni saben manejar yunta” (“Young people of today don’t want to learn. They prefer to live in the city. They come for the harvest and they carry products away with them. They don’t know how to choose seeds, and they can’t choose tubers for chuño or tunta. They don’t know when it’s time to sow. They can’t handle a plough properly”) complained Don Miguel (Cachilaya 20-02-2013).
I observed that while practices like cooking generally happened in private spaces, others, like sowing, harvesting and seed selection, were carried out outdoors (in the fields or in front of farmers’ houses). Besides the members of individual families, other farmers of the community participated, especially if plots were collectively managed or if the owner had benefitted from other farmers’ support through ayni. Sharing such moments amongst people of different families and of different age groups would put in place an intra-generational dynamic of knowledge exchange. As Subedi et al. (2003) argue, “occasional network links”, generated through such circumstances, “may be strong in the diffusion of innovations and messages, since occasional links will provide opportunity to find out more new information and material”
(p.45).
External actors like NGOs and scientists also played an important role in the transmission of seeds and knowledge, establishing a new intra-generational channel.
- Firstly, in Cachilaya and Coromata, scientists assisted and supervised farmers during the sowing, harvesting and monitoring of externally introduced varieties, providing information about their characteristics and properties (Fieldnotes from a sowing
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session of oca in Cachilaya and from sowing sessions of papa, and of quinua and cañahua in Coromata 19/24-10; 09-11-2012). When scientists introduced new seeds (“material” flow), relevant knowledge normally followed through the same channel (“non-material” flow).
- Secondly, awareness about the importance and the role of agrobiodiversity was raised as part of the activities linked with the establishment of Community Seed Banks and Diversity Gardens. Under the guidance of scientists, farmers were encouraged to notice how varieties responded differently to climatic events. For example, in Cachilaya, shortly before the 2013 harvest, most potato varieties of the Diversity Garden were burnt by an out-of-season frost. Just some Lukis survived. It was impossible not to notice that in the Diversity Garden all plants had turned black and withered except for those of one furrow that were still green and healthy. Agronomists invited farmers to observe the plot, emphasising how some varieties had shown better resistance as compared to others (Fieldnotes 21-03-2013; picture 5.3).
Picture 5.3: In the Diversity Garden burnt by heavy frost only Luki varieties survived
Cachilaya 21-03-2013.
- Thirdly, during my fieldwork NGOs arranged a few meetings between farmers and the representatives of private companies interested in purchasing native crop varieties (5.5.6; 7.2.3). By offering them selling opportunities and contacts, scientists would
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bring the market closer to indigenous villages, allowing them to gain exposure to information about prices, potential selling venues and buyers.
- Finally, NGOs, tourists, researchers, chefs and international organisations would also be interested in the diversity conserved in indigenous farms, and willing to contribute to producers’ activities by providing technology and funding. NGO-led initiatives further increased the involvement of urban-based actors, as the next chapters will show more clearly.
Picture 5.4: The cover of the recipe book prepared by PROINPA, including recipes of dishes