tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33892823364290097042024-03-13T14:52:14.418-07:00There and Back Again: the World Travels of a Watson FellowLaurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-89553023286408910592014-11-10T13:43:00.002-08:002014-11-10T13:54:22.667-08:00Watson Word Clouds<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-2691040054211312102014-07-23T21:33:00.000-07:002014-12-29T07:51:20.507-08:00Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Final Report (Netherlands and Iceland recap)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dear Watson Foundation Family,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I cannot believe I am beginning to write this long, final letter from my living room couch in Western </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Massachusetts. It was just over a year ago that I was finishing packing my bags, bidding tearful farewells </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to my family and boyfriend at JFK International Airport, and boarding the plane to Arusha, Tanzania. So </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">much has changed since then, but as I slowly acclimate back to life at home, I realize how much has </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">stayed the same. My hometown looks identical, my parents are still waiting to retire, my sister continues </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to constructively critique my wardrobe, and I still have childhood memorabilia lining the pink walls of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">my bedroom. While these factors make it easier to re-adjust, I also feel fundamentally different. I think </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">about everything that I’ve been able to experience this year: the places I’ve traveled, the people I’ve met, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the obstacles I’ve surmounted, and I wonder if it was all a dream, as if I was a different person. I worry </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that if I wait too long to write the final report, the feelings, thoughts, and vivid details will slip away. On </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">some level, I must have subconsciously designed my itinerary to finish in Europe. I recall how difficult it </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was to overcome reverse culture/re-entry shock after returning home from my semester in Australia and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">couldn’t begin to fathom the challenge if I were to come straight from South America or Africa. Maybe I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">can ease back into home, I must have thought to myself, which has proven both true and false.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let me go back to where I left off in my third quarterly report. I was wrapping up my activities in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bolivia, and I could not think of a better way than by participating in the government-sponsored “La Ruta </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">de La Quinua” or “The Quinoa Route.” Well the story goes that I went from being on the waitlist for a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vehicle to being a stray without a home to finally, the VIP list. A twist of fate so typical of the Watson </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fellowship: I ended up in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) car, second </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in the caravan of thirty jeeps. I was seriously not expecting this special treatment: being adorned with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wreaths of quinoa and sitting on stage with the Vice Minister of Agriculture, the governor of Oruro </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">department, and the “Quinoa Queen,” coming within ten feet of the Vice President of Bolivia who arrived </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">via chopper. I was also interviewed twice on video camera: by the Ministry of Rural Development and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reuters! …in Spanish!! I was flabbergasted and of course, very nervous trying to explain my project and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">express my “conclusions” (which hadn’t been too many at that point because it’d all been so </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">complicated). But who knows, maybe I’ll get featured in next year’s promotional video.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what did I learn from the route? Besides exposure to some new technologies, none of the information </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was particularly new. However, it was the energy, excitement, and vibes that were most remarkable. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hearing various high-level government officials express sentiments of wanting to share quinoa, a food </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that used to be discriminated against, with the world and the associated sense of pride. One official even </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">gave the anecdote of how they were flying to Europe and was served quinoa on the airplane – he joked </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">about how it wasn’t even a Bolivian airline! But it’s complex, and I am still sorting out what I think </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">about all this. It seems, however, that perhaps the aspirations and declarations of certain NGOs and the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ministry of Agriculture to expand the production area to 1,000,000 HA in the future (up from about </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">170,000 HA now) are misplaced. In terms of extensive versus intensive agriculture, there appears to be </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">much less emphasis on increasing yields and overall productivity on existing land (e.g. through promotion </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of integrated farming systems with llamas and restoring the fertility of degraded land). To some degree, I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">feel like the dialogue around quinoa production in Bolivia is, also about proving the ability to “keep up” </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and “modernize.” One government official compared it to Tupac Katari, the new satellite that Bolivian </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">recently launched (with the funding support of China, of course). So with this sort of agro-industrial </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">mindset, quinoa can represent progress. The Secretary to the Governor of Oruro expressed how quinoa </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">represents a “cultural, economic, and productive evolution.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Vice President of Bolivia and the Minister of Agriculture also gave their spiels in Orinoca, the home </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">region of President Evo Morales. They noted how up until now, eradicating world hunger has mainly </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">been in the hands of private businesses but with 2014 as the UN’s International Year of the Family </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Farmer, small producers can also feed the world. According to the VP of Bolivia, “Quinoa is a treasure, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a grain of gold, that can be the salvation of Bolivia and of the world,” a food so powerful that it can send </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">astronauts to the moon; the new gold, but now in the hands of Bolivia instead of the colonizers. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Looking back on my experiences in Bolivia, I felt that an exponential curve embodied my three months </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">there. Things started negatively and on the verge of failure, but as the twelve weeks progressed, it just got </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">better and better. La Paz is the first big city that I’ve ever lived in and it really felt like home. Sure, there </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">are things that drive me crazy about Bolivia, but if I had to, I really think I could have learned to love it. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was my most challenging country for a number of reasons, but that made it the most rewarding.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After spending some brief time with my boyfriend, who flew out from California to hike the Inca Trail to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Machu Picchu with me, I then saw my college roommate in Málaga, Spain. My first two and only </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">visitors of the year, back to back – that was exciting and overwhelming. I know that I have changed in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">indescribable ways that will only become more apparent as time goes on, and often it’s difficult trying to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">articulate, identify, or reflect on those changes. But when you see people whom you knew before you </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">left, then you really start to realize how you’ve changed…they are like a reference point. Of course, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">everyone has changed in a year, but they knew you prior. So how do I feel? I feel more resilient, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tolerant, low maintenance, and flexible. At times, it felt like I walked through hell and back; my lowest </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">moment was probably almost being robbed and kidnapped in La Paz, Bolivia. Throughout this year, I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">saw some horrible things – poverty so intense, I didn’t even know how to react. The languages, the food, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the people, the pollution, the customs, the living conditions…everything has just been, at times, shocking. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But I dealt with it because I had to, and I tried my hardest to embrace and enjoy the richness of other </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cultures. I became accustomed to bucket showers, squat toilets, trash on the streets, purifying my water, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and eating foreign foods. Thus, the affluence, efficiency, and sterility will be shocking. I have </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">experienced and become sensitized to many things this year, and I know I can’t expect the same </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sensitivity from all of my loved ones from sheer lack of exposure. It may be difficult, but the personal </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">change is an ongoing process. I just have to be forgiving of myself and remember that no matter what </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">kind of personal development and growth I’ve undergone, my friends and family will always be there to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">support me. And I can only hope to do the same for them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, it was strange to be back in the “first world” after almost ten months of being in Tanzania, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">India, Bhutan, and Bolivia. Disorienting that I could now flush toilet paper and drink water from the tap. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Instead of looking at human or dog feces in the streets, there were street cleaners in Málaga, Spain that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">must come around at least twice a day, washing the beautifully tiled and cobblestoned surfaces. The </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">quality of life is just so unbelievably high in Europe that I was overwhelmed, a little bitter, but also </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">comforted. And at last, welcome to Holland where my bicycle was my car and the public transportation </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">has free wifi. I rode my rental bike around Wageningen, the small college town of around 30,000, where </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I tried not to get too lost or hit by a car on my bike. It smelled like spring: the Dutch tulip bulbs had </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">started to sprout, the trees were blossoming, and sometimes I could hear birds chirping outside my </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">window. It felt like home, but if I were experiencing reverse culture shock at home, at least I could </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vegetate on my couch, eat my mom’s home cooking, and roll up into a ball and cry for hours. But here, I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">had no choice but to push through and continue on with my research in another foreign setting that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vaguely reminds me of home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who’d have thought that I would ever feel comforted by Bolivia and its craziness? I never thought I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">would be a city person and I probably am still not, but by the time I left La Paz, a city of two million, it </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">felt like home. Nothing makes sense in Bolivia. It’s chaos, but somehow, it works. The public </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">transportation is nothing more than little mini-buses that dart around the city stopping at the most random </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">times in equally haphazard places. There are no schedules but there are in fact, set routes, but as a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">foreigner, you wouldn’t know them. You walk down the street and hail a minibus or trufi (share taxi), </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">which come every 2-3 minutes without rhyme or reason. You can take a taxi across the city for less than </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">$2. But the pandemonium starts to make sense after several weeks of living there. You adjust your sense </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of time and organization. The rigidity of your former quotidian schedule in the West slowly starts to melt </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">away as you give yourself up and away to the frenetic way of life. I miss Bolivia. I miss not feeling like I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was on a tight schedule, that I could get up when I wanted and maybe, just maybe, have an appointment </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in the afternoon. When I thought I was late places, I was usually “early,” simply because everyone else </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was always running late, but by their standards, it was probably on time because everything runs late. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The mayhem teaches you to let go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now I found myself back in an “organized Holland” (as several Dutch friends have referenced it) where </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the country runs a tight ship on everything from public transportation to food safety to building security. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I was to enter or exit a building at the agricultural university, I had to scan a card. Once I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">accidentally went out an emergency exit and set off a screeching alarm. I knocked over a line of bicycles, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">which fell like dominoes. Another thing, which we likely have in the States but I haven’t noticed too </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">much not having frequented urban public transport in my suburban and rural university life: here </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">electronic signs tell you when the next bus or train is scheduled to arrive and you can look up your route </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">on a smart phone app. They don’t have this in Bolivia. When you want to go somewhere, it’s like feeling </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">around in the dark, asking people and hoping that another bus will come in 30 minutes. Maybe you will </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">be in a bus for 4 hours or maybe 12 hours. Here, a long journey is an hour, maybe two, by high-speed </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">train. And boy did I have my fair share of hilarity on the Dutch trains. All in one day: I tried boarding a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thalys hi-speed train (misreading the ticket, which was in Dutch), got kicked out of a first class train car </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(I was unaware of class distinctions), was spoken to on the silent car for making a phone call (again, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">oblivious), and finally, rode the “Sprinter” train for an hour instead of the 15 minute Inner City train. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With all of these comical and embarrassing mishaps, I wondered to myself how I possibly could have </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">navigated through public transportation in other countries. Then I realized how Europe afforded me a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">new sense of independence where I wasn’t so reliant on others, partially due to my own perceived sense </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of security, and therefore, had many more opportunities to “mess up.” Eventually, however, I grew quite </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">accustomed to the ways of life in the Netherlands, navigating the efficient (albeit at times complicated </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and definitely expensive) public transportation system of trains, trams, metros, and buses, alongside of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">course, the bicycle. So I guess the moral of this chapter of the story is that again, we as human beings, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">have the capacity to be remarkably flexible, to adapt to the rhythms and flows of new cultures, though the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">adjustment may be taxing at first.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I learned the difference between Holland and the Netherlands, though I still interchange them, and spent </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">time meeting PhD students and faculty in the Farm Technology Group at Wageningen University, a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">prestigious agriculture institution known worldwide for its pioneering work (though sometimes criticized </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">agribusiness approach to “feeding the world”). It was overwhelming. No, I am not getting my PhD and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">no, I don’t have any solid findings or conclusions from my research. I have feelings, jumbled thoughts </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">swirling around in my head that I haven’t even begun to try to sort out. Maybe that will be my mission </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this summer or maybe it will never clearly happen but just continue to exist as an ongoing process </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">throughout my life. Everyone is asking me to send them my “report” – well, I don’t have a report to be </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">honest. I am brainstorming ways to share the rich repository of information I’ve garnered, possibly </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">through writing a series of short journal articles, since it seems sinful to keep it to myself instead of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hopefully enriching the larger society. Maybe I’ll produce a memoir, a vividly rich recount of my cross-cultural </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">experiences on four continents. Or maybe I won’t. The future has never felt so vast and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">uncertain, which is scary and exciting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While in the Netherlands, I focused my research on the juxtaposition of high tech greenhouses for </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">commercial export and urban agriculture for local food security and community resilience. My six weeks </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was full of good and funny moments. I slept in a yurt with four Italians while working on a small </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vegetable farm, Hof van Twello (“Court of Twello”), structured somewhat like modern day serfdom. I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">helped them with English and interviewed the farm owner, Gert, who prides himself on “making small-scale </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">profitable.” Gert (pronounced “Hurt” in the Dutch way) provides land, water, compost, and tools </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">free to local residents and in exchange, they are responsible for using half their plot to grow what he </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">requests and selling half their production through his farm shop. In this way, Gert is able to overcome the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">issues of a) expensive labor b) mechanization and c) quality and diversity. In his organizational system </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and peri-urban farm, something like a participatory community garden that he calls “a new commons” </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(yes, like Garret Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons), Gert makes the rules. He designs a business plan, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">employs “free labor,” does not have to invest it expensive machinery because of all the hands on deck, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and ensures a high quality and diversity of crop because of the 40+ workers. I thought this was </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">innovative and encouraging, like nothing I had heard of before and what’s more: it’s replicable. Gert also</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">sticks out in my memory for saying, “I like you. You’re critical.” I don’t think anyone would have said </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this to me a year ago.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Did you know that the Netherlands, a country slightly larger than Maryland, is the second (or third) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">largest agricultural trader and largest exporter of seeds in the world? I learned that its history as savvy </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">merchants, ideal port-location, and fertile soil helped enable Holland to become a breeding ground for </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">modern agriculture and scaling and a global hub for logistics and trade. I heard my fair share of notable </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">speakers in the Netherlands, including Joel Salatin (famous American farmer of Polyface Farms from </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Virginia, known for his innovatively sustainable animal husbandry and appearance in food documentaries </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">such as Food Inc.) and the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhist people (after having </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">missed him by a day while I was in Ladakh, India). I attended several movies and events as part of the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Slow) Food Film Festival in Amsterdam and presented my research at the biweekly meeting of the Farm </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Technology PhD group at Wageningen University. And of course, I tried my fair share of traditional </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dutch foods (stroopwaffel cookies are my favorite: waffle-style cookies with caramel in the middle </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sandwich-style and then the ubiquitous croquette or smaller bitterballen: gooey unknowns in a fried shell) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and visited some iconic places such as the windmill-filled Kinderdijk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I spent time in the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Wageningen with smaller stints in the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">towns of Twello, Delft, and throughout Westland, which has been called the “Silicon Valley of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Glasshouses” because of its high concentration of automated greenhouses, knowledge, and technology. I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">visited several glasshouse businesses that are growing horticultural crops mainly for export, as well as </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">greenhouse experimentation and technology design centers. I had never seen a greenhouse so advanced </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and was shocked at the level of automation, from the computerized system that monitored and regulated </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the humidity to the robotic carts that transported produced on tracks to the packaging stations. With </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">staggering labor and energy costs, these production models certainly reflect the high-productivity ethos of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“more with less.” However, I questioned if they could be easily replicated or if it would require large </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">technical knowhow and significant initial investment, therefore rendering it impossible to transfer or </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">adapt the technology to the Global South. One company, TopKrop Dry Hydroponics, took a particularly </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">unique path to addressing this issue of technology transfer. The owner is working to transmit knowledge </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">via technology and smart design that can be easily modified to fit his clients from Botswana to Ukraine. I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">found myself uncomfortable, however, by his use of the demeaning phrases “idiot/monkey-proof” when </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">describing the technology in the context of the developing world. Nonetheless, in addition to being </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">exposed to some of the most cutting edge greenhouse technologies, I also witnessed and discussed </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">innovative animal husbandry models like Rondeel for humanely raising chickens in a country known for </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">intensive animal production.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have also decided that the Dutch are quite a fan of “excursions,” which were an efficient way to visit </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">multiple places and maximize time (another thing at which the Dutch excel). I participated in three such </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">excursions: an urban agriculture bike tour in Rotterdam, urban agriculture in Almere by bus, and urban ag </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in Utrecht also by cycling. In this way, I was able to visit 4-5 places in a day, guided in a group but also </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with the freedom to ask questions. I worked on farms, including Uit Je Eigen Stad (“From Your Own </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">City” urban farm) in Rotterdam, where I took immense pride when one of the assiduously tough farmers </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">said, “You’re no soft girl” in surprise of my labor. I participated in an urban agriculture conference, the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">National Day of Urban Farming, and two roundtable discussions with Dutch and international </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">practitioners. Through these excursions and interviews, I learned about some of the challenges and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">critiques of urban farming: the difficulties in commercializing small-scale operations and making them </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">profitable; replicating them once they’re successful; and instituting structural policy change to facilitate </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rather than stifle. The critiques were the most eye-opening, since urban farming is often unabashedly </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">praised. I questioned my own notions of “what is a farm?” and that even if a restaurant or workshops </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">make up 80% of a farm’s revenue rather than selling produce, this diversified income stream and the fact </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that it’s “selling a story” should not negate its status as a farm. In fact, what some people view as a joke </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">or philanthropic hobby, should instead be regarded as an economically smart social enterprise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My time in the Netherlands also challenged my ideas of “high tech,” since I originally imagined urban </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">farming to be elaborate vertical schemes with hydroponics and indoor LED lighting. However, the low-tech </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">systems of roof top community gardens, conversion of vacant lots, and city farmers markets may be </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">much more viable and sustainable solutions. While I had the practical questions of productivity and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">profitability swirling around my head (which would not have been the case before I left home), I came to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">realize that community building/sense of place, creating a more visible food chain, city marketing through </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">iconographic projects, and public education are valuable enough. And if that’s insufficient, other benefits </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of urban farming include better waste management, closing loops in the form of nutrient cycling, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">shortening supply chains, reducing food miles, and creating edible public space. I experienced firsthand </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the importance of cross-cultural collaboration and exchange of best practices, from hearing specialists </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from Rome, Italy to Lima, Peru, and the need for citizen engagement in the policy making process. And </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">true, most people with whom I interviewed, from professors to urban farmers, agreed that urban </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">agriculture would never replace conventional agriculture and ultimately feed the world. However, it will </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">hold a special place for innovation and connection, and therefore Wageningen University and the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">government should take it seriously because decentralized units may be the future of food systems with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">urban agriculture as an icon of the new society and economy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Holland also introduced me to the world of Couchsurfing, which has forever influenced my travels in a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">positive way. I had heard of the Couchsurfing website in the past and honestly thought it was a sketchy </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scheme: meet strangers on the Internet and live with them? Well, so far *knock on wood*, it has only </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">been filled with positive experiences. Surfing in Wageningen, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Berlin, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and Reykjavik has been fun and eye opening. It’s an incredible opportunity to meet such generous people </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and learn from them, to see different worldviews, diverse ways to lead one’s life, and new truths. All in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">all, I am very pleased with my decision to join because now with this established online community, I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">have the option to connect and stay with locals when I no longer have the Watson Fellowship and its </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">associated perks, such as the preface of being a research fellow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before I knew it, six weeks had come and gone and I found myself on the last leg of my Watson: Iceland. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I couldn’t believe it. Had 11 months, 44 weeks, or more than 308 days really passed since I left the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">comforts of Massachusetts? There were times this year when I questioned if I should still go to Iceland, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">thinking maybe it wasn’t relevant enough to what my project had become or maybe I should go to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Germany instead. But I am ecstatically glad I stuck to plan A on this one. Iceland, a country of 320,000 </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that sees more than one million tourists a year, is known as the “Land of Fire and Ice” for its volcanoes </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and glaciers. It sits on the continental divide, straddling the European and North American plates, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bestowing immense tectonic and geothermal activity. It is also close to the Arctic Circle, so when it’s not </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the never-ending winter darkness, Iceland sees time periods of 24 hours of sunlight, giving it the other </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nickname “Land of the Midnight Sun.” I hoped to understand the use of modern technology and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">traditional wisdom to help Iceland both overcome and capitalize on these unique environmental </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">circumstances. I learned about production challenges such as lack of soil (as a volcanic island), shortages </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of organic manure/compost, dramatic variations in daylight, and the effects of “The Crisis” of 2008 on </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">farmers. The country seems to be striving for food self-sufficiency, already 100% in the areas of meat </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and dairy, 50% self-reliant in vegetables, and the possibility of their geothermal-powered greenhouses to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">further contribute to the production of horticultural crops.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While in Iceland, I lived and work on an organic sheep farm for two weeks called Ytri Fagridalur. It was </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lambing season when I arrived on the island and I immediately jumped in. Normally blood, guts, and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">gore make me nauseous, so when I told my mom I was birthing baby lambs, she couldn’t believe it and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">needed a picture as proof. And graphic, it was. One day, I birthed at least nine lambs, completely </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">unsupervised and unassisted, pulling out the legs, wiping the amniotic sac off the baby’s face so it could </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">breathe. Sometimes I had to reach in and adjust its body or help the mother if the baby had horns or was </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">too big. There were even instances in which one lamb would die and the farmer needed to transfer a twin </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to the newly abandoned mother, which involved skinning the dead lamb and putting its coat on another to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">try to fool the mother. It really gave “Silence of the Lambs” a whole new meaning…and I thought the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“hard stuff” from this year was over!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have vivid memories of riding in a 1972 Land Rover, with rusted doors about to fall off, into the valley </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Ytri Fagridalur means “beautiful valley”) to take pictures of birds that come to Iceland all the way from </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">West Africa and Antarctica to nest. One of the most incredible moments of this year was riding in a raft </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">speedboat with “three generations of lunatics” (as one of the farmers put it), each with a shotgun in hand </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to cull the seagull populations to help the Eider Duck. One of the major income generating activities in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this area near the West Fjords is collecting precious down from the famous duck whose population is </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">compromised by predatory birds. We took the boat out on the ocean, so calm it looked like glass and kept </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">busy stealing/hunting seagull eggs, with an occasional shot ringing into the air. It felt other worldly and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">somehow, authentically Icelandic. It was an amazing feeling having a family again: a host mom, dad, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">brother, and sister, who were all so easygoing and just wonderfully average people with a house very </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">much lived in. I was lambing and planting potatoes in between glacial, snow-capped peaks on a seashore </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">where puffins swim – truly surreal. I also learned a great deal of traditional wisdom from my homestay </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">family: everything from folk songs about migratory birds that bring summer to knowing that when certain </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">flowers bloom, it’s time to let the sheep into the mountain pastures. My host family had empowering </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">goals of self-sufficiency and sustainability, which took the form of honeybees, chickens, sheep, jam </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">making, and improved vegetable production, not necessarily commercialization and up-scaling as it was </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">in the Netherlands. And it wouldn’t be Iceland without hearing about the famous Icelandic sagas and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">legends of elves and trolls that supposedly continue to roam the countryside.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Iceland is beautiful, rugged, and natural. I visited picturesque glacial lagoons, hiked to the top of the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">glacier-covered volcano Eyjafjallajökull (the same one that erupted in 2010 and halted air traffic between </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Europe and North America), explored Snæfellsnes Peninsula in West Iceland, and rode the tölt, a special </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">gate unique to the Icelandic Horse. In addition to experiencing this nature in a wilder state, I witnessed </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the power of humans to harness and utilize it in the form of geothermal-powered greenhouses, where </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">farmers pipe hot water from boreholes for heating. I met with business owners, researchers at the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">agricultural university, and horticultural farmers. I learned, for instance, that LED lights haven’t quite </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">caught on because they are a significant investment that need at least five years to pay back and become </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">profitable and that pumice, a volcanic rock, is one of the most common greenhouse substrates in Iceland </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">because it’s cheap and readily available. I was exposed to different best practices including interplanting, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">which allows the farmer to continuously harvest and de-leafing, which transfers more energy to fruiting. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And not unlike other parts of the world such as Bolivia and Ladakh, India, it seems that a large number of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">farmers in Iceland are actually growing organically in terms of refraining from pesticides but are still </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">adding synthetic fertilizers, which they believe is organic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I also spent a week volunteering at Akur Farm in Laugaras, South Iceland. It is a small organic farm </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet peppers in geothermal-powered greenhouses. I learned about </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">what the farmers are doing differently in glasshouses as compared to conventional growers, including </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">growing in soil instead of substrate, using biological pest control like beneficial insects, and adding </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nutrients through measures such as fishmeal and compost. I got my hands dirty by helping to harvest </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cucumbers, packing sweet peppers, and trimming/dead heading in the celery and arugula. I was able to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">visit a couple of surrounding farms including cucumbers, flowers, and a mixed-use farm for mentally </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">handicapped people. When I was saying goodbye to the farmers, they asked me if I had learned what I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wanted, gotten what I had hoped for out of the experience of working on their farm. What was I even </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">looking for? To have another farm work experience. To compare an organic with conventional </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">greenhouse. To ask questions. I did all of those things, so I would say yes. But even more importantly </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">than that, I met people who irrevocably changed my life, as unexpected as the Watson. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Both people and places shape our lives in fundamental ways, certainly during the Watson year, and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">especially this week. I met one of the happiest and most inspirational people I’ve crossed paths with to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">date, someone who reminded me of the importance of meditation, mindfulness, and truth seeking. I have </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">become acquainted with a number of individuals this year and I can safely say, many of them will stay in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">my heart forever; each person having their own story to tell and lesson to bestow. Another one of these </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">individuals was Ólafur Dýrmundsson, National Advisor for Organic Farming and Land Use in the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Icelandic Farmers Association. Ólafur and I began corresponding in October of 2012, almost two years </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ago and it was incredible to finally meet him. At 70-years-old and on the verge of retirement, Ólafur </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">knows more about his area of expertise (reproduction in lambs) than quite possibly anyone. He is also a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">proponent of sustainability, organic agriculture, and small farms. Friendly and talkative, he toured me </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">around his “mini farm,” where he was lambing and growing vegetables in a garden. We talked about the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">evolution of agriculture and food customs in Iceland, the maintenance of genetic diversity in livestock, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">challenges to organic agriculture such as fertilizer shortages, the link between tourism and agriculture, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and the importance of the computer to agricultural development in Iceland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, not everyone could be Ólafur. To balance his generosity and enthusiasm, I crossed paths with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">uninterested businessmen who could only spare seconds. Fortunately, however, they were few and far </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">between, yet also had lessons of their own to give. I am extremely gracious to have been able to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">experience all ends of the agricultural spectrum this year. One person I spoke to in Tanzania encouraged </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">me to play devil’s advocate, be a little skeptical, and most importantly, ask tough questions from people </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with whom I wouldn't normally associate or seek out. He made me want to learn economics and be able </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to think better in terms of numbers, facts/figures, and "the market," without losing sight of who I am and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">what I believe in. I appreciated his final words of encouragement to push through the next 11 months </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with relentless curiosity and thirst for knowledge; to push myself and do the unthinkable, to exercise my </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">freedom and boundless ability to pursue new truths in a constructive and active way. He was especially </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">right in saying that if I can have my beliefs challenged and am still able to maintain them, it will </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">strengthen my ability to support my worldviews significantly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So let me rewind and recap some of my Watson year in numbers:</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">10 countries (6 project related)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4 continents</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">40 homestays</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">18 hotels/hostels</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2 long-term rentals</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">170+ interviews, visits, and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">organizational affiliations</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">80+ blog entries</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">5,805+ photographs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">14 international flights and connections</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 domestic flights</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And of course, countless trains, buses, car, motorcycle, and bicycle rides. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But it’s quality, not quantity </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">isn’t it? Rather than the numbers I racked up, this year is certainly more about the lessons I learned and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">personal views that others challenged. I now view the world more in vibrant color rather than plain black </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and white. As I attempted to seek new and different perspectives, I became more critical of the dogma I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">had once carried with blind loyalty, yet can now maintain my beliefs with newfound conviction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Referring back to my original project proposal, I aimed to understand the future of food and farming in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">terms of feeding the world’s growing population in a changing climate, while bearing in mind </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">environmental, social, and economic sustainability, as well as cultural contexts, traditional indigenous </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wisdom, and innovative technologies (e.g. GMOs, mechanization, synthetic inputs, modern organics, high </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tech greenhouses etc.). I sought to maintain a balanced approach to agricultural development while </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">learning if industrial or small-scale agriculture would prevail or if both systems were necessary. I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">somehow already knew the answer to this particular question: yes, the world does need both </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">agribusiness/modern technology and small farmers/indigenous wisdom. I may morally agree more with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the latter, but it helped to see both in operation – this year humanized the “other side.” Moreover, it is </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">more than possible to integrate the two: small farmers can utilize innovative techniques such as rainwater </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">harvesting and biological pest control, as well as appropriate technologies such as low horsepower </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tractors. Similarly, agribusiness probably has a thing or two to learn about traditional wisdom and best </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">practices handed down from generation to generation, whether it is crop rotation or local cycles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can safely say, however, that few of my questions were concretely answered and rather, a slew of new </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">questions were generated. In some places, I struggled to get my bearings and explore the original issues </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(e.g. land grabbing in Tanzania), while I was thriving in other places (e.g. India and Bhutan), and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sometimes off to a slow start (e.g. quinoa in Bolivia). I suppose the variation in “success” throughout this </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">year is natural, and I came to accept that not everything would go my way and to instead, fail up or go to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">plan b. It was a true test of my ability to go with the flow and balance my control freak tendencies with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the whims of the Watson, a valuable lesson I hope to carry with me into the future. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And somehow, I was on my last flight of the entire 12 months, flying from Reykjavik to Boston where I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was greeted by my mom, dad, and sister at Logan International Airport. It was like a dream, being </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">reunited at last, and also wondering if the last year had really happened. I slowly unpack my bags as the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scars and visceral reminders of this year begin to fade. Yesterday, I cut out the hair wrap that was braided </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">into my locks over the last five months, regretfully letting something go that had become part of me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oftentimes, I find myself nostalgic for this past year, missing the feeling of true freedom and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">independence and wondering if I’ll ever have a year that lives up. I’m hopeful that it’s possible since a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">new friend in the Netherlands kindly referred to me as “an entrepreneur of my own life.” It’s strange, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">however, to not have another individual with whom to recap the events from start to finish, only myself </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">alongside the photographs and journal entries. I quickly decide that I’m exceedingly happy to be able to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">start over when I get back home. The thought of trying to reintegrate into the rhythms of my old life after </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">having a lifetime of experiences seems impossible. The Watson year was obviously life changing and I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hope, precedent setting in terms of how I want to lead my life in the future. These past twelve months, I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">said yes to life. I tried my absolute hardest to seize the day, to refrain from making up excuses, and to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“lean in,” as my college orientation leader famously said almost five years ago. My project became my </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">north star, my compass when I was lost. It provided me a framework under which to operate and make </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sense of what I was seeing and experiencing. As a result, I was able to live out my dreams, explore places </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">only known to me from the pages of National Geographic, and more importantly, immerse myself in the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">local culture. I could not be more grateful for this opportunity from the Foundation, as well as the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">generosity and compassion showed to me by the countless individuals I met. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I would like to leave you </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with a quotation that I truly believe embodies the Watson Fellowship and I hope, the rest of my life: </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Chase your dreams with a passion that makes it impossible for your fears to catch up.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With deepest gratitude,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lauren</span></div>
Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Easthampton, MA, USA42.266757 -72.66897999999997642.266757 -72.668979999999976 42.266757 -72.668979999999976tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-60526531553251396652014-03-19T04:38:00.000-07:002014-11-10T13:31:12.280-08:00La Ruta de La Quinua & United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dPq5rL4rybHf_5M6X-gz2bTnq44eebO7zXhQ0x_CXqxZNkIz5V9RHrUXJw2uYoQ3R1-3gUedRLm8412YO1bDbF7vU43xa4C2lV8RYI_UhnocLIEjvHzWPcbYcj42djnpwhvYtTYp8osS/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-11-10+at+2.23.04+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dPq5rL4rybHf_5M6X-gz2bTnq44eebO7zXhQ0x_CXqxZNkIz5V9RHrUXJw2uYoQ3R1-3gUedRLm8412YO1bDbF7vU43xa4C2lV8RYI_UhnocLIEjvHzWPcbYcj42djnpwhvYtTYp8osS/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-11-10+at+2.23.04+PM.png" height="324" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last year, during the United Nations International Year of the Quinoa, the Bolivian government sponsored the first “La Ruta de la Quinua” or “The Quinoa Route,” which started in the north in La Paz and went south through Patacamaya, Oruro, Challapata, Salinas de Garci Mendoza, the Salar, and ended in Uyuni, all with the goal of raising awareness and increasing quinoa production. 2014 is the second year of “La Ruta de la Quinua Real, 100% Boliviana,” which the government aims to make an annual event. I wasn’t aware that this year’s Ruta would coincide with my travels in Bolivia, but fortunately, my farmer host in Santuario de Quillacas where I assisted in harvesting quinoa informed me. He explained that his family was going to assist in feeding the 100+ participants lunch on the second day. Immediately, I got in touch with my contact at the Ministry of Rural Development who told me I should come into the office to get more details. Well the story goes that I went from being on the waitlist to being a stray without a home to finally, the VIP list. Let me elaborate: I show up at 7:30 AM in Plaza Murillo in La Paz, one of the main squares that houses many government offices, including the Government Palace and the Plurinational Legislative Assembly. Plaza Murillo may also be the prettiest in the city in my humble opinion but also has an interesting history of being the center of the colonial side of the city when the Spanish reigned and having a former president publically executed in the square. Anyway, back to the quinoa: I show up in the Plaza, try calling my contact at the ministry and he doesn’t pick up the phone (typical). After wandering around for a bit, then I find a woman who is in charge of assigning vehicles etc. and she asks me to follow her. So we go to one of the government buildings where they are serving an elaborate breakfast:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Welcome breakfast</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Plaza Murillo, the site of the Presidential Palace</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Quinoa and Bolivia flags :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She brings me over to
a table and introduces me to…drum roll please…the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization associate of programs in Bolivia. So naturally, I end up in the UN FAO car,
which is second in the caravan of thirty jeeps.
I proceed to meet the Bolivian representative to the FAO, as well as the
two interns who are working on programs in Bolivia for 1-2 years. I was seriously not expecting this special
treatment: getting adorned with wreaths of quinoa, getting fed first, and
sitting on stage with the Vice Minister of Agriculture, the governor of Oruro
department, and the “Quinoa Queen” (apparently there was some kind of
competition to find an ambassador/queen of quinoa). I was also interviewed twice on video camera:
by the Ministry of Rural Development and Reuters! …in Spanish!!
Jokes. Of course, I was very
nervous explaining my research project and trying to express any “conclusions”
I’ve made (which haven’t been too many at this point because it’s all been so
complicated). But who knows, maybe I’ll
get featured in next year’s Ruta promotional video.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More information about
the route:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Objective: to improve
the knowledge of the general population and the youth in particular with regard
to the ecological and productive systems of quinoa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Impacts: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->To deepen
the motivated students’ study and investigation of quinoa as a star product of
the Andean zone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A higher
quantity of initiatives of investigation and innovation at the level of
universities about quinoa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Higher
interest in the population with respect to the production and consumption of
quinoa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Activities:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Visit an
industrial processing plant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Visit both
quinoa dulce and quinoa real plots<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Visit a
germplasm bank and experimental plots of INIAF (government branch)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Visit
centers of technological innovation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Participative
harvest and technology fair<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Rural
expositions about soil and water management for quinoa<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Visit
places of ethno and agro-touristic places of interest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Municipalities to
visit:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">El Alto (above La Paz)</span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">Patacamaya</span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">Sica Sica</span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">Oruro</span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">Santiago de Andamarca</span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">Quillacas</span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">Salinas de Garci Mendoza</span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">Llica</span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES-BO">Uyuni</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the one hand, La
Ruta coincided perfectly as a final activity in Bolivia but was too close to my
departure date for me to participate in the entirety. So I attended the first half of the route and
fortunately, my colleagues in the FAO car also had to be back in La Paz on
Wednesday. But in the limited time I
took part, I was able to tour my third quinoa processing plant in Bolivia (of
SAITE - Sociedad Agropecuaria Industrial y Técnica), be exposed to some of the
newest technology on the market specialized for quinoa (sprayers, harvesters,
sowing machines, etc.) as well as technological packages being offered by both
NGOs (e.g. CPTS) and private businesses.
We visited several experimental plots, partook in numerous traditional
ceremonies with indigenous authorities, and ate tons of quinoa (in the form of
porridge, hot drinks, cold drinks, cereal bars, cakes, bread, cookies and the
list goes on) as well as llama. Some
other very cool experiences include being within a ten foot proximity to the
Vice President of Bolivia (who arrived in a helicopter on the second day…I was
in the field having an interview with the Ministry of Agriculture and we had to
duck as if we were in War of the Worlds).
The VP inaugurated the first harvesting of the quinoa in Orinoca, which
was done by a large combined harvester.
I visited “Evo’s House,” aka the mud hut where Bolivia’s first
indigenous president grew up. Mind blowing that he came from literally nothing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Evo Morales' childhood home (president of Bolivia)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LmvVzOjePWp5YzWPgNsh3vAYESi2zrYL5QvgGP-yJOAmkJ6pzfwt1tRj2ot4Z3U7t6Fjtqd8n8vcDB2bjqO_UAi5MABpCci29javoxoITZWgdwqY1NvHzr8-72_WEvdSC04ND4lQF8GT/s1600/DSC03425+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LmvVzOjePWp5YzWPgNsh3vAYESi2zrYL5QvgGP-yJOAmkJ6pzfwt1tRj2ot4Z3U7t6Fjtqd8n8vcDB2bjqO_UAi5MABpCci29javoxoITZWgdwqY1NvHzr8-72_WEvdSC04ND4lQF8GT/s1600/DSC03425+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Evo's house</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what did I learn from the route? Besides exposure to some new technologies, none of the information was particularly new. However, it was the energy, excitement, and vibes that were most remarkable. Hearing various high-level government officials express sentiments of wanting to share quinoa, a food that used to be discriminated against, with the world and the associated sense of pride. One official even gave the anecdote of how they were flying to Europe and was served quinoa on the airplane – he joked about how it wasn’t even a Bolivian airline! Apparently, there have been 1,000 new HA of quinoa sown in La Paz department in the last year and with the second version of La Ruta, they are hoping to increase production and expand area even more, with an emphasis on domestic consumption. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From the factory tour with SAITE, I learned that they are focusing first on South American markets and then outside the continent including promotional fairs in Anaheim, CA, Toronto, and the famous BioFach organic fair in Germany. Their largest quinoa importers are the U.S., Canada, and Brazil. They share a commitment and responsibility with the farmers in terms of offering loan assistance and other inputs. They take a positive approach to employment as well, as most of the workers in the factory come from the local neighborhood. Now they are working also in value added products with quinoa. Their factory has a capacity of 20 containers per month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Industrial processing plant/company we visited</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vice Minister of Agriculture on the factory tour</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjV2HQ_SvN-RAkByPNZT77_TrCm0n8ZbjFviuZ53L_KR0FZ7QWzuMYLAl1L5_6sOvFASAXkJFGGRzNCORnKiho9dgvvN5mnHGKqV6vKlcFj8-XFf0thYuzeKDb2wbUULmGMYbLL1ypmH1/s1600/DSC03332+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAjV2HQ_SvN-RAkByPNZT77_TrCm0n8ZbjFviuZ53L_KR0FZ7QWzuMYLAl1L5_6sOvFASAXkJFGGRzNCORnKiho9dgvvN5mnHGKqV6vKlcFj8-XFf0thYuzeKDb2wbUULmGMYbLL1ypmH1/s1600/DSC03332+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Saponin or soap-like resin from washing the quinoa</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijkySQiol5m-mjIKWCtFS2TPZbtWMOoPvGfktknFVr_yJ7NNUNpiqoiRmNc5YFEd4gvRFDE3mfUd-zZR5sLHHlCdPEJ3YAni2WYyTGqEe1FA8HgVVDFoIg_ll71OBBmLJvcK1R6jy2LNuL/s1600/DSC03337+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijkySQiol5m-mjIKWCtFS2TPZbtWMOoPvGfktknFVr_yJ7NNUNpiqoiRmNc5YFEd4gvRFDE3mfUd-zZR5sLHHlCdPEJ3YAni2WYyTGqEe1FA8HgVVDFoIg_ll71OBBmLJvcK1R6jy2LNuL/s1600/DSC03337+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From the visit with INIAF (Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agropecuaria y Forestal), I learned about their activities in testing various quinoa accessions (varieties) and efforts to conserve the great biodiversity of the crop. They will soon harvest the new short cycle varieties and put the germplasm in the genebank. They are also working with UMSA, one of the universities in Bolivia. They have more than 400 accessions here and need to plant them each year (in-situ conservation) to prevent loss. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bolivia's representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZ5hoc8m0xeb1OkCBMOgr2y49zZh3ChhFH5ta9zXCWC5ExYS4uwAWngfx7x-HL0FXCV7jdWcxIXMnfvqqkjpTOKDABIAGS2X_UCH0Ge6A2RxWYUZAfyT3uIJ7eRZfuKqOC6tHQMvqDhvQ/s1600/DSC03347+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZ5hoc8m0xeb1OkCBMOgr2y49zZh3ChhFH5ta9zXCWC5ExYS4uwAWngfx7x-HL0FXCV7jdWcxIXMnfvqqkjpTOKDABIAGS2X_UCH0Ge6A2RxWYUZAfyT3uIJ7eRZfuKqOC6tHQMvqDhvQ/s1600/DSC03347+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vice Minister of Agriculture</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZWmy_8BXu4RZewmx6jqAC7LJYAatJy4s1J0V64kNx_Tihhkqh3SSuZ0BnGGsBsIpnP7VQ5E5lgW-2bfekMhtSnAgvnKQy1vKkwEZF41-zp-xLqJetNsn5_AXeuuKE0C2K1lfv0CR918B/s1600/DSC03349+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZWmy_8BXu4RZewmx6jqAC7LJYAatJy4s1J0V64kNx_Tihhkqh3SSuZ0BnGGsBsIpnP7VQ5E5lgW-2bfekMhtSnAgvnKQy1vKkwEZF41-zp-xLqJetNsn5_AXeuuKE0C2K1lfv0CR918B/s1600/DSC03349+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Government demonstration site was heavily guarded</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Demo plot</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Different quinoa varieties</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tractors abound, very representative of the goverment</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The visit with CPTS (Center for Promotion of Sustainable Technology) was particularly informative. I’ve been trying to track down the vice-director, Cesin Curi, for ages, playing phone tag with his secretary and trying to follow up on the original emails we exchanged almost two years ago. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that I won’t get to have a personal interview after all this, but I am happy I was at least able to meet him on La Ruta. He is credited with pushing for 1,000,000 HA of quinoa in the future, a vision of extensive agriculture that may or may not be achievable sustainably. During his presentation, he talked about how he has visions to create a “plural business with farmers and a complementary technological package, which would include machines for plowing, sowing, spraying, harvesting, and seed selection. The new harvester can cut, thresh, winnow, and transport the cut quinoa (1 HA/hr capacity) and the sprayer has the ability to irrigate (8 HA/hr) and apply fertilizer or pesticides with a capacity of about 50 rows and 20 HA/hour with a 12,000 L cistern. The benefit of mechanized spraying is of course, uniformity (as is the case with most industrial agro-technology). When a farmer goes through the fields manually spraying with a backpack, he cannot always achieve equal application. In sum, the CPTS technology is ready to be launched commercially in the coming months (though prices are still TBD) after being designed and tested over an extensive period. CPTS has been working on this project for more than six years, as collaborative effort with City SRL, a company that builds machines in Bolivia. The entire technological package is designed for 500 HA, so the Vice Minister of Agriculture is confident that Bolivia can achieve 1,000,000 HA in the next five years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Welcomed with a wreath of quinoa; a real VIP ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sub-director of the Center for the Promotion of Sustainable Technologies (CPTS) talking about the new technology package they've developed for quinoa production</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Spraying machine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For apply liquid fertilizers, pesticides, or irrigation</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CPTS has partnered with CABOLQUI, The Bolivian Chamber of Quinoa Exporters, which is sort of an alliance of private businesses that are exporting quinoa. The manager of CABOLQUI described the joint project with CPTS:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“We are working very hard with CPTS because [Cesin] developed all the technology for processing quinoa. And since the last 6 years, he’s developed another technology to increase production yields, for mechanization of the farming etc. (sowers, harvesters, threshers). I think we are in the final stage and are validating all of the technology that has been developed over the last 6 years. We are working with IDB bank and starting the program in April, which will last for the next 5 years. I think it’s the last resource or chance to change things – it could be a game changer to make things work with technology and maintain Bolivians leadership in royal quinoa. In Germany at the BioFach congress, which is the most important organic fair worldwide, we have recognized that India is now working with quinoa and have significant quantities already produced. When I talk about India or China, now we are talking about big players. Our capacities are far from them. And if they recognize that this is an interesting business, they are going to produce in quantities, [which will push us] out of the market. So we are in a hurry. Not all of the actors involved in quinoa are in a hurry, but certainly, CALBOLQUI and our enterprises are. We are pushing this CPTS project and are doing our best really to achieve this program in the next 5 years. The results for us will define if we are in or out of the market.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hmm, so I thought she put it very eloquently and also emphasized the pressing nature of improving production in Bolivia. However, someone raised the interesting point of why CPTS is testing the technology near Patacamaya in the central Altiplano when the agro-climatic conditions are so different from those in the southern Altiplano. I have discussed the potential of this project with several of my interviewees and I will share some of their views here. One person expressed to me “two false assumptions” –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“One [false assumption about the CPTS project] is that they think that farmers cannot innovate. But if you look at the development of quinoa on the southern Altiplano, now I am talking about the production not the processing, the innovation in production has been pulled by the farmers. Farmers have purchased the tractors, sowing machines, plows, winnowing machines etc. the problem is that there was no strong agronomic research in Bolivia to try to contribute to stronger innovation in the production level. We could think of a lack of both public and private contribution. The other wrong assumption is that they want to create big farms because they want to push the price of quinoa down, it’s too high for them to export. But this is a totally wrong diagnosis because Bolivian quinoa export prices haven’t dropped. The prices have doubled and the export hasn’t dropped. The fact is that the problem isn’t here, it’s the demand – in the U.S., which consumes 2/3 of the volume traded. So the problem is a kind of frenetic demand in the U.S. importers and retailers cannot regulate this. Importers and retailers create this instability. In my diagnosis, I don’t see why Bolivians, Peruvians, or Ecuadorians should assume the responsibility of the global price. From my Andean perspective, the high price is very welcomed for exporters and high prices. It’s the first time that indigenous small farmers have strong power in the food chain and I personally welcome that. If you see the history of what’s happened in that reason. But of course exporters don’t care and just want to do business; they want a lower price because importers and retailers complain about high prices. They say that the suppliers are responsible for the high price because they are unable to produce more, which is their diagnosis. That’s why they say we need to produce more to drop the price. In my opinion, we need to produce better in quality and in sustainability, no more in quantity. They also want to do this in a contract farming, agro-capitalist way while we have a small farm indigenous way. And if you see the history of that reason, they were very much exploited in the 19<sup>th</sup> century by the formation of haciendas (in the central Altiplano), and there is this memory. And with middlemen, the negative sentiment also remains. They want to do business and want to create a good price. CPTS’s interest is normal – they will get 30% of the stocks of each one of those big unit farms, so they will learn a lot. They want to do it under contract, not buying the land. They want communities to pool their lands and the communities will have a share of the stocks and get money from that. But the technology proposed is bad. I have seen their demonstrations and participated last year with importers, funders, etc. and it was terrible. The yields too. First they want to grow quinoa real in a place where it will never grow well, so you’ll have a bonsai quinoa with short flowers and almost no grains. It was terrible. If you take quinoa real to the U.S. it will never grow and neither in the central or northern Altiplano. Secondly, the technology. This is a business for CPTS; they designed and manufactured the machines, so he will learn money from selling the machines. This is business not cooperation. But it is business with bad technology and farmers in communities close to the research station have yields that are doubled or tripled compared to their personal parcels.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I asked <b>why was CPTS so successful in designing post-harvest processing technology, which revolutionized the quinoa industry, but not in production technology?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The response I received, <i>“Cesin Curi is not an agronomist. I think he has taking into account global market dynamics because he wants to pull down the price and him and CABOLQUI both want more production and lower prices. I’ll be honest, Cesin is kind of a bluffer. When he talks about marginal lands, he is bluffing. He is taking range lands, traditional llama and sheep land because his unit is not in the southern Altiplano. No one wants to work with him in the southern Altiplano. His research station is near Patacamaya and that’s what we saw when we went last year; the technology is not good.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So then I asked: <b>do you think this CPTS project is a “tipping point” that can revolutionalize quinoa production as CABOLQUI has expressed?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“That’s why the central and northern Altiplano are interesting because more and more communities are turning to quinoa. But in their farms, they won’t be able to produce quinoa real because of different agro-climatic conditions. And this is what they don’t understand. I interviewed one guy from CPTS who was surrealistic. When I told him quinoa real doesn’t grow here and he said, “we will change the soil.” And if they change the soil, other crops won’t be able to grow and enter into the rotation.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another important source for my research here also expressed his opinions on the CPTS project:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“CPTS has the idea of going into these marginal lands, but we’ll see. We are a little disconnected from those guys, so they are going to get in their own little bubble trying to change the game. As we’ve seen it, the game has already changed. Quinoa grows everywhere and there is already competition from everywhere. The processing technologies haven’t changed since CPTS technology came out; it’s outdated, we have to modernize the cleaning technology. Then ConAGra and Cargill and Kellogg are entering quinoa industry without preferring Bolivian quinoa over Ecuadorian and likely preferring US produced quinoa. The problem is that CABOLQUI and CPTS are localized and blind to market evolutions. Their pride is blinding them – they think we have the best product in the world, [so they don’t want] to see what the other guys are doing and how they’ve advanced. So we have to take farmers out of Bolivia and show them how farmers are doing. We need to have farmers learn from the competition to learn of how to improve production. It’s not going into marginal areas with poor technology. I am not very positive on CPTS. As far as we go, we are working to create a niche for Bolivian growers to differentiate them with a brand.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So clearly, it’s complicated. I am still sorting out what I think about all this, but it seems that perhaps the aspirations and declarations of CPTS and the Ministry of Agriculture to expand the production area to 1,000,000 HA in the future (up from about 170,000 HA now) is misplaced. In terms of extensive versus intensive agriculture, it seems that there is much less emphasis (at least in words and in the form of propaganda) on increasing yields and overall productivity (e.g. through promotion of integrated farming systems with llamas and restoring the fertility of these degraded lands). It seems that the dialogue around quinoa production in Bolivia has, to some degree, also about proving the ability to “keep up” and “modernize.” One government official compared it to Tupac Katari, the new satellite that Bolivian recently launched (with the funding support of China, of course). So with this sort of agro-industrial mindset, quinoa can represent progress. The Secretary to the Governor of Oruro expressed how quinoa represents a “cultural, economic, and productive evolution.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Community visits along the route :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My new friend Yusuke, an intern with the United Nations FAO</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Quinoa babies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Traditional quinoa dishes (e.g. cake, porridge, etc.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Quinoa is a gift from mother earth"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Quinoa is an ancestral nutritious grain"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Quinoa is the only vegetable that possesses al of the amino acids" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where I sat on stage with the Vice Minister of Agriculture and the governor of Oruro State of Bolivia </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cultural presentation at the dinner</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dancing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With the "quinoa queen" (or ambassador)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsozyBF5tK_Os-QwhphmGVT5r6KIIjCIUp28XvYql28G4aLgcZwP-U5GI0hQlaOCzOUeiLhckE0nPdGYcAPTlPn_z1Z3b7edmRiYstGch8A-b322svhrmGCscXJz6CF4JIbtCzWW0vlfJA/s1600/DSC03408+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsozyBF5tK_Os-QwhphmGVT5r6KIIjCIUp28XvYql28G4aLgcZwP-U5GI0hQlaOCzOUeiLhckE0nPdGYcAPTlPn_z1Z3b7edmRiYstGch8A-b322svhrmGCscXJz6CF4JIbtCzWW0vlfJA/s1600/DSC03408+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">30+ jeeps</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Welcomed by a band</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Excited school children</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the technological fair in Orinoca, a separate package of machines was displayed, this time by a private business called BOLTRAC, based in Santa Cruz where they have large-scale soy and wheat production. It’s German technology and apparently they are working with farmers in Challapata region to develop a mechanized system; a package for 300 HA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Vice President of Bolivia and the Minister of Agriculture also gave their spiels in Orinoca, the home region of president Evo Morales (apparently Evo couldn’t attend because he was bringing 8 tons of vegetables as food aid to areas near the Brazilian border that have been experience devastating floods). They emphasized internal consumption and the expansion of the quinoa frontier (as has everyone here). Although quinoa may be everywhere these days, only quinoa real is in the southern Altiplano, which should generate immense pride. They noted how up until now, eradicating world hunger has mainly been in the hands of private businesses but with 2014 as the International Year of the Family Farmer, that small producers can also feed the world. A similar story that has been permeating many of my interviews includes the analogy comparing the quinoa market with mining of precious metals during the colonial period. The Vice President also expressed how during the colonial times, the Spanish found gold and silver, but more importantly were potatoes and indigenous crops. He talked about how potatoes have since spread to the entire world and helped address hunger issues in some places (yet he neglected to acknowledge the Irish Potato Famine as a result of monocropping). Yet while the Spanish were busy bringing potatoes back to Europe, they ignored and even condemned quinoa, creating a stigmatized culture in the country (i.e. middle, upper class, and mixed-race/European-descended Bolivians looking down on quinoa as dirty food of the countryside and indigenous peoples) that, on some level, persists today. However, quinoa today, as the Vice President expressed, may be the salvation of the world, a food so powerful that it can send astronauts to the moon. It’s the new gold, but now it’s in the hands of Bolivia instead of the colonizers. He exclaimed that we aren’t going to have a problem with prices because the demand is high and other countries want healthy, organic food, and that Bolivia shouldn’t worry about other countries’ production because quinoa real of Bolivia is unrivaled in its nutritional value. Quinoa real is Bolivian quinoa and it’s important that the world knows this. But we cannot forget about domestic consumption, which is currently estimated at a meager 1 kg/per capita/per annum. Quinoa, however, requires resting periods and that farmers take care of the earth with sustainable production. According to the Vice President of Bolivia, “Quinoa is a treasure, a grain of gold, that can be the salvation of Bolivia and of the world.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">New harvesting technology, German-designed</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before my interview with Reuters :D</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Vice President of Bolivia just arrived in his chopper, casual</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">VP</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">UN FAO colleagues with the VP of Bolivia's chopper</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vice Preisdent of Bolivia giving a speech</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifsjNlAsRUG4Qk9unZ73snGGL3sXcpp25YVtEjveAYFA57d9xZEvbFgLjZ5Lt8jCD4CxXat6eb5ydgOQZzOPyzi1Gj2dZDBcKjTqeBGUxbX1v4R9uuHl6odlT9jSpvweexc-8wsuV3vV-s/s1600/DSC03494+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifsjNlAsRUG4Qk9unZ73snGGL3sXcpp25YVtEjveAYFA57d9xZEvbFgLjZ5Lt8jCD4CxXat6eb5ydgOQZzOPyzi1Gj2dZDBcKjTqeBGUxbX1v4R9uuHl6odlT9jSpvweexc-8wsuV3vV-s/s1600/DSC03494+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">VP opening this year's harvest on brand new combined harvester technology</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then we got a flat tire, wamp wamp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Made it out before the rains came</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In essence, La Ruta de La Quinua was a perfect way to end my time in Bolivia, especially being able to spend time with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the body responsible for 2013 – the International Year of the Quinoa. I had a small “despedida” or farewell gathering at the PROINPA office where I have been working on and off since January. We at the quinoa cookies I made (yum!), drank coca-cola (of course), and exchanged stories and laughter. My final words with my supervisor were in English and could have brought me to tears, though I managed to hold back. I feel that I do have a home in Bolivia when I decide to return, a network of supportive individuals and organizations. As I pack up my room and get ready to depart for Cuzco, Peru where I will spend the next ten days with my boyfriend who is coming from California, I am beginning to really get nostalgic. Looking back on my experiences in Bolivia, I feel that an exponential curve embodies my three months here. Things started off really negatively on the verge of failure, but as the twelve weeks progressed, it just got better and better. La Paz is the first big city that I’ve ever lived in and it really feels like home. Sure, there are things that drive me crazy about Bolivia, but if I had to, I really think I could learn to love it here. So until the next time, here’s my despedida. Ciao y nos vemos. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Bolivia's representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">UN FAO team :D</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com1Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014 -16.4990099 -68.146248000000014tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-2464210768860748212014-03-16T21:20:00.000-07:002014-12-23T21:33:05.428-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Third Quarterly Report (Bolivia Recap)</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dear Watson Family,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As you announced the next class of Watson Fellows, I am in disbelief that it was a year ago that I myself </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">received news of the fellowship acceptance. I remember reading the email and literally breaking down </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">into tears: a mix of excitement, astonishment, fear, and gratitude. Nine months later, these feelings still </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">exist except they are far more tangible and amplified. Instead of theorizing how I might feel being away </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from family, friends, and everything I had ever known, I am now not only experiencing and surviving, but </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">also thriving. I think this year offers crucial perspective and is going to make anything in the future seem </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">possible and much less daunting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">During my three months in Bolivia, I focused solely on quinoa, a tiny pseudo-grain and “Lost Crop of the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Incas.” I began to realize early on that the quinoa dynamic is even more complex and controversial than I </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">had originally thought. The social, economic, and environmental impacts of the “boom” in the West are </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">far-reaching and complicated. It is important to note that quinoa is practically a complete protein rich in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">vitamins and minerals, high in fiber, and both cholesterol and gluten-free. While western consumers’ </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">craze with this “superfood” has helped uplift previously marginalized farmers by providing them with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">remunerative prices for their crop, it also renders quinoa too expensive for many urban Bolivians to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">afford. This paradox raises questions of domestic food security in a country where roughly 1 in 5 </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">children is chronically malnourished and cheap imports and processed food abound. The lack of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">widespread domestic consumption is further complicated by the fact that many urban elites have </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">historically looked down upon quinoa as a sort of dirty peasant/native food.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Unsurprisingly, however, increased prices (a threefold increase in four years) have instigated a sort of “repeasantization” </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of the countryside in which both young and old people alike are returning to their native </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">villages to cultivate quinoa on what is often forsaken ancestral land, which is creating resource conflicts </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and community tension, especially surrounding indigenous governance and land management systems. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Furthermore, the increased demand in the US and EU is encouraging farmers to expand and intensify </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">production (while simultaneously abandoning traditional cultivation methods such as fallow fields, crop </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rotation, and animal husbandry of llamas), which has the likely potential of eroding soils and depleting </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nutrients in areas that were ecologically fragile from the beginning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The region of interest is the Altiplano or “high plain” and more specifically, the southern Altiplano and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">inter-salar region, which is the only location in the world where royal quinoa grows (a larger grained, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">higher value variety). Quinoa is a sort of miracle crop in that it flourishes in harsh environments where </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">most other plants cannot exist: sandy saline soil, little rainfall, high altitude, and subfreezing </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">temperatures. With global climate change in mind and the expected increases in drought, desertification, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and weather extremes, quinoa proves rather promising, compounded by its high nutrition in the context of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">prevailing global hunger. It makes sense then why the United Nations declared 2013 “The International </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Year of Quinoa” (and 2014 has been dubbed “The International Year of Family Farming” – how fitting </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">for my Watson!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My hopes while in Bolivia included following the quinoa commodity chain from field to export, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">exploring the on-farm management practices, organic certification, post-harvest processing, marketing </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and sales. I wanted to understand how farmers have altered their production methods and/or adopted new </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">technologies because of increased demand from the West and the social, economic, and environmental </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">impacts of these changes. I also hoped to spend time living in quinoa producing villages learning how to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">grow and maintain it. I was curious as to the role of both the State and NGOs in the strategic planning of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">quinoa commercialization, as well as of cooperatives and private export companies, which may be </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">facilitating technical support and marketing. In short, by the time I was to leave Bolivia for the next leg </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of the Watson, I wanted to be a quinoa expert, having spent time in the field and the warehouse working </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">through the nuances of this Andean pseudo-cereal. I really enjoy eating quinoa at home, but I also strived </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to understand the complex political economy and environmental ramifications surrounding my </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">gastronomic preferences. Looking back on the last three months, did I “succeed”?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, Bolivia hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure. After experiencing the loneliest holiday season of my life, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">things did not pick up. My first month was virtually stagnant: I was struggling with the language, it was </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">raining every single day, and people weren’t answering emails or phone calls. It took me more than a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">month to really get on my feet and get my bearings (especially working up the courage just to run around </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the city of La Paz knocking on doors with my broken Spanish). In fact, early on in the planning process, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">someone mentioned to me that carrying out my research on the Bolivian Altiplano wouldn’t be very </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">feasible and that the communities with which I am attempting to work (indigenous farmers) are </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">historically the most marginalized demographic and are naturally suspicious of foreigners, as well as the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fact that Bolivia has been characterized as being “fiercely autonomous.” She even suggested that I all </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">together switch to Peru to carry out my research. While Bolivia hasn’t been a joy ride, but rather a slap in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the face – it’s been an important reality check and perspective for my research. Sure, I could have gone to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Peru where maybe it would have been easier and I seriously thought about it. My reasons for wanting to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">go there, however, were flawed – because it would be easy? That’s certainly not what the Watson is all </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">about. And I am glad I didn’t.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bolivia is the birthplace/center of origin of quinoa and is currently the largest producer in the world. It’s </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">also home to a president who detests the US, kicked out USAID last year, and wants to remove the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">American embassy. However, I think it’s been really good for me to go somewhere where America isn’t </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">worshipped, as a pleasant reminder that my country is not the hegemony and paradigm for everyone in the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">world. Yet for a while, I was ready to throw in the towel on Bolivia, truly convinced that I wasn’t going </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to achieve what I wanted, that I would never make it to the southern Altiplano to regions where royal </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">quinoa is grown for export. I was flailing around without contacts, disheartened by the words of some </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">colleagues who suggested that perhaps my work was redundant, overly ambitious, and unfeasible given </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">my lofty goals and relatively short time period in Bolivia. Discouraged, I told myself, “for once in your </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">life, don’t Lauren Howe the heck out of this” – i.e. take what you can get, do what you can with the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">resources at your disposal, and don’t kill yourself. Well that mentality was short-lived in retrospect, since </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">now I am trying my hardest to accomplish everything I possibly can in the next few days before I leave </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">for Europe with the second half of my time here having been so incredibly fruitful that it definitely made </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">up for the stagnation and frustration at the beginning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At first, I mainly focused on working with PROINPA (Promotion and Investigation of Andean Products) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">on their “Food Security and Adaptation to Climate Change” quinoa project, which focuses on the use of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">short-cycle varieties of improved seeds, promoting seed saving and certified seed production, better </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">management practices, and eventually some commercialization after household food security. I was able </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to participate in about ten visits to various agricultural communities in Pacajes province. Field activities </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">included teaching the farmers how to identify pests and how to prepare and apply bio-inputs. It was a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">wonderful opportunity to meet and speak with producers, participate in communal "apthapi” lunches, and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">even assist with some fieldwork in spraying and seed selecting. However, like everything in Bolivia, the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">work wasn’t effortless. We normally spent about six hours with the farmers, with another eight hours </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">driving in the truck, making for a 14-hour day. Sometimes our field visits were marred with downpours, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hailstorms, or even snow, and to top it all off, when a community preferred to speak their indigenous </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">language Aymara, I couldn’t understand a word. So as soon as I felt like I was getting a grip on Spanish, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">these days felt particularly arduous and futile.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Following my fieldwork in Pacajes, I was able to live with one family and participate in their daily </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">activities of herding cattle and tending their quinoa. I can safely say that this farm-stay was my Bolivian </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">experience in a nutshell: difficult and trying (physically and emotionally). Bridges are hard to come by in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the campo (“countryside”), so four times we had to ford the river, which was less than 50 degrees and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">more than knee-deep…shoeless. My host, Amalia, her two young children, and I would spend seven </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hours a day herding nine cows. I have never herded cattle, mind you, but I think my brain atrophied a bit </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">during these few days. I don’t think I could ever herd cattle for a living – I was going crazy after only a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">few hours. At least with farming, you can see that you’re giving life, growing something, and can reap a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">reward at the end. I would describe animal husbandry and the tedious act of herding more specifically as </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">doing a dance – back and forth, leading, following, and ushering the bovines, never quite knowing where </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to go yet simultaneously wondering if they know the way. During these long, hot hours in the blazing </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sun, which is even stronger with the high altitude, I realize more how the Bolivian Altiplano is a vast and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">empty place, treeless with virtual silence except the occasional howl of the wind, baah of a sheep, or hum </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of the radio that Amalia keeps in her awayu blanket. The silence was further undisturbed by the fact that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">she never liked to engage in conversation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After this low point, things really started to look up. The rainy season was tapering off and my Spanish </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">was slowly improving. Next, I spent several days living on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the world and the largest in South America, in the small village of Santiago de Okola. Okola has been </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hosting tourists for seven years now, a testament to their commitment to eco/agrotourism and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">agrobiodiversity conservation. I knew I wanted to visit Lake Titicaca, a center of origin for many Andean </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">crops, including quinoa. I was able to attend a meeting with the president of Okola’s Tourism Body </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Tomas), during which they discussed a project to safeguard and recover indigenous knowledge, as well </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">as ensure that the wide variety of native crops continue to be cultivated, especially in the context of rural </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">out-migration of the youth. While in Okola, I met with the school director, interviewed Tomas, harvested </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">potatoes, hiked up to the top of the “Sleeping Dragon” mountain, and went fishing for dinner. This </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fishing, however, was nothing like that of my childhood. Instead of bait and poles, we dragged a large net </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">through the water close to the shore. After doing this several times, we filled an awayu with small </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">minnow-like fish called ispi. That night, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of potatoes and fried ispi, heads, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tails, bones, and all, which were sort of like crunchy French fries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Following my time in Okola, I felt rejuvenated and ready to re-tackle royal quinoa on Bolivia’s southern </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Altiplano, and through judicious planning, I was able to attend a one-week producers’ tour with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">California-based Andean Naturals, the largest importer of organic quinoa in the United States. Our group </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">consisted of the founding brothers: Sergio and Fabricio, their agronomists, an Australian quinoa farmer </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and businessman, and two American importers/clients. Sergio was named by Time Magazine as one of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the “Nine Gods of Food” (on the same list as Vandana Shiva and Michael Pollan!!) and the “King of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Quinoa.” Needless to say, this was one of the most exciting foodie/ag celebrity moments of this year </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(right on par with my interviews with Indians Devinder Sharma and MS Swaminathan). The tour </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">involved visits to almost ten producers’ associations along the southern Altiplano. We visited Challapata, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a tiny town I’d been planning to see for almost two years, which has been referred to as the “hub” of the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">quinoa industry in Bolivia for its weekly market where quinoa prices have historically been set. Finally </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">venturing south was like a dream come true, and through this one week tour, I learned more about the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">challenges of the quinoa industry than I had in an entire month.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As a result of this tour and its introductions, I was able to spend time living in the quinoa-producing </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">village of Santuario de Quillacas. In many ways, the Bolivian Altiplano has reminded me of Ladakh, the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">region in northernmost India where I spent five weeks, two of which on a barley farm assisting with the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">harvest and threshing. The Ladakhi and Altiplano landscape are similar: barren, vast, and mountainous </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">with high altitudes, sapphire blue skies, and strong sun. Yet when we walked past the neighbors working, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">it was as if I was literally transported back in time to the Ladakhi village of Likir. The quinoa plants had </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">been cut and set into neat piles on the ground. The Bolivian quinueros (quinoa farmers) proceeded to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">scoop up the heaps and were stacking them in teepee like structures to dry. This was exactly what we had </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to do in Likir with the barley. Perhaps it is a traditional practice characteristic of all grains, but I found it </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">strangely comforting, as if I already was familiar with the rhythms of harvesting quinoa, which proved </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">useful as I was able to get my hands dirty assisting with the reaping.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I also feel that so much has changed in the Bolivian quinoa industry, especially as a result of 2013 and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">United Nation’s International Year of the Quinoa, so writing off my research as “repetitive” didn’t make </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sense. I can’t believe that I considered skipping Bolivia in favor of Peru because I thought it would be </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">too difficult. Here I am, I now feel like I have been part of something big, really big. I am getting both a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">literal and figurative taste of what’s happening in the wake of 2013 and in the midst of the global quinoa </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">craze. Quinoa is a manifestation of EVERYTHING I’ve been exploring over the past nine months, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">namely the tension between tradition and innovation. Quinoa also includes themes of: intensive versus </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">extensive agriculture, access to finance/credit and markets, contract farming, labor shortages, NGO </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">dependency, ICT technology, contraband/illegal trafficking, the importance of partnerships and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">collaboration, risk management, appropriate technology, farmers’ cooperatives and associations, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">favorable government policies in production/trade/nutrition/food safety, the importance of research and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">development, ecotypes/seed varieties/plant breeding, climate change, yield, conservation/low-till farming, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">place-based solutions, lack of adequate extension services, certified organic and fair trade, post-harvest </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">processing and value-addition, commodity supply chains, the power of middlemen/intermediaries, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">government subsidies, and the free market. In fact, I wrote an identical list following a conference in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">India and almost every single one of these aspects is also relevant to quinoa farmers in the Bolivian </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Altiplano. Similarly, there is also no silver bullet magic solution to making quinoa sustainable </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">environmentally, economically, and socially in the future, but rather, the industry demands cross-collaboration </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of stakeholders and commitment to strategic planning for the long-term.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In sum, I was able to do more than thirty interviews with a variety of actors including producers’ </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">associations/cooperatives, NGOs, government officials, private businesses, organic certifying agencies, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">farmers, and scholars. I lived with and participated in the work of three farming families and in some </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ways, was able to achieve my overly ambitious goal of a “comparative study” of the three main quinoa producing </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">regions in Bolivia (northern, central, and southern Altiplano). Even though my experiences in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bolivia were difficult, I can’t think of a more exciting and dynamic time or place to be studying the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">changes in quinoa production. Like one woman said, these next few months are going to be a game </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">changer for Bolivia, though whether positively or negatively has yet to be determined. But I can feel it. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s like the buzz around quinoa and this so-called tipping point is tangible; the dynamism is alive and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don’t know if after this year, I am going to want to eat as much quinoa as I can and work for an organic </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and fair trade quinoa company when I return to the States OR alternatively, never want to see it again (at </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">least for a while, ha). I do feel, however, that quinoa can change the world. Reflecting back on the last </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nine months, I have become enamored with places (Ladakh), cultures (Bhutan), and people (India), but </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here for the first time, I feel like I’ve fallen in love with a crop. I love the way quinoa looks when the sun </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rises or sets behind it, illuminating the panicle and giving it a soft iridescence. This glow is particularly </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">prominent with the red quinoa and I think the prettiest is the Pandela variety of white royal quinoa, which </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">appears pink. If I were to go on a date with quinoa, we would drink quinoa beer, eat quinoa salad with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">cranberries, walnuts, roasted carrots and avocados with a lemon poppy seed dressing, and quinoa </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chocolate chip cookies for dessert while watching the documentary “Mother Grain.” It sounds crazy, but </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">something about this ancient Andean pseudo-cereal resonates so strongly with me. Where at times, I have </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">felt a disconnect and void in the culture, food, and people of Bolivia, quinoa has more than compensated. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is such a powerful entity with far-reaching impacts, involving so many stakeholders on all levels from </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">grassroots (literally, farmers working the soil) to international with the involvement of the United </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Nations. It will be fascinating to see what the future has in store for quinoa or alternatively, what quinoa </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">has in store for the future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So back to the question of did I “succeed”? While this year is certainly not about conventional measures </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">of success, I still think I can safely say “yes.” I am coming away with so much knowledge and a deeper </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">understanding of the complex dynamic, my brain might just explode quinoa. Sure, it was slow going and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I had some of my lowest moments of the year in Bolivia (from almost getting robbed by a fake tourist and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">illegitimate police officer to a terrible experience with a Spanish tutor), but I think that made it feel that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">much more rewarding when I recovered after feeling so close to “failure.” Thus, it seems very fitting that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I will end my time in Bolivia by joining “La Ruta de La Quinua,” a three-day government-sponsored </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">initiative with more than 100 participants. A caravan of twenty jeeps will follow the “quinoa route” </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">starting from La Paz and ending in the far south in Uyuni, stopping to visit research centers, meet </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">producers, and see technological demonstrations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After South America, I am transitioning to Europe where I will spend six weeks studying the high-value </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">horticulture supply chain, high tech greenhouses, and urban agriculture in the Netherlands, followed by </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">one month in Iceland examining geo-thermal powered greenhouses and traditional sheep and horse </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rearing. Holland, with its reliable public transportation and below-sea-level cities, will certainly be a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">massive change from the chaotic, albeit beautiful Bolivian highlands. I am preparing to brace myself for </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">reverse culture shock as I transition continents. And in the meantime, thank you again for giving me this </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">opportunity to test my own limits, to “fail up” and realize what I am truly capable of.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sincerely,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lauren</span></div>
Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-69522591538255586342014-03-10T04:08:00.000-07:002015-04-05T20:46:12.990-07:00Reflections on Quinoa and Farmstay in Santuario de Quillacas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Views of the village from the church bell tower</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Church built in the 1800s by the Argentineans per the Spanish</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chicken in a tree, lolz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Transforming llama wool into fiber - an international development project</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like an army of quinoa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Quinoa fields for miles</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Black quinoa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fidencia and I harvested some potatoes</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-P86OSuDiqHapjNWMJFsQqpm_1PExXXkJvZLKSfSLlebKPGv7KcfRmTr6mILHhlbk343SDjEEb_eerFYL5gWXlDqEn7DVXrO1KZbHBiz_S4ZaUpNwIhnyPfUzqeG560ot6wkxfRMcZhF/s1600/DSC03171+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-P86OSuDiqHapjNWMJFsQqpm_1PExXXkJvZLKSfSLlebKPGv7KcfRmTr6mILHhlbk343SDjEEb_eerFYL5gWXlDqEn7DVXrO1KZbHBiz_S4ZaUpNwIhnyPfUzqeG560ot6wkxfRMcZhF/s1600/DSC03171+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Evo's tractor project</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Disco plough at work</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meeting fellow community members</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cholita scare crow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Winnowing by hand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My own room with quinoa adorning the walls :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA7JCqY_vH7XXJBguCkxDb83iVr0zqsEoQkSyV7zPDD97xVeyIMVfwpdNRwXNCV_XLfzi6gCrL4dYycrR90Y0cCmsHcHxxaW-bX1mD_4PgyL-PHunEIhci0paiQc97F7HcvLKz9UaxbKg5/s1600/DSC03199+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA7JCqY_vH7XXJBguCkxDb83iVr0zqsEoQkSyV7zPDD97xVeyIMVfwpdNRwXNCV_XLfzi6gCrL4dYycrR90Y0cCmsHcHxxaW-bX1mD_4PgyL-PHunEIhci0paiQc97F7HcvLKz9UaxbKg5/s1600/DSC03199+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunrise over the Altiplano</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Harvesting with a sickle (curved knife)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq2lzF-26VoZaxMdPISjVj3USglfJ_Dh0GGSq5BPWXcAzyibB8UkjDupTe6s3QdMh7xoaKD-jc8hPaacDkOwUbHILUKtR3Zhsv5DROKAw4Cax7aa2kRbUlDlurjylukXl-7h0ZO3UD3sXT/s1600/DSC03205+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq2lzF-26VoZaxMdPISjVj3USglfJ_Dh0GGSq5BPWXcAzyibB8UkjDupTe6s3QdMh7xoaKD-jc8hPaacDkOwUbHILUKtR3Zhsv5DROKAw4Cax7aa2kRbUlDlurjylukXl-7h0ZO3UD3sXT/s1600/DSC03205+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Purifying the quinoa by selecting out different varieties for next year</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdiX9l3tZat5hhubbF_y17CDcl3PynU8Lo-z21937GoPeItmGl3RU3CpR7zVQ8o9jc2pnGrUnwwANZuxOS27d5Jl-9Wr5ms9ah4D6fyFJI5yDYOx0jSOtDjcTGjKmDl_9iTPtkgb69Ty5j/s1600/DSC03212+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdiX9l3tZat5hhubbF_y17CDcl3PynU8Lo-z21937GoPeItmGl3RU3CpR7zVQ8o9jc2pnGrUnwwANZuxOS27d5Jl-9Wr5ms9ah4D6fyFJI5yDYOx0jSOtDjcTGjKmDl_9iTPtkgb69Ty5j/s1600/DSC03212+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunset</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Feeling very Altiplano Bolivian in my hostess' bucket hat and wool shawl</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My host Max</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Harvesting at sunrise</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After a hard morning's work</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Native corn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fidencia sent me home with more choclo (boiled corn) than I knew what to do with!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Life on the Altiplano
is difficult, if I haven’t mentioned it before (which I am sure I have,
ha). I think the first time I’ve gagged
on food the entire year was today while eating llama intestines (tripe), served
to me as a mid-morning snack alongside the ubiquitous chuno or freeze dried
potatoes and a hunk of chewy llama meat.
Willy’s sister assured me that if I didn’t like it, I didn’t have to eat
it. What was I going to do, spit it out
and hand it back? So I tried my hardest
to not think about what I was actually eating; though the chewy tube-like food
reminded me of calamari, albeit much stronger in flavor. It’s hard to imagine anything that makes
chunos seem deliciously appetizing, but this intestine did it. Bolivian food makes food in Tanzania seem
like a culinary treat, which I think says a lot. However, the one thing I will miss about the
gastronomic culture here is the “almuerzos.”
These are fixed lunches, at least 3 courses but sometimes 4 or 5 for the
miniscule price of only $2-4. Yesterday
in Oruro, for instance, I enjoyed a five course lunch for 22 Bs or just over
$3, which included a delicious soup, a small salad, a piece of bread with aji
(spicy salsa-like tomato sauce), a main dish of chicken, pasta, potatoes,
onions, and chuno in a sauce (“picante de pollo”), and a dessert of whipped
custard. Almuerzos make you feel fat and
full, especially if you finish everything, but they sure are good deals! It also makes you understand why many
Bolivians don’t eat dinner in the evenings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Back to quinoa for a
second, I really get the feeling that farmers would prefer to sell to an
association or to a private business with technical support and assured
markets. I don’t think they like selling
to middlemen per se, except for the advantages such as cash in hand and the
convenience of someone knocking on your door with free transportation. Some farmers, in contrast, have indicated how
they do believe that middlemen are just there to make money. However, there also seems to be a large
amount of suspicion or doubts in establishing a new relationship with a private
business. Twice now, when I asked if the
farmer was excited about working with Jacha Inti/Andean Naturals, in two
different communities more than 8 hours apart, they responded with almost
identical answers. They seem indifferent
and feel like they have been screwed over in the past. Thus, because they don’t know how the relationship
with Jacha Inti is going to be in terms of prices, payment, and benefits, they
aren’t overly excited at the beginning.
I do hope, however, that if the farmers do choose to engage with them,
that they realize the benefits that the company can bring (at least from what
I’ve seen).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I know that for a
while, like maybe two weeks, I was convinced that I wasn’t going to achieve
what I wanted to in Bolivia. That I
would never make it to the southern Altiplano to regions where royal quinoa is
grown for export. I was flailing around
without contacts and was considering settling for working with PROINPA in
Pacajes, a marginal expansion area for quinoa where farmers are not exporting
but merely using for household consumption and some local sales. I was disheartened by the words of some
colleagues who suggested that perhaps my work was redundant, overly ambitious,
and unfeasible given my lofty goals and relatively short time period in
Bolivia. Discouraged, I told myself,
“for once in your life, don’t Lauren Howe the hell out of this” – i.e. take
what you can get, do what you can with the resources at your disposal, and
don’t kill yourself. Well that mentality
was short-lived in retrospect, since now I am trying my hardest to accomplish
everything I possibly can in the next nine days. Things were certainly slow going here. People don’t answer emails or phone calls;
they say they will do something (e.g. send a report, call you back in twenty
minutes) and they never do; it’s been impossible to track down the right
people; and my Spanish has made everything much less efficient. It took me more than a month to really get on
my feet and get my bearings (especially working up the courage just to run
around the city of La Paz knocking on doors with my poor Spanish). But the second half of my time here has been
so incredibly fruitful that it definitely makes up for the stagnation and
frustration at the beginning. I also
feel that so much has changed in the Bolivian quinoa industry, especially as a
result of 2013 and United Nation’s International Year of the Quinoa, so writing
off my research as “repetitive” also didn’t make sense. Some of the academic papers and studies I’ve
read from 2007, 2010, even 2012 might be slightly outmoded at this point, which
fueled my inner fire even more. I can’t
believe that I considered skipping Bolivia in favor of Peru because I thought
it would be too difficult. Here I am, I
feel like I am part of something big, really big. In the wake of the International Year of the
Quinoa, I am getting both a literal and figurative taste of what’s happening in
the wake of 2013 and in the midst of the global quinoa craze. I may have said it before, but quinoa is a
manifestation of EVERYTHING I’ve been exploring over the past 9 months, namely the
tension between tradition and innovation.
There is a supposed myth of quinoa that explains why royal quinoa exists
in the Southern Altiplano but nowhere else: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“The legend of Mama Thunupa is one of the
foundational tales of differentiation of Lipeña quinoa. The legend tells of a time when a terrible
drought affected the Southern Altiplano,
causing famine and widespread disease. The people of the area prayed to their
god, Mama Thunupa, to send rains and food; Mama Thunupa sent another god, Nusta
Juira, to end the suffering.5 Nusta Juira walked through all of the Southern
Altiplano, saying that she was sent by Mama Thunupa to end the drought and the
famine, but was received differently throughout the area. In the north, people
doubted her provenance and she was received coldly; farther south, people
received her warmly but still with doubt. In the far south, in Los Lipez, she
was received as a god and treated as such. People followed her and praised her.
At the end of her journey, she said, “For all the places I’ve walked, a plant
very resistant to cold and frosts will have a very long height and its fruit
will have an extraordinary ability to combat hunger, cure sicknesses, and will
be resistant to droughts. You are all a strong and intelligent people.” She
then ascended to be with Mama Thunupa again.The plant that she left was quinua
real; where she had been coldly received, she left a short plant that would be
sufficient to feed the people, but in Los Lipez, where she was received warmly
by believers, she left the largest and most nutritious grain to honor them.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-From “Nusta Juira’s Gift of Quinoa: Peasants,Trademarks, and
Intermediaries in the Transformation of a Bolivian Commodity Economy” by Andrew
Ofstehage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as published in the <u>Anthropology
of Work Review</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After going on a
week-long quinoa tour with the largest importer of organic quinoa in the U.S.,
two of their major American clients, and one of the only two quinoa farmers in
all of Australia, I couldn’t think of a more exciting and dynamic time or place
to be studying the changes in quinoa production. Like Paola Mejia from CABOLQUI said, these
next few months are going to be a game changer for Bolivia, though whether
positively or negatively has yet to be determined. But I can feel it. It’s like the buzz around quinoa and this
so-called tipping point is tangible.
From my discussions with farmers to NGOs to private businesses to
government officials, I can really tell that the dynamism is alive and well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More notes from
Quillacas from my conversations with Willy and Fidencia:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">· "Exporting
companies and middlemen are robbing us" -my farmer hosts</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->Quinoa
will be about 1,250 Bs/quintal in May/June during the new harvest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->700-800
Bs/quintal in October/November/December<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->$12.50
Bs/lb or $7/lb<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->$3,000/quintal
in the U.S. – it’s a stable price but our price rises and falls – "farmers are
only getting 30% of the retail price" - this is true, but extremely high as compared to most products (they are still getting more than 80% of the export price too)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->Middlemen
are impersonating producers and using fake names to take advantage of
government and NGO resources, so now some are getting testing to see if they
are actually producers (questions such as: how many HA do you have, how long is
the fallow period, when is the time of sowing etc.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->Middlemen
are going to other countries and using association names<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->PROQUIOR
is the chain of oruro department and the president is not even a producer now;
he’s a middleman and for this reason, some produces reqfuse to participate,
while others don’t care<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->Middlemen
are taking resources away from the farmers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->With
labor, it used to be 100 Bs/day ($14.50) per worker per day (8 AM – 6 PM with
meals) – now it’s 120-150 Bs/day ($17-$22) and in a few weeks it will become a
bidding system<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·
<!--[endif]-->Pachamama
law with the government in 2012 – but they don’t have a list of data because
the law gives money out to farmers but middlemen are posing as farmers; the law
includes a payment system that is supposed to ensure farmers against crop
failure, pests, climate disasters etc. (an assured payment system against
natural disasters)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My perspectives on a lot of things have changed this year. For instance, time doesn’t seem to matter as much. I think about a thirty hour train ride in India or ten hours on a bus in Tanzania or Bolivia. These are distances and hours that would seem ridiculous at home, where everything is much more convenient. But you deal with it because you have to. For half a year, bucket showers and squat toilets were nothing. We are an incredibly adaptable and resilient race, I’ve decided. I remember writing the letter to myself after Adirondack Adventure, the wilderness pre-orientation program for my college, self-explaining how it was one of the most challenging experiences of my life. Looking back on it, at the time, it was. My family and friends doubted that I could go into the “wilderness” for several days, hike ten miles a day, and canoe through Adirondack lakes. But I survived and I loved it. Two years ago, studying abroad for a semester in Australia also seemed challenging and very much out of my comfort zone. I was nervous to be away from home for four months straight, on a continent about as far away from New England as you can get. But I loved it. Now here I am, traveling around Bolivia and everything that has come before this seems so incredibly effortless. I really feel like I can take on the world now, with a new sense of confidence and self-assuredness. </span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Santuario de Quillacas, Bolivia-19.2331 -66.941699999999969-19.2331 -66.941699999999969 -19.2331 -66.941699999999969tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-2541915379043842392014-02-18T03:13:00.000-08:002014-04-11T04:07:00.637-07:00Andean Naturals/Jacha Inti Producers’ Tour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today was
incredible! I’ve only been traveling
with Andean Naturals/Jacha Inti for less than two days, but I already feel like
I’ve learned more about the commercialization and export side of royal quinoa
than I have during these entire seven weeks in Bolivia so far. It’s just so wonderfully generous of Sergio
and Fabricio to let me tag along on their producers’ tour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Andean Naturals is a leading US importer of
quinoa and a 2013 B-Corp Best for the World company.”</i> And Jacha Inti Industrial S.A. is their Bolivian
branch/on the ground partner. Currently,
our group is about nine people: Sergio, Fabricio, another shareholder in the
company who is a plant manager and developer of their processing technology, three
agricultural technicians/agronomists, an Australia quinoa farmer and
businessman, two American importers/clients, and myself. Last night, we received a really informative
and well-done presentation by Ashley, the farmer from Australia, which outline
his own farm activities. He owns
thousands of hectares near Perth in Western Australia, mainly under oats but
also a sizeable amount of quinoa. He is
founder of the company “Australian Quinoa” and practices high-tech, no till
precision agriculture using the most modern technology (e.g. tractors driven by
satellites). He received seed from America
and has been experimenting with growing and developing his own variety of
quinoa for more than five years now.
Quinoa presents a solid opportunity for Australia as well since it is a
robust crop and the country is experiencing increased drought and irregularities
of precipitation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With the founding brothers Fabricio and Sergio</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After a nice breakfast
at the hotel, we set out early from Oruro a few hours south to Challapata. I’ve been planning on coming to Challapata
for more than a year, as it was on my original itinerary for Bolivia when I was
putting together my Watson Fellowship application for its importance to the
international quinoa industry.
Challapata has been referred to as the quinoa “hub” or “heart” of the
quinoa industry in Bolivia. A small city
on the road from Oruro to Uyuni, Challapata has a weekly Saturday market where
quinoa prices have historically been set by farmers, traders/middlemen, and
other buyers. We are spending the night
here before setting off to Potosi and Uyuni in the morning. But today, we were able to meet with three
different producers’ associations outside Oruro/Challapata. Seeing quinua real (“royal quinoa” in
English) was so exciting for me since I have mainly been working with the NGO
PROINPA on quinua dulce (sweet quinoa) in marginal expansion areas outside La
Paz and also around Lake Titicaca. These
sweet quinoa varieties are mainly for home consumption and farmers are just
beginning to explore domestic markets.
Coming here, however, is like a dream come true, since I’ve been wanting
to get involved and learn more about the export sector for a very long time,
and up until now, I felt that it just wasn’t happening. But what a dream it’s been so far! Royal quinoa in the farmer fields from today
was just absolutely breathtaking. It
seems that lots of rain this year, so far, has really benefitted the plants,
which are tall, healthy, and robust with huge panicles (flower heads) showing
promise for lots of grain and green leaves (lots of chlorophyll, really
healthy). In fact, one farmer we met
today is able to get yields of 5x the national average (the average is about
500 kilograms per HA and he was achieving 2,500 kg/HA) – just incredible! These communities are very hard working and
dedicated; they are diligent about weeding, spraying organic biopesticides several
times, preparing llama and sheep dung as fertilizer, and even creating their
own mixture/foliar spray as biopesticide and growth stimulant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Truck full of farmers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Celebrating the arrival of Andean Naturals</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Soil fertility management with llama dung</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Quinoa in love</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Giving an offering to Pachamama</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lunch: quinoa, llama, and potatoes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some of the best looking quinoa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cholitas and baby lambs!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My serious note-taking/listening face</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Photo courtesy of Sergio</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jacha Inti agronomists :) (Sergio's photo)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8d4G5I1APUKVW5Teb2jah2Cwc_ZTNfjgk6vfqOottY_s3pfOMGa7wz1i55A8aEZpG48TJ2tW12z_wxyF7wOo4fe33wX7ank_HmKdDpf-Su2sZwFKS4ZLwRj4zu5ACmzTweE_hN_iAMDp0/s1600/IMG_5761+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8d4G5I1APUKVW5Teb2jah2Cwc_ZTNfjgk6vfqOottY_s3pfOMGa7wz1i55A8aEZpG48TJ2tW12z_wxyF7wOo4fe33wX7ank_HmKdDpf-Su2sZwFKS4ZLwRj4zu5ACmzTweE_hN_iAMDp0/s1600/IMG_5761+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The group :D</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLych1iSIYFaogcfxDn3BJEwXhMbgGLJWTJSm3_zV9Ow1LVpeVH6386Ot5Mi0WQ4JApulLKN-Mik5RyujTlKQaKxNa5SUmf3EAPSXUX1cIVjhCUtj2XkQZOOx0Qpy97Jg1IgInMEAPcLL4/s1600/IMG_5773+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLych1iSIYFaogcfxDn3BJEwXhMbgGLJWTJSm3_zV9Ow1LVpeVH6386Ot5Mi0WQ4JApulLKN-Mik5RyujTlKQaKxNa5SUmf3EAPSXUX1cIVjhCUtj2XkQZOOx0Qpy97Jg1IgInMEAPcLL4/s1600/IMG_5773+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Confetti from the farmers :) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Photo courtesy of Sergio</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Greetings (*awkward claw hand hug*)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Group photo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>February 21, 2014</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think my brain is
about to explode, literally. It is so
full of useful information that I am having serious trouble synthesizing
everything I’ve learned over the last five days. I also laugh as I look back on a word
document I made almost a year ago, titled “Watson Logistical Plan” – I will
dedicate an entire post to this in the future, but for now, I will reflect on
the fact that I thought I was going to stay in Oruro and Challapata for three
weeks. Jokes. Now that I am finally here in Challapata, I
see that it is not the “quinoa promised land” I had imagined. In fact, it is a tiny and sketchy town where
quinoa happens once a week at the market where prices are set. In fact, maybe “shady” is a better word to
describe Challapata. We had to park our
two SUVs in a garage somewhere because we thought they might get stolen in the
night because Challapata is also the center for a lot of illicit activity (e.g.
smuggling of toys, cars, and even illegal quinoa export to Peru). Someone told me that Challapata is probably
the second sketchiest town in Bolivia, only after another town in the Yungas,
which serves as the center of coca and drug trade. Cool.
Anyways, I am spending a second night here because I’ve decided to stay
to try to see the Saturday market tomorrow.
Fortunately, another agronomist from Jacha Inti is also going to stay
with me and we are both going to return to Oruro tomorrow (fingers crossed) and
me to La Paz.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Getting breakfast off the street in Challapata: api and postre (purple maize sweet drink and fried pastry with powdered sugar)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While I’m thinking
about it, I also want to compose a list of why I believe quinoa is everything I
have been looking for this year. I know
I said the same thing about organic agriculture in Bhutan, but this ancient
Andean pseudo-grain may fit the bill even more.
Keeping in mind the extensive list of key concepts I composed after the
World Agricultural Forum 2013 Congress in Hyderabad, India, it is remarkable
how much quinoa addresses each of the points.
A quick reflective brainstorm:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Quinoa is
highly nutritious with all of the essential amino acids and high in protein (a
great meat substitute for vegetarians), gluten-free (perfect for increased
cases of Celiac disease and food allergies), high in fiber, low in cholesterol
(as we struggle with heart disease), and rich in vitamins and minerals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Quinoa has
the potential to alleviate food insecurity on a large-scale because it is so
nutritious and filling compared to other staples such as pasta and rice. However, we need to be aware that local food
security and sovereignty should be prioritized; yet when the price of quinoa is
4-5x higher than rice in local markets due to international demand and exports,
this becomes problematic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Yet we
cannot ignore the fact that Bolivian city dwellers do not have a culture of
eating quinoa to begin with because of the negative connotations from the
Spanish conquest (i.e. quinoa is the poor man’s food or the stuff of Indians). This may change in the future, however, as
the government promotes domestic consumption through school breakfast and
nursing mother programs, as well as the efforts of some private businesses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->To eat or
not to eat? We have to acknowledge that
the quinoa boom in the West has led to reverse migration from the cities back
to the countryside as farmers return to their lands to farm this lucrative crop,
as well as assisted in lifting thousands of farming families out of poverty
with its high prices, affording them a higher quality of life. I saw this first hand, as farmers can now
afford really nice cars to drive back and forth from cities to tend to their
plots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Quinoa
hasn’t yet become a commodity like wheat, rice, soy etc. but may be headed in
that direction as more and more countries join the production side. Already, prices are determined by
international demand and fluctuate often.
Thus, Bolivia will maintain its price premium and stay competitive only
if it can maintain its organic status, possibly fair trade, and also brand
“Royal Quinoa” to promote a story of origin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->As a
robust crop, quinoa is going to be an extremely important crop for adapting to
climate change since it thrives in harsh environments (e.g. dry sandy soils). I have also seen the importance of hybridizing
seed through traditional breeding methods to create short cycle varieties to
adapt to climate change and later rains.
However, another complication related to climate change is that quinoa
requires extremely intensive post-harvest processing to clean the grain, remove
the saponin, etc. and this has historically been very resource intensive. If companies and products cannot figure out a
more efficient way to clean the grain with less water usage, as well as proper
disposal of waste water, consumers may backlash and boycott quinoa because of
the environmentally unfriendly post-harvest processing in the context of
drought and global water scarcity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Quinoa is
a hugely environmental issue. Farmers
need to maintain the soil fertility through the application of organic manure
and natural fertilizers, as well as rotations with legumes, while being
cognizant of minimizing tilling and using cover crops to minimize erosion on
this fragile soil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>My brainstorm from WAF 2013 (in italics):<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>We must work collectively to close the gap in
productivity between potential and actual yield and close gap between farm and
non-farm incomes. To achieve these
objectives, small farmers need access to finance/credit, technologies,
knowledge, and the market.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is certainly true for quinoa in Bolivia, as it</span> raises the question of intensive versus extensive agriculture, as up to
now, many farmers have just been expanding their land without paying adequate
attention to improving yields on existing parcels (i.e. intensifying their
farming). This issue will become more
relevant as expansion continues to encroach on traditional llama grazing areas
and into marginal soils.<span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
terms of access to finance and credit, it is also extremely important for
quinoa farmers as they need to be able to purchase inputs and implements. For this reason, there are many local
development banks offering micro-loans to farmers and even efforts of private
businesses such as Andean Naturals/Jacha Inti to develop credit schemes for
farmers and their associations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Access to markets for quinoa producers is
EVERYTHING. Most of the individuals in
the Southern Altiplano cannot grow anything else on their marginal soils and
historically, llama raising and other animal husbandry have propped up their
livelihoods. Finally, they have a crop
that fetches high prices on the world market, but they will only benefit if
they have access to markets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>Contract
farming can help provided assured markets but only if small farmers interests
are preserved and not exploited</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">According
to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), <i>“Contract farming can be defined as
agricultural production carried out according to an agreement between a buyer
and farmers, which establishes conditions for the production and marketing of a
farm product or products. Typically, the farmer agrees to provide agreed
quantities of a specific agricultural product. These should meet the quality
standards of the purchaser and be supplied at the time determined by the
purchaser. In turn, the buyer commits to purchase the product and, in some
cases, to support production through, for example, the supply of farm inputs,
land preparation and the provision of technical advice.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Who
benefits from contract farming? The FAO
says, <i>“Both partners engaged in contract
farming can benefit. Farmers have a guaranteed market outlet, reduce their
uncertainty regarding prices and often are supplied with loans in kind (payment
through goods and services rather than money), through the provision of farming
inputs such as seeds and fertilizers. Purchasing firms benefit from having a
guaranteed supply of agricultural products that meet their specifications
regarding quality, quantity and timing of delivery.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is
contracting farming recommended for all type of agriculture products? <i>“In
principle, there is no restriction to the types of agriculture products that
can be the object of a contract. There are numerous examples of successful
contract farming arrangements for most types of crops and livestock. Examples
also exist for forestry, aquaculture and fibre products, as well as for flowers
and tobacco, to name a few. While the applicability is fairly general, there is
evidence that the most successful schemes are associated with agricultural
products that are high-valued or produced for processing and /or exports.
Products for which there is high local demand may be more susceptible to side
selling and thus may be less suitable for contract farming.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
seems to me that contract farming is happening in quinoa in a less formalized
way. For instance, some companies like Jacha
Inti are committing to purchasing 100% of farmers’ organic quinoa but I don’t
believe they have any kind of written contract.
However, the model of contract farming is definitely present and helps
address the concerns of stable supply and prices and farmers may receive
technical assistance and financing options.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Labor shortages present a major challenge, which can
only be partially addressed by appropriate mechanization<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is certainly the case with quinoa, as the price of labor has skyrocketed in
recent years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Moreover, smaller land holdings create bigger
challenges and fewer and larger farmers are easier to mechanize with economies
of scale<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Regardless of the source, handouts are not sustainable
– just a short-term fix; knowledge transfer and sustained practice exchange are
preferable (education is key, both formal and informal). This training could be implemented through
innovative communication that is accessible to farmers.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is certainly true and I saw this on the producers’ tour. One could see the difference between farmers
who were dedicated and not dependent on hands outs from NGOs or the government
compared to those who were practically just asking for gifts. A culture of dependence in agriculture never
seems to be a positive thing, and fortunately, there are companies such as Jacha
Inti and NGOs like PROINPA that are promoting capacity building, education, and
empowerment instead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Thus, the potential for the ICT sector (namely
web-based, mobile, and television technology) to assist with agriculture and
knowledge transfer – connecting farmers with each other, consumers, government,
universities etc. – should have an emphasis on local language exchange, database
creation, precision agriculture to make application of inputs more efficient,
weather prediction, marketing support etc. (though ICT can only facilitate and
not solve)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
quinoa industry has already seen the far-reaching effects of ICT technology just
in the presence of cell phones. Now
farmers don’t have to travel all the way to Challapata to know the prices. Once one farmer gets an offer, the price
spreads like wildfire through the use of mobile phone technology. NGOs like PROINPA and FAUTAPO are also
working on developing weather stations to disseminate information about climate
to farmers via cell phones.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Public private partnerships are crucial (e.g. producer
companies, private extension officers, venture capitalists and other private
companies investing in infrastructure), but the private sector needs to ensure
fair share to farmer<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After
visiting around 10 producer associations around Oruro, Challapata, and Uyuni,
as well as seeing the activities of Andean Naturals and Jacha Inti, it is clear
that partnerships are key, especially those that involve private business but
are also concerned with farmer welfare.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Risk management (e.g. insurance support) and price
management should be prioritized<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Quinoa
is risky business, that’s for sure, as the prices are constantly fluctuating,
which is one of the main concerns of the farmers who would like to see a
stabilization of prices (preferably higher, obviously).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Technology is definitely available but requires
capacity building, and it should first and foremost be appropriate for small
farmers<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Quinoa farmers require increased appropriate
technology to improve their productivity (e.g. mechanized seeders, harvesters,
threshers, washers etc.) and reduce some of the drudgery associated with
manually cultivating large parcels, as well as address the issue of increased
labor costs. With the idea of
appropriate technology in mind, the harvesters etc. need to be small enough to
adapt to the farmers’ plots and also not interfere with local customs. For example, mechanizing but keeping separate
the harvesting and threshing processes respects farmers’ traditions while
increasing efficiency. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>We cannot overlook the role of cooperatives and
producer companies in uplifting marginal farmers and providing them with
collective bargaining power<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Quinoa
is an incredible example of the success of cooperatives and producer
associations. There are more in the
country than I can keep track of and they really have revolutionized the
industry, allowing farmers to come together to sell their products, obtain
credit, inputs, implements etc.
Together, producers’ associations have been able to regenerate rights
and political power as farmers are the owners.
They also can function as private businesses purchasing members’ quinoa
and selling directly to international buyers, which can eliminate
intermediaries.
Associations/cooperatives have allowed farmers to gain collective knowledge
of international markets, as well as promote sustainable production on a broad scale
through internal control systems and technical support.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Policy alone is not the solution as it just provides a
favorable environment for change<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In fact, it seems like policy related to sustainable
agriculture and quinoa in particular has been rather stagnant. For example, a 2011 paper I read titled, </span>“The Challenges of Developing a Sustainable
AgroIndustry in Bolivia: the Quinoa Market” by native Bolivian and Duke
University Master’s student, Katherine Macarena Antonio, offered several policy
alternatives including:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--> Food Safety and Nutrition Policies would
promote quinoa as a nutritious food through educational initiatives, subsidies
to impoverished communities through school breakfast and pregnant mother
programs, and integration into regional development and safety policies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Environmental/Organic
Agriculture Policies would improve yields on existing land rather than
expansion by promoting organic fertilizer application (requiring adequate R+D),
mandating field rotation for nutrient recovery, investing in improved land
preparation and management (e.g. providing extension services and training in
field rotation), and supporting national branding for value addition and
quality maintenance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 2.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--> Trade Policies to improve the business
environment would involve facilitating exporting, reducing transaction costs,
bureaucracy and corruption, and renegotiating existing agreements with primary
buyers. E.g. “smart trade policies with
the US and EU” as well as organic/high quality certification, patents, and
certificate of origin to reduce contraband and promote Bolivian exports (rather
than increasing trade barriers), branding royal quinoa as unique to Bolivia as
value addition (rather than treating it like any other commodity crop), and
improved infrastructure to reduce transaction costs and facilitate easier flow
across borders<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 2.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level4 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Ideally,
the ultimate policy plan would integrate all three while prioritizing the
environmental components. In my
interview with Katherine, she said, <i>“After
2011, the President went to the United Nations and said let’s promote quinoa all
over the world. But as for policy
suggestions like a specific tax or quota to promote domestic consumption, no,
nothing has been done.”</i><i><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>We should concentrate on multi-use crops for food,
fodder, and fuel, which addresses the food versus fuel debate, the loss of
fodder from mechanized harvesting, and the fact that breeding is overly focused
on grain so crop residues are suffering.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is an interesting question. Up until
now, I have no knowledge of farmers using crop residues as fuel, but I know
they can be given to animals as fodder, it just isn’t part of the local
culture. I learned that some farmers
burn the stalks and use the ashes when they chew coca (it helps catalyze the
leaf apparently) and that some middlemen will buy the stalks and all of the
quinoa byproducts. However, it seems
that if farmers can be sensitized to use the residues as fodder or even consume
the leaves at home (which are more nutritious than the grain), then quinoa
really could become a multi-use crop not just coveted for its golden grain.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>We need data and science (not ideology) driven policy
frameworks, especially through utilizing existing knowledge, technology and
science – we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but this info needs to be
practically available to farmers<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yep,
also true for quinoa!<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Modern methods such as genomics, markered selection,
tissue culture, GMOs, precision agriculture (more efficient use of natural
resources), conservation agriculture (low carbon and sequestration) etc. have
the ability to help<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">GMOs
have yet to enter the world of quinoa, but who knows, in a few years, it might
very well be the reality. Interestingly
enough, Bolivia is very protective over their germplasm and the only way to get
seed out of the country is illegally.
However, conventional breeding practices have proved important for
developing thousands of varieties that are tolerant to different environmental
conditions such as drought or salinity.
Moreover, precision agriculture and no-till farming may also be the
future of quinoa production, as precious soils and natural resources in this
harsh environment require conservation and forethought. Both of these advanced practices are already
being seen in countries like Australia with quinoa.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>We must consider “sense of place” and place-based
solutions (e.g. crop selection based on suitable crops; irrigated versus
dryland farming and cereals, millets etc.)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is definitely true with quinoa on Bolivia’s Altiplano. Right now, it is impossible to take a massive
combined harvester from the lowlands used for soy or wheat and stick it in a
quinoa field. First of all, the size is
inappropriate and secondly, the mixed seeds/lack of homogeneity in the fields
make mechanized harvesting difficult.
Some plants are mature while others are still green, so it leads to huge
losses in product. This is where
appropriate technology (e.g. a separate mechanized, small harvester and
portable thresher) come in, which are place-based.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>There is a possibility for an innovative extension
service with farmer facilitators (could be option for entrepreneurship or
private sector where government has failed)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
seems to me that this would be super, especially because the Bolivian
government lacks an extension service all together. Instead NGOs and private businesses are
offering technical support to farmers, yet if farmers could enter the extension
service industry, they could potentially help themselves.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Sustainable agriculture can be a form of value
addition in and of itself <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">YES! Farmers are producing certified organic and
in some cases, fair trade, are can achieve a much higher price premium, just
from farming sustainably. And if the
price difference between organic and conventional is not huge now, the margin
will only increase in the future as the global market becomes flooded with
conventional quinoa from other countries.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>Farmers should partake in the first levels of
post-harvest processing and value addition at the farm or village level. If farmers can do step one of value
addition/processing, this can lead to a 10-50x livelihood improvement (could be
as simple as grading, sorting, or processing, but this requires capacity
building). Moreover, currently, policy
has an over-emphasis on production, whereas there needs to be an equal focus on
processing and value addition at farm/small level (i.e. the farmer can increase
share if he adds value, since the person adding the value makes the money)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Quinoa
farmers also want to take some value addition into their own hands. I met producers who are interesting in making
soups, flour, baking bread and cakes etc. to sell in the local market, as well
as those who want to have their own processing plant entirely. Private companies such as Jacha Inti
definitely emphasize that farmers sell them a high quality grain that is well
cleaned, which improves the entire process thereafter, but in fact are
discouraging farmers from taking on an entire processing plant because of lack
of knowledge and support. Thus, it may
be better in a comparative advantage sense for farmers to focus on improving
field-level production activities and let export companies specialize in
post-harvest processing.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>There is a strong need to eliminate middle men, a
system that victimizes farmers and removes capital and power from their hands;
farmers should be given a choice and only then will they be able to increase
their profits<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Don’t
even get me started on the issue of middlemen in the quinoa industry. It is a whole new ball game or can of worms,
if you will, filled with nuances, complexity, and contraband. There is even one scholar who argues that middlemen
are ultimately beneficial for the industry since they give farmers a choice of
who they sell to and also minimize prices for consumers. Interestingly enough, however, middlemen are
like private businesses in and of themselves, incentivizing farmers through
perks such as free transportation, immediate cash payment and even cash
advancements, and the fact that they will purchase everything (e.g. small
grain, crop residues). Often operating
with illegal drug money, middle men have many advantages over private business
and are unfortunately, disincentivizing organic production because they won’t
offer a premium for organic grain.
Hopefully this will change in the future, however, as farmers realize
that the organic premium is going to increase and as supply also increases, it
will be more beneficial for them to partner with a private company than be at
the whim of intermediaries. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>In terms of subsidies, we must remember “politics
without principle” is one of Gandhi’s sins – subsidies can help and also their
removal can eliminate uneconomical practices<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Strangely,
agricultural subsidies are not really extant in Bolivia. Farmers are not receiving government support
in this area and if anything, perhaps in the future, quinoa could be subsidized
for urban consumption.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i>In sum, the main issues involved in the topic of
promoting sustainability and enhancing agriculture for smallholder farmers
include: capacity building, mechanization, research and development, changing
undergraduate curriculum, entrepreneurship, science-based and data-driven
policy, gender equity, climate change, cooperatives, post-harvest processing
and cold chain development, ICT, biotechnology and bio-based farming, industry,
labor shortages and unemployment, political impartiality, credit and finance,
insurance, risk management, subsidies, trade collaboration/exchange, and
alliances. The challenges of the world
food and farming system require a holistic approach. There is no silver bullet magic solution.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Although
I wrote this list following a conference in India, almost every single one of
these aspects is also relevant to quinoa farmers in the Bolivian
Altiplano. In addition, there is also no
silver bullet magic solution to making quinoa sustainable environmentally,
economically, and socially in the future, but rather, the industry demands
cross-collaboration of stakeholders and commitment to strategic planning for
the long-term.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Driving through the Altiplano</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7zGYrxNK7XqQiByGDws0P_Ef9HdFA2gBBW3jOpDydioA1aXLyscy0iU8iApa9IGgJvS6jJIGJxk58OUFwv-8hL4GNKOroV0QgQc4h_vI6LmX7WS7lb_UZ2Q5t1Zenk7hjTSazqQ02Agzu/s1600/DSC02128+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7zGYrxNK7XqQiByGDws0P_Ef9HdFA2gBBW3jOpDydioA1aXLyscy0iU8iApa9IGgJvS6jJIGJxk58OUFwv-8hL4GNKOroV0QgQc4h_vI6LmX7WS7lb_UZ2Q5t1Zenk7hjTSazqQ02Agzu/s1600/DSC02128+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Potosi</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">La casa de moneda (national mint and museum in Potosi)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cerro Rico Pachamama painting: a famous representation of the silver-mined mountain in Potosi that combines indigenous beliefs with the Virgin Mary. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mummified children in the museum</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Playing with pigeons in Potosi</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyEz5lMxlZV5aW98-7x2gWTVq9cr_lR2KHKdKH9LigPf6lTY84bhJ5cxUzPeBOHk2JdeVuPGdlWF89Op6DHQYAK_e24fq4EuXYX9IALyPG_RcUhOIvOtQW2sI2c1pdWZXBR46P5gQP3P5/s1600/DSC02161+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyEz5lMxlZV5aW98-7x2gWTVq9cr_lR2KHKdKH9LigPf6lTY84bhJ5cxUzPeBOHk2JdeVuPGdlWF89Op6DHQYAK_e24fq4EuXYX9IALyPG_RcUhOIvOtQW2sI2c1pdWZXBR46P5gQP3P5/s1600/DSC02161+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sun dial</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4QCuPSvpNdn5xuXrCvPf25x25hWF1LHEbLQDlbU-cZOpM0qFbHb37RbmnZvNTQ5vbbPhtud_ckTxEYLBgTR2kYJ7X6LXQX2tS-Oy-RVbyZG7EW9JBRdD9ExFc6Z4QI1fUI2WmmDpe6Vyb/s1600/DSC02168+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4QCuPSvpNdn5xuXrCvPf25x25hWF1LHEbLQDlbU-cZOpM0qFbHb37RbmnZvNTQ5vbbPhtud_ckTxEYLBgTR2kYJ7X6LXQX2tS-Oy-RVbyZG7EW9JBRdD9ExFc6Z4QI1fUI2WmmDpe6Vyb/s1600/DSC02168+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lol, I thought "Speaking English guides" was funny</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgyHqUhZUknskcEo5JVMGrn4UfjzufoHor7oZzZo9sDeyf-3LWIcFoEbj3QktkQ4oWKyUkCvdFR11hRJbzjL0w4wOHcmJA2jzxYBzYZOXTAOxlLVuQZODxXp1tRx9DySRnGJ-8sDCSRO-O/s1600/DSC02170+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgyHqUhZUknskcEo5JVMGrn4UfjzufoHor7oZzZo9sDeyf-3LWIcFoEbj3QktkQ4oWKyUkCvdFR11hRJbzjL0w4wOHcmJA2jzxYBzYZOXTAOxlLVuQZODxXp1tRx9DySRnGJ-8sDCSRO-O/s1600/DSC02170+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The mountain where they extracted all of the minerals in Potosi</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwfVjOCAIufut-E3_Bln4-5YkjwKZxabqwmrnY64U3fed2K7nTZNmkRGBcxBxNk29Z0tRU1CcV3YBTwRoQxrkze4JaUUNhFG5sCYEkDhogm4rgFmV8KUK94z4LPZj2iJVRcSVBQg6trA4r/s1600/DSC02171+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwfVjOCAIufut-E3_Bln4-5YkjwKZxabqwmrnY64U3fed2K7nTZNmkRGBcxBxNk29Z0tRU1CcV3YBTwRoQxrkze4JaUUNhFG5sCYEkDhogm4rgFmV8KUK94z4LPZj2iJVRcSVBQg6trA4r/s1600/DSC02171+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Casual llama crossing</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZSbCtuukW3FaAIoUMRhmQjM55GeHj6YmMo9Xm-bZX_oWl2ulLTQ9zkdrlQABPfTMG6oO5MMjSu0YofkBUvEwIEKJAqHbH5qxSMhSF-8ml9z3IovoQ-mCUPx5INcpbosxmJTdZsCkuhlA/s1600/DSC02188+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZSbCtuukW3FaAIoUMRhmQjM55GeHj6YmMo9Xm-bZX_oWl2ulLTQ9zkdrlQABPfTMG6oO5MMjSu0YofkBUvEwIEKJAqHbH5qxSMhSF-8ml9z3IovoQ-mCUPx5INcpbosxmJTdZsCkuhlA/s1600/DSC02188+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A farmer showing the quinoa packages he saw when he traveled to the U.S.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUNcjr-c_Ysf0gf-KW3h9Z5dyGZUoQqhMm58a6km7dJGhBgwSODG7jTntyY6tPgOXeTDW1mrBMoPdB6S7s6nnGWwpZwtQHJJmIzJXiG4P2Mn1Hwn5fKsfhe7GGWRrjc9YsY18XIkWp8Bq/s1600/DSC02192+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUNcjr-c_Ysf0gf-KW3h9Z5dyGZUoQqhMm58a6km7dJGhBgwSODG7jTntyY6tPgOXeTDW1mrBMoPdB6S7s6nnGWwpZwtQHJJmIzJXiG4P2Mn1Hwn5fKsfhe7GGWRrjc9YsY18XIkWp8Bq/s1600/DSC02192+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some examples of quinoa technology in Chacala outside Uyni</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqniD9k1PHtJHp2-7UaWxcfA0bFGm7SXq3u66X9j_vw_VoQJpf7qatjvb2RiemrDb4E_hHxZZYvdRdp0UMXpwIPUN4RUntGtgo4KCtzwGcG1m9pJGMqD0GknK_UPlKTHRPIdE0m9TUJzyb/s1600/DSC02194+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqniD9k1PHtJHp2-7UaWxcfA0bFGm7SXq3u66X9j_vw_VoQJpf7qatjvb2RiemrDb4E_hHxZZYvdRdp0UMXpwIPUN4RUntGtgo4KCtzwGcG1m9pJGMqD0GknK_UPlKTHRPIdE0m9TUJzyb/s1600/DSC02194+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A certified organic and fair trade community</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJd1EsQPL4mhc0i9KMN51al1W6aWu0jWqF3UDWftqF4uJPrEL8Ywy4qWos8XuCGYmgq-XUcJ-5rurFO1iW93xPx2anTQD6RwxlSGKae932L1jv-OlPwlFrlHyANcp-V5YFxTW7qUyRRHrf/s1600/DSC02204+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJd1EsQPL4mhc0i9KMN51al1W6aWu0jWqF3UDWftqF4uJPrEL8Ywy4qWos8XuCGYmgq-XUcJ-5rurFO1iW93xPx2anTQD6RwxlSGKae932L1jv-OlPwlFrlHyANcp-V5YFxTW7qUyRRHrf/s1600/DSC02204+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdmDq4COgDqeVTxd6QFiIqgoRh9Jw_tuVUR5apcbcY6CyDx8DvG-orOjFuLy65_OFxGKDP-VQch2AqDF4lEHL1_XPJ4_Me3jd7pH1nnbD2gp2u27Gol3xmle1ESlTBTwiIyJQMAlGNMt9/s1600/DSC02211+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNdmDq4COgDqeVTxd6QFiIqgoRh9Jw_tuVUR5apcbcY6CyDx8DvG-orOjFuLy65_OFxGKDP-VQch2AqDF4lEHL1_XPJ4_Me3jd7pH1nnbD2gp2u27Gol3xmle1ESlTBTwiIyJQMAlGNMt9/s1600/DSC02211+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNzGsdJHmTIfUEot-w1pRMSTfeJOcyqOWD6xiQWi3xPqG9m-HwJvpvSULQuFudkxEr_SVMfWeuBLYqADOKQcuTgfGHYoo6xDH6TEJU6JDxxWVeyiRVYee7VXEHBi-3lgi43m13t5cFJQTm/s1600/IMG_5863+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNzGsdJHmTIfUEot-w1pRMSTfeJOcyqOWD6xiQWi3xPqG9m-HwJvpvSULQuFudkxEr_SVMfWeuBLYqADOKQcuTgfGHYoo6xDH6TEJU6JDxxWVeyiRVYee7VXEHBi-3lgi43m13t5cFJQTm/s1600/IMG_5863+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSLOyCbm8A7J55CZLImd28DAThDtCJuCLtX9lEo6niVW-W6TlkEBk03qV18Yr6RMFmtbw24sWm7iiaMrGKQm7bDOUCH6qOvH-G3iHKzyr-T7-dxedrk9onCYJvoZKgvGWlSx1yHjnPD6P/s1600/IMG_5901+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSLOyCbm8A7J55CZLImd28DAThDtCJuCLtX9lEo6niVW-W6TlkEBk03qV18Yr6RMFmtbw24sWm7iiaMrGKQm7bDOUCH6qOvH-G3iHKzyr-T7-dxedrk9onCYJvoZKgvGWlSx1yHjnPD6P/s1600/IMG_5901+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chacala, the community where I went back and stayed for a couple of days to do farmer interviews outside Uyuni</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW7X9F4bns4mONLhSRSrhU7l4jw6aK0hOSK61Vd2q-TopgEwekgQr86mbwYZGl2dRHldbVsODeR8daMNiIbZrx-hbj5bbxdcYKp_GGubIfUK6_3DzITMZ6NZLRJuDv5trU8NVstekT2ltt/s1600/IMG_5906+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW7X9F4bns4mONLhSRSrhU7l4jw6aK0hOSK61Vd2q-TopgEwekgQr86mbwYZGl2dRHldbVsODeR8daMNiIbZrx-hbj5bbxdcYKp_GGubIfUK6_3DzITMZ6NZLRJuDv5trU8NVstekT2ltt/s1600/IMG_5906+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dancing :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirnqNvYo9GOkJ2Pyd_inKHAXd0EFJe-EtX-Qk9Jff7d1Dntbzt2P5L8xbB5fgpM6Mb4oDzcPFq8x0UfHs04ro6Fa7W67Ez723sAQJ0o7jRdWKHbYSPS7spvy_tjKzu0wfBSwkbQ6ril0Oj/s1600/DSC02219+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirnqNvYo9GOkJ2Pyd_inKHAXd0EFJe-EtX-Qk9Jff7d1Dntbzt2P5L8xbB5fgpM6Mb4oDzcPFq8x0UfHs04ro6Fa7W67Ez723sAQJ0o7jRdWKHbYSPS7spvy_tjKzu0wfBSwkbQ6ril0Oj/s1600/DSC02219+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then we visited the Salar, the world's largest salt flats</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhacjSY_CccCK29ViAHRB29AmFbxhwCVWr4qWcLC06BKR0wfzEWhyphenhyphenm2UBTF_nw6pLh3KETWkMByPT5OhYdtzQ_MehXuhbfRV9z-lusbKtR4DHPJLbc8CppMliHIU1TXs8KOSsaVg8iCmcPb/s1600/DSC02221+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhacjSY_CccCK29ViAHRB29AmFbxhwCVWr4qWcLC06BKR0wfzEWhyphenhyphenm2UBTF_nw6pLh3KETWkMByPT5OhYdtzQ_MehXuhbfRV9z-lusbKtR4DHPJLbc8CppMliHIU1TXs8KOSsaVg8iCmcPb/s1600/DSC02221+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The salar was still flooded because of the rainy season</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswYvZQnCvPylAuEw8qgmA3ZNkXvFE6E9OVphwifG52kBEPC7-nEba1zQAr-aGkv4TZwMz2cPtiofNoyAxGPeuQCEJ353DvC0f3noIcW8zUiVDOFE3zF63QBUsyUPw8ohqycX-wEf_X2zT/s1600/DSC02223+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswYvZQnCvPylAuEw8qgmA3ZNkXvFE6E9OVphwifG52kBEPC7-nEba1zQAr-aGkv4TZwMz2cPtiofNoyAxGPeuQCEJ353DvC0f3noIcW8zUiVDOFE3zF63QBUsyUPw8ohqycX-wEf_X2zT/s1600/DSC02223+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQi77Wn7Dzmn8tU8_Kl7YDaEnsJ33Z1he0muml5sIv6wfjFIPzf3qpAhvos247yu4lo8kWNy8nqYUCSlcQNxl6XadqIkXJYMkw1ZQ2LnryKi8TCwQKO9yHc_3DfFFpa-O5pUrmWSzNIg7/s1600/DSC02228+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBQi77Wn7Dzmn8tU8_Kl7YDaEnsJ33Z1he0muml5sIv6wfjFIPzf3qpAhvos247yu4lo8kWNy8nqYUCSlcQNxl6XadqIkXJYMkw1ZQ2LnryKi8TCwQKO9yHc_3DfFFpa-O5pUrmWSzNIg7/s1600/DSC02228+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Awesome moment of Sergio carrying a Cholita</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAuNUU9eNK_hkLqxPyvBDr21xmYaMqq7kF0_abUd_eqboaVKJlGQxkuvUpEzlM_LYlCi70SNy4GXiueuDW0CHtR3e1ufw6peuLIAoZ5LNr1Oyd_8x4tUlKlgmJvEbvz3byOLRi7bpobEAx/s1600/DSC02235+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAuNUU9eNK_hkLqxPyvBDr21xmYaMqq7kF0_abUd_eqboaVKJlGQxkuvUpEzlM_LYlCi70SNy4GXiueuDW0CHtR3e1ufw6peuLIAoZ5LNr1Oyd_8x4tUlKlgmJvEbvz3byOLRi7bpobEAx/s1600/DSC02235+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our amazing team!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ash, the Australian quinoa farmer, taking my classic "jumping picture"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Fabricio and Javier, Jacha Inti agronomist at some cool geologic sites</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lots of driving across flooded surfaces, like trying to cross this bridge</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Arcoiris (rainbow) over La Paz on my way back - nice welcome home!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Photo courtesy of Sergio, quinoa products in the US</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Photos of the tour team from Sergio</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wish I hadn't missed the factory tour...in English ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Ash, the Australian quinoa farmer :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Sergio Nunez de Arco, founder of Andean Naturals (the largest importer of organic quinoa in the US). Named by Time Magazine as <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2156852,00.html">"The King of Quinoa"</a> and one of the <a href="http://time100.time.com/2013/11/07/the-13-gods-of-food/">"13 Gods of Food" </a>along with Michael Pollan and Vandana Shiva. A real food/ag celebrity moment!!</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Oruro, Bolivia-17.975281 -67.110764000000017-17.975281 -67.110764000000017 -17.975281 -67.110764000000017tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-63866157152670805202014-02-12T02:29:00.000-08:002014-04-11T03:09:43.238-07:00Santiago de Okola: Home of the Sleeping Dragon on Lake Titicaca <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSnOy0l4yYqTk1BMBLAkdS6xVOf3cfl9CpfzrXl6GXTXhPJg6KU2tuT66MWrCc8kPKxtEJWy2arNoiiG5lSSe9EU1q_hCd4GBJs7pWnjnczZhkgbiCbW7zi-Q4ntJsBPE1rw_VlA_VuSX/s1600/Okola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It smells like
Australia here. The scent hit me like a
ton of bricks, though I couldn’t quite place it at first. The memories, however, came flooding
back. Then I asked if the trees were
Eucalyptus and that was it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hiking down into Santiago de Okola from the bus</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eucalyptus trees abound</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Native potatoes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am
currently under four blankets in a beautifully decorated two-room house on the
shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. The walls are adorned with Awayus
(traditional Andean woolen blankets with a wide array of bright colors and
striped patterns) and traditional wooden instruments in miniature. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rain mixed with hail are pouring down so hard
I think it’s going to come through the tin roof (this would be very reminiscent
of my homestay in Coroico in the Yungas where the nighttime showers literally
woke me up by pooling in my bed).
However, I think that this ceiling is a little bit more reinforced since
this structure seems to have been built for the sole purpose of housing
tourists. So there has to be some kind
of middle ground, I decided. Just a few
days ago, I was sharing a one-room house with four other Bolivians (a woman,
her husband, and two young children) who had clearly never had a foreigner stay
with them. Sure, it wasn’t very
comfortable and in ways, the woman treated me like a servant, ordering me
around rudely, but I guess I felt more like part of the family, sharing what
they ate and sleeping as they do. It was
a several hundred-meter walk to the toilet (read: a hole in the ground under a
tin roof outhouse structure). In
contrast, the community I am staying in right now, Santiago de Okola, has been
hosting tourists for seven years now. I
woke up to a beautifully set table with a hot thermos, rolls, butter, jam,
instant coffee, powdered hot cocoa, and sugar. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pollera skirts drying in the sun</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The family is definitely not eating this (all of the packaged food still
had its original seals) and I am willing to bet they aren’t sleeping on a super
comfortable mattress and fluffy pillow.
There is even a western style toilet here (which I also think they don’t
use…). Through various initiatives
including agro-tourism, farmer homestays, agrobiodiversity conservation
projects etc., Okola has become so well known, it’s even recommended by Lonely
Planet: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSnOy0l4yYqTk1BMBLAkdS6xVOf3cfl9CpfzrXl6GXTXhPJg6KU2tuT66MWrCc8kPKxtEJWy2arNoiiG5lSSe9EU1q_hCd4GBJs7pWnjnczZhkgbiCbW7zi-Q4ntJsBPE1rw_VlA_VuSX/s1600/Okola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSnOy0l4yYqTk1BMBLAkdS6xVOf3cfl9CpfzrXl6GXTXhPJg6KU2tuT66MWrCc8kPKxtEJWy2arNoiiG5lSSe9EU1q_hCd4GBJs7pWnjnczZhkgbiCbW7zi-Q4ntJsBPE1rw_VlA_VuSX/s1600/Okola.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This feature, however,
is not the reason why I came here. But
rather, I wanted to spend time on Lake Titicaca, a center of origin for many
Andean crops, including quinoa. In fact,
farmers here are growing sweet quinoa, unlike royal quinoa (quinua real) in the
south. It’s not easy finding rural
communities that will take you in, let you interview them, and participate in
their farm labor. So I have to work with
what I got, so to speak. The NGO I have
been doing visits with, PROINPA, used to have an agrobiodiversity conservation
project here until 2010 and Okola also became known to me through the Food
First Institute for Food and Development Policy’s Food Sovereignty Tour to Bolivia. While I originally wanted to participate in
the ten-day study tour, titled “Llamas, Quinoa and Andean Food Sovereignty,”
and even received a $500 scholarship from Food First, the dates did not
coincide and it didn’t seem very “Watson approved” to join an existing group of
tourists. Because the tour help inspired
my studies on quinoa in Bolivia, I have decided to try to re-create parts of
the tour independently, including a visit to Okola. The sample itinerary of the tour reads: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“AM Early departure for Santiago de Okola, a beautiful small farming village on the shores of Lake Titicaca (3,810m or 12,500 ft)</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We will help prepare traditional foods with host families and come together for a communal lunch (apthapi, see photo) with local community members</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">PM Discussion of local agriculture, agro biodiversity and climate change with local farmers;</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Optional medicinal plants guided hike;</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dinner with local host families</span></i></li>
<li><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bonfire with community members” </span></i></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So through activities
such as weaving lessons, farm work, community bonfires, a museum, guided hikes,
homestays and traditional Andean food etc., Okola has really put itself on the
map in terms of a more authentic tourist experience (that seems like kind of an
oxymoron). In fact, as I may have
mentioned in previous posts, something that has been a bit of a struggle this
year is discerning authenticity in my various interactions. For instance, dinner started with the mom
sending myself and her eldest daughter to the table to eat. This seventeen-year-old daughter, Adela, has
been charged with being my local tour guide over the next few days. So while the rest of the family is planning
on eating in the kitchen (a wooden shack with a traditional adobe mud stove and
everything blackened by soot), Adela and I are supposed to eat at the nicely
adorned table outside, complete with an orange awayu and carved and polished
tree stumps as chairs. I kindly asked
the woman if we could all eat together, since it felt a bit strange being
separated. So she and her younger
daughter come to join us at the table, while the husband chose to stay
behind. This may not sound all that
weird, but I am fairly certain it is not customary for rural Altiplano people
to eat dinner at a kitchen table. It
felt comically awkward. After the first
course of soup, we all migrated back to the kitchen shack (note: the father
left at this point, not sure if men just don’t eat in the presence of women or
guests or what, but it was somewhat strange).
We all kind of laughed because I commented how it felt much more
customary for them to eat in the kitchen and they all agreed. So what is authentic? How much of what’s going on is their daily
life that I am trying to integrate into for a few short days and how much of it
is a show they are used to performing for tourists? I’m not sure.
I try to stress wherever I go that I am not a traditional tourist and
that I am interested in helping, participating, learning, etc. It’s difficult though, as I again, I don’t
feel like I connect with these people very well. For instance, Adela and I hiked to the top of
the dragon (both its head and body, two different peaks), which took about
three hours round trip (highest elevation is 4,100 m or 13,450 ft). We barely talked. I would ask questions and she would answer in
the simplest of ways. I am not sure if
it is cultural and if Bolivians are generally just shy and introverted people,
but sometimes it feels like I am pulling teeth trying to have a conversation
with people here. Or they will choose to
speak in Aymara, knowing that I only understand Spanish. It’s very frustrating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On a positive note,
the views from our hike today were absolutely incredible. Lake Titicaca is enormous! We could see the famous Isla del Sol and even
as far as Peru on the opposite shores.
It is a brilliant blue with swirls of darkness where algae grow
heavily. Adela told me there are lots of
fish and also enormous rays that live in the Lake. She enjoys swimming when it’s warm weather,
so I really hope we can swim together before I leave. It’s strange to pack a bikini and also a down
jacket, hat, and gloves. But I guess
that’s the Bolivian Altiplano for you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The crosses supposedly ward off rain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNdX0rF5gRqd-ZpyIJ0M6NgtVoxRPvOzrjnHC3EYO-AqABIAteC2XLpbm6Z0IeGNfuFnGJQUjfeRn5z5p-cyPu39sL3FduxzIdOlvSxgQUyYFSP3ZQCzWDqaQjj2dB3SgTVnz0VCOtYW1/s1600/DSC01704+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNdX0rF5gRqd-ZpyIJ0M6NgtVoxRPvOzrjnHC3EYO-AqABIAteC2XLpbm6Z0IeGNfuFnGJQUjfeRn5z5p-cyPu39sL3FduxzIdOlvSxgQUyYFSP3ZQCzWDqaQjj2dB3SgTVnz0VCOtYW1/s1600/DSC01704+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now time to bring back the sheep</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Right now, La Paz on
Foot (a sustainable eco-tour company) is working with Okola on putting together
a proposal for the Cultural Conservatory, an NGO whose mission is to support
the conservation of customs and traditions of indigenous cultures in the
Americas. Working in the U.S., Canada,
Paraguay, and now Bolivia, they visited Okola in 2013 and were impressed with
the agritourism project and agro-biodiversity conservation work. Thus, the Cultural Conservatory now wants to
support Okola with the continued conservation of its biodiversity in the form
of native Andean crops. This project
will involve designing and training a tourism program focused on
agrobiodiversity with a focus on its use for community tourism and expanding
the museum. Other aspects of the project
include brainstorming concrete initiatives to promote the continued
conservation, maintenance, and use of the agro-biodiversity (e.g. native
potatoes, corn, quinoa, beans, canahua, etc.)) so that ancient varieties aren’t
lost forever. Ideas thus far include a
communal parcel OR small plots at the family level where farmers display
various crops for possible use with tourists, sales to a local restaurant in La
Paz, or distribution among those who work the plot. Okola has two weeks to submit a proposal,
bearing in mind the guidelines of the NGO, which mandate the participation of
the entire community with an emphasis on women, children, and the elderly. Moreover, if Okola can secure this support,
it will be in the long-term over many years instead of a one-time project-based
donation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was able to attend a
meeting between the president of Okola’s Tourism Body (Tomas), a couple of
other Okola community members, and a colleague of La Paz on Foot. They talked about how the project involves
safeguarding and recovering indigenous knowledge, as well as ensuring that the
wide variety of native crops continue to be cultivated, especially in the
context of rural out-migration of the youth.
An example discussed was “Fiesta de Papas” (party of potatoes) to
attract tourists and promote diversity through traditional potato dishes. For this and in general, there is a need for
training and capacity building in the preparation of traditional dishes (e.g.
torta de quinua or quinoa cake) to incentivize the continued use and
cultivation of native crops. The tourism
body needs to identify hardworking families to commit to grow and possibly sell
for the project, with other options of working with the local school or youth
as intermediaries to sell produce as added income. In the meeting, the community members seemed
to agree that the cooperative model is a good idea but with many inherent
problems (e.g. community members moving back and forth between Okola and La
Paz), so the family level is probably better.
Of course household food security is the priority, but if they can also
promote their agricultural products amongst tourists and sell any remaining
surplus, this would be ideal. </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Man is the own architect of his life"</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Community Museum of Santiago de Okola</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSztt2Bp8NQ86845OwGBb3Qf1PELu4vRkbUtIji2EAPQJL_0Keh5OF3RUQutxwY_-6NgVCyOWXhyZHp1KhIa_BUaUpvZlppM6m5d07rmVVhzZlNdTVA8Iqbncf7mrJ4ydIXsRTB3huAltE/s1600/DSC01711+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSztt2Bp8NQ86845OwGBb3Qf1PELu4vRkbUtIji2EAPQJL_0Keh5OF3RUQutxwY_-6NgVCyOWXhyZHp1KhIa_BUaUpvZlppM6m5d07rmVVhzZlNdTVA8Iqbncf7mrJ4ydIXsRTB3huAltE/s1600/DSC01711+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Welcome to Santiago de Okola"</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9kDmY7hJBNHCnk409ihBHzzrlPpHKXNZ9-Uk5jk2P3YHUj_CIVgXt-siBvS8UubdNtvmmKQ4bLotd5IH2F6Ybfs1o89N7TuJ3dca19BsT-AEj080q-B9QfkWOGPtpI5tK46qDEj5BpS3/s1600/DSC01712+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9kDmY7hJBNHCnk409ihBHzzrlPpHKXNZ9-Uk5jk2P3YHUj_CIVgXt-siBvS8UubdNtvmmKQ4bLotd5IH2F6Ybfs1o89N7TuJ3dca19BsT-AEj080q-B9QfkWOGPtpI5tK46qDEj5BpS3/s1600/DSC01712+(600x800).jpg" height="640" width="480" /></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Wheat, introduced by the Spanish in the 16th century constitutes an important crop for the community</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The 3,200 varieties of quinoa, native to the Bolivian Altiplano, are exported to the whole world"</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Agrobiodiversity: what is it and why is it important?"</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After visiting the
community museum and having an interview with the school director, we took the
boat out on the lake. I’ve decided that
paddling a rowboat is much more difficult than it looks: a testament to my
inability to multitask, especially trying to row with my left arm, which is
much less coordinated. Adela and I
paddled out past the “Puerta Misteriosa” (mysterious door), a curious looking
geological structure of large rocks (maybe granite?) near the Sleeping Dragon
mountain. The lake isn’t clear in many
places but very cloudy with suspended sediment and mats of algae. We docked on a small beach behind the
mountain where I was able to go for a swim and lay out in the sun. I definitely could have stayed there all day
as it felt like a mini-vacation while most of my body was screaming out for
vitamin D since I’ve maintained conservative dress for the last eight months. But alas, I knew I should get back to
interviews and farm work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">La puerta misteriosa ("the mysterious door")</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">quinoa by the shores of Lake Titicaca</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Archaeological zone - no grafiti or climbing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The afternoon and
evening, however, were marked with the glorious acts of food collection in
various forms. We harvested potatoes
next to the lake since the heavy rains were causing the water to inundate the
tubers. I still really enjoy the act of
harvesting, especially potatoes, which reminds me of digging for buried
treasure and becoming unnaturally excited when stumbling upon a bountiful loot. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This dog loved me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After this, I joined Adela and her friend from
the village to go fishing. Immediately,
images of fishing with my dad in search of rainbow trout in small brooks in
Massachusetts or striped bass along the Cape Cod Canal came to mind. This fishing, however, was nothing like that
of my childhood. Instead of bait and
poles, we dragged a large net through the water close to the shore. After doing this several times, we filled an
awayu (woolen blanket) with small minnow-like fish called ispi. Ispi represent an important source of income
for people on the lake and also home consumption. It was quite an experience helping to drag
the net through the water, which was warm relative to the air as the sun was
setting and temperatures were beginning to drop. That night, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of
potatoes and fried ispi, heads, tails, bones, and all, which were sort of like
crunchy French fries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I spent the following
morning interviewing Tomas Laruta, the president of Okola’s tourism body. This was an extremely intriguing conversation
and reminded me of many big picture themes I am exploring this year, namely
about the importance of food, systems thinking, and general sustainability. Sadly, Okola has been a less than ideal site
for exploring quinoa issues. The extent
to which I’ve interacted with the crop here has been seeing it in farmers’
plots, learning that there are seven varieties native to Okola, and eating it
for lunch today. I was told that if I
really want to see quinoa, I need to come during the month of April for
harvest. Who knew? While lacking in quinoa, however, Okola has
been bursting in other life lessons. Let
me share parts of my fascinating chat with Tomas, who was born in Okola in 1933
(making him an 81-year-old spunky man). After
being raised and educated on the Lake, he spent several years traveling
throughout Central and South America (e.g. Mexico, Guatemala, Panama,
Argentina, Peru etc.) studying on scholarships and working. He is an avid believer in cross-cultural
interactions and traveling to broaden one’s perspective of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Our interview translated from Spanish to the best of my ability:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He recounted <b>some history of the community of Santiago
de Okola and Lake Titicaca:</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Our ancestors, in the time of Tiwanaku before
Christ, already knew about agriculture – the times to sow and harvest and
different varieties. In this time, they
knew about quinoa, canahua, potatoes, and wheat, and everything they ate was
their own, grown from the earth. These
ancient Andean foods sustained them and fishing too.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>He lamented the plight of modern food,
stressing how today, it is totally processed, artificial, and made from
chemicals,</b> whereas, <i>“ancestral food before was strong, which
allowed the youth in this time to marry at 30-35 years old and not have
children until after. Now, they get
married at 12-15 and have children very young.
In the past, people would live to more than 100 years old: 120, 130 140. Today, lives are short because the food is
not good. I married at 28-years-old and
today, they’re having kids at age 12. I
don’t know why. According to history,
the changes have been in the food because the food before was healthy and pure,
without chemicals and processing, totally natural. Before, people didn’t know sugar and used
little salt, not like today.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I asked him <b>about agro-tourism and its connections with
the conservation of agro-biodiversity:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Agro-tourism is the basic principal that is
very important for this generation. If
they don’t know, they won’t rescue traditional and ancient Andean foods. For example, varieties of quinoa. If young people don’t know, they might
mistake it for a weed and rip out all the varieties. Now there are various varieties of quinoa (7
in Okola, 3,200 in the Altiplano).
Before on the Altiplano, no one valued quinoa. It was poor man’s food, food for the
countryside (“comida de los campesinos”).
Now it’s neither; it’s expensive to buy. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We conserve agro-biodiversity because legacy of
ours ancestors, our grandparents and great-grandparents left us these things. Agro-biodiversity is the [traditional
indigenous] wisdom. For example, if you
have come here to take pictures and document the lives of a family, this is
conservation of their wisdom. The
importance of agro-biodiversity is the knowledge for the present and the
future, especially in the context of climate change. We would have to fight including the sowing
and harvesting seasons because of climate change. This is a main problem: climate change. We can’t sow our crops on time because the
rains are late. There isn’t proper spring,
summer, or fall. But ultimately, we have
to all fight together for food and agro-biodiversity for the present and future.” <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another thing is the agricultural wisdom– un
sabio [a man with lots of capabilities that can tell the future, what will
happen today and tomorrow, around the world] –
there are people that believe in this, but few. Regardless, we need to analyze the earth and
soil. Every year we are tilling the soil
and we don’t let it rest. “Agricultural”
is a key word all over the world because as human beings, we cannot survive
without food and the food comes from the earth.
The earth and system can be improved; we can know when to sow or what
classification of crops to grow in certain locations. Food is important for everyone: indigenous
people or Mestizo classes [mixed European/upper class]; it doesn’t matter. Agro-tourism will help with this; in sharing
food and agriculture with the world.
When foreigners come here and eat, everything they consume is grown
here. When people like you come here, it
sticks in your head; it’s education and awareness raising. If a small child eats well, their brains will
develop quickly. If a young child eats
poorly, they will suffer and fall asleep in school. Then food is the main base. We want the youth to have this traditional
knowledge and to continue these practices in the future, for more
improvement. We’re not only humans,
we’re passengers who live for a short time on this earth and then move on. But few in the world think about food; today
it is less. There was a German woman who
visited here who wanted to cook and eat what we grow here. She wanted to peel potatoes and I asked her
why, and she said in her country everyone goes to the supermarket and buys all
ready-made food. No one knows how to
cook or do these things.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What do you think about agricultural
development and modern technology? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Agricultural development is very important
because it will help maintain the agro-biodiversity. Now technology is also important for
agro-biodiversity because today there isn’t natural manure to fertilize the
fields or enough rain and the climate is changing. So we need to use new technology to promote
animal husbandry and irrigate our fields.
It is possible to maintain both traditional life and adopt modern
technology simultaneously.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do you think that producers in Bolivia should
continue to export their quinoa to other countries?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“As a Bolivian, I agree that it is a good thing
that the world knows about quinoa as an Andean food. But the government needs to promote the
production of quinoa through modern technology and study the land and where
cultivation should take place. For example,
mustard is a weed that is also judicial.
Before, we cared for it. Our
government in Bolivia says the countryside should produce this and that but
there isn’t any help.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In your opinion, what are the largest
challenges or problems in the community and its farms?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Here in this region, we have the social
problems of little help from the government and internal issues among the
inhabitants of communities with little cooperation between us. Before, there was lots of cooperation and understanding. But now, there isn’t because there are fewer
people living in the countryside and those that remain have different ways of
thinking.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What are other solutions to rural
out-migration?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“For me, I think that the major problem in the
youth is the food because they eat a lot of pasta because it is quick and easy
to cook. But it is a totally bad
food. Another is yogurt and cheap sodas,
which are tasty. The youth today have
another way of thinking. Many things
have disappeared. They want to know the
world quickly and abandon their villages.
They are thinking that they want to leave the lives of their
grandparents, their foods and habits.
They don’t think there are any opportunities in the countryside. There needs to be some kind of support to
encourage the youth to stay here, such as education about real life that exists
in this region and support in production, installing small factories for
textiles so that they can earn an income.
If they are incentivized, they will stay. But this isn’t the situation. Today they want a spouse, a baby, and their
ready – this is their life. There were
many things in the past. For example, in
agropecuaria, I had a scholarship to learn about agriculture in other
countries. With this, people can go to
different places and learn, but today this is lacking. More education, both formal and informal, in
Andean culture and agriculture can help maintain the youth in our
communities. At present, there aren’t
courses in agriculture. But when I was
in school, I both learned and taught about it.
I think when you were a kid, you must have learned about nutrition and
how to eat. As partners, we are working
with Stephen Taranto and people from the United States with grants because
there is no government support. This is
one of the first problems. The youth
needs to be able to make an economic living to stay here with improved lives.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do you have goals for the future of Okola?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“We want to maintain the youth here
productively. In agro-biodiversity, handicrafts,
agro-tourism etc. If we have the youth,
we have a future. Few people understand
what I’m saying. In high school, there
isn’t relevant material. If schools
applied information about agriculture and food consumption, things would be
much different. I can have chats with
the school but there is no incentive.
The problem is that if we talk, it’s all great and it enters one ear and
goes out the other. Thus, these things
need to be taught basically and slowing: what is agro-biodiversity, why is it
important, what is agro-tourism or tourism etc.
The philosophy is the same because agro-biodiversity and food are
interlinked. Few young people in the
community know about the importance of agro-biodiversity or agro-tourism. If the government prepared a program to
teach, this would be great.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A woman in the village weaving</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1CVZDtpn_fwyC7TRkjta8alccUiPRymmjxz-FQaBKbkN8wmZ0oS6A09zqNtADZmpIJnbF0uOmm4qBJliRnDdrY6Fc2E5wFT4MQorRsKteGouy5jt69rknu0bYc_rz4lMEELGyohplaaD/s1600/DSC01793+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1CVZDtpn_fwyC7TRkjta8alccUiPRymmjxz-FQaBKbkN8wmZ0oS6A09zqNtADZmpIJnbF0uOmm4qBJliRnDdrY6Fc2E5wFT4MQorRsKteGouy5jt69rknu0bYc_rz4lMEELGyohplaaD/s1600/DSC01793+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Quinoa and avas (fava beans or broad beans) intercropped</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Native maize</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQ6cvwARPrWkVGk6o9VtGDChkjepr53NJ54ywCk_ro0rmy7JPRPLKhZkfO-pRddZb0iYtOBAY4gP3QDVYl4G99B7mzLWzerCABvFmMegnXVwmJ8chG9Pz7PTh171AmN4IZ8GW4-9rxUpJ/s1600/DSC01795+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQ6cvwARPrWkVGk6o9VtGDChkjepr53NJ54ywCk_ro0rmy7JPRPLKhZkfO-pRddZb0iYtOBAY4gP3QDVYl4G99B7mzLWzerCABvFmMegnXVwmJ8chG9Pz7PTh171AmN4IZ8GW4-9rxUpJ/s1600/DSC01795+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Native potatoes</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1LEWL-9Mq7lGVIUTucux2urxTnnShdc1HS8gTvqbO5-fKj2TK_1pRwhYEpB6ZtRNoXVAGTUyB7uu3WbErrpJefXbClUX0QFQe_6XdL5jDPPQvF9nD42sFN0do8JERXl_rQF8ttQ4_40Ff/s1600/DSC01798+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1LEWL-9Mq7lGVIUTucux2urxTnnShdc1HS8gTvqbO5-fKj2TK_1pRwhYEpB6ZtRNoXVAGTUyB7uu3WbErrpJefXbClUX0QFQe_6XdL5jDPPQvF9nD42sFN0do8JERXl_rQF8ttQ4_40Ff/s1600/DSC01798+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tarwi, a native lupin (nitrogen fixer)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhj5086DkKylujhXjJ7toTKOjxy9xZZxLGOoH9IA7PSLro5ImJ7NdywnEIEATV14qFnI99Qwf7B2awyy1MkmU4flOBSDC3Kll1lSiCTEFpCt7o9zEF51g8KCRnST791JbkqRsnWFCPwjWF/s1600/DSC01800+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhj5086DkKylujhXjJ7toTKOjxy9xZZxLGOoH9IA7PSLro5ImJ7NdywnEIEATV14qFnI99Qwf7B2awyy1MkmU4flOBSDC3Kll1lSiCTEFpCt7o9zEF51g8KCRnST791JbkqRsnWFCPwjWF/s1600/DSC01800+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP9hDxWidA1b5QQlyyZpg6OQeuSZptrukuTynOmnM5LDmogDnAH0Ndxdb06OEngqjqJgmLHYZdE2Yl_jAuPdVLhUQnUxUbgOpYQ6MrhJZUbeGmQqJFjl63BWHeH-mZUSsQtKsp5bnZXip5/s1600/DSC01805+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP9hDxWidA1b5QQlyyZpg6OQeuSZptrukuTynOmnM5LDmogDnAH0Ndxdb06OEngqjqJgmLHYZdE2Yl_jAuPdVLhUQnUxUbgOpYQ6MrhJZUbeGmQqJFjl63BWHeH-mZUSsQtKsp5bnZXip5/s1600/DSC01805+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgtCX8ODHcXzhgE90LwR45wxqXIzsUe6DG-lFQ67tTigslVMu0YT5Ocp9rwUTJAq9A4uXn0X1l1Bs6-FPHSftUe2mFdiNQvG_hPHsjPAhphRD2LW-mWIqEPTJjGCfHfjH7fYdLm5uSlht/s1600/DSC01806+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgtCX8ODHcXzhgE90LwR45wxqXIzsUe6DG-lFQ67tTigslVMu0YT5Ocp9rwUTJAq9A4uXn0X1l1Bs6-FPHSftUe2mFdiNQvG_hPHsjPAhphRD2LW-mWIqEPTJjGCfHfjH7fYdLm5uSlht/s1600/DSC01806+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tuna or cactus fruit</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2N-ji6FkXowjniXOU2qmSVE8brseznEH5AzIdBmPL3HCyrilWPW5jR7nBCpPXKHeKX4zcoxDslf5rBXZbUbP909LXrVlIDpE0F0HWVJbLg-ow1V08N0YNuRoyy83C_NGtWm254HVMxMB_/s1600/DSC01808+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2N-ji6FkXowjniXOU2qmSVE8brseznEH5AzIdBmPL3HCyrilWPW5jR7nBCpPXKHeKX4zcoxDslf5rBXZbUbP909LXrVlIDpE0F0HWVJbLg-ow1V08N0YNuRoyy83C_NGtWm254HVMxMB_/s1600/DSC01808+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUqz8UJADR00RbqgNmsOHHnWLA2AZJQ15Hcn-scHIYf2C-KvN4gxe6CUa6dnGJtqZ69ZZD1j4lRJogo9BYsK4c3nNAosQq5o8EcFlHgIosi-1e9fHRuNfQCUNwIYYenA52ENNeU7fYBuyA/s1600/DSC01811+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUqz8UJADR00RbqgNmsOHHnWLA2AZJQ15Hcn-scHIYf2C-KvN4gxe6CUa6dnGJtqZ69ZZD1j4lRJogo9BYsK4c3nNAosQq5o8EcFlHgIosi-1e9fHRuNfQCUNwIYYenA52ENNeU7fYBuyA/s1600/DSC01811+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMkcej2ByWaghwcsPvDCrD_AXGGcG_5x0CaVW3FUwRPxxKdnuUesUWTu9YYexsS48bE-lAM06vfcdQ7NRPPNDOtuBdxgulpYdCTCV1GPV37MqImKMREHC3wjS9vHEuA0Z0AmQAc5FQLkq-/s1600/DSC01813+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMkcej2ByWaghwcsPvDCrD_AXGGcG_5x0CaVW3FUwRPxxKdnuUesUWTu9YYexsS48bE-lAM06vfcdQ7NRPPNDOtuBdxgulpYdCTCV1GPV37MqImKMREHC3wjS9vHEuA0Z0AmQAc5FQLkq-/s1600/DSC01813+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Flooding from all the rains</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib5JhdCLbOIuKFi8hVnN1t8N8Y8uSoLJaZ1wHikT3eUUSiTZ9tD7fDsRFVxE6zVRk9BAUmRRio9EQJrB8NWeChQYjciD28YX0VuGw7GhSeJgxOENdt-WkVV0EP0WgSQpdK3eHy8t397zei/s1600/DSC01814+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib5JhdCLbOIuKFi8hVnN1t8N8Y8uSoLJaZ1wHikT3eUUSiTZ9tD7fDsRFVxE6zVRk9BAUmRRio9EQJrB8NWeChQYjciD28YX0VuGw7GhSeJgxOENdt-WkVV0EP0WgSQpdK3eHy8t397zei/s1600/DSC01814+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Adela, my tour guide</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjklTTjgCepacM_3Nx0zVqGrkEaaaxAdzQg8bRmZTcPyYNYIYPQf2M68K2hAyJil2osnUIa9xVJupS2WaQiv2R8VedzPFvcjcH0HhfhW2U5J87SjCjgg2I5HDtjXygWdCRMwWCWuB8MPPIv/s1600/DSC01817+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjklTTjgCepacM_3Nx0zVqGrkEaaaxAdzQg8bRmZTcPyYNYIYPQf2M68K2hAyJil2osnUIa9xVJupS2WaQiv2R8VedzPFvcjcH0HhfhW2U5J87SjCjgg2I5HDtjXygWdCRMwWCWuB8MPPIv/s1600/DSC01817+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Potatoes are beautiful</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0_7hWsry_q8GZ3hkanv49bXPT98-SDDpyu938EId-mh7UfWBe4K5JjdC-GoQz8J0-1EyNjQr1Xe4d81DcJlbHh76aXv1UWpKihasKzQaWiHaYXnlbUMqL3i6KrZasMsIApDh2MmQCO7N/s1600/DSC01818+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR0_7hWsry_q8GZ3hkanv49bXPT98-SDDpyu938EId-mh7UfWBe4K5JjdC-GoQz8J0-1EyNjQr1Xe4d81DcJlbHh76aXv1UWpKihasKzQaWiHaYXnlbUMqL3i6KrZasMsIApDh2MmQCO7N/s1600/DSC01818+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nomming on quinoa</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4nioeYzVMBL1p4K1dow3VKREP1vB4b5ZQgeahqW9XQizmvfsgeavSGLNVIRQpSjDoSOdLKI52IMKbtwZ2LGWmpUKM31C8A1oQoQqTOLAoaDI6Ncd6epUYYF3x0uRzs_oxVSHOQpxtBwS/s1600/DSC01821+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4nioeYzVMBL1p4K1dow3VKREP1vB4b5ZQgeahqW9XQizmvfsgeavSGLNVIRQpSjDoSOdLKI52IMKbtwZ2LGWmpUKM31C8A1oQoQqTOLAoaDI6Ncd6epUYYF3x0uRzs_oxVSHOQpxtBwS/s1600/DSC01821+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cholita dress up time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Weaving workshop</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEEOzOva_vcdup4qIkXuEBRZ3hHXJb2GAnb1Rxo38Jjor4ctVpv8gu_sH1GaNl5sx7IZin1vJTcONA1P8Y2UPlFxzP27baKoyggDITNWRyOT9OqMaFYqZY2DOkbwchMxhX8HDU16hx6nSw/s1600/DSC01831+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEEOzOva_vcdup4qIkXuEBRZ3hHXJb2GAnb1Rxo38Jjor4ctVpv8gu_sH1GaNl5sx7IZin1vJTcONA1P8Y2UPlFxzP27baKoyggDITNWRyOT9OqMaFYqZY2DOkbwchMxhX8HDU16hx6nSw/s1600/DSC01831+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com1Lake Titicaca-15.7961915 -69.383107900000027-17.750429 -71.964894900000033 -13.841954000000001 -66.801320900000022tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-60538456637990106062014-02-10T08:49:00.000-08:002014-04-10T09:21:57.218-07:00Farmstay in Pacajes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well that was an
interesting experience! Although I have
tried not to complain too much in this blog, I am going to apologize in advance
for the negativity that permeates this post – it has become a venting session
for me. To preface it, I just spent the
last four days herding cattle on the Altiplano and living with a farming family
in a quinoa expansion area. I lived with
a twenty-four-year-old woman named Amalia, her ten-year-old son David, and
seven-year-old daughter Victoria (her husband and in-laws were also floating
around too). My colleagues at the NGO
PROINPA connected me with Amalia and her indigenous pueblo (village) of Janko
Saya in Pacajes province, as we have gone the community twice now on our field
visits as part of the Food Security and Climate Change project. I have been trying not to go into things with
too many expectations because you seriously never know what you are going to
get. With this farm-stay, however, I can
say with relative certainty that it was my Bolivian experience in a nutshell:
difficult and trying (physically and emotionally). Let me elaborate. It started when my colleagues dropped me off
in Janko Saya and I was greeted by Amalia and the pleasant fact that we would
have to ford the river to get to her house.
This may not sound bad and on the bright side, it was a sunny day, but
it didn’t change the fact that the water must have been less than 50 degrees. I decided to change shoes thinking that I
could wear my flip-flops across the river, saving my feet from the razor sharp
rocks. Wrong. The minute I stepped into the mud, my right
sandal snapped as I attempted to lift my foot from the quicksand-like
substance. Greeeat. So I decide to ditch the shoes and go
barefoot. What else could I do? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amalia fording the river (we had to do this four times)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">RIP Che Guevara flip flops</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fast forward to the
rest of the day. We meet her son and
daughter in the fields, as they’ve been herding cattle (nine cows) for several
hours now and it’s midday. We share a lovely
apthapi lunch (not really kidding, there were ample potatoes to go with the
abundance of chunos and even some rice), then we continue following the cows
around. I have never herded cattle, mind
you, but I think my brain atrophied a bit during these few days. I don’t think I could ever herd cattle for a
living – I was going crazy after only a few hours. At least with farming, you can see that
you’re giving life, growing something, and can reap a reward at the end. I would describe animal husbandry and the
boring act of herding more specifically as doing a dance – back and forth,
leading, following, and ushering the bovines, never quite knowing where to go yet simultaneously wondering if they
know the way. During these long, hot
hours in the blazing sun, which is even stronger with the high altitude, I
realize more how the Bolivian Altiplano is a vast and empty place, treeless
with virtual silence except the occasional howl of the wind, baah of a sheep,
or hum of the radio that Amalia keeps in her awayu blanket. We continue the cattle dance until around 5
PM when we retire back to the farm. The
phrase “until the cows come home” has taken on a whole new meaning, as we coax
the beasts back to their pasture where we tie them up for the night, shelter-less.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I desperately want to
sleep early this evening because I know we are going to get up at 3:45 AM the
next morning. Why such an ungodly hour,
you ask? Because we are going to the
local market, which is about two hours away by foot. I thought it couldn’t get much worse than waking
up at 5:45 AM for a 3+ hour drive to the field as I had grown accustom for
PROINPA field visits. Well, it has: waking
up at 3:45 for a 3+ hour walk. And if
you know me, you probably know I don’t really like kids. Well I like them even less when it’s 8:30 PM
and I’m trying to sleep in anticipation for the early morning but they insist
on shining their laser pointer in my eye and jumping around like little
monkeys. At least they’re cute, I guess. I decided to sleep on the mattress on the
floor, even though there were two double beds in the large room that serves as
everyone’s bedroom and the living room.
Yet, I continued to ask myself: what is it with group sleep? I assumed the two double beds would be taken
but I wake up to find an empty bed and the kids and mom squished into one. It reminds me of India where there is hardly
space for anyone and that time in Punjab where I slept in a bed with a
twelve-year-old girl and her grandmother.
Good times! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Back to Bolivia: I
remember Amalia telling me that if it is raining very hard, we won’t go to the
market. I think this is the first time I
was wishing for rain this year, mostly because I dreaded the thought of rising
two hours before the sun. But alas, my
alarm sounds and the tin roof is silent – there isn’t a rain cloud in sight but
rather the bright light from the moon illuminates the compound. The stars are out and there’s something
wonderful about being back in the Western Hemisphere where you can see the Big
Dipper, even if it’s upside down. Amalia
has said some funny and memorable things during my stay. For instance, as we dress that morning, she
notes, “if the river is too high, we’ll turn back; I can hear it from
here.” Hmmm…that’s comforting, sort
of. I also notice that she sleeps in
three skirts (also known as polleras,
an essential part of the traditional Cholita dress). Watching her get dressed in the morning was
fascinating (in a non-creepy way, I assure you!) as she layers her
skirts/petticoats. It’s ritualistic and
mesmerizing, similar to the other cultures I’ve experienced: watching women
wrap their saris in India and tie their Kiras in Bhutan. There are subtle complexities involved in the
quotidian action of dressing oneself, and I am further impressed and perplexed
as the women do everything in their ornate and traditional garb, from farming
paddy fields to herding cattle for ten miles.
These women are amazing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, if there is
any lesson I should get out of this year, maybe it’s to always expect the
unexpected. RIP Che Guevera flip-flops
(yes, the left one too). You will forever
be missed and strangely, you’ve reminded me of India since I bought you in the
city of Pune (even though Che is known for his activism in South America and
especially Bolivia). If you haven’t seen
it, I highly recommend the film <i>The
Motorcycle Diaries</i>, which traces Che’s journey as a doctor through South
America before his rebel stage. Your
tragic ending came when I was fording the river for the second time – this time
around 4:30 AM in the pitch dark. My
makeshift repair failed miserably, though it was quite the comical sight: two
bandanas tied around my foot and ankle, attempting to secure the broken sandal
to my right foot. However, it was not
long before the left one busted as well.
This was probably one of the most painful experiences of this year,
crossing in bare feet in forty degree water, grasping Amalia’s arm with a
death-grip to try to maintain my balance as the water rushed past us at mid
thigh height. It was like walking on a
thousand needles since the riverbed isn’t sandy but rather caked with cutting
pebbles. I wondered if this is like
child birth, ha! And when the bottom was
sandy or along the shore, the mud was treacherous and quicksand-like – one
wrong move and you were sinking; and don’t even think about fighting it, you’ll
only sink deeper. I wanted desperately
to stop, for someone to pick me up and carry me across, yet I could do nothing
except close my eyes, grit my teeth, hold my breath and push through. And there was no use crying or stopping
because at this point, I was in the middle of the river. After all this, I knew I should have brought
my damn Teva sandals! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I honestly thought I
wasn’t going to make it this particular morning. A two-hour walk turned into 3.5 hours, as
Amalia neglected to tell me that it was two hours at Cholita pace (read: power
walking up and down hills at 4,000 m above sea level). At least the views were stunning. To describe Altiplano at sunrise: think
African savanna meets Punjab, India at dawn meets the Arctic with frosty
grasses. Once we finally get to the
market, we only end up staying for about an hour and she isn’t even selling
anything. Typical. Though she did have a good one-liner: “quick,
something to eat for my friend, she’s dying of hunger,” as we sit outside a
corner shop for breakfast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunrise over the Altiplano on the morning we walked 3+ hours starting at 4 AM. Good timez</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We met up with the family (cousins) on the way</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pink flamingos!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We finally made it to the market!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meat for sale</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitrmmGJF6I1hyphenhyphenrf9IPgFv2LPlAYiK57WDpskOGK7KyuF5puE_uE82uzqsPPFQ0CX5nMcVRQOxnjzh0QmxWAxAow8QpxBCqDYLHk-Jp1tv5HbAxU4cOfvkFAaBdrUBMNsgqM3KD-AiBgU18/s1600/DSC01456+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitrmmGJF6I1hyphenhyphenrf9IPgFv2LPlAYiK57WDpskOGK7KyuF5puE_uE82uzqsPPFQ0CX5nMcVRQOxnjzh0QmxWAxAow8QpxBCqDYLHk-Jp1tv5HbAxU4cOfvkFAaBdrUBMNsgqM3KD-AiBgU18/s1600/DSC01456+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is where I got my free Jell-O ;)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8gkffqfiJ4Sy05X5SyM9whSyctDoVyPIBywejpSFTDEKOl8n1x0vIvJBQtq0jQa1nUrdaBqbDiStVKuOG2OoS382EMNsEubsIaF1WsfQVqX5Of3rPuYhwSnAYIv_Aa11f135tjB3IemeA/s1600/DSC01457+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8gkffqfiJ4Sy05X5SyM9whSyctDoVyPIBywejpSFTDEKOl8n1x0vIvJBQtq0jQa1nUrdaBqbDiStVKuOG2OoS382EMNsEubsIaF1WsfQVqX5Of3rPuYhwSnAYIv_Aa11f135tjB3IemeA/s1600/DSC01457+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Riding back in the back of a truck...about 9 of us squeezed in here</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLPKHa-fUhfOilfngzpbg8X3QEpvY9WliTModi40-mpn_u-rS-tMVQwswixaXSvKH4g3cS9yh7Mlx7jzB8Ws4TUJ4Qob0aGUe_lQV3F6Byy1EIiyziAnKi7WnFQg-i4H7OKyON6xi8gSI/s1600/DSC01458+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPLPKHa-fUhfOilfngzpbg8X3QEpvY9WliTModi40-mpn_u-rS-tMVQwswixaXSvKH4g3cS9yh7Mlx7jzB8Ws4TUJ4Qob0aGUe_lQV3F6Byy1EIiyziAnKi7WnFQg-i4H7OKyON6xi8gSI/s1600/DSC01458+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With three windows and two doors</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In general, I have
found Bolivia to be everything that India and Bhutan are not. Where everyone wants to talk to you and treat
you like you walk on water in India (and I was a virtual celebrity in the local
newspapers), here my hosts don’t even want to talk to me. It’s the opposite of feeling welcomed. In India where “guest is God,” men would
greet you with bouquets of freshly picked flowers. Here, I haven’t ever really felt welcomed
anywhere I’ve gone, the exception actually being market day when someone
offered me a milk crate as a seat outside a shop and a free cup of red jell-o
(LOL). Even Amalia just orders me around
rudely. I know she has a no-nonsense
attitude that is probably quite common for the Bolivian campo (countryside)
where you have to be tough, else perish.
And while she also has little patience for what she may perceive as my
high maintenance tendencies, I am also becoming less tolerant of struggles in
Bolivia. This place has tested me in
every conceivable way – physically, mentally, emotionally, especially my
patience and perseverance. More often
than not, I’ve felt ready to throw in the towel on Bolivia, from the attempted
robbery to horrible Spanish classes to now this experience, I’ve really wanted
to move on – to where, I haven’t the slightest idea. In fact, I’ve already been here twice as long
as Bhutan but haven’t had a quarter of the productivity to match. I know it has to do with my wonderful hosts
in Bhutan, as working through an official channel via the government opened a
world of doors and made for great efficiency in my research. In contrast, here I am flailing around
independently trying to meet the right people and ask the right questions in a
less than helpful environment. Here I am
living with farmers where I can’t understand rural Spanish for the life of me,
to the point where sometimes I couldn’t distinguish if Amalia was speaking
Castellano (Spanish) or Aymara (indigenous) and they are very different sounding
languages, mind you. Someone once
described Aymara to me as being the German equivalent to Bolivian indigenous
languages, very harsh sounding. And the
children, albeit cute, are also nearly impossible to understand as they mumble
and slur their words. I know another
part of the problem is that I think I’ve gotten a bit too comfortable living in
the city (shameful and unexpected, I know).
It was like being thrown into another world as I entered the campo where
you have to walk hundreds of feet to the door-less outhouse, shoe the chickens
out of the bedroom, march 3.5 hours to the market where you stay less than two
hours, and just the lack of comfort in general.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s all been
overwhelming, especially when your host treats you like a burden and makes it
clear that she wants you to leave. In
fact, I felt like Amalia was just waiting for me to admit defeat. During our several days of herding cattle
(and not doing anything with quinoa), she must have asked me every ten minutes
if I was tired or my feet hurt. “It’s so
far, isn’t it?” she would comment in playful spite. When I would ask her the same questions in
return, she would always reply pompously with “no, I’m accustomed to it.” Jeez woman, I know you were born and raised
in this harsh landscape, but you don’t have to rub it in. I swear she just wants me to admit how
exhausted I am and how the Altiplano is getting the best of me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And finally, it’s quinoa
day! On my third day living with Amalia,
we finally start talking and seeing quinoa.
We spent much of Sunday morning preparing the quinoa to make peske, a traditional dish
that is essentially porridge with fresh cheese grated on top (it can also be
made with milk). We separated the grain
and leaves from the stalk, the latter two going to the animals as fodder. Then we had to wash the quinoa by hand for
close to an hour, at least 10 times, which involve scrubbing the grain,
draining the soapy saponin-filled water, and rinsing it thoroughly. We were also able to visit Amalia’s quinoa plot,
which is mostly jach’a grano variety.
She said she prefers this sweet quinoa to the “quinua picante” (spicy quinoa?
No idea) she was cultivating before because it is easier to wash. She said she had been cultivating quinoa for
three years before the PROINPA project started, but in smaller quantities
(quinoa apparently skipped a generation in her family, a testament to Pacajes
as a new expansion region). However, her
plot now cannot be more than a ¼ hectare, which she only visits four times a
year (once to sow the seeds, twice more, then finally to harvest). She claims her absence is due to the far
distance of the plot and lack of time with priority going to cattle
herding. Yet, it seems like a bit of an
illogical excuse since the plot isn’t that far compared to walking 2-3 hours to
the weekly market. She also says the
plot needs to be far because the cows will get into the grain if it’s too close
to the house, yet they have a plot of potatoes adjacent to the cows. And the contradictions continue: her and her
husband would really like a tractor to expand the area under quinoa to
eventually sell it, but they can’t afford machinery. But it seems to me that they can barely
maintain a ¼ HA, which was in shambles and overgrown with weeds (apparently no
time to weed or add manure to enrich the soil).
How could they possibly cultivate more if they don’t even seem willing
to put the effort into the existing small plot?
And I can’t figure out for the life of me how the community’s
demonstration plot looks so much better – fuller plants, fewer weeds, etc. Even her neighbor’s plot, which is adjacent
to hers, is much healthier looking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpJVDUQKBgRetziHetEK76tRkbF2fUD48dt8E4LmxymUwfgRbftTKtcYAwmmSTYGJG4Irc_IKYpt23BsD1PELK09ZhsRgFtBvNj3mFjVU6dAhNAZxrJJENxIjda2nEYolEzbNI391JYc8/s1600/DSC01525+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpJVDUQKBgRetziHetEK76tRkbF2fUD48dt8E4LmxymUwfgRbftTKtcYAwmmSTYGJG4Irc_IKYpt23BsD1PELK09ZhsRgFtBvNj3mFjVU6dAhNAZxrJJENxIjda2nEYolEzbNI391JYc8/s1600/DSC01525+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally quinoa day!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK5v4fnFJq4ntWt9RUCN0jKtSelDtq-6dzfML_uBqZvYHlQf0KNlmmBjaaFHxvmjEj8sx0pirAjQqIJ9VFYUqUD5lCjk4K65qkGoyPH5nyMHaNuU-uPxq8VINVwHnxAHQvOlO8EPkF-S70/s1600/DSC01528+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK5v4fnFJq4ntWt9RUCN0jKtSelDtq-6dzfML_uBqZvYHlQf0KNlmmBjaaFHxvmjEj8sx0pirAjQqIJ9VFYUqUD5lCjk4K65qkGoyPH5nyMHaNuU-uPxq8VINVwHnxAHQvOlO8EPkF-S70/s1600/DSC01528+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Drying meat</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgovntsQEQyPaLpidDbRYz7_0P5HiZ-GkwS7uAbqX0ZstWLzlQM9cbcM3U1zlgdMNK6W2lD4gyhGXpUjVdUOkjIkzKPypQPASR-PGEq_a5baKE7zbNG0K74HrS9shE4tAjDI1MQTssmZWzC/s1600/DSC01529+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgovntsQEQyPaLpidDbRYz7_0P5HiZ-GkwS7uAbqX0ZstWLzlQM9cbcM3U1zlgdMNK6W2lD4gyhGXpUjVdUOkjIkzKPypQPASR-PGEq_a5baKE7zbNG0K74HrS9shE4tAjDI1MQTssmZWzC/s1600/DSC01529+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sifting the quinoa</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuC5BF5UHLmgede3TIsIrP1mtZvUkytDyevX3NcUto4NU9_oSnZBn-leoY-SguqbGbyNFxdbGz3-aSvd8XHnZCBBirVi6phNiWKN2V9G4PVQTs8Z6JsWdygX6OQVP4lYWfYPOpOfQjD-nk/s1600/DSC01540+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuC5BF5UHLmgede3TIsIrP1mtZvUkytDyevX3NcUto4NU9_oSnZBn-leoY-SguqbGbyNFxdbGz3-aSvd8XHnZCBBirVi6phNiWKN2V9G4PVQTs8Z6JsWdygX6OQVP4lYWfYPOpOfQjD-nk/s1600/DSC01540+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Washing off the saponin (soapy-like resin on the outside)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBO6_IfElmQXlr4ggeUV3vn7vvEoA3VZ01dBiIczuy2Bk6J5HqDUpxXKUzgo-g_NhMm7RcsvMOwroG-g4Jfv377kVzided2mBgxnDU1Vnqu0G5TQUmpl3vZJqIbnzQ092USEacRIptYTb/s1600/DSC01543+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBO6_IfElmQXlr4ggeUV3vn7vvEoA3VZ01dBiIczuy2Bk6J5HqDUpxXKUzgo-g_NhMm7RcsvMOwroG-g4Jfv377kVzided2mBgxnDU1Vnqu0G5TQUmpl3vZJqIbnzQ092USEacRIptYTb/s1600/DSC01543+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Laying it out to dry</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Poor piggy who doesn't know his Carnaval fate</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Toilet"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amalia in her weedy quinoa field</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TiImDCvixddzFSBob1HHZwAYHDaToZFcRrsK198vPCQn2LI6EuGBxXxvMuj5bSGsXo-jFkQipIWg24P8STMWuO6CMP48cN0eBQCbB1OeqXUUvYALtlEMFHX4NH0iDJfseFIeAX2N9NE0/s1600/DSC01561+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TiImDCvixddzFSBob1HHZwAYHDaToZFcRrsK198vPCQn2LI6EuGBxXxvMuj5bSGsXo-jFkQipIWg24P8STMWuO6CMP48cN0eBQCbB1OeqXUUvYALtlEMFHX4NH0iDJfseFIeAX2N9NE0/s1600/DSC01561+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Birds are a huge quinoa pest</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhoZZeCmkTayv6HBQyLweVwo8pfYfGvPm7JFGTMPXBHBBbFI8u-VXYp1aO5X7CSTju9w5sOCAWc0ZKAcoF5SUrI4qdXOggM1C5VcP2DTTFcjld3vT1vx3K50B-oh_MZyOflnfQvnCr7Noq/s1600/DSC01564+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhoZZeCmkTayv6HBQyLweVwo8pfYfGvPm7JFGTMPXBHBBbFI8u-VXYp1aO5X7CSTju9w5sOCAWc0ZKAcoF5SUrI4qdXOggM1C5VcP2DTTFcjld3vT1vx3K50B-oh_MZyOflnfQvnCr7Noq/s1600/DSC01564+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Community plot</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAinpmG-EkygvlUBzkvqWRHGDNBtTqUIFOFU46nBqqRjY-p6QvrDTK5fGhdR1uj1Q1hWNB1vjlEguOLGIWGfV5_b8Q01Pszr40-M5OmRf4xIyw9RJrlIdEYuToJzWy3JRtBsIYthdlAxya/s1600/DSC01571+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAinpmG-EkygvlUBzkvqWRHGDNBtTqUIFOFU46nBqqRjY-p6QvrDTK5fGhdR1uj1Q1hWNB1vjlEguOLGIWGfV5_b8Q01Pszr40-M5OmRf4xIyw9RJrlIdEYuToJzWy3JRtBsIYthdlAxya/s1600/DSC01571+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7MnjP8QmwjgBzm83m42-IO6Y1p035STUXs53f3lOhK5VNuFIFTwp_8vPIpp9-pvnbxK5mQpraI4BVlLt-_Hmbyh-s2wz7XGGiYLb6QkAOxWKXB6PB3wDlEBBoEBMpdBDOpkHtJnmM-fhj/s1600/DSC01572+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7MnjP8QmwjgBzm83m42-IO6Y1p035STUXs53f3lOhK5VNuFIFTwp_8vPIpp9-pvnbxK5mQpraI4BVlLt-_Hmbyh-s2wz7XGGiYLb6QkAOxWKXB6PB3wDlEBBoEBMpdBDOpkHtJnmM-fhj/s1600/DSC01572+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amalia casually uprooting a tree to use as firewood to make the peske (quinoa porridge) in a mud oven</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepjKk9eNC9ruPVqRi1hTrK3p9NJdSkkM-Lt3SfcTvhLQkOJ9MVP1G8FoBADMg9aXWWm3nMMKirFoeLOXQbHrz7hjd-ktBKQzqgnTR1Urye6P72cdnGb8WUa41vQ09wYWQrfZRWr9FbRHM/s1600/DSC01573+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepjKk9eNC9ruPVqRi1hTrK3p9NJdSkkM-Lt3SfcTvhLQkOJ9MVP1G8FoBADMg9aXWWm3nMMKirFoeLOXQbHrz7hjd-ktBKQzqgnTR1Urye6P72cdnGb8WUa41vQ09wYWQrfZRWr9FbRHM/s1600/DSC01573+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BT5heJhpxakVm9gnFYIfsIt7D_R0VbuMsFZSs-MCHpwgrLk5mS_OhT_7FrLGzrUZHqhjA8plOUuvJcsyvQtQ4hMvjupM_vddMMJRVQW1Eck2fA7WRHuroSnjUUxyu7MtHAa6G1iZ0gPB/s1600/DSC01574+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0BT5heJhpxakVm9gnFYIfsIt7D_R0VbuMsFZSs-MCHpwgrLk5mS_OhT_7FrLGzrUZHqhjA8plOUuvJcsyvQtQ4hMvjupM_vddMMJRVQW1Eck2fA7WRHuroSnjUUxyu7MtHAa6G1iZ0gPB/s1600/DSC01574+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvQQn_WCO1O9O-K3eMZIYifidvyBcC10OlsmrfE8sngdTeK39_Thc5_HFQsDiauNZv5xFMuQBp_YHwaKnAsS3WKLLHutDLhEPFV3P05zwW_4EoJry58x-9NrrLTEwLUlUpN0sZ3GUHF6X/s1600/DSC01575+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTvQQn_WCO1O9O-K3eMZIYifidvyBcC10OlsmrfE8sngdTeK39_Thc5_HFQsDiauNZv5xFMuQBp_YHwaKnAsS3WKLLHutDLhEPFV3P05zwW_4EoJry58x-9NrrLTEwLUlUpN0sZ3GUHF6X/s1600/DSC01575+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisAQPRKEflPMb5FzN-jlawPn3G8sLBjJfQbHokTN8KcItOMJO3Vz39HR3WhN6F-vp_hklUt9RJp7yx2uo3HFyoQgdZx21OcwXl31WSLXBd7eSOrh_o7ycZTIRjONOqaHq8cDJcauWVkH_q/s1600/DSC01577+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisAQPRKEflPMb5FzN-jlawPn3G8sLBjJfQbHokTN8KcItOMJO3Vz39HR3WhN6F-vp_hklUt9RJp7yx2uo3HFyoQgdZx21OcwXl31WSLXBd7eSOrh_o7ycZTIRjONOqaHq8cDJcauWVkH_q/s1600/DSC01577+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My shining Cholita moment with Amalia's awayu blanket </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikiYMhP1cNWsoKOgM9hUbbNv1UdIt_HtPYk_L0VI5Ndrd8wHaCREwJ2a2wh__d7zoyvF0tZ8t-iJfgYaP7zBmeo8X1hPl6SfQR3irCZG_sY2fLOnny1odJ7vODIgD7W3JQcF0Hswp2HWKS/s1600/DSC01578+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikiYMhP1cNWsoKOgM9hUbbNv1UdIt_HtPYk_L0VI5Ndrd8wHaCREwJ2a2wh__d7zoyvF0tZ8t-iJfgYaP7zBmeo8X1hPl6SfQR3irCZG_sY2fLOnny1odJ7vODIgD7W3JQcF0Hswp2HWKS/s1600/DSC01578+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdqx2o4G1ea2LHINHhadjqsAFLn0ihMSvNr-1muoAUUhITaApb_0iJIyBfRyQ8STcl6x6f48wp9Bcc09YX6Wi3aSFbpZrvfmlrCXfC0ASokZZ-wvDTVNiRMRPb_Q3-oys0-SqE9EF-CeHX/s1600/DSC01579+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdqx2o4G1ea2LHINHhadjqsAFLn0ihMSvNr-1muoAUUhITaApb_0iJIyBfRyQ8STcl6x6f48wp9Bcc09YX6Wi3aSFbpZrvfmlrCXfC0ASokZZ-wvDTVNiRMRPb_Q3-oys0-SqE9EF-CeHX/s1600/DSC01579+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Making peske</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiFQFJ4VQ90WQE8dpPoFUC2VOK0kC7m_lSN6X_teth-OzIehVRGq-LpPLp-_VsC_1I71txIwEhG3O2n68NrwQlCAUAY_SyvO8hyKC5l-g4JVudtETePi2wYynnvI6oBaoBvW8OXZxWzAhb/s1600/DSC01580+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiFQFJ4VQ90WQE8dpPoFUC2VOK0kC7m_lSN6X_teth-OzIehVRGq-LpPLp-_VsC_1I71txIwEhG3O2n68NrwQlCAUAY_SyvO8hyKC5l-g4JVudtETePi2wYynnvI6oBaoBvW8OXZxWzAhb/s1600/DSC01580+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Home for a few days</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeXqBP4xZi19_HzlSLEaN725ZYMXWKvNYHt4tI5QQ3dZR_VBMirk9YQ-KvRdzTRWd9xEV0pRDYgpMV1mleBfsjeLCzzj65JLKvenSM4iv5KlGdxNjQJYhOJ-x_m2MffZTfigVWBa5czPI/s1600/DSC01583+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeXqBP4xZi19_HzlSLEaN725ZYMXWKvNYHt4tI5QQ3dZR_VBMirk9YQ-KvRdzTRWd9xEV0pRDYgpMV1mleBfsjeLCzzj65JLKvenSM4iv5KlGdxNjQJYhOJ-x_m2MffZTfigVWBa5czPI/s1600/DSC01583+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBg6_rT10uIMz9JdpVvFdY9wHlK_bmnut0X4F6l-A_J1ZtFE78RdQ4Dvg-PGYm5x92pB41xFSV0y1hUcFhZe4z-1e1b8p7PdPUsiDKRpVEIb1NrXSv-STjLoF7X4qBqKawu1Qiua3OabqO/s1600/DSC01587+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBg6_rT10uIMz9JdpVvFdY9wHlK_bmnut0X4F6l-A_J1ZtFE78RdQ4Dvg-PGYm5x92pB41xFSV0y1hUcFhZe4z-1e1b8p7PdPUsiDKRpVEIb1NrXSv-STjLoF7X4qBqKawu1Qiua3OabqO/s1600/DSC01587+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She's clearly enthusiastic about taking pictures with me ;)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQsWoj7b28aoO6hyJR-Xxujf_8D9_Y3ghVHge-a1iURnNn_ZRDsoN0QJUnizfyyMngZFn5-HKbkBP0NA02xRq3qpO770sdTZvb6Wk4-psMJNfxm66E4-sriIHzHUAQkuNM7y6ZUzE9wV_/s1600/DSC01588+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQsWoj7b28aoO6hyJR-Xxujf_8D9_Y3ghVHge-a1iURnNn_ZRDsoN0QJUnizfyyMngZFn5-HKbkBP0NA02xRq3qpO770sdTZvb6Wk4-psMJNfxm66E4-sriIHzHUAQkuNM7y6ZUzE9wV_/s1600/DSC01588+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That's better :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkhJG32m9DWy-VeAjtkAsMPo4hDxB4gvIRAd-BfmGeDNotvhBmZpxK0mJ3QBSYczNsrliXHfmC7ad4jP2axY0IopY31AqWLbrmUmW4RPKNqLr3V1WADali58U4PzTrmVNf0gmscQPvLZtT/s1600/DSC01589+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkhJG32m9DWy-VeAjtkAsMPo4hDxB4gvIRAd-BfmGeDNotvhBmZpxK0mJ3QBSYczNsrliXHfmC7ad4jP2axY0IopY31AqWLbrmUmW4RPKNqLr3V1WADali58U4PzTrmVNf0gmscQPvLZtT/s1600/DSC01589+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Peske (quinoa porridge) for dinner</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nomming with cheese</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other side notes: it
appears that the farmers in Pacajes change where they cultivate the quinoa each
yet, as there are remnants of fields past with dried quinoa stalks protruding
from the ground, but there doesn’t seem to be a set field rotation. I also wanted to see the community oven, but
apparently the village authority has the key, so it can’t be used by just
anyone at any time (and I think he lives in La Paz, three hours away,
weird…). I’ve been trying to ask people
I meet in Bolivia about their thoughts on Evo Morales and his administration,
and Amalia said she is happy with this government because of the support they
give to the elderly. She and her husband
like working with PROINPA because of the training and support they receive,
however, they seem unsure about selling quinoa in the future because of the perceived
lack of markets (e.g. apparently local people don’t want to buy it because it’s
expensive). When I asked her and her
husband about their thoughts on the recent quinoa boom, although they felt that
the UN’s International Year of the Quinoa didn’t affect them, they are still
enthusiastic because of the high prices.
At home, they tend to use quinoa for soup and occasionally for peske or
espina, though it was funny because neither of the kids seemed to like the quinoa
porridge and it was a struggle getting them to finish their dinner. However, I learned that they are only able to
eat quinoa once a month or so because they simply don’t produce it in large
enough volumes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I attempted a second
interview with Amalia one day when we were out herding the cattle. It was like pulling teeth – worse than the
first time. At one point, she literally
got up and walked away to check on the cows and sat down elsewhere in the
middle of our conversation. I really
didn’t feel like she wanted to talk to me the entire time. And when she did talk to me, it was brusque
and impolite: “water, now,” she would bark or she would talk down to me,
sometimes shouting at me as if I was stupid.
I found her to be intimidating, especially when I was trying to
communicate in my struggling Spanish. I
guess this is what it feels like to not have the linguistic upper hand as I’ve
had in the past (where I guess everyone accommodated me with broken
English). Working with impatient people,
however, has the plus side of making me want to be a more patient person in
general. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the final day, in
between my napping in the fields and trudging around, I went with
seven-year-old Victoria to harvest some potatoes from a neighbor’s plot. It was amazing hearing her describe which
potatoes to pick, as she knew how to qualify the mature and good quality
ones. We took them to a small
puddle-like pond to wash, though I’m not sure washing is the correct term as
there was nothing clean about it. We
rubbed dirt off the potatoes as sheep manure floated inches away. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We were washing potatoes in water that had feces. Nice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Colorful native potatoes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And while I don’t generally like small
children, I’ve really taken to David and Victoria (when David isn’t shining a
laser in my eye and Victoria isn’t rummaging through my belongings). But they really are adorable, helpful,
obedient, and good-natured children – for example, taking the cows out to graze
in their mother’s absence or fetching anything at her beck and call. They were even helpful when we came across a
neighbor slaughtering a sheep: Victoria went to the pond with her mother to
wash out the stomach and David helped as the neighbor disemboweled the
carcass. This really should have grossed
me out, but it was the first time I’ve ever seen someone skin and dismember an
animal, so it was fascinating more than anything! Warning – <b>these photos are graphic.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Slaughtering a sheep</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Disemboweling it</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggwAK3UCPZFy9BTvK7KaxrCdErc-WD-EF9FporeTMOHV9Jb1MaMmMXR-iMCDDci0kW35t9Hq5z_ZtWA7AJbPf28Q6EA-g65aR6_CxRt0Dx3x90y3nwNiFZDTj8ekH91bQc_8Iq3G3KHl9u/s1600/DSC01491+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggwAK3UCPZFy9BTvK7KaxrCdErc-WD-EF9FporeTMOHV9Jb1MaMmMXR-iMCDDci0kW35t9Hq5z_ZtWA7AJbPf28Q6EA-g65aR6_CxRt0Dx3x90y3nwNiFZDTj8ekH91bQc_8Iq3G3KHl9u/s1600/DSC01491+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Somehow this didn't gross me out</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-toT_Gn-atkgs8Q6g7iKPUwh8SAAAX97fKRSnRBnzGjQybWphm2-WEIU-kXjHtPo31O4yQKkz2TYRzGSJoj3m40mnzTktubolYSbq1Ni-UVxDnAT1mDk4O0zInOWw1M07UdJ5qBuFMmk/s1600/DSC01492+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-toT_Gn-atkgs8Q6g7iKPUwh8SAAAX97fKRSnRBnzGjQybWphm2-WEIU-kXjHtPo31O4yQKkz2TYRzGSJoj3m40mnzTktubolYSbq1Ni-UVxDnAT1mDk4O0zInOWw1M07UdJ5qBuFMmk/s1600/DSC01492+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The cows were also curious ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amalia and Victoria washing the intestines</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wrapping up in the innards</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As my time with Amalia
and her family was coming to an end, I was eager to get back to La Paz. Unfortunately, the farmstay just wasn’t what
I had hoped it would be. But I know the
challenges are good for me – after all, what would this year be if it was all
rainbows and butterflies? Fortunately, I
wrapped up my visit to Pacajes with an informative interview with one of
Amalia’s neighbors, a sixty-two year old named Oscar Apulaca. Oscar was heading back to La Paz too, so Amalia
dropped me at his house in the village so we could go together (our fourth time
fording the river and you’d think it would get easier each time, but alas, no
such luck). I learned more from Oscar in
a half hour than I did from Amalia in four days, maybe because of his friendly
disposition and his more articulate Spanish.
The father of six children, he used to work for a private business
exporting Soy in Santa Cruz, which apparently paid very well. He is now retired and chose to move back to
the village where he was born and raised.
When I inquired about his farm, instead of measuring his plot-size in
acres or hectares, he commented on how it takes three hours to plow with a
tractor (who knows how much that is in area units…). Oscar is renting a tractor for plowing and
preparing compost from animal manure, which he buys from neighbors, and sprays
his quinoa fields with natural pesticide twice a season. He seems very motivated (compared to Amalia),
especially because he wasn’t sowing anything before the past few years. He also stressed how much he wants the community
flourmill, so they can increase the amount of quinoa under cultivation and sell
both grain and flour. Now he claims to
use the quinoa he grows for everything from peske to espina, cookies, and
cakes. He likes working with PROINPA
because of the useful seminars and training courses, which allow the community
to learn and apply the knowledge. Moreover,
he thought the International Year of the Quinoa was good because the increased
attention also meant more help from NGOs with trainings. According to Oscar, more consumers in the US,
EU, and other places buying Bolivian quinoa is a good thing because of the
markets – they want to sell it and preferably without intermediaries. He also feels that his community has more
than enough arable land to expand quinoa cultivation but the problem is that
there isn’t adequate technology and mechanization. Last year, he rented a tractor from the local
Coro Coro municipality, but noted how it would be ideal if the community owned
one, especially because he used to operate tractors in Santa Cruz, cultivating
thousands of hectares of soy, owned by private businesses. Interestingly, he noted how 600 hectares of
soy can be sprayed in a day using modern tractors in the eastern part of the
country – what a contrast to the Altiplano in the west! And while Coro Coro has ten tractors, they
are apparently poorly maintained and lack a schedule for sharing among
communities. It costs about 90 Bs ($13)
per hour to rent from the government. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Regarding politics,
Oscar claims to approve of Evo Morales because of the support he has given the
countryside but also dislikes how Evo does not support private businesses. He noted, however, how many years before Evo,
Bolivia was filled with military dictatorships and was so unsafe that people
couldn’t even congregate in public without threats of violent crowd
control. It was a time of oppressive
regimes, so at least under Evo, Bolivia is now a participatory democracy. Yet we also discussed that because Evo
doesn’t have any legitimate competition for the next presidential election – is
it really a democracy? Moreover, Oscar
feels that the various local development projects are poorly designed/managed
since the directors don’t actually visit the site and some plans are based on
other areas, which are irrelevant to Pacajes.
Oscar wants local development projects with few communities where the
money from the state comes direct because no there is so much corruption at the
municipal level that valuable funds are lost.
I was grateful for Oscar’s willingness to talk with me and his company
as we took the three hour bumpy bus ride back to La Paz, just in time for my
meeting with the tour company La Paz on Foot regarding a farmstay visit to Lake
Titicaca. More on this to come!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In general, she didn't like having her photo taken, with reluctance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The room where all five of us slept</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chunos or freeze dried potates...3-4 years worth. This room smelled wonderful. JK because chunos kind of smell like cow manure</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The chancho or pig, will be slaughtered in a few weeks for Carnaval</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">David playing on the pipeline that transports gas between Chile to Bolivia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A neighbor lighting a fire to ward off the rains</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Victoria being a boss and herding the cows</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Storms rolling in</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Victoria feeding the chickens</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They all look at you when you pass by</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So cute...homestay siblings</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Victoria</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She liked to wear my raincoat</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Family</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">David with his Hannah Montana backpack harassing the calves</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cRwufvQ_OcJQ_s2mc8d4qd3xwqfhvNJANC3OvMQG-Q_LPW2bsypwXFNVU5VkMi72mcDhyphenhypheni4UttXgjRPCJ0DPtM3ZtY_dmDaFgehKtCOKEpjH4EMJ9vJTRqS2w9frseByDR6myGAZnBl6/s1600/DSC01479+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1cRwufvQ_OcJQ_s2mc8d4qd3xwqfhvNJANC3OvMQG-Q_LPW2bsypwXFNVU5VkMi72mcDhyphenhypheni4UttXgjRPCJ0DPtM3ZtY_dmDaFgehKtCOKEpjH4EMJ9vJTRqS2w9frseByDR6myGAZnBl6/s1600/DSC01479+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Until the cows come home </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEive5FmTvxv6Ahlq18qCNkDitdU-kiuvbSKLZPbPqxDivJuPK5va-X3wwzbm3ViFhjCkOREBvmkol5LGDIKi8KJ1gXpAZSGsZw9tNruAuDHSOhoqaKuNr7apWHMLgWq_q46K7GjPMPuaRL3/s1600/DSC01508+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEive5FmTvxv6Ahlq18qCNkDitdU-kiuvbSKLZPbPqxDivJuPK5va-X3wwzbm3ViFhjCkOREBvmkol5LGDIKi8KJ1gXpAZSGsZw9tNruAuDHSOhoqaKuNr7apWHMLgWq_q46K7GjPMPuaRL3/s1600/DSC01508+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunset over the Altiplano</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Janko Saya was the name of the indigenous community</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Third departmental congress of quinoa producers in La Paz</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Coro Coro, Bolivia-17.1666667 -68.449999999999989-17.1744602 -68.460084999999992 -17.158873200000002 -68.439914999999985tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-59032339596606502332014-02-01T09:22:00.000-08:002014-04-11T02:11:53.073-07:00Cooking with Quinoa<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/almond-cranberry-quinoa-cookies-646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7PwrjRzbZKYVd9FZzTFX4Fw-wSqeWZ8mK8R1CI_EqG8yuYAotCJqbO6TYtNp7W09ywRgQEGo1pIf_cvfmi9RtyGlKjwWYzej41vxsEacEOWCK6wKDrbR1AduHue526igsIluVxoSCRMLX/s1600/DSC03129+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7PwrjRzbZKYVd9FZzTFX4Fw-wSqeWZ8mK8R1CI_EqG8yuYAotCJqbO6TYtNp7W09ywRgQEGo1pIf_cvfmi9RtyGlKjwWYzej41vxsEacEOWCK6wKDrbR1AduHue526igsIluVxoSCRMLX/s1600/DSC03129+(800x600).jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I haven’t yet done a
post on cooking, which seems downright wrong since the title of my Watson is
“The Future of Food…” yada yada.
Although it’s the future of food in the agricultural sense, if I didn’t
pursue at least some cooking this year, it really would be a shame (though I’ve
certainly done my fair share of eating!).
So I will dedicate this post to my cooking adventures in La Paz, as well
as providing information on cooking with quinoa more specifically (Bolivia is
the number one producer of quinoa in the world and there are more than 3,000
native varieties here!). So the truth
is, I like to think that I come from a “family of cooks”: my mom and sister are
divine chefs and cooking/eating is something that definitely brings my family
together, in addition to religiously watching the Food Network. Yet, I myself am not a cook, though maybe I’m
becoming one (which is hopeful for my future once I have to start being a real person,
ha)! Let me explain. Growing up, my mom would do most of the
cooking in the house, while my sister was her de facto sous chef. I would occasionally watch them mull about
the kitchen, whipping up delectable concoctions out of the fridge and pantry
and onto the stovetop and into the oven.
When we were younger, my sister would do pretend cooking shows with me
as her audience – she was downright determined to teach her big sister how to
cook. However, I actually didn’t
participate much. Fast forward to
college: living at Hamilton and being on a full meal plan meant that my friends
and I could indulge in the campus dining hall three or more times a day,
effectively on an unlimited basis. While
the food at college became repetitive at times, it was generally of very high
quality, using fresh, local ingredients where possible, thanks to our campus
dining services </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bon Appetit</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which
actually prides themselves on their sustainability ethos. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I
never really had much of a reason to cook for myself. In Tanzania, I would help my </span>homestay<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> mom
Helen and her daughter Lina prepare meals, mostly by chopping vegetables
etc. In India, wow, would I have loved
to learn how to make authentic Indian food!
But alas, the “Guest is God” motto is alive and well – people I stayed
with would refuse my help and probably thought it blasphemous that a guest
wanted to do work around the house or in the kitchen. So my cooking adventures in India merely
amounted to watching closely as women mixed curries, vegetables, and </span>dal<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> to
frying pans, usually with a side of rice.
Fortunately, I was able to learn how to make </span>roti<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">/chapatti (Indian
</span>flatbread<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">) and did some of my own cooking in </span>Ladakh<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> where I had access to a
kitchen. Beyond this, however, I haven’t
cooked nearly as much as I’ve eaten this year.
But now in Bolivia, I have access to a kitchen again and have been doing
more cooking in the last three weeks than the last seven months combined. It’s really liberating and quite a stress
relief as I find myself struggling with the language, city life, and other
cultural norms on a daily basis. So what
have I been whipping up in the kitchen, you ask? I think and hope that I would make my cooking
inspirations (my mom and sister) proud!
A sample of some things I've made:</span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Quinoa cookies using quinoa flour (recipe
from the farming communities in Pacajes)<o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Roasted carrot and red quinoa salad (</span><span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-carrot-and-red-quinoa-salad"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-carrot-and-red-quinoa-salad</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">)</span></span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Cnd0KAm0FnLn8_X3xZU5nrrPxfEWe-p4Imwgv1dV8ucjCLdS8PNqJmlGBs-kHWqw171kVCXycqKFxsUoLwAgqlklaaBQ1engTyAEFjOSg8e5kMf-XzU-enjUAMZ4ZmlN31ddQTIrmpER/s1600/DSC03813.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5Cnd0KAm0FnLn8_X3xZU5nrrPxfEWe-p4Imwgv1dV8ucjCLdS8PNqJmlGBs-kHWqw171kVCXycqKFxsUoLwAgqlklaaBQ1engTyAEFjOSg8e5kMf-XzU-enjUAMZ4ZmlN31ddQTIrmpER/s1600/DSC03813.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vegetable soup with stock from scratch and
homemade tomato paste <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Banana bread with half quinoa flour (</span><span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://carolbancroft.hubpages.com/hub/Quick_Breads_Easy_Banana_Bread_Recipe"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">http://carolbancroft.hubpages.com/hub/Quick_Breads_Easy_Banana_Bread_Recipe</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">) <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="ES-BO" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Banana oatmeal pancakes (</span><span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/oatmeal-pancakes-ii/"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">http://allrecipes.com/recipe/oatmeal-pancakes-ii/</span></a></span><span lang="ES-BO" style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">) <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Oatmeal raisin cookies with part quinoa
flour (</span><span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Healthy-Oatmeal-Cookies-Martha-Stewart-192023?columns=4&position=2%2F58"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Healthy-Oatmeal-Cookies-Martha-Stewart-192023?columns=4&position=2%2F58</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">) <o:p></o:p></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Walnut parsley pesto (</span><span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/walnut_parsley_pesto/"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/walnut_parsley_pesto/</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">)</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">[Stock photo]</span></span></div>
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<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Almond Cranberry Quinoa Cookies (with cooked quinoa!) (</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/almond-cranberry-quinoa-cookies)</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/almond-cranberry-quinoa-cookies-646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://www.bonappetit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/almond-cranberry-quinoa-cookies-646.jpg" height="227" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">[stock photo]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I’ve really been
having a fun time experimenting in the kitchen, especially with quinoa. Although it’s a bit expensive here (compared
to other staples such as rice – it can be 4x as costly). However, quinoa at home can run $5-7 a pound,
whereas here, it is only about $3/lb. As
I have explained in other posts, quinoa is a ridiculously nutritious food and a
favorite for many vegetarians and vegans.
Here are some quick facts about quinoa, a “super food” that has been
dubbed one of the world’s healthiest foods and was also proposed by NASA as a
long duration in-flight food (<span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://naturalactives.com/quinoa-from-the-incas-to-nasa/"><span lang="EN-US">http://naturalactives.com/quinoa-from-the-incas-to-nasa/</span></a></span>):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 41.2pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A complete
protein with all 20 essential amino acids<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 41.2pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->High in
fiber<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Gluten-free
(and no recorded allergies)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Low in
cholesterol<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 41.2pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->High in
minerals such as iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and manganese<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 41.2pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->High in
vitamins such as B1, B2, and B6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And here is some
information from the Andean Naturals website (<span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://www.andeannaturals.com/faq"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.andeannaturals.com/faq</span></a></span>) about cooking quinoa, which is actually a
seed/pseudo-grain/pseudo-cereal:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<b>How do
you cook quinoa?</b> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Good news! If you know how to cook rice, you
already know how to cook quinoa! Cook just like you would rice (you can even
use a Rice Cooker). Combine 2 parts of water to 1 part quinoa in a pot with a
dash of salt. Bring to boil, then lower the fire to a simmer. Set the timer for
15 minutes and when it rings you’re done! You can fluff with a fork and then
let the quinoa rest in the covered pot while you get the rest of your meal put
together. We strongly encourage pre toasting the quinoa in a pan before adding
the water. It makes a fluffier, tastier, slightly nuttier and sweeter quinoa.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why does my quinoa cook unevenly?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you see some seeds that have not “popped”
and are crunchy while the rest is soft, you most likely have a quinoa that has
not been graded properly. We size select all our quinoa, however there is
quinoa in the market which is mill-grade. This quinoa has multiple sizes in it
and is meant for making flour or being used in long-cooking dishes. This quinoa
is still nutritious, you just need to cook it longer for all seeds to open
properly. Traditionally, quinoa growers
pre-toast their seeds so that they will open more evenly and more fully, giving
their quinoa a fluffier appearance.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How do I know if the quinoa I
have is well washed (saponin)?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The best test is to put a couple of tablespoons
of quinoa in a tall glass. Add some cold water and then shake vigorously for 15
seconds. Set it down on a table. If you see more than an inch of foam then the
quina you have has not been properly washed. This is not a big issue: simply
take the product, place it in a fine sieve and rinse it under plenty of water.
Even better, let it soak overnight and then rinse it prior to cooking.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andean Naturals’ quinoa is tested for saponin 3
times: once after rubbing the outer coating off, then after it is washed and
dried and finally at the end of the process, once it is packed.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What’s the difference between
white, red and black quinoa?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">White, Golden or “Ivory” quinoa is the most
common. Of the entire crop planted, about 80% of it is white, 15% red and 5%
black. White is further separated into Royal and Common. Royal is used for
side-dishes where a tasty, large-seed with fluffy texture is sought after.
Common may cook unevenly and takes closer to 20 minutes to cook and is
preferred for soups or milling applications.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Red quinoa also takes 20 minutes to cook and is
often used as a highlight seed- mixed in with brown rice for example. It can
also be used as a side dish and is a favorite in cold salads. Red quinoa is
also the best for popping and eating as a cold cereal.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Black quinoa is the rarest of all quinoas and
also the one with the most fiber, protein and antioxidants. Native growers
consider it a medicine. It is often blended with other grains and seeds or used
on top of salads.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />And what would a
cooking post be without a description of the local cuisine? To be honest, I don’t really like the food in
Bolivia. I’ve already described apthapi,
the traditional indigenous “banquet” in which the Cholitas empty out the
contents of their awayus (woolen blankets) for all to share. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTvqYSmDSkIA4hD2jPZV1ts8O1m4tUF_K48ZlDbg_vylBsxf9gfggI0otGVyYRRssb4-2-7gCxCV_feO-55Dl-hjD7sPBl92-oMZD0J0kX80xrg620Qh8XlybH5sJfVPZXT5ysEd405JE/s1600/DSC01044+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTvqYSmDSkIA4hD2jPZV1ts8O1m4tUF_K48ZlDbg_vylBsxf9gfggI0otGVyYRRssb4-2-7gCxCV_feO-55Dl-hjD7sPBl92-oMZD0J0kX80xrg620Qh8XlybH5sJfVPZXT5ysEd405JE/s1600/DSC01044+(800x600).jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJpQW4BwY4rRH0fvuBykhvS8Gfhq78kPxaoL8RX6SZ3q8Cr0-EaEIjZJfqAJdUBkklwrsUWT-9HPgLmQw3rpVRxjbcUR9Tfiq0mzuE2HeaSX5zyX-iRASP0yJC2fbWMQ028qo8_t2sZ7sK/s1600/DSC00986+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJpQW4BwY4rRH0fvuBykhvS8Gfhq78kPxaoL8RX6SZ3q8Cr0-EaEIjZJfqAJdUBkklwrsUWT-9HPgLmQw3rpVRxjbcUR9Tfiq0mzuE2HeaSX5zyX-iRASP0yJC2fbWMQ028qo8_t2sZ7sK/s1600/DSC00986+(600x800).jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Bolivian Altiplano, including La Paz, is
very much a meat and potatoes food culture.
Think potatoes in all shapes, sizes, and colors, which can be found at
the endless open air markets. Some look
like cat poop, as one of my tour guides once described it. However, the most popular seem to be white
potatoes and chunos (freeze dried potatoes, usually brownish). </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Add a hunk of meat, such as chicken, lamb, or
beef, and maybe some sauce and/or rice. For
instance, the ever popular plato paceno (translated to “local dish”) is just
this. It’s not very exciting, but it’s
starchy and filling. I tried something
called Falso Conejo (false rabbit), which was a nice cut of steak served with a
creamy and slightly spicy sauce, rice, one white potato, and a few chunos. It was actually pretty good. Otherwise, the saltenas, which are basically
pockets filled with meat, potatoes, few vegetables and drippy sauce are a popular mid
morning snack - think Bolivian version of an Indian samosa. One can find them on
almost any street corner, often being sold by a friendly Cholita from a food
cart. Tucumanas are the more artisanally made pockets, whereas saltenas are very uniform-looking and probably massed produced in a factory somewhere in La Paz. </span><br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014 -16.4990099 -68.146248000000014tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-41999910172923340762014-02-01T08:20:00.000-08:002014-04-10T09:22:15.406-07:00Food Security and Adaptation to Climate Change: Quinoa Project with PROINPA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I thought I should dedicate
an entire post to the organization I am currently working with. PROINPA stands for the Promotion and
Investigation of Andean Products. Their
mission is:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“To promote the conservation and sustainable
use of genetic resources, food sovereignty and security, competitiveness in
agriculture and livestock production that benefits farmers, the agricultural
sector and society as a whole, through research and technological innovation.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">PROINPA uses <i>“an approach of
innovation systems that encourages stakeholder participation, strategic
alliances and target impact…implemented in partnership with local organizations
(unions, farmer associations etc.), local governments, and organizations
(government and non-government).
Depending on the demand, projects focus on recovering, creating and
promoting technology and encouraging small businesses as a mechanism to link
small farmers with agro-industry and the market.”</i> Moreover, <i>“Through
research and diffusion of technology projects, PROINPA works directly with more
than 15,000 farmers and indirectly with more than 40,000 in 85
municipalities. The direct benefits for
farmers include: strengthening their knowledge base, attitudes and practices,
as well as increase of their incomes.”</i>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They have research
areas in integrated crop management (ICM with integrated pest management,
microbiology for agricultural bio-inputs, sustainable soil management, plant
breeding, and harvest and post-harvest), agro-industry (“research studies focus
on generate post-harvest and industrialization technologies that help the
farmers produce fresh and processed goods based on the agri-biodiversity”), and
socioeconomy (“research focuses on developing methodologies to enhance the
efficiency of participatory research and technology diffusion, the
strengthening of farmers organizations, the formation of microenterprises and
farmer-market links”). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From their literature,
I also learned that:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Bolivia is one of the world’s 15 megadiverse
countries, containing a genetic reserve that is enormously important for food
sovereignty and security, and the development of both Bolivia and humanity as a
whole.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Management, conservation and research of
genetic resources is carried out within the framework of the Bolivian State
policies. In this sense, two
complementary methodologies are applied: in situ and ex situ.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The strengthening of in situ conservation
depends on three levels:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Socio-cultural, seeking to respect and value
central aspects and traditions related to biodiversity<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Environmental, promoting the respect use of
water, land and ecological farming, and strengthening the relationship between
human beings and their environment<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Economical, generating added value to
biodiversity and developing local business with market links<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ex situ conservation includes research studies
into genetic diversity, gene banks, conservation and protection, building up
core collections, bioprospection and developing conservation techniques.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The challenge is to use these agro-biodiversity
resources as a mechanism to alleviate rural poverty and malnutrition,
particularly in biodiversity micro-centers.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sounds pretty perfect,
right? Well the project I am working
with is equally relevant to my interests: “Food Security and Adaptation to
Climate Change” through short-cycle varieties of improved quinoa seeds
(non-GMO, using traditional breeding methods), promoting seed saving and
certified seed production, better management practices, and eventually some
commercialization after household food security of course. The short cycle varieties are important
because for climate change because the ancient varieties are neither adapted to
this area nor the timing of the rains, which have changed in the last several
years. The rains used to come in August
or September (along with some snow since the Altiplano is frigid during the
winter) and the farmers needed this precipitation for planting. Now a days, however, the rains don’t come
until November, so farmers have to plant later but still harvest in April. So these short cycle varieties are extremely
important for ensuring that farmers have a crop each year, despite erratic
weather patterns. Moreover, it is
predicted by some that the Pacajes region, currently a marginal/expansion area
for quinoa, may undergo desertification in the future, which renders quinoa an
even more crucial crop for reintroduction because of its ability to thrive in
hostile environments (dry, saline soils etc.).
For this project, PROINPA is currently working with eleven communities
(with plans for adding five more) in Jacha Suyu Pakajaqi, a part of Pacajes
province in the central Altiplano. In
many cases, farmers in this area abandoned quinoa cultivation, which has
skipped the last generation or two.
Thus, many farmers don’t know exactly how to grow it, so it’s a dynamic
exchange of indigenous knowledge from older generations and technical support
from PROINPA. It’s a four year
collaborative project with PROSUCO (Promoting Sustainability and Shared
Knowledge) as a partner agency, funded by Helvetas, a Swiss development
organization. Interestingly enough,
PROINPA didn’t choose the communities they’re working in, but rather, the
Helvetas required indigenous communities as the beneficiaries and then PROINPA
discussed with the municipality about choosing participants. I was told that there are advantages to being
labeled an indigenous community such as extra development funding from the
government (however, some don’t want this status if they held power under the
existing municipal government). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The goals of the
project include:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Improving food security of the population of Jacha Suyu Pakajaqi through agricultural systems that are resilient to climate variability and change.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Improve food availability through processes of revitalization of local agrobiodiversity and intercultural participatory innovation.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Increase consumption of foods of high nutritional value to strengthen the food consumption patterns of the population.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Increase technical capacities of local authorities and organizations to support the productive sector. </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And for the 2014
operational year, the project aims to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Reach 400
families, but this is difficult because each community only has 15-20 families
and they are very geographically spread out.
Right now, the project covers 70 hectares or 175 acres of quinoa –
mostly organic by default quinoa (traditional, non-certified) but they are
spraying chemicals in potato production, which makes certification impossible
at present<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Provide
training in complementary technologies (e.g. bio-inputs, spray backpacks), new
varieties (early/short cycle), and improved practices for production of quinoa,
native potato, cañahua , vegetables and fodder, as well as product research and
participatory innovation through knowledge exchange. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The
families should also become trained in nutritional value, new ways of preparing
food, and enterprises engaged in the production of food for consumption, which
will complement the “community school breakfast” programs with traditional,
nutritional foods. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Another
interesting facet of the project is the initiation of an information technology
system that complements local agroclimatic conditions (e.g. an alert system of
text messages regarding weather reports from local observations and
agro-meteorology stations). Currently,
PROSUCO is working on developing a project related to indigenous knowledge
called Pachagrama, which refers to a notebook system of tracking climatic
events for which farmers have to register conditions daily. Moreover, I have been told that farmers know
what kind of precipitation (e.g. rain, hail etc.) is coming by simply looking
at the clouds, so this subproject is an attempt to recuperate this indigenous
wisdom. The main challenge is going to
be how to translate this into a monitoring system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Other
cross-cutting themes of the project include gender and social equity (e.g.
ensuring the active participation of women without the exclusion of men and
also intergenerational equality through involvement of both children and older
generations – and also recognizing the importance of changing cultural norms
through promotion in younger generations) and capacity building of all
stakeholders, ranging from farming families (e.g. crops, home consumption) to
local government authorities (policies and specialized leaders). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->PROINPA
and PROSUCO are approaching the project from various standpoints: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Intercultural
(<i>“Respect their organizations , customs ,
agreements , knowledge, ancestral and local knowledge , technology and ways of
disseminating information. The integration of local / traditional knowledge
with conventional wisdom from an intercultural dialogue that promotes research
and innovation.”</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Participatory
research/innovation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Sustainable
agriculture (<i>“Construction from
agrobiodiversity and local ecosystem ( revitalization , reintroduction,
introduction of varieties , quality seed production ), integrated pest
management and soil fertility (use of locally produced bio-inputs , crop
rotation , livestock management Supplementary ) and water management practices
and land.”</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Sustainable
market dynamics<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When I asked how I
could contribute to the project, I was told that PROINPA is attempting to
understanding the contribution of quinoa (and canahua and native potatoes) to
the livelihoods of farmers, either positively or negatively, through the lens
of both natural and financial capital.
And more specifically, what the farmers are using the quinoa for since
for many communities, this is the 2<sup>nd</sup> year of production. For instance, they will gather data on the
following: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->What
percentage of the quinoa is being dedicated to seed (20% is usually sufficient),
self consumption (bread, cakes, cookies, soup, espina (Aymara cakes), pesque
drink, grain etc.), gifted, or sold (either transformed or as grain)? This
analysis will be done for each community at the family level using a sample of
all the families in each community and after this study, PROINPA will be able
to tell if there is excess to sell. For
example, consider that 50% is sold, 5% is gifted, 45% is consumed at home;
there is the need to evaluate if 45% is sufficient for each family and if 50%
is actually a surplus <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My colleague also
noted how we have to consider all aspects of food security: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Availability (depends on production practices, climate, yields etc. – focus of the project)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Use (depends on technology, ovens, mills etc. at the community level, school breakfast programs, government policies and promotional activities etc. – focus of the project)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Access (in the future, we hope that if they have surplus and can sell for money, they can then afford to buy other food to supplement the diet such as fruits and vegetables)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stability (hope that they can save the grain if there are food shortages in the future) - these last two will take place on a small level in the final years of the project</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, a significant
and inherent risk of the project is that farmers may want to sell rather than
eat at home because of the income, which is what’s going on in the southern
Altiplano. Ultimately, however, families
will decide the fate of their quinoa and the most that PROINPA can do is
educate and raise awareness about nutritional value and promote capacity
building in the area of food preparation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Furthermore, there are
hopes to link farmers with the market without obstructing or discouraging
domestic consumption or risking the agricultural system by unsustainable
practices. For instance, there is a
processing plant in Pacajes but it isn’t currently functioning because of
insufficient volumes. This is certainly
one of the challenges of linking these farmers to the market because their volumes
are much smaller than those of the southern Altiplano or even other nearby
provinces such as Aroma. So the question
becomes: what alternative markets exist for smaller volumes (e.g. value
addition and selling bread to local communities)? Moreover, the head of the project at PROINPA
thinks that this area will be producing larger volumes in 2-3 years and local
markets will be saturated, so this processing plant, which might be selling to
urban areas could be an alternative: possibly IRUPANA or other export companies
but those who don’t require huge volumes.
Another goal is to strive for 100% organic in the future, but right now
it is technically conventional. The
issue is that once the quinoa becomes organic certified, it is usually all for
export and farmers stop eating it, whereas other problems are the rotation with
potatoes, which require chemicals to treat a specific resistant pest, as well
as mildew because of the warmer climate.
In contrast, the southern Altiplano is so dry and cold that they do not
have the same issues with pest, disease, and fungus (whereas this year has been
unusually wet and thus chemical controls have been used in Pacajes). I should also note that this is not royal
quinoa as in the South but a lot of jach’a grano variety, which is similar in
grain size. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In this case, quinoa
is an adaptation to climate change, as some projections say that Pacajes will undergo
desertification due to climate change, which enhances the idea of introducing
quinoa, a very drought tolerant crop. In
fact, in the south, quinoa is the only crop that can be cultivated in the area
due to the dryness and poor, sandy soil.
If this process begins in Pacajes and other central Altiplano areas,
quinoa will be the only alternative (alongside canahua in higher areas). Thus, at present, it is a good start with
these improved hybrid varieties, but in the future, farmers may actually need
to varieties from the south.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Currently, however,
PROINPA is researching which varieties are ideal for these regions, with
ultimate hopes of determining availability of seed. This includes ensuring that farmers have the
capacity to save their own seed (through positive selection) and ideally,
certified seed production/sales for future expansion because of increased
quinoa demand and seed shortages. Thus,
PROINPA is implementing capacity building in seed saving through training on
proper purification and selection (about ¼ of each hectare should be saved for
seed). They will also identify leaders
in each community to save their own seed and share/sell/trade with neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what the heck have
I been doing in the field over the last 2-3 weeks? Let me elaborate: I have done six visits to various agricultural
communities in Pacajes province, about 3 hours drive southwest of La Paz. The epic (and pretty horrible) commute
deserves an entire post in and of itself.
Each morning, I leave the house around 6:30 AM and walk 10 minutes down
to San Pedro Prison where I take a share taxi (called a trufi) up to El Alto,
about a 15 minute drive. Some of the
roads up to El Alto from La Paz are so steep, it’s amazing that cars can even
make it up the hills. Most mornings,
it’s extremely foggy and when you think you can’t climb any higher into the
sky, you emerge through another layer of thick clouds, only to reveal more
brick homes built into the cliff side.
It really is like driving into the sky, though I wouldn’t necessarily
equate El Alto to heaven… I get off at “La Ciudad Satelite” (satellite city, a
neighborhood of El Alto) bus stop, where my colleague Eliseo picks me up in the
PROINPA truck. After a basic polite
greeting in Spanish and some small talk about our nights, we drive on to pick
up the other Eliseo (yes, both of the colleagues with whom I visit the field
are named Eliseo but no it doesn’t get confusing because they are very
different in both looks and personality!).
I think that one could drive through El Alto for days – “sprawling”
doesn’t even begin to explain how large it is.
So once we finally get out of the speed bump-strew roads of the city and
into the countryside, the roads temporarily improve until they disappear all
together (ha, not really, but the quality of the dirt paths during the rainy
season is abysmal). It usually takes at
least three hours to get out to the villages, but sometimes, this takes even
longer if a 60 km stretch of road is under construction and we can only drive
10 km per hour (no joke). One time, we
needed to cross a river but as the rains were heavy the night before and
bridges are far and few between (why would there be bridges?! That is only too logical!), we had the choice
of either parking the truck and walking an hour to the demonstration plot OR to
have the farmers come back to the community hall for the meeting. Fortunately, it was the latter. We normally spend about 4-6 hours with the
farmers, with the other 8 hours in the truck, making for a 14-hour day
sometimes. So needless to say, after
each day in the field, I am absolutely exhausted and useless. However, the landscape is generally beautiful. It’s a bit strange because depending on the
weather, the mountains come and go along the horizon. Sometimes you might not even know that there
20,000 ft snow capped peak if it’s too cloudy.
But when the clouds lift, it really is one of the most beautiful
landscapes. Being back in the mountains
is a wonderful feeling and I’ve decided that I really need the visual contrast
and elevation change because it’s just so aesthetically pleasing. Even though I’m on the Alitplano (or “high
plain”), the monotony of the flat landscape is occasionally broken by the
revelation of the Andes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Field activities
include teaching the farmers how to identify pests and how to prepare and apply
biopesticides, biofertilizers/foliar sprays (of garlic, peppers, tobacco, milk,
manure etc.), and lime sulfur for mildew.
There are a number of popular pests including insects (cona cona,
polilla de quinoa, gusano etc.), fungus, and birds. PROINPA promotes natural inputs and on-farm
preparation, though for demonstration purposes, they sometimes use bio-inputs
produced in the PROINPA factory in Cochabama.
They also advise proper dosages, application frequency, and safety
precautions such as wearing goggles, masks, gloves, gumboots etc. Fortunately, PROINPA also provides each producer
with their own plastic sprayer backpack at an 80% subsidized rate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-y-p09TxZz2HKHlN16WhP7eXi0-fXg-RlQQIcpf2ye3I9vwe-UqOXdmrVQm6NO0525nL3oH89EESuXTZCinCpLGdMfIbfetr3tzdtulNtYffaIHN0-QcLQqDaxJs3IHt2ZKKraXQILsSh/s1600/DSC01015+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-y-p09TxZz2HKHlN16WhP7eXi0-fXg-RlQQIcpf2ye3I9vwe-UqOXdmrVQm6NO0525nL3oH89EESuXTZCinCpLGdMfIbfetr3tzdtulNtYffaIHN0-QcLQqDaxJs3IHt2ZKKraXQILsSh/s1600/DSC01015+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first time trying llama meat, on the way to the field</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUd6uJ9YNxYty6IAm-KQtWIjthQuNvB4uB8Zc0cTOC9_8d9TfxKv68pBK7ThRuDD0f-nyxQW483avbP5a0WCcoFIckjgcrUmAYJb0w0pgjw6kP_yfzeIMMG40l4eg665z_qOORxmzOqSd/s1600/DSC01016+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUd6uJ9YNxYty6IAm-KQtWIjthQuNvB4uB8Zc0cTOC9_8d9TfxKv68pBK7ThRuDD0f-nyxQW483avbP5a0WCcoFIckjgcrUmAYJb0w0pgjw6kP_yfzeIMMG40l4eg665z_qOORxmzOqSd/s1600/DSC01016+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">PROINPA truck all loaded up with biopesticides and organic inputs</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCoVSbPCO5gIZ8e9P6ZOXkhsUgV5FeC2YrsLGsSUWveLtrS_JQhP_9LbDMvxDGvtKlCgLSOvcWWu54_lTAD1yd-IPBAUEPByw_wJIQswiBzJP8P-Qh11tlebbeoqHiTixQXmsLyvFz7tS/s1600/DSC01020+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKCoVSbPCO5gIZ8e9P6ZOXkhsUgV5FeC2YrsLGsSUWveLtrS_JQhP_9LbDMvxDGvtKlCgLSOvcWWu54_lTAD1yd-IPBAUEPByw_wJIQswiBzJP8P-Qh11tlebbeoqHiTixQXmsLyvFz7tS/s1600/DSC01020+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first quinoa field in Bolivia (quinua dulce or sweet quinoa) :D</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg00LdhV2RHYqbRCcsjSXc0OLMeiJ2ERXDNG_byJgzai1ACGmPyYYEAeCJxlXtVTVpH-I8490lcw-4u4KbfdJOpD_TzPfIZtHZhkr9PJtyKqqfifAkCxzt1K4JZ6p2VgWw2n-u61Pp-1ez0/s1600/DSC01026+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg00LdhV2RHYqbRCcsjSXc0OLMeiJ2ERXDNG_byJgzai1ACGmPyYYEAeCJxlXtVTVpH-I8490lcw-4u4KbfdJOpD_TzPfIZtHZhkr9PJtyKqqfifAkCxzt1K4JZ6p2VgWw2n-u61Pp-1ez0/s1600/DSC01026+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My colleague Eliseo in the field (he's also local ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Purifying the fields</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apthapi communal lunch</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes (also chunos and about 2 fried eggs)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">PROINPA provides
farmers with the first year of seed, but after this farmers are trained in how
to purify the fields for seed saving with the practical component of everyone
(including myself and my colleagues) going up and down the rows pulling out any
plants that don’t match the surroundings.
Although it pains farmers to pull out the plants (Eliseo’s words were “dolor
de Corazon” or pain of the heart), the plants don’t have to go to waste. The farmers were constructed to cook the
leaves and eat the panicle as salad, which have more protein than the
grain. However, neither eating the
leaves nor feeding it to animals as fodder are customary, which is a cultural
limitation that should be addressed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Most of the farmer
demonstration plots have four varieties:
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Local
variety aka Ninokaba<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Local to
Pacajes<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Short
cycle (4 months)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Small
grains (disadvantage)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A pure
variety but with mixed colors <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Chucapaca
variety<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Red<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Semi-short
variety – (~165 days = 5.5 months)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Large
grain <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Improved
hybrid<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Jach’a grano<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Green<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Short
cycle (~145 days = 4.8 months) <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Large
grain<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Improved
hybrid – a cross between quinoa real (large grains) in the south and Patacamaya
(small grains, short cycle) – took 8-10 years to develop through conventional
breeding techniques<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Blanquita<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Very white<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Semi-late
variety (~175 days = 5.8 months)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Small
grains<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Improved
hybrid<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Very white<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Interestingly enough,
most of these farmers don’t own llamas or alpacas, which seem to be more common
in the mountainous areas abutting the plains (occasionally, they even sell
their manure as fertilizer). In this
intermediary zone, many farmers have cows, sheep, and goats instead and
cultivate fodder (e.g. barley) as a primary agricultural activity. The plains are ideal for cultivation but
unfortunately, they lack the sufficient manure.
Water in its many forms poses a challenge for farmers: sometimes there
is insufficient water and irrigation infrastructure is nonexistent; other
times, there is too much water, which promotes mildew and pests; and frost is
also large contributor to crop damage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each community has
been given an oven and kitchen infrastructure to promote the baking of bread,
cakes, and other foods with the quinoa.
And a few (around 4-5) of the best performing and most dedicated
communities will receive a small mill at a 50% subsidized rate. A few communities so far have expressed great
interest in the mill, which can process 2-3,000 quintals per hour, noting how
it will make their lives much easier if they don’t have to bring their grains
all the way to El Alto/La Paz for transforming it into flour. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From my informal chats
with my colleagues, I’ve learned more about the comparisons between quinoa
production in the north, central, and southern Alitplano. Multiple people have told me that quinoa prices are expected to decrease in
next five years or so (maybe even as soon as two years) because of other
countries who are getting into quinoa production for export, including USA,
China, and India. There is less labor in
the central Altiplano compared to the North around Lake Titicaca, but even less
labor in the South. Instead, commercialization
and large-scale production on large landholdings is possible in the southern
Altiplano because of mechanization with tractors. In contrast, around the lake, farmers live in
more densely populated villages and are intercropping quinoa with beans. They have smaller crops and are producing
mostly for home consumption, so they need to take advantage of limited land and
promote nitrogen fixation where possible.
Mixing varieties and potatoes is fine for home consumption, but for
commercialization, uniformity is much more desired. Also apparently, weeding quinoa is
unnecessary for home consumption. In the
southern Altiplano, families around Uyuni may have 10-15 hectares each of
quinoa, and although it is expensive to pay for organic inputs, farmers still
prefer to buy them because of large land, limited time and labor. However, if they are selling the quinoa at a
high price, they easily make the money back.
Tractors are generally managed by municipalities (2-5 for each 20-60
communities), and threshing machines are actually not very common, especially
in the central and northern Altiplano.
Instead, farmers will drive over the grain with a tractor or car, or
step on it and beat it manually. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Yields in the southern, such as in Salinas de
Garci Mendoza, can be as high as 20 quintals per hectare in the very best year
at a price of 2,000 Bs or $290 per Q or 40,000 Bs ($5,800) per year per
hectare. However, yields are more often
around 600 kg (6 Q) or less than a metric ton (1000 kg). And according to Eliseo, the market price used
to be 12 Bs ($1.75) per pound, but now it’s 20 Bs or almost $3, which is
enormous when compared to a pound of rice (only 6 Bs or less than $1). The market price is also about 1400 Bs
(~$200) per quintal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I learned that there
aren’t agricultural subsidies in Bolivia nor is there an extension service for
farmers. Producers in Pacajes aren’t
organized into farmer associations or cooperatives because it’s not necessary. Instead, they are only farming in families,
maybe a hectare each (1/3 quinoa, 1/3 fodder, 1/3 potatoes), whereas cooperatives
are more important for commercial activity.
In terms of the contraband problem, last year, as much as 50% of all the
quinoa produced in Bolivia was illegally exported through Peru. Farmers prefer this because they get higher
prices and cash on hand. In contrast,
Bolivian companies such as IRUPANA cannot offer as high of prices so farmers
don’t want to do business with them. And
in terms of value addition, some farmers also don’t want to bother with it and
would prefer to just sell the grain in local markets for a higher price. It is difficult socially as well if not all
the farmers in a community agree to process the quinoa. In addition, the prices fluctuate so much
that selling in the open market is sometimes better than adding value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In general, my
experiences in the field have been challenging and exhausting, albeit
informative. They are also very communal
in nature. For instance, a farmer pay
pass around coca leaves for everyone to chew and Eliseo usually brings two 2-liter
bottles of soda to the field. Twice a
day, once in the morning and another in the afternoon, one farmer will take the
lead and pour each person a tiny glass, one at a time because there are usually
only 1 or two glasses shared among everyone.
The collective atmosphere gets more intense at lunchtime with apthapi,
or the communal sharing of meals. It
involves each cholita (traditional Aymara woman) emptying the contents of their
awayu (colorful woolen blankets) – which typically include potatoes, chuno
(freeze dried potatoes), fresh cheese, and sometimes if I’m lucky, a little
fried egg, rice, or piece of chicken – into the center of the circle. Then everyone gets up and fills their hands
with a pile of food, which we proceed to eat out of the palm of our hands. I guess it’s one way to reign in food
portions, since you can only eat as much as you can hold and making 50 trips to
the pile is a little obnoxious. Unfortunately,
I didn’t think the food could get this bad but it has – the freeze dried
potatoes have the consistency of freezer burned ice cream and literally no
flavor. One time, I ate two green peas,
which were a gift from God and an explosion of flavor in my mouth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A point that has been
seriously reinforced is that sunshine is a serious mood booster. As I’ve said earlier, it’s the rainy season
on the Altiplano, which means sunshine is hard to come by. Sometimes our field visits are marred with
downpours, hailstorms, or even snow. The
other day, it started to hail, so we all ran to one of the farmers nearby homes
to take shelter. Picture this: 17 of us
(14 farmers, myself and the two Eliseos) packed into a one room adobe hut that
couldn’t have been more than 2x3 meters – it was quite the spectacle! At times, visits have also been frustrating
if it’s a community where farmers prefer to speak their indigenous language
Aymara, in which case, I have 0% understanding of what’s going on. These days feel particularly arduous and
pointless. In contrast, when Castellano
(Spanish) is the lingua franca of the day, I am usually able to understand a
lot of what’s going on. I found that I
also enjoy spending time with communities who are very motivated, hardworking,
and eager to participate in activities such as certified seed production,
selling quinoa products, acquiring a village mill, etc. Their dedication and excitement is contagious
and hopeful. In fact, if I can, I want
to live with one of these communities for a week to really participate in the
day to day agricultural activities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And here is a rough
translation of my interview with one 74-year-old enthusiastic farmer who is a
child of the “re-peasantization” phenomenon:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“I grew up in a farming family in the
countryside but became a teacher of all grade levels. Then I returned to the countryside 15 years
ago to work with animals and farm crops including potatoes. I’m learning how to grow quinoa because my
grandparents cultivated it but not my parents.
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is a lot of smoke, noise, and clouds in
the city. I prefer the sunshine and
clean air in the countryside. I was
living in El Alto and before it was beautiful.
There was sunshine every day, in the morning and afternoon. But it became like a cage. This is my hometown. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like everyone in the group, this is my first
year growing quinoa. I’m not using any
technology, only animals and hand tools.
I also tried a variety of quinoa from Potosi but it didn’t work well
here. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have six small cows. I am fertilizing with pure pasture. I don’t know how to sow, therefore I am
learning and would like to cultivate alfalfa as fodder in the future for my
cows.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Problems: we don’t have a lot of weeds like in
the valleys, but animals are a problem when we sow the seeds and when they
fruit. There are months, October,
November when there isn’t pasture and they fields are dry so the animals suffer
but growing barley helps. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the future, I have to sell the quinoa for
money. There are many markets. My family (children and grandchildren) eats
well and we all eat: pesque – a traditional food with quinoa, milk and
cheese. Almost the whole world eats
quinoa and it’s expensive and for this reason, sometimes it’s missing from the
house because it’s sold. The same with
potatoes. I want to sell in the future
for more security. First, we have to
look for markets. If you tell me what
state you live in, we can find markets.
Tortas, cakes, espina– this is a traditional food but it depends on who
cooks it. We mill the quinoa and use it
as bread too. We have an oven but not a
mill; we have to bring our quinoa to El Alto to mill. When we have a large quantity, we have to
find transportation to the city (no truck, bus, train etc.) – we have to take
it on a donkey to Coro Coro and then a bus.
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have 150 hectares in different places outside
my home. I want to cultivate 2-3
hectares for quinoa. But now, I only
have a half hectare or less. I am
learning. Other people in the village
don’t have as much. 100, 50 hectares,
and some less than 50: 10 or 20 hectares.
An original possession (Sayanya) is 100 hectares. I have an original and an aggregate of 50
hectares for 150 acres.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We are lacking water. There is water in the river, but it doesn’t
produce plants. I tried planting trees
like Eucalyptus but everything died.
Anything that does grow, the animals eat and the soil is very
salty. It is not possible to take water
from the river now but we are thinking and trying to facilitate irrigation, as
well as the government. We have water
from ground but not the river with which to drink and cook. We are also lacking fertilizer (abono).”</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJDOvXC8ur-bobLx9mIdrdmJlWlx_ZnoanxX8KyWy0J9gvYh9HukQ6i9BYL_lbnQZeKTbab3NWp1iiFp6PdEklRM-clclwyPeCJ84UideDE0zgxsRxJgcKUSDrnSI9Dd8B8kxrMBV_tLET/s1600/DSC01070+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJDOvXC8ur-bobLx9mIdrdmJlWlx_ZnoanxX8KyWy0J9gvYh9HukQ6i9BYL_lbnQZeKTbab3NWp1iiFp6PdEklRM-clclwyPeCJ84UideDE0zgxsRxJgcKUSDrnSI9Dd8B8kxrMBV_tLET/s1600/DSC01070+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We visited some mini salt flats :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJGuoj4UHG3WNhh0rVlaVbT7oC0DvdXUqqSGzZh3-hOGMYDeK9N33f-1djEp2UsN9MTS6qzLMAe3KIW-VvSSJ2by2kUPXPF24rYRrAxHpCPc5Hgh8YxJFCVnyIhmwoBvbBDXlIzaagXJX/s1600/DSC01072+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJGuoj4UHG3WNhh0rVlaVbT7oC0DvdXUqqSGzZh3-hOGMYDeK9N33f-1djEp2UsN9MTS6qzLMAe3KIW-VvSSJ2by2kUPXPF24rYRrAxHpCPc5Hgh8YxJFCVnyIhmwoBvbBDXlIzaagXJX/s1600/DSC01072+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eliseo and Eliseo</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkn_mjO99bwnAhMiXP_ndNMJ3yDg6XsqHe7BJOrxIAkNcWkIFb-IU45uVZlgsya7h6V5TK7K4MDonaDfgWV4dtIwFTkg00tTxH5Z_R0qSh-jizY2bycZXjkssoeIpQHbbyjhscqyUZUjj/s1600/DSC01074+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkn_mjO99bwnAhMiXP_ndNMJ3yDg6XsqHe7BJOrxIAkNcWkIFb-IU45uVZlgsya7h6V5TK7K4MDonaDfgWV4dtIwFTkg00tTxH5Z_R0qSh-jizY2bycZXjkssoeIpQHbbyjhscqyUZUjj/s1600/DSC01074+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Train bus" in Pando (yes a bus converted into a train lol)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoBpjMQd5s3nfkt37NDVT5Z7dMOlVflgvHOp6m95X3_kuEunYABXli6MbVV3bchVQWVUWwEyFymFvALOyJc1s2Yf2MKYb7w_ZTQXFIN6Y_TyhMV7YYIVdstvHSGi1bldM-PGr4UtrZvg1D/s1600/DSC01091+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoBpjMQd5s3nfkt37NDVT5Z7dMOlVflgvHOp6m95X3_kuEunYABXli6MbVV3bchVQWVUWwEyFymFvALOyJc1s2Yf2MKYb7w_ZTQXFIN6Y_TyhMV7YYIVdstvHSGi1bldM-PGr4UtrZvg1D/s1600/DSC01091+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Climhate Change educational material</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPLJta7_OYo6PMWKqO5Qpl443V5mJRQCDbM2wbGaVuWRBXvAC0EMoMF69M8inWZ60v84mmrPrSgL3TQeeD7Hqhm-bfpJYiTj-edB8EnSTOY9xRms5XIH99wC4G5p_RPG39AFxlVxkfZnds/s1600/DSC01093+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPLJta7_OYo6PMWKqO5Qpl443V5mJRQCDbM2wbGaVuWRBXvAC0EMoMF69M8inWZ60v84mmrPrSgL3TQeeD7Hqhm-bfpJYiTj-edB8EnSTOY9xRms5XIH99wC4G5p_RPG39AFxlVxkfZnds/s1600/DSC01093+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Life cycle of the native potato</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimiqXHKZEXDDGupWYmq2GXVQ34-jRde-FLFXuckRjYKWDb13qViT75LAeD2sCHzQpr23kx98SsPvoLqA_5BNAAwQ7Xu3bSKYd3aTxHRmZedwJHX10wDpNd9EVGbvKtz_JtGFrpJ_W9Lw_w/s1600/DSC01095+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimiqXHKZEXDDGupWYmq2GXVQ34-jRde-FLFXuckRjYKWDb13qViT75LAeD2sCHzQpr23kx98SsPvoLqA_5BNAAwQ7Xu3bSKYd3aTxHRmZedwJHX10wDpNd9EVGbvKtz_JtGFrpJ_W9Lw_w/s1600/DSC01095+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Recipe for quinoa cookies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I tried making them...they turned out more like biscuits </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Recipe for bread using quinoa flour</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX4CZaG2i6Lbyd8gk9xXzbbu-ht4_P_sy7Y6g3hh8caED12PdF3FRfFwuehLqo3ppCHhcaEUCk2tYPKVqJrVGeKygDIRUyrtTcsDVHH25V1-slF0MKTAm9SAel6md67s9cbF63ObTbEbuf/s1600/DSC01097+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX4CZaG2i6Lbyd8gk9xXzbbu-ht4_P_sy7Y6g3hh8caED12PdF3FRfFwuehLqo3ppCHhcaEUCk2tYPKVqJrVGeKygDIRUyrtTcsDVHH25V1-slF0MKTAm9SAel6md67s9cbF63ObTbEbuf/s1600/DSC01097+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Coca leaves to chew for the funsies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Spraying the potatoes with something stronger necessitates protective gear</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiihrBfGpmcbpFX4upVUotWsk53olf_KXMvle9bfKhfebKbLyZocq2Bhskqz207N_JPDBMp-5ifHhwyTGiBZcJyJrWLrshrmos8KiwW3lTAe13mEX4VGPLFJrkKqERHG6gGj350tW2AU_/s1600/DSC01117+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiihrBfGpmcbpFX4upVUotWsk53olf_KXMvle9bfKhfebKbLyZocq2Bhskqz207N_JPDBMp-5ifHhwyTGiBZcJyJrWLrshrmos8KiwW3lTAe13mEX4VGPLFJrkKqERHG6gGj350tW2AU_/s1600/DSC01117+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More apthapi communal lunch - everyone just reaches in and takes a handful of potatoes and cheese</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkvN8dHxLsqQSnWmI7Svu5Vsw-4tqEqAcOGhMWQoc33qBANYc7n4HbHhaE7rHc_NT1W_gtRy-PbzqMMtDcAaaL-rYiUQfh0KJVgzEzyY9CsmRmZzVF11tVhTuV9pCBuBxgPDpnX7kU96b/s1600/DSC01122+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmkvN8dHxLsqQSnWmI7Svu5Vsw-4tqEqAcOGhMWQoc33qBANYc7n4HbHhaE7rHc_NT1W_gtRy-PbzqMMtDcAaaL-rYiUQfh0KJVgzEzyY9CsmRmZzVF11tVhTuV9pCBuBxgPDpnX7kU96b/s1600/DSC01122+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stages of quinoa growth</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VciaeXbHPHhclx-oDCKm8IN2Y6wOZm5mRy69C1K49otIBB1RqhP-8gjsa2ZPvRt7r5cDC1a4uX4TL5QCzVfg3qIevCyZgdPFMcpUetS4Wsh1rGb44fgP0Es2mPZ-PZ4opaOIXcq9G-XG/s1600/DSC01139+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VciaeXbHPHhclx-oDCKm8IN2Y6wOZm5mRy69C1K49otIBB1RqhP-8gjsa2ZPvRt7r5cDC1a4uX4TL5QCzVfg3qIevCyZgdPFMcpUetS4Wsh1rGb44fgP0Es2mPZ-PZ4opaOIXcq9G-XG/s1600/DSC01139+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdb2NpjhFVeIry_gFa6QESuZrg0tUC8PPi6KunqwoymvML-hUwY8Pn5UNDrTqT4xrV6_nz0FvS8Q6bqo1P6OgyvDgSIvvA_jBGb-rbWuNlrBYvFEEu4DyI0TV2pqIA09Tnx20jF9Ik8fh/s1600/DSC01143+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghdb2NpjhFVeIry_gFa6QESuZrg0tUC8PPi6KunqwoymvML-hUwY8Pn5UNDrTqT4xrV6_nz0FvS8Q6bqo1P6OgyvDgSIvvA_jBGb-rbWuNlrBYvFEEu4DyI0TV2pqIA09Tnx20jF9Ik8fh/s1600/DSC01143+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinM34u8Y1-6PIsyWg6arzcNWSB-qw5bH4yasZzZKaNsRWxrKBIZ4Nm9MdlduYa5gqfXU6hyphenhyphenoyRBsc7ZwmgSF2NIvbXbCdn-MZNdadsNweYg4dTNqxb1jOD6GJIVveqyQBI-QKuZNbU6QzO/s1600/DSC01146+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinM34u8Y1-6PIsyWg6arzcNWSB-qw5bH4yasZzZKaNsRWxrKBIZ4Nm9MdlduYa5gqfXU6hyphenhyphenoyRBsc7ZwmgSF2NIvbXbCdn-MZNdadsNweYg4dTNqxb1jOD6GJIVveqyQBI-QKuZNbU6QzO/s1600/DSC01146+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After a storm</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhes1Qg-ZF-k56dh7SIoKxes1tAoOoWA6mWMP4cUQBgL0waZ8QbW6AdQBlWqbOdiW_9pRxvWxNZiKW_XLva1UhLm-AkeMcYPdfprmxYcVxH1VDKsci_A0IMRsQ27DL8egpO6c4faSuWf-lw/s1600/DSC01150+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhes1Qg-ZF-k56dh7SIoKxes1tAoOoWA6mWMP4cUQBgL0waZ8QbW6AdQBlWqbOdiW_9pRxvWxNZiKW_XLva1UhLm-AkeMcYPdfprmxYcVxH1VDKsci_A0IMRsQ27DL8egpO6c4faSuWf-lw/s1600/DSC01150+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Typical complex</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimK2RqKtYaszSKr9KPJHS0F3I19fG0HsGxt3kOiyYYZNPQLRcFxjHpqLk_8YzeNduu66mf7GVV9UFJyROg4oAFSL4HTdsD4nh1DzcCfkFMilUdoHOoaLh4Dix_DOR8je2ZWmczaQSDlpXc/s1600/DSC01152+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimK2RqKtYaszSKr9KPJHS0F3I19fG0HsGxt3kOiyYYZNPQLRcFxjHpqLk_8YzeNduu66mf7GVV9UFJyROg4oAFSL4HTdsD4nh1DzcCfkFMilUdoHOoaLh4Dix_DOR8je2ZWmczaQSDlpXc/s1600/DSC01152+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A particularly motivated community where I ended up staying for about a week</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfH4SuEfohs4kcf-_mFL5_zJ57fvcNc-5iUHlius_nPmPKREJasEjWmm3j2ldmyVT7xeULggQ9p8FehPmJUWg9Jx0K-S334sB2O9C8ovhvaEMN3DYUf85jOKABXIY_tZgulXaWYFEzCwU/s1600/DSC01154+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfH4SuEfohs4kcf-_mFL5_zJ57fvcNc-5iUHlius_nPmPKREJasEjWmm3j2ldmyVT7xeULggQ9p8FehPmJUWg9Jx0K-S334sB2O9C8ovhvaEMN3DYUf85jOKABXIY_tZgulXaWYFEzCwU/s1600/DSC01154+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkYxDLLkAfZCvQP9W9dp6h_gDuRWTQBrlybxZ9mhpHK7KHAqZ7qOy5RxFxa71_QMwGZOvEH2HoEJInGc-yIbztX2cJfUUmKN2PGepFTjMBPiCXhaTnihaznmOyari9U-mQ3AKCPhYH8ds/s1600/DSC01159+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkYxDLLkAfZCvQP9W9dp6h_gDuRWTQBrlybxZ9mhpHK7KHAqZ7qOy5RxFxa71_QMwGZOvEH2HoEJInGc-yIbztX2cJfUUmKN2PGepFTjMBPiCXhaTnihaznmOyari9U-mQ3AKCPhYH8ds/s1600/DSC01159+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Driving on the Altiplano is beautiful</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh0lZLk6VU8Stp_WS8jwcTuHMLhK0YOPZwBtLGQZl7SnsenZlf3BrLTfrmJlN6rshYxemICWvPzB_em9waI1lTPj6ttrZCE6m4QDrVl9I0wtH_6l-6XzrhJ3YSs56WhtY9SJrYoMPeKbUY/s1600/DSC01186+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh0lZLk6VU8Stp_WS8jwcTuHMLhK0YOPZwBtLGQZl7SnsenZlf3BrLTfrmJlN6rshYxemICWvPzB_em9waI1lTPj6ttrZCE6m4QDrVl9I0wtH_6l-6XzrhJ3YSs56WhtY9SJrYoMPeKbUY/s1600/DSC01186+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Colleague Eliseo checking out the conditions</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpcYuuiFfDuaKN_agYthdD-VQCjhljTnuJx3SKNYWVimVzgzb8Tq_S5ZgBpRNHq5OE-VG1tB0oOOq9SMvE1TejB6QxPf5B6qft18-6ssJll1XBO5a4MsBjUaJNt0EmO5rEXl-wqk1jhuf/s1600/DSC01197+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpcYuuiFfDuaKN_agYthdD-VQCjhljTnuJx3SKNYWVimVzgzb8Tq_S5ZgBpRNHq5OE-VG1tB0oOOq9SMvE1TejB6QxPf5B6qft18-6ssJll1XBO5a4MsBjUaJNt0EmO5rEXl-wqk1jhuf/s1600/DSC01197+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With one farmers' community</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP9DJj_i7KG2f-20gsmIckEsg10Vl5_tXrhpEj9tlAXZFu_HL76FC8hfea9gOSGsjhqGweP40aqlg6rt6pkifCQur-LWtl3wPwVA-J7Mvz_Zznj1_cIxx-IpAxn1jKB7ur1gIWyDLBucF-/s1600/DSC01198+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP9DJj_i7KG2f-20gsmIckEsg10Vl5_tXrhpEj9tlAXZFu_HL76FC8hfea9gOSGsjhqGweP40aqlg6rt6pkifCQur-LWtl3wPwVA-J7Mvz_Zznj1_cIxx-IpAxn1jKB7ur1gIWyDLBucF-/s1600/DSC01198+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Awayus (woolen blankets) and quinoa</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIoDBvp-rA_lBzd_LaCTpHOyOqDDS03uIU6kGoPhB-kLHyiUqYNM7XD8Wn8_zXNIhRVgl0Zjoqbvtr-_ed-Yt3IZ03LddjynU0j0nG7Db8tARIoVq2KHci2iCb_aBXkDnxbJ7godmSzx1U/s1600/DSC01201+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIoDBvp-rA_lBzd_LaCTpHOyOqDDS03uIU6kGoPhB-kLHyiUqYNM7XD8Wn8_zXNIhRVgl0Zjoqbvtr-_ed-Yt3IZ03LddjynU0j0nG7Db8tARIoVq2KHci2iCb_aBXkDnxbJ7godmSzx1U/s1600/DSC01201+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcS1F17h257uw7Dyv7buaYSuTfxl8oJEYYnBXEnJluwz50gKQOwC-EHMxoclq7QtGRPpC2bz26aWFJEj863-7lxbBKnRDdMcaTKe7tSIYEvFDnWFVfcuyCssdJTJJGHgJSNIuFv-86JOu9/s1600/DSC01202+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcS1F17h257uw7Dyv7buaYSuTfxl8oJEYYnBXEnJluwz50gKQOwC-EHMxoclq7QtGRPpC2bz26aWFJEj863-7lxbBKnRDdMcaTKe7tSIYEvFDnWFVfcuyCssdJTJJGHgJSNIuFv-86JOu9/s1600/DSC01202+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The world's most photogenic farmer</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZqC5Rhj86MvqsSDh1TtoxcoVLa9aKrq2AA3nSD5pGl0tL_Hn3oYuySvbV7UiguXqZ9SinCyvgsX6PWqKWFtwFqlsvO7o_eAJ_TtWZxQugEsgbCSFMieCC6lQXK5OtfUtp87nXFe_fPBs/s1600/DSC01216+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZqC5Rhj86MvqsSDh1TtoxcoVLa9aKrq2AA3nSD5pGl0tL_Hn3oYuySvbV7UiguXqZ9SinCyvgsX6PWqKWFtwFqlsvO7o_eAJ_TtWZxQugEsgbCSFMieCC6lQXK5OtfUtp87nXFe_fPBs/s1600/DSC01216+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Always chewing on coca</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some of the cactus vegetation</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Preparing the biopesticides</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Spraying the fields</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Colors of Bolivia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With a young girl, Miriam, and her father (that awkward moment where she asks to look at the photos on my camera and they're all practically of her father who I didn't know was her dad...lolz)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">High river without a bridge, impeded our crossing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rainbows over the Altiplano</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Driving home to the mountains</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">High point on the Alitplano, more than 4000 m ASL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Got some experience in with the "mochila" (backpack for spraying)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rain, quinoa, and native potatoes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Talking with one farmer about his native potatoes</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014-16.7425799 -68.468971500000009 -16.255439900000002 -67.823524500000019tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-72669939687764935902014-01-22T08:02:00.000-08:002014-04-10T08:20:07.801-07:00More La Paz Ponderings and US-Bolivia Relations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A week of holidays</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is hard to believe
that I will have been in La Paz for one month this coming Saturday. And the unfortunate thing is I feel like I
have gotten very little done project-wise.
It just feels like pulling teeth trying to accomplish anything
here. Again, I know that language plays
a large role in the apparent stagnation and my own insecurities and
uncertainties. I have sent out so many
emails over the last few days and I feel like I am constantly meeting people
who have vague suggestions or far off ties but then things never come to
fruition. Perhaps I am not being
proactive enough and am waiting around too much for things to come to me, as
they seemed to do in India. But for
example, just this afternoon I received an email from a prominent quinoa
scholar who I reached out to in hopes of obtaining more suggestions or leads:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"It is really nice to have people studying
changes in agriculture as a consequence of climate change and global demand.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From what I read in your message. Your project
is too ambitious for the time you have in Bolivia and the time you require to
obtain farmers confidence. Worst if you want to study the value chain. I also
see that you want to study topics that are all ready largely treated and are
already known for quinoa production in southern Altiplano. This goes to repetitions
and rests originality to your work.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I would suggest that you study quinoa
production changes in Central Altiplano were no one has gone. Please let me
remind you that the area were to make the study in Central Altiplano is Aroma
Province, and not Pacajes. The region to study is between Patacamaya and
Lawachaka. If you do not want to go there, go to Northern Altiplano, and the
Titicaca lake shore, particularly to Ancoraimes and Batallas regions. If you do
that, you will really make an original contribution."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, he makes a
number of valid points, even if his response was a bit demoralizing. I know he is probably right with my project
being too ambitious (a comparative analysis of three different quinoa growing
regions in the country: north around Lake Titicaca, central, and southern
Alitplano), as well as following the commodity chain from field to export and
trying to compare conventional/traditional quinoa with certified organic. Okay, so maybe I have three projects here (it
sort of feels like when I was trying to narrow down my project choices for the
initial Watson proposal, gah, how am I back to square one?). But one thing he said that struck a sort of
negative chord with me: the lack of originality and repetition in my work. This year is not supposed to be about
groundbreaking contributions to existing fields or even originality as much as
it is about personal experiences and growth.
For example, when applying for the Watson Fellowship, the coordinator notes
that it doesn’t really matter if you propose an idea that has been done before
because undoubtedly, it will be a totally different experience for you. It could have been done 50 times in different
(or the same) countries, but by no means does this indicate that the project
will have the same trajectory, individuals, interactions etc. That being said, I came to Bolivia because I
wanted to know more about the quinoa that my peers and I eat at home, on our
college campus, in the health foods store, and on my mother’s kitchen
table. Not to say that I wouldn’t want
to make a new and meaningful contribution to this field, but as this is a
non-academic endeavor, I am eager to explore areas that may have already been
studied because my own perceptions will certainly vary from those who came before
me. Moreover, in addition to critiquing
my approach, he points out that the area where I am currently studying quinoa
(Pacajes region) with the NGO PROINPA is irrelevant and that instead I should
focus on Aroma province. Unfortunately,
I can’t just show up on the door steps of farming communities (which he very
much alludes to by saying that the time frame under which I am working is too
short to earn the trust of farmers), so I really have to make the most of the
resources currently available to me. GAH! I really hope things pick up in the coming
weeks, as I feel like I am floundering around without a compass and just
waiting on other people to get back to me.
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On a more positive
note, after the scare in La Paz last week, things are starting to look up. I am much happier in my current living
situation. I am living with a young
couple (early 30s) in a large flat in San Pedro, a residential neighborhood of
La Paz. There are two young women,
Canadian Development workers, and an American tourist staying here as
well. I’ve really been getting along
well with everyone and it’s just nice to feel like I have friends my own age. Just the other night, we went out to this
reggae bar/club to go dancing for one of their Canadian friend's birthday. Although it was smokey and definitely not up
to fire code, the underground establishment was a fun time, between Bolivian
men trying to teach me how to Salsa and watching very intoxicated foreigners
hit on Bolivian women. Speaking of a
good time, I also made a friend on the bus two weeks ago when I was on a mad
hunt for my yoga mat in one of the many open-air markets in the city. He was nice enough to accompany me for about
a half hour searching for the seemingly nonexistent and elusive yoga mat. Eventually we found it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The beautiful yoga mat bag I had made for the new mat I bought (read: hunted down and luckily found after an hour of searching a street market)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He is very nice, a computer programmer in his
late 20s, who lives in El Alto, the Aymara capital of the world (largest
population of indigenous Aymara in one place).
The city was originally a suburb or sprawl of La Paz but has since grown
to more than one million people.
Speaking of El Alto, he accompanied me to the weekly Feria, the largest
open-air market in Bolivia and perhaps South America, which I heard from
someone at around 5 square km of everything you could imagine from used cars to
fruit to sneakers. Speaking of sneakers,
he helped me navigate the busy streets of La Feria, insisting that we link arms
because I am a foreigner and probably a higher target for petty theft. He assisted me in my search for running shoes
since the stagnation and lack of exercise is driving me crazy. However, I should note that walking around
the city is pretty good exercise in and of itself because of all the hills,
which combined with the altitude leaves me breathless.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOdLcS-_hjeTAP8LAstLegpDb3szfZxU3641DXOxFHKNH8gQc-pFQ6fiICtsA68U-lI8MY7qWV2yXrVauyB0DLmLqIjm6UiLGoHonIDFGlPBk1URKRQL0ViIqyMDlCAB_0kcJ3dYJCuSx/s1600/Lauren+Howe+(522x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTOdLcS-_hjeTAP8LAstLegpDb3szfZxU3641DXOxFHKNH8gQc-pFQ6fiICtsA68U-lI8MY7qWV2yXrVauyB0DLmLqIjm6UiLGoHonIDFGlPBk1URKRQL0ViIqyMDlCAB_0kcJ3dYJCuSx/s1600/Lauren+Howe+(522x800).jpg" height="400" width="260" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Alpacas at the Feria de 16 de Julio Market in El Alto :D</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet I am beginning to
think that me and exercise in Bolivia are not meant to be. My yoga mat has been away for more than four
days now since I sent it off to a friend to see if a tailor could sew a bag for
it. I am itching for some downward
dog! And I tried to go running on
Monday, however, La Paz was basically shut down as public transportation and
taxi drivers blockaded the city in protest of a new municipal government
initiative to introduce large buses.
This meant that I couldn’t go up to El Alto to meet my PROINPA
colleagues for our field visit and also that I couldn’t run in the city
park. When I woke up at morning, the
sounds of gunshots rang through the winding streets and narrow alleys, which I
later learned were only “fuegos artificiales” (fireworks). Apparently a popular addition to organized
protests, which are all too common in Bolivia.
I thought I would try running again today but almost immediately after I
stepped out the door, it started to rain.
I made my way to the center of the city towards the main park, only to
discover that the city is indeed preparing for Alasitas, a major three-week
festival that will take place on January 24<span style="font-size: x-small;">th.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to one
website (<span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://www.boliviabella.com/alasitas.html"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.boliviabella.com/alasitas.html</span></a></span>):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Alasitas is a 3-week long fair that, in La
Paz, takes place beginning on the 24th of January and in Santa Cruz takes place
in September. Everything is in miniature! This festival originally took place
in September throughout the country when it's spring time in Bolivia and
farmers prayed for a good crop so their harvest would be bountiful. Alasitas is
an Aymara festival Bolivia celebrates in reverence of the indigenous "god
of bounty" or "abundance" called the Ekeko. Therefore, Alasita
has been called the Festival of Abundance. It takes place at the Parque Urbano
in La Paz and the 5th Ring between Tres Pasos al Frente and Cumavi in Santa
Cruz. As it grows each year, its location is sometimes moved.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alasita "festival of miniatures"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRuqYmZTBqYElmYRI9J6ES2MeN8XLa41Sb1wlasWe80bEz6osOxEqEEYtwZhSlE9IqmFx_v-CTrtOeg4a-XoFXq4W4XoWeEoejtrRctrUOkXL3PEnW7YTIJM-i7onV8tf_StmVnwpQ-w6J/s1600/DSC01289+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRuqYmZTBqYElmYRI9J6ES2MeN8XLa41Sb1wlasWe80bEz6osOxEqEEYtwZhSlE9IqmFx_v-CTrtOeg4a-XoFXq4W4XoWeEoejtrRctrUOkXL3PEnW7YTIJM-i7onV8tf_StmVnwpQ-w6J/s1600/DSC01289+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4Wo6yr8mpuRD2t3HOfSEyIi3xVbOgPQV1_lRQGYVCzNk_BrNkW3nRyg21KJpaRcuSN3XbHsnkeTJ6HCCbQhbouGvisfd05UOHfJwJ_GYvwkhBKzpcBrOq8LIRgWR-GagPwX4UHec2IFd/s1600/DSC01290+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4Wo6yr8mpuRD2t3HOfSEyIi3xVbOgPQV1_lRQGYVCzNk_BrNkW3nRyg21KJpaRcuSN3XbHsnkeTJ6HCCbQhbouGvisfd05UOHfJwJ_GYvwkhBKzpcBrOq8LIRgWR-GagPwX4UHec2IFd/s1600/DSC01290+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You gift a hen for men and a rooster for women to wish upon them marriage</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2WpSeyXoPCtSPWOVuBrTQdo-LLLY4hEdJ3S1cc2qcFrvQBhdSIH7ufjZVuKhhDf2KEP_4KsO6eMR0C1Xo0FCks6nnzHiiF4m4t_PKxcKoW0QleeZKwvcEBvIKAuyKv8dCmnPvILHVtsB-/s1600/DSC01291+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2WpSeyXoPCtSPWOVuBrTQdo-LLLY4hEdJ3S1cc2qcFrvQBhdSIH7ufjZVuKhhDf2KEP_4KsO6eMR0C1Xo0FCks6nnzHiiF4m4t_PKxcKoW0QleeZKwvcEBvIKAuyKv8dCmnPvILHVtsB-/s1600/DSC01291+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Foosball at Alasitas in the city center</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvw5g53MB3UlnyLWcF5TKz0DTZuwW-g5xXBixnF7GYiPqg5bWNwVBm4yG8vAj3ZOkVU-0EneEeY8RrrHtwXx4v4qyfPVQXO5XkNEvA7gJ_Q6Lx-oWBMderxROUdSTAZV9QjF6H1L1oRiHd/s1600/DSC01293+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvw5g53MB3UlnyLWcF5TKz0DTZuwW-g5xXBixnF7GYiPqg5bWNwVBm4yG8vAj3ZOkVU-0EneEeY8RrrHtwXx4v4qyfPVQXO5XkNEvA7gJ_Q6Lx-oWBMderxROUdSTAZV9QjF6H1L1oRiHd/s1600/DSC01293+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, that is Twilight playing in the background while everyone is eating fried cakes and drinking api, a purple maize/corn drink</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgks-9YytXVt3DeDrRyS9orLkQeM5JkOOmqEF9e2Cp9phiY2ee8p2Oh5k2iFrdUbOggDjLuPwzq9t6fIbButau1NKCcl_TccHu4vucU_hQ0iTMHZz80T_z-adoAWIBwQSy_vWqcJfUSNNbm/s1600/DSC01319+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgks-9YytXVt3DeDrRyS9orLkQeM5JkOOmqEF9e2Cp9phiY2ee8p2Oh5k2iFrdUbOggDjLuPwzq9t6fIbButau1NKCcl_TccHu4vucU_hQ0iTMHZz80T_z-adoAWIBwQSy_vWqcJfUSNNbm/s1600/DSC01319+(600x800).jpg" height="640" width="480" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Translation (more or less):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"Alasitas </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>-It's the most beautiful fair of fortune and hope joy of children, youth and adults </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>-It is the enjoyment of families, gathering of friends, walk in love and writing materials (?)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>-Bustling streets admire their thumbnails (miniatures?) in a living museum of human knowledge </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>-Little [bank] notes, little plots, little trucks and stuff and also blessed by Yatiris (traditional healers) and bandages </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>-Concert of Charanguitos (musical instruments), charm of cholitas, chirping of birds to the beat of pinquillitos Alasitas </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>-Ch'ukuta is well-born offspring of his godfather don Ekeko San Francisco with his star Illimani"</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR4Dn3ZirGQPR73tYXvrnYKXRzAl8qxPZgZxM8EQ8zR84V6Uv-NCDgxH_rYirjcNvbvJKFZmTBBJVUunh4cuTBRpalKDMqFQPCrQAby2FLUUuHRaBKYmZzacn_2FGB82n0dyr3lIGfylkp/s1600/DSC01311+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR4Dn3ZirGQPR73tYXvrnYKXRzAl8qxPZgZxM8EQ8zR84V6Uv-NCDgxH_rYirjcNvbvJKFZmTBBJVUunh4cuTBRpalKDMqFQPCrQAby2FLUUuHRaBKYmZzacn_2FGB82n0dyr3lIGfylkp/s1600/DSC01311+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All of the booths set up for Alasitas</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well el Parque Urbano
is exactly where I wanted to run today, but unfortunately for me, it seems that
everyone and their mother is in the park setting up for Alasitas. Men and cholitas alike are constructing
makeshift structures for selling various things. Some booths were already erected and included
artisanal woodcrafts, candy, toys, jewelry, and of course miniature fake money,
the last being the strangest. In many
cases, the bills, both Bolivians and US Dollars, look frighteningly real. It is strange to think that so many
counterfeit bills are printed each year for this festival, so now more than
usual, vendors will hold up your money to the light to check to see if it’s
authentic. Even though my running plans
were thwarted, I enjoyed chocolate covered strawberries and a fruit salad of
mango, banana, and apples in a strawberry yogurt mixture. Fresh, peeled fruit from a public/street
establishment is never the wisest choice for a traveler, but I’m hoping that
I’ve built up enough bacteria over the last seven months that I’ll survive
;) In fact, I was discussing with
someone the other day, wondering if the bacteria in the food and water is
basically the same around the world. For
my own sake, I certainly hope so!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I titled this post:
“A Week of Holidays,” because it sort of has been. For instance, with Monday being
protest/blockade day, I couldn’t “go to work.”
Friday is the beginning of Alasita and today, Wednesday, is also a
national holiday: Plurinational State Foundation Day. Yep, that’s a mouthful. Basically they are celebrating the fact that
the president, Evo Morales, transformed Bolivia from “The Republic of Bolivia”
to “The Plurinational State of Bolivia” through the new 2009 constitution. This change is “in recognition of the
multi-ethnic nature of the country and the enhanced position of Bolivia's
indigenous peoples under the new constitution” (according to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia">Wikipedia</a>). In
fact, Morales is Bolivia’s first indigenous president and to me, he seems to be
loved and hated by many. His
administration has made great strides for advancing the needs of the
indigenous, poor, and historically marginalized, but not without creating
tension and isolating many of Bolivia’s mestizos/European descended citizens
and wealthier inhabitants, especially in the east near Santa Cruz. One study provides very interesting context
and perspective:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“From a comparative-historical perspective the
Morales regime would probably be considered as the world’s most conservative
radical regime or the most radical conservative regime. This apparent contradiction is resolved by
examining the policies and practices of the regime. But what is not in question is that the
Morales regime, his advisers and government, have extraordinary wide
backing. His allies include leaders of
the social movements at home, as well as overseas investors and mining executives, trade union leaders and
domestic bankers; agro-business exporters and business leaders and Indian coca
farmers, all enthusiastic supporters of the “First Indian President” in Latin
America and the region’s leading advocate of extractive capital!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Morales regime has won every election, six
in all, since 2005, including two Presidential elections, each by a larger
margin. His vote has increased from 50%
to 60% and Morales, looking to national elections in 2014, promises to garner
70% of the ballots. No President in the
history of Bolivia has secured consecutive electoral victories, and ruled
democratically for such an extended period of time (8 years) with political
stability.” <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you are interested,
more can be found about his fiscal, trade, investment, and labor policies here:
<span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-most-radical-conservative-regime-bolivia-under-evo-morales/5363248"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-most-radical-conservative-regime-bolivia-under-evo-morales/5363248</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyways, I thought it
was interesting that it has been dubbed as both “radically conservative” and
“conservatively radical.” Even in my own
conversations with people, Bolivians both like and dislike him, as I suppose
with any political party or regime anywhere in the world. For example, my computer programmer friend is
a fan because of the proposed “teleferica” project Morales is implementing,
which is basically a massive cable car line that will run from El Alto to La
Paz. He has also constructed new towers
for improved cell phone and Internet service, which has worked wonders for my
friend’s computer repair business. And
as noted previously, 2013 was the International Year of the Quinoa per the
United Nations, so the regime has been promoting the industrialization of
quinoa for export, while also promoting domestic consumption through proposals
for school lunch programs and supplemental nutrition for breast-feeding
mothers. He has been known to give out
dozens of free tractors to Altiplano farmers, but perhaps without taking into
account the full environmental consequences of expanded quinoa cultivation on
already fragile and erosion-prone soils.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hmm, more on the
politics of quinoa later!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For now, this may be a
week of holidays, but nothing in Bolivia has been easy. Until now, I am not a fan of the weather
(it’s been raining cats and dogs for weeks, but I guess that’s what I get for
showing up during the rainy season), the food isn’t so good (remember those
freeze dried potatoes that look like cat poop I mentioned?), I’m not sure who
to trust (don’t want to have an attempted robbery happen again), and my
research has been rather stagnant (and with the upcoming Carneval at the end of
February/beginning of March, it’s going to take another stand still). In retrospect, I was floating on cloud nine
in India and Bhutan. Everything there
seemed to miraculously work out; people were so unbelievably helpful and
accommodating; and I had more research material than I knew what to do with. It sounds crazy, but sometimes I have these
thoughts or visions of heaven: I imagine myself entering this ethereal kingdom,
passing through the quintessential golden gates and being welcomed by all
familiar faces from my travels so far: dozens of people, mostly from India and
Bhutan, greeting me with open arms.
Here, however, I don’t even want to tell people I am American because of
the rocky relations between Bolivia and the U.S. Just today, I had a short conversation with
my colleague and his brother on the way to one of our field visits and he noted
how Evo Morales (Bolivia’s president) hates Obama and the U.S. and these
negative sentiments run deep through much of Bolivia’s population (cool – makes
me feel really welcomed! Haha). Just
last June, Evo kicked out DEA (Drug Enforcement Adminisrtation) and USAID
(claiming they were “meddling” in politics and conspiring to undermine the
government), and even threatened to close the American embassy in La Paz,
saying, “we don’t need you, we’ve got other allies,” following the drama with
Edward Snowden’s plane (more can be read here <span lang="ES-BO"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-05/bolivia-threatens-u-s-embassy-closure-after-search-for-snowden.html"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-05/bolivia-threatens-u-s-embassy-closure-after-search-for-snowden.html</span></a></span>). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I guess I should
explain the root of the hostility a bit more.
There are a number of reasons why Evo/Bolivia don’t love the United
States. One rationale is that we have
been harboring one of their former presidents, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada aka
“Goni,” who was charged with human rights violations and genocide after ordering open fire on protesters following his plan to sell off the country’s natural
gas reserves to foreign countries.
After, he fled and sought exile in the U.S., where he has been given
sanctuary (apparently he’s living an extremely affluent lifestyle somewhere in
New Jersey), when some believe that he should be forced to come back to Bolivia
and tried for all of his crimes. Another
is our policy on drugs, namely related to cocaine. Bolivia is one of the largest producers of
coca, whose leaf is the raw material for cocaine, and Evo Morales came from a
coca-farming family and was a cocalero union leader. Coca is an extremely important part of
Bolivian culture: the leaf is often chewed as a stimulant, like caffeine; it is
used for rituals and in traditional medicine and foreigners usually drink coca
tea to help alleviate the symptoms of altitude sickness. Even though coca, in its raw and unprocessed
form, really has little to do with cocaine, previous U.S. presidents, including
George W. Bush, have condemned Bolivia for not doing more to control drugs, and
going as far as to place Bolivia on a blacklist along with Venezuela . Another reason for the hostility seems to be
the general political leanings of Bolivia.
They have been careful to ally themselves with Hugo Chavez and
Venezuela, as well as Cuba, two countries with which the U.S. has even worse relationships,
if that’s even possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Early on in the
planning process, someone mentioned to me that carrying out my research on the
Bolivian Altiplano wouldn’t be easy and that the communities I am attempting to
work with, indigenous farmers, are historically the most marginalized demographic
and are naturally suspicious of foreigners, as well as the fact that Bolivia
has been characterized as being fiercely autonomous. She even suggested that I all together switch
to Peru to carry out my research. While
Bolivia hasn’t been a joy ride, but rather a slap in the face – it’s been an
important reality check and perspective for my research. Sure, I could have gone to Peru where maybe
it would have been easier and I seriously thought about it and even told the
Watson Foundation I wanted to add it to my itinerary. My reasons for wanting to go there, however,
were flawed: because it would be easy?
That’s certainly not what the Watson is all about. And right now, I am glad I didn’t. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bolivia is the
birthplace/center of origin of quinoa and is currently the largest producer in
the world. And I think it’s been really
good for me to go somewhere where America isn’t worshipped, as a pleasant
reminder that my country is not the hegemony and paradigm for everyone in the
world (obviously, duh!). But it’s been
quite the change – in Tanzania, everyone wanted to talk to you because you were
a mzungu (foreigner, usually white) and the relationship between the U.S. and
Tanzania seems to be much more based on foreign aid. In fact, I’ve had so many organizations and
even individuals I didn’t get to meet emailing me and asking me about
connecting them with donors and funding sources for their efforts or studies. Plus, with Obama, our first black president,
having visited Tanzania while I was there, it’s safe to that the diplomatic
relations are much better. In India,
many people were equally fascinated and enamored by the U.S. and there were
many aspects of American culture present throughout the country, while at the
same time, maintaining their own rich and beautiful customs and without begging
for foreign aid (I think Gandhi and swadeshi or self-sufficiency has really
stuck). In Bhutan, it was more neutral,
the first country I visited where America didn’t really have a political
presence as I learned that the diplomatic ties between the two countries is
virtually nonexistent, for better or worse.
Perhaps the States thinks they have nothing to gain from ties with
Bhutan, but in my opinion, Bhutan has much to teach the world about life in
general. And here in Bolivia, clearly,
they want nothing to do with the U.S., further reflected in the $135 visa fee,
which is free for Europeans and other foreigners. This appears to be another one of Evo’s
middle fingers to the States, since we apparently make it ridiculously
difficult for Bolivians to come to America, even for vacation, never mind
permanent migration. So yes, Bolivia has
been quite the reality check – unaccommodating in terms of language, which is a
good challenge for me, and the it’s unrealistic to think I could spend the
whole year without rain (besides, without rain, crops can’t grow!). Unless I move to Ladakh where they get around
300-320 days of sunshine a year…or the Bay Area of California, with the latter
being slightly more realistic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyways, after having
a conversation with my supervisor at PROINPA and also reflecting more on the
previous, demoralizing email, I realized that for once, I am going to try not
to “Lauren Howe” the hell out of this (as one of my roommates once phrased
it). This means that I am not going to
kill myself to see and do everything (compare the south, Lake Titicaca and
central Altiplano production, compare traditional cultivation with certified
organic, try to follow the commodity chain, and talk to
NGOs/cooperatives/government/private business etc.). I have to work with what I have and not beat
myself up over falling short (a constant question that’s been swirling in my
head: “how to measure success?” and also being okay with “failure,” which
probably isn’t even failure in a true sense).
Even my supervisor told me that it is very difficult to accomplish work
related things here: people seldom respond to emails and are very hesitant to
assist random people unless I am contributing to the organization in some way,
shape, or form. Even an American
colleague who is doing work in quinoa here told me that unpaid internships or
volunteer positions are practically unheard of and that it is a rarity that
this particular NGO, PROINPA, even took me on at all. That being said, I would love to do all of
the above, but unfortunately, my time and resources (and language) are somewhat
restrictive, so I simply have to make the most with what is available to me at
present. C'est la vie.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014-16.7425799 -68.468971500000009 -16.255439900000002 -67.823524500000019tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-69247029901815353042014-01-21T06:32:00.000-08:002014-04-10T09:57:10.275-07:00The Story of Quinoa in Bolivia According to Fabricio Nunez de Arco, Andean Naturals/Jacha Inti<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first quinoa-related interview in La Paz took place with Fabricio of Andean Naturals/Jacha Inti Industrial and turned out to be one of the most informative during my time in Bolivia. It certainly helped that we could speak in English, and I felt that it provided the perfect background information to continue my research. Andean Naturals is based in the Bay Area of California and is the largest importer of organic quinoa in the United States. Here is the "story":</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"The commercialization of quinoa in Bolivia started in the 1980s. The National Association of Quinoa Producers
(ANAPQUI) is special because it became a big thing without being a private
for-profit company; even today, it really to serve its producers. There were also some early companies in the
US (Quinua Corp in Colorado) and EU that helped the commercialization, and
during the 80s, there were a few smaller companies that started to
develop. At this time, however, quinoa
was produced using manual labor (hand sown, harvested, and beaten for
threshing) and small volumes were brought to factories. Early factories were starting to develop with
rudimentary equipment, yet the washing system continued to be the biggest
bottleneck because of the high saponin content of the quinoa. Fortunately, there were a few early leaders
in the movement that helped people notice quinoa.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Quinoa underwent small, incremental growth until the early 2000s – the
boom really started around mid 2000s.
Before this, it was a small
industry with volume and quality problems.
It was known in very special niche markets but by no means was it a crop
that had major recognition by the mainstream market. Also in the mid 2000, a few new private
actors came into the industry and at the same time, the Center for the Promotion
of Sustainable Technology (CPTS) developed a new quinoa washing system that was
a lot more efficient and could process larger volumes. This was a huge breakthrough in the quinoa
industry that solved a lot of the issues for farmer, as it also removes a lot
of the rocks from the process.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>At the same time, companies such as Andean Naturals started focusing on
quality – humidity, impurities, saponin content, etc. and by doing this, we
raised more awareness in Bolivia about how important it is to have good quality
quinoa. At this point, small Bolivian
companies started to become more formal about logistics and customer
service. In fact, there are about 10
leading companies in Bolivia that are self-taught and have grown themselves
through a lot of hard work. In fact,
quinoa didn’t become a boom because of multi-millions of dollars from
international companies. It grew out of
really grassroots efforts.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>At the field level, once companies started offering higher quality
products, timeliness, and more formal operations, there was naturally more
demand. The demand was up and we could
now obtain well washed quinoa with CPTS technology (if you don’t wash the
quinoa, it tastes like grass and soap).
The product it itself is spectacular but it tasted horrible before – now
it’s a complete healthy food and tasting good, so demand and buzz grew. It was back in 2008 that the prices tripled:
quinoa used to cost $1,000 per metric ton and then $3,000 per metric ton. In 2008, it was a bad crop year and people
thought it was over and quinoa was doomed to fail in Bolivia, but against all
predictions, people kept buying and the demand continued to accelerate. In fact, the demand exceeded supply even at
those prices. This was an indication to
everyone that quinoa is here to stay (even with the big recession of 2008).<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>On the production side, cultivation started moving into flat lands and
now it is mostly in the plains with little slope production, which was
traditional cultivation. However today,
you can’t put a tractor on the hillsides. After initial plowing and sowing in
September, secondary tilling/land preparation with a tractor is necessary in
January or February because it’s the most humid time of the year, serving as a
moisture conservation technique. Sowing
is also now done with machines (used to be hand sown), so more massive areas
are cultivated. The average land holding
of a southern Altiplano farmer is around 8 hectares (or 20 acres). From the 2000s until now, quinoa production
was expanding into flat land around traditional areas near the salt flats, but
now it is even moving into new areas like Pacajes, north of Oruro
(Patacamaya). These are non-traditional
cultivation areas that may have had quinoa at one time but not recently.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Now a days, you have the companies which have invested a lot more in
infrastructure, machinery, and production capacity. Everyday companies are formalizing more and
more. It went from small to medium and
now there are quite a few large companies by Bolivian standards (i.e. selling
more than 8 million per year), but still there aren’t any MNCs or large
companies. The absence of multinational
corporations can probably be explained partially by the direct nature of quinoa
production. We work with producer
associations: about 500 producer families and ANAPQUI may have 4,500
producers. The associations helps with
credit and other benefits such as marketing.
For example, the government gave ANAPQUI money to open their own bank
where producers can get loans for agricultural equipment etc. Working directly with producers is a whole
new ball game, and MNCs in general might be scared because some lack social
consciousness and don’t typically care about producers. These companies may see the informal actors
involved in the supply chain and the director connection with farmers, which
might not appeal to them. For instance,
there are many black holes; for instance, in taxes or when you buy something
and there aren’t receipts or paperwork.
We pay taxes based on farmers’ acreage or lands not in sales. MNCs may see this and get scared off; they
don’t want to buy from thousands of producers, but rather from one. The quinoa industry in Bolivia is a very
hands-on, intensive, and personal supply chain.
You need to a very open mind to work directly with and care for
producers. You need to have some kind of
social perspective, as many companies in Bolivia do. In fact, many entrepreneurs who work in
quinoa are from the areas, so it’s a very personal relationship. My brother and I aren’t from the quinoa
producing area, but we are Bolivians and we have values that we want to
protect.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Expansion has brought a lot of challenges. Every year, overall production of quinoa
increases through geographic expansion (not really intensification on existing
land) but yields haven’t exactly gone up on average (550 kilos per hectare on a
national level). Another serious
challenge is llama herding, which has always traditionally accompanied quinoa
production since farmers would use the manure as a fertilizer. Today, however, there has been a lot of
quinoa invasion into traditional llama grazing areas in the lowlands, which is
causing the price of fertilizer to go up tremendously. With fewer llamas, there will be no sound organic
fertilizer for quinoa. But the problem
is that llamas don’t exactly have a market, whereas producers want to plant
quinoa everywhere because of lucrative markets.
Over the last 2-3 years, everyone has encountered the problem of selling
off llamas and invading grasslands with quinoa. However, it is starting to slow down as
people realize and are trying to reverse the trend. It’s certainly a work in progress to develop
consciousness. And because producers don’t
have any llamas or fertilizer anymore, yields have been going down to 200 kg/HA. This has the effect of reversing the trend as
farmers realize their losses and that it is not sustainable without an
integrated system. There is a serious
need to keep the land healthy and give back with liquid and solid
fertilizers. And to ensure that it is
sustainable, farmers have to increase yields and work on the same existing
land. However, there is still quite a
lack of knowledge of how to manage the crop efficiently and sustainably boost
existing yields.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Another key challenge is cultural.
Before when quinoa was a traditional food, it was consumed by indigenous
populations living in their own communities and working the land with a daily
presence. If there was a pest, they
would deal with it and weed every day, even if it meant walking one hour to
their field daily and grazing their llamas.
Today, however, at least 50% of producers don’t live on their lands, but
rather reside in cities where they side businesses for added income. For them, quinoa has become a cash crop, and
they may go back six times per year to see what it looks like. For example, once to prepare the land,
another time to sow the seeds, once to check for pests, another time to
harvest, and lastly to thresh, and that’s it.
The mentality is to make money and get out. The industry is moving in the direction of
fewer producers living and working the land full time.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Quinoa has already resulted in reverse migration and a lot of young
people who are now producing it are the ones who aren’t living there. They have taxis and small shops and quinoa is
the cash cow/savings account with which once a year they get lots of money and
can buy something else. In contrast,
people who live on the land are older.
Some villages finally have electricity, but are still characterized by
poor roads, lack of schools, and only very rudimentary sanitation. Young people who come back want a way of life
that is higher quality (infrastructure, services, medicine etc.).<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Quinoa in Bolivia…the whole thing is in flux right now. It’s going to change. I don’t think we are going to have people
living in small communities forever.
[Rural development] is the natural trend in most countries and with
globalization in general. Young people
try to conserve the values of their ancestors and they respect the community,
but there are still lots of land conflicts and disorganization with land rights
and titles. Sometimes it’s a miracle of
how they distribute land, how they know whose is whose.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For instance, we have two types of associations: one whose farmers live
in the countryside full time and one whose farmers don’t. And there is a big difference in production:
if farmers live near the fields full time, they are really closely monitoring
and can achieve at least 1,000 kg/HA, whereas absentee farmers may get 500
kg/HA. And then there are those
producers who aren’t concerned about the environment and are ignorant about
their practices. They may find that
llama herding and grazing is a pain and would rather hire someone to maintain
the llamas. Some may do this while
others feel that it is an entirely unnecessary burden because they don’t
realize the agricultural/environmental connection.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Another challenge is water, as sometimes the humidity in the soil during
the rainy is not enough. In reality, we
need rain for quinoa in traditional areas.
If it doesn’t rain in November and December, then the quinoa doesn’t
grow properly, and 2008 was a terrible year because of the drought. Quinoa is heavily dependent on climatic
factors, so there are efforts to implement basic irrigation systems, but only
about 2% of farmers have irrigation.
Although there is not a lot of water on the Altiplano, there are some
underground rivers and aquifers, and one of our communities that has irrigation
can get 1,200 kg/hectare.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Overall, many practices have to be improved. Right now, the production is being done with
disc plows, which are really damaging to the soil and contribute heavily to
erosion, instead of a chisel plow, an implement that goes under the land and doesn’t remove
everything, which is the way that it should be done. Unfortunately, farmers opt for the disc plow
because it’s always been done this way (surprisingly, it’s not a cost or
availability factor but tradition). The
good thing is that this is easily changeable. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>In terms of the quinoa season, initial plowing takes place in January
and February, so there are always two quinoa seasons occurring
simultaneously. Then farmers wait until
September to sow – 90% of the sowing is done by machines. From sowing until harvest, it is mainly
manual weeding; pest control (rats, rabbits, vicunas or wild camelids, birds
etc.); and when the plant has flowered, it is protecting against worm attacks
(larvae that turn into moths, which is the main quinoa pest). Farmers need to have organic pesticides for
these. April is usually when farmers
start to harvest the quinoa (or late March), and at this point, the harvest is
done manually as it has yet to be mechanized.
The lack of mechanized harvest is definitely a bottleneck but the
problem is that when farmers sow their quinoa, it starts with the seed, which
is not very well selected so the fields are mixed and mature at different
dates. Because fields are not uniform,
the mechanization of harvesting is difficult.
The currently reality is that it is really impossible for farmers to use
mechanical harvesting because some plants are too green while others are too
dry so seed flies away from loss of product.
Plants really need to be the same size and at the same stage of maturation. Thus, farmers are currently harvesting with a
sickle (hand tool) or a motorized grass cutter, after which quinoa falls to the
ground and needs to be recollected and stacked to dry for 1-2 weeks. Unsurprisingly, for the harvest season,
farmers need to hire community wage labor. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Following harvest, farmers will thresh (separate the grain from the
chaff) by driving a tractor over the plants, which is apparently more efficient
than machines. This is a troublesome
part of the process because it is marked by the greatest amount of cross
contamination (rocks, rubber from tires, and other debris gets mixed into the
quinoa). Although some people have tried
to implement threshing machines, the problem is a lot of broken and damaged
grains, as well as loss of product because you lose valuable grains along with
twigs. The reality is of an economic
nature in that farmers would rather sell more stones because of the added
weight rather than give optimal product with some loss.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Once farmers thresh, the next two processes are also manual: two people
will hold a grated basket (zarandeado) and then winnow to remove small
twigs. There are two ways to winnow the
quinoa: one is to put the quinoa in a bucket and slowly dump it out so wind
will naturally blow away the debris, whereas some farmers may have small
machines to generate wind. Then we have
quinoa that is “ready to go” (in theory, though it’s really still quite
contaminated with impurities such as pebbles and twigs). At this point, farmers will store the quinoa
in 100 lb bags in their houses until there is demand. Quinoa can stay good for 1-2 years if
properly stored, so the processing and exporting is going on continuously. Moreover, most of Bolivia’s quinoa producers
organize in some sort of producers association, which are typically linked to
an export company (or to ANAPQUI, the only truly functioning producer exporting
association). The company or association
may say, “next week, I need 22 metric tons” (there is usually 10% product loss
during process, so to sell 20 MT, 22 must be requested) and will settle on
price. Then the association will ask
farmers who wants to sell depending on price and if a farmer needs money at the
time, he will agree to sell and then the president of the association will call
back and say yes, I have 22 metric tons and it will be delivered on x
date. The president obtains transport
from the company and then the product is driven to the factory in El Alto. Once it reaches the factory, there are many
rounds of quality control. The first
check is to see what the quinoa looks like and calculate its weight, then
within 10-15 days, Jach’a Inti will pay the farmers. This compensation normally goes into the
association’s bank account, which is then internally distributed to producers. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Historically, quinoa prices have been set in the heart of the quinoa
trading market, Challapata, by middle men through a push and pull system. For example, producers will take product to
Challapata (or now at their houses and by their phone) and will say
$1,800. One farmer may make a phone call
for $1,900, then it becomes a back and forth between farmers and middle men
until a price is decided upon. Prices
are set by a network of producers calling each other based on international
demand and world market. Our company
doesn’t have the power to set the prices, whereas middle men have so much
power. Furthermore, even if I work only
with producers, I’m still only a small fraction of the production, so we still
have to abide by middle men prices. But
sometimes, like this year for instance, the prices change – it went way
up. My brother called me and my clients
to say that large distributors are rejecting this price because they’ve talked
to retailers and discovered that no one will buy. This info gets to me and I organize a meeting
with other exporters to discuss how the market is about to fall because prices
are being rejected. So exporters will
stop buying from farmers, which may lead to three weeks of a closed
factory. As a result, prices went back
down and stabilized. We really need
stability; the prices stayed put for 1.5 months but then went back up. Some companies can interfere to affect
prices, but in the end, we are the guys in the middle. The market (western consumers’ demand) determines
the prices, and this information gets relayed to distributor (Sergio), then
exporter (myself, Fabricio), then middlemen and producers. In fact, the US accounts for about 60% of all
Bolivian exports, whereas Europe is down to 35%, and the rest of the world
5-10%. Because of other actors, like
Sergio, quinoa has exploded in the U.S.
You can feel the dynamism in new product development in trade fairs;
quinoa is everywhere.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A key factor that influences prices, however,
is contraband to Peru. In 2013, Peru had
a bad production year, so they had to supplement with illegal quinoa from
Bolivia. Previously, all the middle men
from Peru and Bolivia would meet in Challapata.
The small producer would bring his quinoa to sell for immediate needs,
maybe selling 5 out of 20 bags to Challapata because they need instant
cash. At this point, middle men will
start getting together truckloads of quinoa to bring the Desaguadero border and
may sell to another Peruvian middle man, who sells it to another local company
in Peru, traditionally. But this year,
out of Peruvian desperation, middle men would actually go door to door with
cash to farmers’ houses instead of meeting them in Challapata. The advantage of selling illegally to Peru is
that farmers get offered a slightly higher price and cash on hand (instead of
15 days later). Plus, it comes with
great convenience, so how can the farmer say no? Unfortunately, there is no law enforcement to
control this and some police live off of contraband because they receive
bribes, so it’s actually against their interest to fight contraband.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Challapata today is much different than in the past. There is still some quinoa trading that goes
on here, but it’s not how it used to be.
Now it’s a mix of farmers who bring their quinoa to the trading hub and
those who set the price at their homes.
Another thing to note is that telecommunications has had a huge impact
on the quinoa industry. Before, a farmer
had to go to Challapata to know the price of quinoa but now everyone has a cell
phone and can know immediately the prices without leaving their doorsteps.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>My brother, Sergio, started importing in 2003 but until 2008, the volume
wasn’t much. It started as a basic
quality control system in which all these factories would have quinoa, and we
would tell them, “you need to improve this or that.” Then Sergio would know what type of quality
of quinoa he was getting, while I would do all the tracking and documentation,
such as knowing when the boat left the port in Arica, Chile port. Just by keeping these records, Sergio’s
import business started booming because people knew what they were buying with
an element of timeliness. It had a huge
impact on the industry, and we also saw that there was an opportunity for new
value added products such as quinoa flakes.
In fact, we have a factory in La Paz as part of the Jach’a Inti business
for value addition, and we try to sell flakes and other products to other
countries (e.g. pasta etc.). In the US,
we are trying to sell new things like quinoa protein extract and the prospect
of MNCs such as Mars, Kelloggs, developing new products out of quinoa presents
opportunities for increased growth and demand. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And in 2011 after working with other processing factories (ANAPQUI,
SAI, IRUPANA, Quinoa Bowl etc.), we decided that we need to have our
own. Before this, we were doing quality
control; we were passengers but we weren’t driving the taxi, so we decided this
was the way to go. This factory has been
functioning for three years – 70-80% finished.
Jach’a Inti/Andean Valley, other private companies, and ANAPQUI – I
think we have to applaud our own efforts because the quinoa comes in so
contaminated. In a modern country, if
you harvest the right way, it’s virtually pure after threshing. But the stuff we take out to make this edible
and not dangerous for consumers is incredible.
Basically what we are doing is a form of contract farming: this year we
say we will buy all their product and it’s a safe market compromise since we
will help out with x,y,z such as organic certification.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Regarding technology and agricultural implements, our company has
provided some mechanization, mostly for the post-harvest processes. As I said before, quinoa comes in extremely
contaminated, so we implemented post-harvest cleaning in the field. We gave them a zaranda or shaker for
pre-cleaning. Before, we may have found
up to 10,000 stones and 5,000 quartz pieces in 4 kg of product. But if producers pass it through a
pre-cleaning machinery, this can go down to 500s, which makes this factory a
whole lot more efficient. Farmers have
to obtain most inputs and implements for themselves, though we are looking into
how we can work with banks to offer credit. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>In terms of government support being given to quinoa farmers, this
administration has been a lot more supportive than any previous government by
far. The first thing they did was open a
quinoa fund so companies like ourselves could finance with very low interest
rates and little physical guarantees.
Thus, we were able to buy a lot more quinoa and pay producers a lot
faster. In contrast, 2-3 years ago,
companies could only pay within 60 days because of a lack of capital – now with
an access to capital, people are paying much more quickly, worst case scenario
30 days. There is even funding to help
producers access equipment, though farmers are still responsible for buying
their own inputs from private companies. Now with the price of quinoa, more
farmers can afford a tractor on the spot, though they may still qualify for
financial support from the government.
Largely speaking, however, the government has stayed out of the
market. In theory, they could buy and
then sell it at a lower price to the local population to counteract high
prices, but I’ve never really been a big fan of government intervention in
commercial issues. If the government
wants to do anything, they should stop contraband, as 40% of everything Bolivia
produces goes out by contraband. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>With the help of the government, the United Nation’s International Year
of the Quinoa has really raised awareness and made a ton of noise – both good
and bad. On the one hand, prices
skyrocketed, people started learning about royal quinoa and where it comes
from, with efforts to “brand” quinoa real as something Bolivian grown. The idea that the government hasn’t done
anything for quinoa is mistaken. They
have also bought tractors and given them to some producers for free, while also
talking about added value. Now it’s just
a semi-processed product (washing quinoa is the hardest, so cleaning accounts
for a lot of added value). But more than
this is talk of quinoa pasta, soup, bars, milk etc. and the Ministry of Rural
Development is looking into industrializing it with a focus on Bolivian
consumption. In terms of feeding the
world, maybe in 10-15 years quinoa will become a staple in diets all over the
world. And we’d like to see people be
able to grow and buy quinoa hopefully for the same price as rice (or at least
on par with soy). <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Moreover, we really need to balance business with environment. Mechanization for the moment is dangerous,
which we’ve seen with the disc plow.
This government is very politicized, so if you want to get a few votes,
give out a hundred tractors or free seeds.
But they’re not teaching the farmers how to produce sustainability, as
the agenda is to push for increased production and industrialization. Te agricultural side is very politicized and
centered on the idea: “sow quinoa anywhere you can, let’s really expand, and
have 1,000,000 HA” (now we are at about 150,000 HA). In fact, last year’s crop covered 120,000 HA
for a total of 62,000 MT. This year it
is predicted to be around 150-160,000 HA with 80-85,000 MT. In terms of climate change and how it might
impact quinoa production, our farmers have not expressed large concerns with
climate change. Surprisingly, it seems
to have benefitted them quite a bit, as increased rain with climate change has
really favored quinoa production as conditions used to be more arid in the
southern Altiplano.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Unfortunately, however, it is very likely that prices are going to go
down in less than five years. Bolivia
and Peru’s window of opportunity to continue to dominate the quinoa market is
only about 2-3 years with prices going down a bit. After this, however, it is really going to go
down at some point. Remember, it’s a
small industry and the volumes I’m giving you – 80,000 MT per year – are
tiny. We can’t feed a whole lot of
people in the world; we’re not talking soy, which has more than 1,000,000 HA
and at least 500,000 MT in Bolivia. In
contrast to quinoa, the soy industry is completely industrialized and
conventional. The exact time frame
during which the prices of quinoa will drop is yet to be determined and depends
on how fast other countries develop (in China, they already have royal quinoa
seeds, so the raw genetic material isn’t a problem). Moreover, quinoa seems to be a crop that
adapts well to different environments, which will give other countries an edge. But where Bolivia might survive and still be
slightly above is in organic production of royal quinoa. For example, in Peru there is lots of new
quinoa conventional production on the coast, but it’s full of pests and they’re
spraying with chemicals. These producers
are going to struggle to produce organic quinoa. So people may pick up quinoa production
easily, but it will be done largely with chemicals (but no GMOS yet). <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>In terms of increased competition from other countries, we are trying to
offer a lot of support to our producers for increasing yields, which is how you
protect farmers from leaving. The people
who are doing well can get over a ton.
If those people who are farming poorly can double production, even if
prices go down, it will still be a profitable crop for them. Our challenge is how to increase yields in a
sustainable manner – the sustainable part is key. On the commercial level, it’s about
differentiating as much as possible: what is quinoa real (royal quinoa), what
does organic mean, fair trade, and we try to humanize it as much as possible by
showing the producer and where it comes from.
Once quinoa consumers learn how it is harvested and where it comes from,
they are shocked. Quinoa becomes
intriguing because it has a story behind it, so we try to make people
understand that if you choose to buy Chinese or Indian conventional quinoa,
it’s mechanized production, forget about supporting small impoverished farmers
from the Altiplano. We do it the organic
way, it’s authentic, traditional, fair trade, small holder families with the
biggest maybe having 25 HA. We want to
brand this in the future and really hit this point home. Moreover, I think our quinoa in general is
fluffier, bigger, and higher quality.
Our company pays for all the certifications, and we are starting to
develop projects, for example with Kellogg, which helps with 50% financing of
irrigation projects. Hopefully by next
year, will have 4 villages using irrigation.
Another fair-trade project is financing the certification of five new
associations.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Of course, the price is still going to go down, but it’s going to
command some sort of premium over conventional.
Regardless, however, many producers are going to stop doing quinoa
because of its small volume with legislative limitations. For instance,
if you go to Peru, you can ask to rent 1,000 HA in exchange for 20-30%
of earnings but here in Bolivia, land laws are restrictive because the
government is very against large land owners.
If you want to do 1,000 HA in Bolivia, you need to speak to about 100
people, and it’s even more complicated for a business, rendering it difficult
to compete on prices without large land owners and holdings.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>True, quinoa is about 4x the price of rice in La Paz Markets, but no one
really knows about domestic consumption rates because there have not been any
market studies. Pundits will say prices
are so high that no one is eating quinoa, while the government will say that
everyone is eating it. The history of
quinoa in Bolivia is a strange one. It
was an indigenous Inca Aymara food and at the time of colonization, the
Spanish tried to eradicate it, though some survived. From the 1970s to early 2000, it was known as
the “poor man’s Indian’s food.” Though
once exports started booming and the media was all over it, it becomes trendy
and the “chic” people jumped on the bandwagon.
The sentiment was “if Americans are eating it, it must be good stuff,”
because there always seems to be ego aspiration complexes going on. But since quinoa was “lost” in Bolivia, there
hasn’t been a large culture of local consumption. Now, however, people are starting to
rediscover how to eat quinoa. Most
Bolivians will tell you that they eat it in soup, while in the U.S., it’s used
as a side dish or in salad or risotto.
Here locals have no idea how to eat it.
People hear a lot of noise about quinoa and some bought cookbooks or are
experimenting with how to cook it. If
you put quinoa straight into a boiling pot like rice, it still doesn’t taste
very good (somewhat grassy) because of the saponin content. The best way to eat quinoa is to pre-toast it
before boiling it (1 in 10 or 20 Bolivians know this), though people are
starting to rediscover it and there are small companies doing quinoa cookies,
bars etc. All the noise and buzz around
quinoa has at least raised awareness of what quinoa is even if modern Bolivians
don’t yet know how to eat it.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>In terms of scaling up quinoa production, because we work with many
small-scale producers, it’s a form of scaling up through grouping (e.g. associations). Of course, lack of mechanization and adequate
volume of manure and fertilizer are definitely problems, but the land tenure
system in Bolivia makes large landholdings very difficult to obtain. Moreover, organic production in general is
very difficult, as you need 2-3 years of transitional production. This is why MNCs are not in the business –
you have to work with a lot of different people – and can’t negotiate with just
one person. It’s doable, we are growing
and the fields are expanding but the way to grow is not only geographically but
also increasing yields in existing plots.
This may be achieved through irrigation, or working with natural
fertilizers. Every year, a few new
associations call us and are interested, and we also look for producers. It goes both ways.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Regarding the strategic planning or scaling up quinoa production to
ensure environmental sustainability, we ask farmers to rotate their fields and
maintain a certain number of llamas, all of which we measure. We are also growing our association and
supply base, as we don’t work specifically or solely with associations, but
also intermediaries. Middle men (organic
certified) are a necessary evil because otherwise we couldn’t obtain enough supply,
though we are aiming to grow our producer association base to completely
eliminate the middle man. In contrast to
a system of auditors, associations are self-auditing with internal control
systems. Fortunately, around 95% of
quinoa in Bolivia is produced organically, though not all certified but
traditional/organic by default. This is
because most farmers cannot afford to buy pesticides or may not even know where
to buy them, so this has a favorable impact on farmers and Bolivian quinoa
production. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Has the recent boom in quinoa demand from Western consumers been a
positive thing for Bolivia? Absolutely,
it has helped the farmers. People who
say otherwise are idiotic. Most of the
producers we work with eat their own quinoa, and if there has been a decrease
in consumption, it’s because of the intensive preparation process (e.g.
washing, toasting etc.). On the plus
side, farmers have diversified their diets because they can now purchase other
foods (e.g. vegetables, fruits, pasta, soda).
The local economy is expanding and they can afford vehicles. With reverse migration, higher incomes, a
more diversified diet, and the ability to invest in new businesses, the quinoa
boom has been socially and economically fantastic. The only truly negative aspect that we really
need to work on is the environmental impact of quinoa. We cannot turn the Altiplano into a complete
desert, so all the practices need to be made sustainable, and the llama-quinoa
equilibrium needs to be restored. To
promote domestic consumption, we try to motivate farmers but they don’t want to
eat quinoa because of the intensive preparation. If you are going to wash it on the farm, you
wash it manually, and moving into modern society and globalization, the whole
culture is changing. Time used to not
matter to these people; it was natural for ancestors and free flowing but now
it’s inevitable that western culture is permeating. Time is money and farmers don’t want to take
a day to prepare quinoa. Everything is
changing and in flux. So we are starting
small: we offer 10 lbs of processed quinoa in exchange for 10 lbs of raw."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mission: to share quinoa with the world</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vision: we are a profitable, environmentally and socially responsible business group with the best quality and safe service for Andean quinoa and retail sectors ingredients</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Values: respect, integrity, commitment, social conscience</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQVO9hxPELJw1YO292oaWjc0KwvMjcorMXkblcl6yrNRcAq8z42e3qB0U2FL2fACUv1Cjixc7wzYYJhNZiE_-857hvseUHd6IvaMsFKmlwn-L2cb79mRRO9O21UJd6m7q_ZwV04-i-pCC/s1600/DSC01172+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQVO9hxPELJw1YO292oaWjc0KwvMjcorMXkblcl6yrNRcAq8z42e3qB0U2FL2fACUv1Cjixc7wzYYJhNZiE_-857hvseUHd6IvaMsFKmlwn-L2cb79mRRO9O21UJd6m7q_ZwV04-i-pCC/s1600/DSC01172+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My first quinoa in Bolivia, prepared by the very talented Jacha Inti chef :D</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyzM1q_YpQJvFPiRPvM6YhAv1-BLkmmyBBwZg2xwhsPPdAksY3_BVxwQT-J4PSJT3uRb_ZACWotGiRiM2yzND4ml9laLuhfHFL_CHqpZ3IElNrG7yRKvu1fnyTch18LKHrgpm5FRAwG_n/s1600/DSC01173+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyzM1q_YpQJvFPiRPvM6YhAv1-BLkmmyBBwZg2xwhsPPdAksY3_BVxwQT-J4PSJT3uRb_ZACWotGiRiM2yzND4ml9laLuhfHFL_CHqpZ3IElNrG7yRKvu1fnyTch18LKHrgpm5FRAwG_n/s1600/DSC01173+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All suited up for my factory tour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The factory in El Alto</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Jach’a Inti factory tour was AWESOME! It was so amazing getting to see the entire
process after farm level threshing and winnowing. The quinoa comes in with various pieces of
straw, stones, and other debris and is subsequently put through many machines
that separate/grade the grain based on sized, remove debris, scrape the outer
layer, wash the saponin with soap and water, dry over high heat, sort by color,
and purify even more through centrifuges and other machines. Although the grain looks fairly clean during
the intermediary stages, it goes through many steps of cleaning, a very
intensive process. Though the factory
can do 30 bags in 6 minutes with a total of 22 tons per day (2 truck loads). The final product ships out in 25 lb (or kg?)
bags and is then shipped out of the country.
They have two warehouses for storage, so they can accommodate a lot of
raw material before processing. April,
during harvest season, is the busiest month for the company. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From my visit, I also learned that Jacha Inti has developed their own
machinery because apparently, CTPS machines were not good for industrial
quantities as they would break after 2 weeks.
Now they are trying to patent the machine and sell it, no photos because
other businesses may want their designs.
Moreover, there is then need to import materials from abroad to
construct the machines because quality is low here. Another problem has been the nature of
artisanal machines – none are the same so it is difficult to repair and
maintain them because each is different and parts can’t be interchanged
easily. Jach’a Inti is different because
they have direct ties with the quinoa importing company, Andean Naturals, in
US, so they can exchange info quickly.
In contrast, other quinoa producing companies only have clients/buyers
in the US (e.g. Costco). The direct
relationship is a huge advantage in the business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I made this <a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roasted-carrot-and-red-quinoa-salad">roasted carrot quinoa salad</a> for one of our potluck BBQ dinners</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nancy with all the meat for the BBQ :)</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com1Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014-16.7425799 -68.468971500000009 -16.255439900000002 -67.823524500000019tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-23147552829094412492014-01-12T07:35:00.000-08:002014-04-10T08:12:49.342-07:00More Antics in La Paz<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the most part, yesterday was quite lovely. I went on a free, three-hour walking tour of
the city with <a href="http://www.redcapwalkingtours.com/">Red Cap Tours</a> in the morning.
I would highly recommend this activity to anyone who is passing through
La Paz. Although it’s only 8 months old,
the company runs on a tips only basis and the guides were awesome,
knowledgeable, funny, and spoke wonderful English. The tour itself was a great mix of culture,
politics, history, and random facts/urban legends and we went to a variety of
spots in the city including the famous Witches’ Market, the 17<span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span> floor
of a five star hotel for an incredible vista, both the indigenous and colonial
sections of the city, and several markets and picturesque plazas. My afternoon, however, was spent in a less
than ideal way. I went to the police
station to file a report of an attempted robbery, which happened two days
ago. Of course, I never wanted to find
myself in a police station in a foreign, developing country, never mind looking
at dozens of mug shots of criminals, line-up style, trying desperately to
remember the faces and physical details of the three criminals involved in the
scam. Rewind two days: I was waiting at
the stadium in Miraflores neighborhood of La Paz, waiting for a minibus to take
me to Plaza Avaroa in Sopocachi neighborhood.
A woman comes up to me with a map asking if I know where such and such
place is (I can’t remember her exact words).
I respond in Spanish that I am a tourist and therefore have no idea and
she turned out to be a tourist as well who was also going to Sopocachi. So we took a minibus together and chatted the
whole way, about 10-15 minutes. I
learned that her name was Maria, a student studying dentistry in Santiago, the
capital city of Chile, and had only been in Bolivia for two days as part of vacation. I told her that I was meeting a colleague in
Plaza Avaroa for a meeting and that I was in Bolivia studying quinoa. She was so lovely and I really enjoyed
practicing my Spanish with someone other than my homestay family. Maria suggested that we go to a nearby park
to take some photos together, so we did.
I am honestly quite used to this since in India, everyone wanted to take
a photo with you because you’re a foreigner.
So I put my camera on self-timer mode and ushered her over, “smile!” I
said before she could refuse. We sat down
on a bench and were about to exchange email addresses so I could send her the
photos I had taken, when a well-dressed man donning a suit and slicked back
hair came up to us. He quickly flashed a
badge, claiming that he was a police officer doing a routine investigation on
drug trafficking involving tourists and cocaine in particular. He demanded to see our passports, so without
hesitation, the woman showed hers and fortunately, I only had my passport copy. He looked at it and said, “this doesn’t have
a stamp. It’s not official. You need a stamp,” implying that perhaps I
was in the country illegally or without proper documentation. I had a similar problem in Bhutan at the
border when the border police didn’t stamp my passport as they should have, only
the paper visa, so I was genuinely worried.
“Come with me,” he barked at us.
So we start walking with the man who still has our documents in hand,
while Maria and I fall back and he charges ahead. I whispered to her in Spanish, “I don’t trust
this man. He’s not wearing a
uniform. I’ve heard stories of scams
involving fake police and this seems very sketchy.” She assured me that it was fine, as we
continued to walk from the park onto the main road. All of a sudden, an unmarked gray car drives
up and he ushers us to get in, “let’s go!”
Uhm no, I don’t think so. I
replied in Spanish, “No estoy comoda con esta situacion. No voy a subir en el coche contigo” (I am not
comfortable with this situation. I am
not going to get in the car with you). I
snatched my passport copy out of his hand and began to raise my voice in
Spanish, starting to cause a bit of a scene, though no one was really
around. At this point, they realized I
wasn’t going to cooperate, so they just drove off, the woman in the backseat of
the car. I was stunned and immediately
worried for her – was she going to be okay?
She might be in trouble because she left with them. What should I do? Then it all clicked – this woman was part of
the ruse, the “fake Chilean tourist” that pretends to be your friend but who is
actually colluding with false police to rob foreigners. Upon this horrid realization, I began to
cry. I was unbelievably close to
becoming victim to the same terrible crime that affects so many tourists in La
Paz (and in other South American cities).
I had read about this scam in Lonely Planet and my homestay family told
me similar stories of four other guests who had lived with them and were all
robbed at one point or another (one was forced into a car with a black plastic bag
placed over his head and brought to an ATM to max out his cards – absolutely
terrifying). I knew about it, yet in the
moment, it was as if everything had escaped me.
I trusted this woman because she seemed innocent and friendly, but
clearly, she is a professional. They are
such elaborate plans – the fact that she rode the bus with me across the city
and that the man was practically waiting for us in the park. Moreover, in the U.S., there is an abundance
of undercover police and in a foreign country, I didn’t feel like I was in the
position to argue with authorities. Yet I
was so lucky that they didn’t manage to take anything, since I had a small
amount of cash, both my debit cards, and my computer on me, thus it could have
ended very badly. So needless to say, I
am feeling even more bitter and angry towards Bolivia right now. Obviously, I cannot group the entire country
and associate its whole population with the disingenuous intents of a small
group, but I am still so eager to get the hell out of La Paz. I was very adamant about reporting the
incident though, hoping that the photo I managed to take of the woman might
help in the future. I was shocked,
however, when I was forced to look at dozens of photos of people involved in
similar scams and to know that the same thing had happened this very day in a
different plaza. It blows my mind,
especially because I didn’t have these problems in any other country. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Monticulo, the park where we went to "take pictures"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My attempted robber, lolz #LaPazProblems</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rodriguez Market in San Pedro as part of the Red Cap tour</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOnj6yPnWt7PB_7_ccw0wB2LTUQU95DiXToG46Oijhm8clI_KZ9NhiAtRrzbm_QipK9e8j9O1r4SBjipP7ERF49O6mtd4LzISrMNjAQKXdhfCDb_-wQXgSa_z1ewaTptQHvy6rorUYJR1/s1600/DSC00985+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJOnj6yPnWt7PB_7_ccw0wB2LTUQU95DiXToG46Oijhm8clI_KZ9NhiAtRrzbm_QipK9e8j9O1r4SBjipP7ERF49O6mtd4LzISrMNjAQKXdhfCDb_-wQXgSa_z1ewaTptQHvy6rorUYJR1/s1600/DSC00985+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chunos or freeze dried potatoes - left outside for 1-2 weeks in the cold winter nights to literally zap the water out of, then can be stored for 3-4 years</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Witches' Market</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmBDwahJGyvtThJ4mQrccy54kc0P-1e2dcmf3GG0WsfhuDgeW87cw7mTB8eUgMVAalCLAHfqiig4fqXRJGLYtuQ4sopLGG0PsoThSB9qDyedr0kYQFU7i4UG58P25yQWOlxv2i1g2jYXvi/s1600/DSC00988+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmBDwahJGyvtThJ4mQrccy54kc0P-1e2dcmf3GG0WsfhuDgeW87cw7mTB8eUgMVAalCLAHfqiig4fqXRJGLYtuQ4sopLGG0PsoThSB9qDyedr0kYQFU7i4UG58P25yQWOlxv2i1g2jYXvi/s1600/DSC00988+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Llama fetuses used in many ceremonies</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-K6ucuAGjktAmhN8X8u9HRCNdmIejTeuapdWOWhJjwiMyjY6c5LafHss_i5hK9x2aYl3x14cTbFeBSEegpTJ5KaJew5BroeZfxs425dWeC-8DQQJRk4tMglkTcVd6ekrbDECJmskA3ia9/s1600/DSC00989+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-K6ucuAGjktAmhN8X8u9HRCNdmIejTeuapdWOWhJjwiMyjY6c5LafHss_i5hK9x2aYl3x14cTbFeBSEegpTJ5KaJew5BroeZfxs425dWeC-8DQQJRk4tMglkTcVd6ekrbDECJmskA3ia9/s1600/DSC00989+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More of the Witches' Market - pieces for ritual offerings</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">San Francisco Church</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Plaza Murillo in La Paz where many of the government offices, including the Presidential Palace, are located</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTCuB5GFtW8ohVj0FoIzMyKpsW2lFmq9Oz_7z8bc-qYG5jct88jNA81haZLQ-yWoGIUm48guwoxdeiN9j_Jh2TNovGG5qUQiuQb6rwxWfTNpFruBiXT6iS_EL9rIfkUvng4vM3PhEyJ5Z/s1600/DSC00996+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTCuB5GFtW8ohVj0FoIzMyKpsW2lFmq9Oz_7z8bc-qYG5jct88jNA81haZLQ-yWoGIUm48guwoxdeiN9j_Jh2TNovGG5qUQiuQb6rwxWfTNpFruBiXT6iS_EL9rIfkUvng4vM3PhEyJ5Z/s1600/DSC00996+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Plaza San Francisco from the 1t7h floor of a nearby hotel</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfT-1d3IRqns9Q4i3OuaijDzbpjMFQrMqm35W9b2gcsg32YiVt1v5_Ry30NBpoh7S4w2awhoZx9C30txOD_6I7uMrRPeZ_G78tdlXcDT0PtdjrqXthw7X1oH9hBTrMLGmRyapX32NporE9/s1600/DSC00999+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfT-1d3IRqns9Q4i3OuaijDzbpjMFQrMqm35W9b2gcsg32YiVt1v5_Ry30NBpoh7S4w2awhoZx9C30txOD_6I7uMrRPeZ_G78tdlXcDT0PtdjrqXthw7X1oH9hBTrMLGmRyapX32NporE9/s1600/DSC00999+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"<a href="http://www.urbanrushbolivia.com/index.php/en/">Urban Rush</a>" - scale down the outside of this hotel, 50 meters</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibbVjhhVfl0qhsGR8bjlUotvurrRcBos2vJ8HwtV_ZjOVuHDvLtA_aByY1ZCcXlWBMdhU0Ma_UDg76QWtyq-3AfvSLcuKJbHaiAjJFeIsEMAU8u7qY9SdOLvb7_nwjqXLJj_51yAj3VMHA/s1600/DSC01000+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibbVjhhVfl0qhsGR8bjlUotvurrRcBos2vJ8HwtV_ZjOVuHDvLtA_aByY1ZCcXlWBMdhU0Ma_UDg76QWtyq-3AfvSLcuKJbHaiAjJFeIsEMAU8u7qY9SdOLvb7_nwjqXLJj_51yAj3VMHA/s1600/DSC01000+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Without fear, there is future. Without fear, there is democracy." Movimiento Sin Miedo is a relatively new progressive political party in Bolivia (title references the history of dictatorships and totaliarian governments) in opposition to the MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo), Evo Morales' party</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Quinoa: 2013 International Year; a future planted thousands of years ago" - a sign outside of the Ministry of Rural Development and Land</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5aNqlEElES62DehVk1WXUD_1t-e84BUHpuzhYhgJ7tiTkzMOE5GTDQwxumdMmkth5BfgwjXbu3Oaq-JgoWazsEHcYNFYCSbKmYQ0QW9ywli1rc4Ej3r848fhY7wRp5KJRd5FEm6ZC_8N/s1600/DSC01004+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5aNqlEElES62DehVk1WXUD_1t-e84BUHpuzhYhgJ7tiTkzMOE5GTDQwxumdMmkth5BfgwjXbu3Oaq-JgoWazsEHcYNFYCSbKmYQ0QW9ywli1rc4Ej3r848fhY7wRp5KJRd5FEm6ZC_8N/s1600/DSC01004+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Calle Jaen - a famous touristy street in La Paz with lots of museums and shops; very colonial looking</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqg5hyphenhyphenlui8nlPSaB5tFeXkai53TwvgQq8rK-DqTfPBRuquRx5nMz2uAx3hwYuzmoBcj0IJI14FHuenLjUwA70iBVfQ1RepaFShluScGU-e2aoqWR8mY66NKqa772KRjC_EKMiucKbdWeeT/s1600/DSC01006+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqg5hyphenhyphenlui8nlPSaB5tFeXkai53TwvgQq8rK-DqTfPBRuquRx5nMz2uAx3hwYuzmoBcj0IJI14FHuenLjUwA70iBVfQ1RepaFShluScGU-e2aoqWR8mY66NKqa772KRjC_EKMiucKbdWeeT/s1600/DSC01006+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Doors of La Paz</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tgb7Le4NvHojlohqcWv5Tat0DlKD7VfmL30VGLQ4Lvj71DCA88etmozihzg0eEMtOY7ZuwJS1UvCK-s-e-IOghEvkY7cxiJn4fNFYFnNTWDDJIgyJ5FD5uTCSb0XfBFB3ciblQ2ONdWk/s1600/DSC01007+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tgb7Le4NvHojlohqcWv5Tat0DlKD7VfmL30VGLQ4Lvj71DCA88etmozihzg0eEMtOY7ZuwJS1UvCK-s-e-IOghEvkY7cxiJn4fNFYFnNTWDDJIgyJ5FD5uTCSb0XfBFB3ciblQ2ONdWk/s1600/DSC01007+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Plaza Murillo again</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UY9nIZ1p5SscDNCKpPtWBzWYD4XiqqLDwjJ3_ETqp7qZbnwyEw6ET75oBoWwestmNnSghXuoJi2EeK3JV3Wjb19_qCbtdPJ28fvrbsz7C2qzQe1sszqd0CKksP-lYj3An6AeczTkAWJo/s1600/DSC01012+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UY9nIZ1p5SscDNCKpPtWBzWYD4XiqqLDwjJ3_ETqp7qZbnwyEw6ET75oBoWwestmNnSghXuoJi2EeK3JV3Wjb19_qCbtdPJ28fvrbsz7C2qzQe1sszqd0CKksP-lYj3An6AeczTkAWJo/s1600/DSC01012+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">View of the of the city and snow-capped Illimani mountain (</span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">6,438 m or 21,122 ft), the highest mountain in the Cordillera Range (subrange of the Andeas) </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">from my window in my new house in San Pedro, La Paz :D</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijH34V6Ytt6bjHTJbL_AwAt0xOkpg1EeorJOCBgwNhvp-2oK0orcXKfpAXyCr44mIN92-CjW2V2CWZjWciVmFGJJn9hc3ikYecnc-84DJYu-uRyi9AUqxfR-NLHK71Udb1QSsFdr2DlH-/s1600/DSC01166+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijH34V6Ytt6bjHTJbL_AwAt0xOkpg1EeorJOCBgwNhvp-2oK0orcXKfpAXyCr44mIN92-CjW2V2CWZjWciVmFGJJn9hc3ikYecnc-84DJYu-uRyi9AUqxfR-NLHK71Udb1QSsFdr2DlH-/s1600/DSC01166+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Views looking down on La Paz from Feria de 16 de Julio Market in El Alto, the biggest open air market in the country and one of the largest in South America (~5 square km of everything you could imagine from used cars to clothes, shoes, and fruit)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuw92PAu7sjKvTEoZLP8F2XKuI_TQYon2Wck0bzTadhasNOWe-6VC9SBNmTzxV-kiRzT_-ztuDqGstSLZdAseFS9ji-N6U2UTrF0GHsGaxZeCXfWMW_obAU2QWn8JFBCMojc_-lQi5GK_1/s1600/DSC01297+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuw92PAu7sjKvTEoZLP8F2XKuI_TQYon2Wck0bzTadhasNOWe-6VC9SBNmTzxV-kiRzT_-ztuDqGstSLZdAseFS9ji-N6U2UTrF0GHsGaxZeCXfWMW_obAU2QWn8JFBCMojc_-lQi5GK_1/s1600/DSC01297+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sun setting in La Paz</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEict8bpJYKqpMBVR25s6wX1RrrPK_gxby5qXomTOB7ZoPnCbyJydjhVh0x3AaW747WkHUoNyB1t4BJuQqAHAbO6t5qfbTqNxY2doXTKX_n-CIqDlq9xCofFPirdAyNVM57aI6Tz_WH15YwM/s1600/DSC01310+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEict8bpJYKqpMBVR25s6wX1RrrPK_gxby5qXomTOB7ZoPnCbyJydjhVh0x3AaW747WkHUoNyB1t4BJuQqAHAbO6t5qfbTqNxY2doXTKX_n-CIqDlq9xCofFPirdAyNVM57aI6Tz_WH15YwM/s1600/DSC01310+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ministry of Rural Development and Land advertising the United Nations' International Year of the Quinoa</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My interview with ANAPQUI - the National Association of Quinoa Producers (pictured is the commercial manager who was giving me a presentation on ANAPQUI's structure)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Zebra murals in the city</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVeNvf9yqzAuoElc6WxqWuWXGSCVJWyHzgOSwMZoNJRLikDJ4Z2XzHC-QcUDNd_WPnCk06ex0kPs47aXoNzMPShf4gi9kAULwYO-rNZWxD1qgoENoxTuF7UCdnogEWD1vx2fUbtLpsh-q/s1600/DSC01324+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVeNvf9yqzAuoElc6WxqWuWXGSCVJWyHzgOSwMZoNJRLikDJ4Z2XzHC-QcUDNd_WPnCk06ex0kPs47aXoNzMPShf4gi9kAULwYO-rNZWxD1qgoENoxTuF7UCdnogEWD1vx2fUbtLpsh-q/s1600/DSC01324+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">La Paz cemetery</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kOxKX7ylJYvWoAnMTvPNoNe50brRjqFP3N4Kvtm6uKAN5r1Sr9N3jI-9pilPTs2TfRWBCKwHnT0F5zopF5cJdi9rK4cdoa8V2I43rSpGUymghWEUBu0w43lSjyJ6jc_NFlzK-J-6fnBP/s1600/DSC01330+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kOxKX7ylJYvWoAnMTvPNoNe50brRjqFP3N4Kvtm6uKAN5r1Sr9N3jI-9pilPTs2TfRWBCKwHnT0F5zopF5cJdi9rK4cdoa8V2I43rSpGUymghWEUBu0w43lSjyJ6jc_NFlzK-J-6fnBP/s1600/DSC01330+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Largely speaking, bodies are stacked in these structures instead of buried in individual plots...a much better use of sparse land I think</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">New teleferico (cable car) being constructed by Evo to connect El Alto with La Paz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some traditional Bolivian dishes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fricase is a stew with meat, potatoes, and onions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thimpu is a spicy stew cooked with vegetables</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sajta is rice, potato, chuno (freeze dried potato), tomatoes and onions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Falso conejo ("false rabbit") is essentially very thin beef but gets its named because it resembles cooked rabbit; served with rice and chili peppers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Aji de lengua is spicy beef tongue stew</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">People going crazy over this dog with sun glasses while we all waited for the Pepino (clown, not cucumber, who is actually the "king of the local carnival") to emerge at the cemetery to celebrate the start of Carnaval</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Views of La Paz from Zona Sur</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkSfBHiky4d53St0xM9dcC77fKkN1JEpTmI9SFkJsnqX4nYqSxnfpR5cstmliYEGTooY4atCRIlLI20uKPMwviZ23Lyck3hh3D6Bp7rB0bgxv6qvFpo_v6_zMnu2c4dZxO8RnzmUxsiuf/s1600/DSC01613+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkSfBHiky4d53St0xM9dcC77fKkN1JEpTmI9SFkJsnqX4nYqSxnfpR5cstmliYEGTooY4atCRIlLI20uKPMwviZ23Lyck3hh3D6Bp7rB0bgxv6qvFpo_v6_zMnu2c4dZxO8RnzmUxsiuf/s1600/DSC01613+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Muela del Diablo (Devil's Molar)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hiking outside of La Paz</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A couple enjoying a romantic moment looking over the city and mountains</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014-16.7425799 -68.468971500000009 -16.255439900000002 -67.823524500000019tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-60262862791183375892014-01-09T06:09:00.000-08:002014-04-10T08:02:15.365-07:00My Quinoa Quest in Bolivia (Project Background Info)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From what I have read so far, it seems like the dynamic surrounding quinoa, a “Lost Crop of the Incas” and previously Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS), is even more complex and controversial than I had originally thought. It also seems to be a curious amalgamation of many issues that I’ve spent the last six months studying in Africa and Asia. For example, the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the “quinoa boom” in the West are far-reaching and complicated. It is important to note that quinoa, revered as the “mother grain” by the Incas, is a small cereal/grain-like food that is actually the seed of a fruit, is a complete protein (contains all 20 essential amino acids) rich in vitamins and minerals, high in fiber, and both cholesterol and gluten-free. While western consumers’ craze with this super food (especially vegetarians and health freaks) has helped uplift previously marginalized farmers by providing them with remunerative prices for their crop, it also renders quinoa too expensive for most urban-dwelling Bolivians to afford. This paradox raises questions of domestic food security in a country where roughly 1 in 5 children is chronically malnourished and cheap imports and processed food abound. The lack of widespread domestic consumption is further complicated by the fact that many urban elites (“mestizos” who have mixed European blood) have historically looked down upon quinoa as a sort of dirty peasant/native food. Unsurprisingly, however, increased prices (a threefold increase in four years) have instigated a sort of “repeasantization” (a debated term) of the countryside in which both young and old people alike are returning to their native villages to cultivate quinoa on what is often forsaken ancestral land, which is creating resource conflicts and community tension, especially surrounding indigenous governance and land management systems. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Furthermore, the increased demand in the US and EU is encouraging farmers to expand and intensify production (while simultaneously abandoning traditional cultivation methods such as fallow fields, crop rotation, and animal husbandry of llamas – a fertilizing relationship upon which quinoa depends), which has the likely potential of eroding soils and depleting nutrients in areas that were ecologically fragile from the beginning. The region to which I refer is the Altiplano, which means "high plain," and is the tabletop area located between two Andean mountain ranges: the western Cordillera Occidental and the eastern Cordillera Real. According to LP, “The haunting Altiplano, which ranges in altitude from 3500m to 4000m, is bound by these two great cordilleras. It’s an immense, nearly treeless plain punctuated by mountains and solitary volcanic peaks.” Quinoa is a sort of miracle crop in that it flourishes in harsh environments where most other plants cannot exist: sandy soil, little rainfall, high altitude, and subfreezing temperatures. With global climate change in mind and the expected increases in drought, desertification, and weather extremes, quinoa proves rather promising, compounded by its high nutrition in the context of prevailing global hunger. It makes sense then why the United Nations declared 2013 “The International Year of Quinoa” (and 2014 has been dubbed “The International Year of Family Farming” – how fitting for my Watson!). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My hopes while in Bolivia for the next three months include following the quinoa commodity chain from field to export, exploring the on-farm management practices, organic certification, post-harvest processing, marketing and sales. I want to understand how farmers are altering their production methods because of increased demand from the West and what the social, economic, and environmental impacts of these changes are. If possible, I hope to spend time living in quinoa producing villages learning how to grow and maintain it. I already have two places in mind: a small village on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the center of origin of this fabled Andean crop, where they grow the sweet variety of quinoa, as well as a small village in the southwestern Altiplano in the inter-salar region (between the massive salt flats) near the Chilean border, where they are growing the bitter variety (aka quinua real or royal quinoa). I want to compare certified organic quinoa production with traditional methods and understand how mechanization in the form of tractors, disc ploughs, harvesters, threshers, and washing units have influenced the lives of farmers, perhaps enabling them to scale up their production. Along these lines, I am curious as to the role of both the State (which has maintained a largely neoliberal economic agenda with an emphasis on mechanization) and NGOs in the strategic planning of quinoa commercialization, as well as of farmers’ groups and producer cooperatives, which may be facilitating technical support and marketing. I read one paper titled “Food Sovereignty and the Quinoa Boom in Bolivia,” written by Tanya Kerssen for the International Conference “Food Sovereignty: A Critical Dialogue” at Yale this past September. Although it is only a draft paper, it raised a number of interesting points that I hope to follow up on during my research here. I will quote one passage here: <i>“A number of factors, then, converged for quinoa exports to take off in the 1980s: the mechanization of production; the consolidation of producers’ associations; the personal interest and commitment of ‘values-oriented’ investors; trade liberalization; and the increased consumption of healthy, organic and exotic foods in the North”</i> (10). In my opinion, this coming together of a number of facets is a bit of a ‘perfect storm’ that allowed quinoa to blossom, so to speak. However, with soaring prices, cultivated land expanding rapidly (production is up 40x what it was in 2000 and the area under cultivation has more than doubled in the last four years), and potentially unsound management practices, it begs the question of the long-term sustainability and growth of the quinoa sector, especially if it continues to be modeled after Western agro-industrial development. In short, by the time I leave Bolivia for the next destination (which is still TBD), I want to be a quinoa expert, having spent time in the field and the warehouse working through the nuances of this Andean pseudo-cereal. I really enjoy eating quinoa at home, but I also strive to understand the complex political economy and environmental ramifications surrounding my gastronomic preferences. Thus, I felt compelled to come to Bolivia, which is not only one of the largest exporters of quinoa in the world (alongside Peru), but also home to the largest percentage of indigenous people in the Americas. In fact, according to LP,<i> “A place of mind-boggling superlatives, landlocked Bolivia really packs a punch. The hemisphere’s highest, most isolated and most rugged nation, it’s among the earth’s coldest, warmest, and windiest spots, with some of the driest, saltiest, and swampiest natural landscapes in the world. It’s also a land of paradoxes: South America’s poorest country, Bolivia is the richest on the continent in natural resources.”</i> So here I go! Wish me luck as I dive into the next leg of my Watson journey and simultaneously attempt to navigate the figurative waters of the Bolivian Altiplano. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Quinoa in love - photo from a community outside Oruro</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Quinoa from one of the producers' communities I visited later in the month</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014-16.7425799 -68.468971500000009 -16.255439900000002 -67.823524500000019tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-30443698164453920132014-01-06T05:40:00.000-08:002014-04-10T06:09:16.723-07:00Calm and Crazy in Coroico<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have been in the sleepy town of Coroico for only two days
but I already feel much more at ease than I did in La Paz. I’ve been doing yoga every day for the last
week and although it is still the rainy season here, I’ve seen more sunshine
than I have in days (in between the colossal downpours). Moreover, I am certainly realizing my
preferences and values as I progress through this year – for instance, I know
now more than ever that I really don’t like metropolises as they just don’t
feel like home. In contrast, I have only
been into Coroico town once so far, but its small size and chaotic streets are
much less intimidating. My host family
is renting a house in here a few kilometers outside the main town, so it’s
quite a nice treat to be able to go on a few day escape with them. According to the 2010 version of Lonely
Planet Bolivia, Coroico is a small town of only 2,360 but a popular vacation
destination for both tourists and native Bolivians:<i> “Coroico is derived from
the Quechua word coryguayco meaning
‘golden hill.’ The town’s biggest
attraction is its slow pace, which allows plenty of time for swimming,
sunbathing, and hammock-swinging.”</i> It is
located in the Yungas –<i> “the transition zone between dry highlands and humid
lowlands, where the Andes fall away into the Amazon Basin.” </i> We were able to go to <i>las cascadas</i> yesterday (waterfalls) and I was even able to take a
half-clothed dip in one of the natural pools, which was quite cold but
deliciously refreshing. I usually can’t
pass up an opportunity to swim and come to think of it, it’s only the second
time I’ve been able to swim in the last half year, the other being a snorkel
trip into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania. I am also helping my host mother dig up a
plot in the backyard in preparation for planting a vegetable garden and
together with her ten-year-old son, we built a compost pile with the weeds we
pulled up, kitchen scraps, dried banana leaves and chicken manure. I must say, it felt nice to get my hands
dirty again, though this climate is much more welcoming to insects, large and
small. Moreover, I was excited and happy
to be able to teach other people, including her son and husband, about compost
and the benefits of recycling organic wastes and nutrients. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am continuing to take Spanish lessons with the señor</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of
the family, which has provided an excellent chance for me to review everything
I’ve forgotten, though the rather unstructured nature of the classes and
relative disorganization makes me a little crazy – as anyone who knows me is
aware that I am a fan of order.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Moreover,
I find myself frustrated when I can’t understand someone in a normal
conversation because they aren’t speaking at a snail’s pace or when I can’t
form the words to adequately respond.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I
know that it will take time and full immersion, but in the interim, it has been
quite discouraging.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Moreover, I have had
very few genuinely poor experiences this year and generally have really liked
everyone I’ve crossed paths with, but unfortunately, sometimes you just don’t
click with people and regrettably, this seems to have happened.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am taking 30 hours of Spanish classes with "ABC Spanish Tuition" in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bolivia’s capital city of La Paz and simultaneously living with the teacher,
William, and his family in the quiet neighborhood of Miraflores.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course, I have always known that I don’t
like small children, but it has been particularly difficult to have class
inside the home and try to get any kind of research-related work done when
their children (ages 3 and 10 with another 5 year old family member) seem to
always been running around, making noise, crying or fighting (and subsequently
needing to be scolded).</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s difficult
to concentrate and peace and quiet is nearly impossible to come by.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I guess it started the first night when I
tried to call the teacher to meet me at the bus stand when I was nervous about
arriving in La Paz after dark.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When he
didn’t pick up his phone and I had to send an SMS, leave a voicemail, and send
an email, I should have suspected that perhaps this wouldn’t be the best living
arrangement, as I ended up spending the first night in an overpriced hotel.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And two weeks later, it really hasn’t gotten
any better.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The classes take place in the guy's dining room, which is fine except when the kids are running around screaming and interrupting. But in general, it's all pretty unprofessional. The classes are disorganized, and I couldn't even read some of the handouts he gave me because they were so poorly photocopied and came in a jumbled, unstapled mess. Part of it may be that I am taking individualized classes, which means there is no one else to act as a buffer. For a few days, I joined a young Irish guy who was also taking classes, which was more tolerable and even fun. Aside from the classes, I wish I hadn't elected to live with the teacher's family because it's "too much teacher time." And i</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">n Coroico where the family is renting a house, I found a mouse
running around my room and even in my backpack, and I couldn’t sleep a wink
last night because of a leak in the roof which translated to a deluge in my
bed.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Furthermore, other people have told
me that I am being overcharged when considering what I am paying for classes,
room, and only partial board and I hate quibbling over money and meals, which
has happened on multiple occasions over the last two weeks.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He even said, “and I could be charging you
for tea”, which I had three cups of in two weeks and when I accidently broke a light
bulb, instead of asking if I had cut myself with the broken glass, he responded,
“that’s 20 Bolivianos!” and proceeded to ask me again the next day to pay for
it.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He owed me $6 change at one point
and when I asked for it, he said, “but you ate dinner here yesterday.”</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes, I did, but your wife cooked dinner for
the entire family with the $5 bag of quinoa that I had bought at the supermarket
without asking.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Are you kidding me?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As you can imagine, it is awkward and
uncomfortable, but unfortunately, I really have to stick to a tight budget and
make the Watson stipend last the next five months so I don’t totally run out of
money when I finally reach Iceland. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also – that awkward moment I was giving his three-year-old kid dirty looks when his father was trying to spoon feed him lunch and he kept crying, then the dad goes: "do you know how to say staring in Spanish?" Mirar fijamente (fixed look), then he said, "for example, por que me estas mirando fijamente?" Haha, talk about tense and awkward, but seriously, this is one of the worst behaved, bratty, whiney kids I’ve ever met. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In short, it has been extremely difficult to transition from Bhutan and India
where people were so generous with their time, skills, money, homes, food etc.
(India has a saying: “guest is God” and you can’t enter any house without being
offered copious amounts of tea and snacks) to Bolivia where everything seems to
be about making a buck.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In some ways, it
seriously perplexes me since some of the people (e.g. farmers) with whom I was
interacting in India were so poor, yet simultaneously generous.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Regardless, I am trying to keep my head up
here, even though this has been one of this year’s toughest transitions: from countries
where people took care of me like family to South America where I honestly feel
quite alone.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In fact, I miss my family
and friends more than ever now and hate to feel like I am counting the days
until I go home (or at least until I move onto the next homestay).</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fortunately, at the same time, when I read
background information on my project to prepare me for my hopeful work in
quinoa production, I once again become excited and enlivened.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Water fall coming from the clouds ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With homestay brothers in Coroico</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Building a compost pile with my homesty mom</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunset over banana trees</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before weeding the backyard in preparation for the garden</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After weeding :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tiring work but very rewarding</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Constructing our compost pile</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our hot compost pile :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pre-swimming at the waterfalls</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Swimming :D</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Homestay family and Spanish teacher</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Looks like Monteverde, Costa Rica</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Coroico </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lots of banana trees!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bolivia is now the Plurinational State of Bolivia</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Coroico, Bolivia-16.1941783 -67.7288125-16.2246753 -67.769153 -16.1636813 -67.688472tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-75784271617199849092013-12-31T05:25:00.000-08:002014-04-10T05:40:20.362-07:00New Year's in La Paz, Bolivia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">New Year’s
Resolutions in La Paz</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I suppose it is fitting that I am ringing in the New Year in
a city whose name translates to “The Peace.”
I really hope that for my family, friends, and self, 2014 is a year of
both peace and prosperity, though the latter is a rather ambiguous term that I
would prefer to associate with happiness and contentment instead of the
traditional materialistic meaning. I
have transitioned to La Paz, Bolivia from Bhutan after an exhausting 5 days of
traveling. I still feel jetlagged,
tired, and of course, altitude sick, coming from Lima, Peru, which is basically
at sea level. I’ve moved in with a
family and am taking Spanish classes with the father for two weeks. So far, it’s been a less than appealing
situation. I’ve been quibbling with him
over money, feeling that he is way overcharging me for lessons, room, and
partial board. I miss India and Bhutan
dearly, there things were cheap and people housed and fed me for free. Even the poorest of farmers refused to take
my money. I felt that I didn’t have to
question the authenticity of these interactions and rather that people were
helping me out of the goodness of their hearts.
So far, I cannot say the same about Bolivia. I hope it changes once I get out of La Paz
and into the countryside. Moreover, my
homestay mom has been telling me various stories of how four people who lived
with them at different times were all victims of the same scam: a fake tourist
and fake police officer collude to rob them of all their belongings. Needless to say, I am nervous about going out
alone around the city. I feel a bit
trapped in the house and it’s almost reminiscent of my time in Tanzania where
going out on the street alone was stressful.
The adjustment has been a rough one as well because of the language
barrier. It is strange and doesn’t make
a lot of sense, but I almost feel more isolated here where I can understand some-most
of what is said and respond in a somewhat limited capacity. It is extremely exhausting trying to decipher
the words of rapid speakers and reply in broken Spanish 24/7. In contrast, in Tanzania, India, and Bhutan,
I did not master Swahili, Hindi, or Dzongka respectively, so trying to listen
and understand seemed fruitless and in some ways, I knew that I could tune it out. And while I know I missed out on a
significant amount of the dialogue in this countries, I knew I could always try
to default back to English.
Simultaneously, however, it is exciting and empowering to be in a
country where I can understand the street signs, hail a [radio] taxi, and
bargain in the market with my limited language skills. I can make more small talk with the family
than in many of my homestay situations in other countries, which should also
feel more unifying. I guess only time
will tell.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Despite the wonderful celebrations of Diwali in India and
National Day in Bhutan, for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, this has
been the most lonely holiday season I’ve ever experienced. Spending them in a low quality Indian hotel, navigating
various airport connections, and a partying in a famous backpackers’ hostel in the
massive and aloof city of La Paz respectively has made me miss my family and
friends more than I could have imagined.
Although I was surrounded by people on all occasions, they were not the
people whom I love and value. In a room
full of people, I felt inexplicably lonely and isolated. Thus, in terms of resolutions for 2014, I am
really starting to understand what makes me happy. I now know more than ever that I enjoy
spending time with loved ones and people who have similar values, interests,
and aspirations in life. In contrast, I
have spent some time with backpackers, albeit limited, and I realize how much I
don’t see eye to eye with them. I am not
bouncing around various party hostels getting drunk every night with other
foreigners or taking organized buses to the most popular tourist hotspots. In contrast, I enjoy and want to spend time
with families and immerse myself in the nuances of the local culture,
preferably in rural settings. Thus my
resolutions include wanting to dig even more deeply into my project and the
various cultures if that’s possible. I
want to spend less time on social media and more time in real
conversation. I want to exercise
regularly, eat better, sleep more and just generally take care of myself – my
body and my mental wellbeing. After all
this exposure to Buddhism, I should know that happiness comes from within and
is all about attitude. Even though La
Paz has felt like anything but home over the last four days and it’s been
nothing but rain, I am hopeful that if I just try to apply a more positive
mindset, then things will improve.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And to wrap up this post, I will share some inspirational
and fun quotations from a list-serve email I recently received:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Happy New Year! Time
to make 2014 the stuff of legends<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is it. Your
moment is here.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All it takes is a
little inspiration and motivation to go after what you want. Try it this year.
We’ll cheer you on every step of the way. In fact we’ll start right now:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> “The future belongs to those who
believe in the beauty of their dreams.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> “Wherever you go, go with all
your heart.” (Confucius)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> “The question isn’t who is going
to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” (Ayn Rand)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> “The only person you are
destined to become is the person you decide to be.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> “In order to be irreplaceable,
one must always be different.” (Coco Chanel)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> “The more I think about it, the
more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.” (Vincent
Van Gogh)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide
will turn." (Harriet Beecher Stowe)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> “Life is very interesting… in
the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.” (Drew
Barrymore)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> “Every great dream begins with a
dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and
the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. (Harriet Tubman)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here’s one more quote
to sweeten your day: <b>“You’re only human.
You live once and life is wonderful, so eat the damned red velvet cupcake.”
(Emma Stone)</b>”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here are also some New Year’s resolutions related to
sustainable food from Food Tank – The Food Think Tank, based in Chicago:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“As we enter 2014,
there are still nearly one billion people suffering from hunger.
Simultaneously, 65 percent of the world's population live in countries where
obesity kills more people than those who are underweight. But these are
problems that we can solve and there's a lot to be done in the new year!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2014 was declared the
International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) by the U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). Food Tank is honored and excited to be collaborating with
FAO around highlighting how farmers are more than just food producers--they're
teachers, innovators, entrepreneurs, environmental stewards, and change-makers!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And negotiations are
continuing around the new Sustainable Development Goals that will replace the
Millennium Development Goals. It's our hope that the new goals will help not
only reduce hunger and poverty, but find ways to improve nutrient density and
improve farmers' livelihoods.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In addition, the issue
of food loss and food waste is gaining ground thanks to the U.N.'s Zero Hunger
Challenge, which calls for zero food waste, as well as the good work of many
organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Feeding the
5000, the U.N. Environment Programme, and WastedFood.com who are showing
eaters, businesses, and policy-makers solutions for ending waste in the food
system. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And youth are taking
the lead in pushing for a more sustainable food system. Young people like
Edward Mukiibi, who is helping Slow Food International's 1,000 Garden in
Africa's program gain momentum. In addition, the Young Professionals for
Agriculture Research and Development (YPARD) is helping connect agronomists,
farmers, researchers, and activists around the world. Food Tank will also be
announcing some exciting work around mobilizing youth in 2014!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Through concrete
action, hope and success in the food system is possible.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As Nelson Mandela
said, “sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Together we can be
that generation and find solutions to nourish both people and the planet!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here are 14 food resolutions for 2014:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Meet Your Local Farmer<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Know your farmer, know
your food (KYF2) aims to strengthen local and regional food systems. Meeting
your local farmer puts a face to where your food comes from and creates a
connection between farmers and consumers.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Eat Seasonal Produce<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By purchasing local
foods that are in season, you can help reduce the environmental impact of
shipping food. And your money goes straight to the farmer, supporting the local
economy.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. End Food Waste<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More than 1.3 billion
tons of edible food is wasted each year. Tips to reduce waste include planning
meals ahead, buying ‘ugly’’ fruits and vegetables, being more creative with
recipes, requesting smaller portions, composting, and donating excess food.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4. Promote a Healthy Lifestyle<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many diseases are
preventable, including obesity, yet 1.5 billion people in the world are obese
or overweight. Promote a culture of prevention by engaging in physical activity
and following guidelines for a healthy diet. Gaps in food governance must also
be addressed to encourage healthy lifestyles, including junk food marketing to
children.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5. Commit to Resilience in Agriculture<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A large portion of
food production is used for animal feed and biofuels--at least one-third of
global food production is used to feed livestock. And land grabs are resulting
in food insecurity, the displacement of small farmers, conflict, environmental
devastation, and water loss. Strengthening farmers' unions and cooperatives can
help farmers be more resilient to food prices shocks, climate change, conflict,
and other problems.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">6. Eat (and Cook) Indigenous Crops<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mungbean, cow pea,
spider plant...these indigenous crops might sound unfamiliar, but they are
grown by small-holder farmers in countries all over the world. The U.N. Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that approximately 75 percent of the
Earth’s genetic resources are now extinct, and another third of plant
biodiversity is predicted to disappear by the year 2050. We need to promote
diversity in our fields and in our diets!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">7. Buy (or Grow) Organic<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Environmental
Working Group (EWG) has found that at least one pesticide is in 67 percent of
produce samples in the U.S. Studies suggest that pesticides can interfere with
brain development in children and can harm wildlife, including bees. Growing
and eating organic and environmentally sustainable produce we can help protect
our bodies and natural resources.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8. Go Meatless Once a Week<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To produce 0.45
kilograms (one pound) of beef can require 6,810 liters (1,799 gallons) of water
and 0.45 kilograms (one pound) of pork can require 2,180 liters (576 gallons)
of water. Beef, pork, and other meats have large water footprints and are
resource intensive. Consider reducing your "hoofprint" by decreasing
the amount and types of meat you consume.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">9. Cook<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In Michael Pollan’s
book “Cooked,” he learns how the four elements-fire, water, air, and
earth-transform parts of nature into delicious meals. And he finds that the art
of cooking connects both nature and culture. Eaters can take back control of
the food system by cooking more and, in the process, strengthen relationships
and eat more nutritious--and delicious--foods.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">10. Host a Dinner Party<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s doesn’t have to
be fancy, just bring people together! Talk about food, enjoy a meal, and
encourage discussion around creating a better food system. Traveling in 2014
and craving a homemade meal? For another option try Meal Sharing and eat with
people from around the world.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">11. Consider the ‘True Cost’ Of Your Food<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Based on the price
alone, inexpensive junk food often wins over local or organic foods. But, the
price tag doesn’t tell the whole story. True cost accounting allows farmers,
eaters, businesses, and policy makers to understand the cost of all of the
"ingredients" that go into making fast food--including antibiotics,
artificial fertilizers, transportation, and a whole range of other factors that
don't show up in the price tag of the food we eat.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">12. Democratize Innovation<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Around the world,
farmers, scientists, researchers, women, youth, NGOs, and others are currently
creating innovative, on-the-ground solutions to various, interconnected global
agriculture problems. Their work has the great potential to be significantly
scaled up, broadened, and deepened—and we need to create an opportunity for
these projects to get the attention, resources, research, and the investment
they need.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">13. Support Family Farmers<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The U.N. FAO has
declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming, honoring the more than
400 million family farms in both industrialized and developing countries,
defined as farms who rely primarily on family members for labour and management.
Family farmers are key players in job creation and healthy economies, supplying
jobs to millions and boosting local markets, while also protecting natural
resources.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">14. Share Knowledge Across Generations<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Older people have
challenges--and opportunities--in accessing healthy foods. They're sharing
their knowledge with younger generations by teaching them about gardening and
farming, food culture, and traditional cuisines. It’s also important to make
sure that older people are getting the nutrition they need to stay active and
healthy for as long as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can share this awesome list with friends and family by
following this link: <a href="http://foodtank.org/news/2013/12/fourteen-food-resolutions-to-bring-in-the-new-year?utm_source=Food+Tank%3A+The+Food+Think+Tank&utm_campaign=aa0d51d624-14+Resolutions&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c6d5c4b977-aa0d51d624-12452989">http://foodtank.org/news/2013/12/fourteen-food-resolutions-to-bring-in-the-new-year?utm_source=Food+Tank%3A+The+Food+Think+Tank&utm_campaign=aa0d51d624-14+Resolutions&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c6d5c4b977-aa0d51d624-12452989</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sunset over Holland from Alitalia airlines</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Welcome to Juliaca, Peru!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0g153L7BtiRnPjkxf6RjbJ3f4Kw3DQ_Bq0YtgxZEHsooz3rG0HCCTsln5vFsp1bxuQYruYXHqgwV31Bfo88ai_ce9HWkO2eF0AFaB-wjoz646dAdaWmoEr1W0QdxgkpqAEmBbGabdz0IE/s1600/DSC00796+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0g153L7BtiRnPjkxf6RjbJ3f4Kw3DQ_Bq0YtgxZEHsooz3rG0HCCTsln5vFsp1bxuQYruYXHqgwV31Bfo88ai_ce9HWkO2eF0AFaB-wjoz646dAdaWmoEr1W0QdxgkpqAEmBbGabdz0IE/s1600/DSC00796+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Your smile decorates my day"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSzqzMLN5jtanWn09VnfbWkFOkdU3VlFWBLeXEl0Ga8Hp5_W7UMt1Ciw9OTEFokb1V8RupGEBNvg4eEJWq0HQerGeMt0Oh1NJpA3L8POgHj6fegoFVDdtwkkSyKoJIMTTn3PnZuHaRblR/s1600/DSC00808+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSzqzMLN5jtanWn09VnfbWkFOkdU3VlFWBLeXEl0Ga8Hp5_W7UMt1Ciw9OTEFokb1V8RupGEBNvg4eEJWq0HQerGeMt0Oh1NJpA3L8POgHj6fegoFVDdtwkkSyKoJIMTTn3PnZuHaRblR/s1600/DSC00808+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First views of Lake Titicaca</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the border between Peru and Bolivia in the town of Desaguadero</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibl6ozvAWtBuDKp3obXvdSSfHXmMwSbdV6Rdova8z2siZoyeg3GgsD_EeVz9XeUUR7g3hO7CMZ6_6wFOp_3Ai4j0XSTxEWIXiHcQO3gip6L3bObBOH9H5hPs3YlC3dRZXeywABDV9ZC14P/s1600/DSC00814+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibl6ozvAWtBuDKp3obXvdSSfHXmMwSbdV6Rdova8z2siZoyeg3GgsD_EeVz9XeUUR7g3hO7CMZ6_6wFOp_3Ai4j0XSTxEWIXiHcQO3gip6L3bObBOH9H5hPs3YlC3dRZXeywABDV9ZC14P/s1600/DSC00814+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Welcome to Peru...except we were going towards Bolivia ;)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsm_tctlbCh1gHC4EvMw1giV8YKnJ6B5Q01xs8n_dkmzMQDw4AUVTWzzHIlrHEjgUhvDH8x-C6hAxFZ7FDFVigIpvCKH1lXRPqWk2nqsEXshvGyO9vwqhGenQNTnWq1w8vmwd-dHRNHwEg/s1600/DSC00819+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsm_tctlbCh1gHC4EvMw1giV8YKnJ6B5Q01xs8n_dkmzMQDw4AUVTWzzHIlrHEjgUhvDH8x-C6hAxFZ7FDFVigIpvCKH1lXRPqWk2nqsEXshvGyO9vwqhGenQNTnWq1w8vmwd-dHRNHwEg/s1600/DSC00819+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Woke up to the breathtaking views of La Paz from my hotel window</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicNR-vvn201zlCyy3KfDEjpzcQk-ESh4_1e-Of2SfQV97KBLE4mNo_YqAEUjVyGCcblq749kKACr24tIrNHndwXFKKCupanlYJXlyHwzvoGryYmCOCtk8Vvi2KK3f-sYB_imdTOw-I049/s1600/DSC00825+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicNR-vvn201zlCyy3KfDEjpzcQk-ESh4_1e-Of2SfQV97KBLE4mNo_YqAEUjVyGCcblq749kKACr24tIrNHndwXFKKCupanlYJXlyHwzvoGryYmCOCtk8Vvi2KK3f-sYB_imdTOw-I049/s1600/DSC00825+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"I wish that everyone smiles and is happy"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMoy4mjopnb0m82aWcKJEZ1HIuei8UU6p2VzX29D-CRrKpld5PkhpGkrEJrbv7vdOdoTvsoeh7glNS4g2pEr7CBsMWMdsCR5n8E4QebGikcBYYF6Cwipfoz2F8jO0wXLG0-CLHAGVimCE5/s1600/DSC00828+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMoy4mjopnb0m82aWcKJEZ1HIuei8UU6p2VzX29D-CRrKpld5PkhpGkrEJrbv7vdOdoTvsoeh7glNS4g2pEr7CBsMWMdsCR5n8E4QebGikcBYYF6Cwipfoz2F8jO0wXLG0-CLHAGVimCE5/s1600/DSC00828+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxqUtBvy4nu3AGEICHUFYX-YWkNjmv3YoB7xOhY9h_BaZOXJ-ZVqPnl2f_JlOZA1Dh3xLDG8MfrYuU4z8_mOmZfx7kEjCKC4dcbEFHdOxSWcZ97_msF_98kGMP-xXqUGZ3avgs5cnl1DS/s1600/DSC00830+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmxqUtBvy4nu3AGEICHUFYX-YWkNjmv3YoB7xOhY9h_BaZOXJ-ZVqPnl2f_JlOZA1Dh3xLDG8MfrYuU4z8_mOmZfx7kEjCKC4dcbEFHdOxSWcZ97_msF_98kGMP-xXqUGZ3avgs5cnl1DS/s1600/DSC00830+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the many incredible murals sprinkled throughout La Paz</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6TmuB5hUouGk-TVwMLfw1S2PuTG14MGvJyMty6LaSTRoL4glbL77-9_ewTv8wLw3uOkO57ErPkcdmUUtUKMPlJBG3I060E-YMJd3LvC1yEXvQYq1dPCqe6MBnMh_C4LjRDIy2QspsiEK/s1600/DSC00831+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6TmuB5hUouGk-TVwMLfw1S2PuTG14MGvJyMty6LaSTRoL4glbL77-9_ewTv8wLw3uOkO57ErPkcdmUUtUKMPlJBG3I060E-YMJd3LvC1yEXvQYq1dPCqe6MBnMh_C4LjRDIy2QspsiEK/s1600/DSC00831+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My homestay brother with alpacas in the city</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOk9NxZj8Zcu3GKIx_CKoWwCrPmcAexLlDErMnyezIvWezo7p_0b3xz3JFyDnzakNKPsW3q-zD9QlxDPA2o7QgxM9dqoWWhNb21K5JuLg5PoksK53q1pYMyRF2gTH3AbInIHN9qFjmdNcr/s1600/DSC00834+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOk9NxZj8Zcu3GKIx_CKoWwCrPmcAexLlDErMnyezIvWezo7p_0b3xz3JFyDnzakNKPsW3q-zD9QlxDPA2o7QgxM9dqoWWhNb21K5JuLg5PoksK53q1pYMyRF2gTH3AbInIHN9qFjmdNcr/s1600/DSC00834+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My visit to "Moon Valley"</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhUcuF28ZH-2pHz3S-L_R4IIaHL3z7cQuokWrcXtLcMRG2g-vTGmdnrpM9zyq_Rk6TogYisNe6LO37Gdaxo3BLN2CvD2PZMenzo1q4ToQbekovTLLpdEh8xT4pIsbGZlCNIoeS4QPeMi0/s1600/DSC00840+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhUcuF28ZH-2pHz3S-L_R4IIaHL3z7cQuokWrcXtLcMRG2g-vTGmdnrpM9zyq_Rk6TogYisNe6LO37Gdaxo3BLN2CvD2PZMenzo1q4ToQbekovTLLpdEh8xT4pIsbGZlCNIoeS4QPeMi0/s1600/DSC00840+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With my homestay brother Jose</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jose and I :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Care for your planet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cholitas and angry birds...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"La Paz: the force of the revolution, example of transformation"</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia-16.4990099 -68.146248000000014-16.7425799 -68.468971500000009 -16.255439900000002 -67.823524500000019tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-61782353439512823142013-12-27T21:03:00.000-08:002014-12-23T21:18:46.728-08:002nd Quarterly Report (India and Bhutan)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>2nd Quarterly Report</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dear Watson Family,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Happy holidays from Lima, Peru, though I think I left my heart somewhere in the Himalayas! I have crossed 12 time zones in the last three days, miraculously made six international connections, and somehow managed to keep my luggage all the way to South America. Not the ideal way to spend the holidays, but in lieu of Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, I enjoyed Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, and National Day (in honor of Bhutan’s king). Today, my body and internal clock have no idea what time it is and I feel so exhausted, I can barely sleep. Spending time, albeit brief, in the airports of Europe where squat toilets cease to exist, designer stores like Dior are everywhere, and westerners with an excess of belongings abound was disorienting. You know you have been traveling for a while when it’s actually more comfortable to eat with your hands, when you are accustomed to squat-toilets, and when you actually prefer to take a bucket shower. Moreover, I continue to reply to people with the distinct Indian head wobble that indicates yes/no/yes/maybe. I have also grown accustomed to waking to incense overwhelming my olfactory system, a distinct part of Buddhist puja (prayer) each morning. But rewind three months to when I last wrote you from India. After visiting eight states, spending a total of 7 days on buses and trains, residing in 15 homestays, and conducting more than 60 interviews and visits, I have learned so much that I truly cannot begin to explicate, but I will try.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After leaving the majestic mountains of Ladakh in India’s northernmost state, I made my way south to Vandana Shiva’s biodiversity conservation farm and learning centre, Navdanya. Although I have been dreaming about coming here for ages, I have mixed feelings about my one-week stay. I can imagine that being there for a long time would have its pros and cons, but spending the majority of time with fellow foreigners made it feel like it wasn’t the “real” India (whatever that means). It was more like a bubble or a distorted reality that has the potential to make one feel trapped. So lesson #1: sometimes Plan A is not ideal. Despite these downbeat aspects, I suppose I should also focus on all the good things: I met many inspiring people whose varied backgrounds lent well to resource exchange, which helped me critically analyze my own research and make future contacts in India. I got my hands dirty working in the field(weeding, cleaning rice, sorting seeds, transplanting, and harvesting), and I still find weeding cathartic and therapeutic, as well as harvesting (getting to see the product) and planting (knowing that you are giving life). I taught yoga for the first time, which not only made me feel physically good but the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the class has inspired me to want to become a yoga teacher when I return home! Most importantly, however, while at Navdanya, I’ve realized that my own mindset and attitudes have changed since I left for my trip. I think that before the Watson, in the comfort of college and my extracurricular involvement in Slow Food, I was easily swayed and convinced that local, organic, small-scale, traditional, and simple living is the most desirable. However, at Navdanya, I found myself annoyed with people who “just want to live simply” and seem opposed to anything remotely modern, globalized, and change-oriented. Deep down, I want those same things, but I also don’t think we can ignore the other side, which I often found myself defending. I don’t think I would have found myself in this position last Spring, though I hadn’t realized it until I was surrounded by people who seem brainwashed – it’s a huge step for me. I want to continue to ask tough questions in the future and not complacently accept the “easy” answer, whichever side it may fall on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After Navdanya, I made my way to the state of Punjab, the birthplace of the Green Revolution (GR) and the granary or breadbasket of India (though it is now known as the cancer state from overexposure to agro-chemicals). Initially unplanned or rather a “Plan B,” I am so glad I fit Punjab into the itinerary and felt like my knowledge and experience were profoundly enriched. It even turned out to be one of my favorite places in India: the state is mostly Sikh religion (think turbans and long beards), the food here is divine, and I am officially obsessed with Indian clothes and need to stop buying them. Here I was able to speak with two young girls who lost their fathers to debt-related farmer suicide, and my most memorable visit was with a young farmer who is experimenting with organic. It’s a difficult transition, I am realizing more and more. He told me stories of how his neighbors think he’s crazy for growing vegetables, when they just grow rice and wheat with government support. They laugh at him when he rides his bicycle 11 km to the nearby town to sell at the market. Even his own mother asks, “why are you doing this rubbish?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Agriculture in Punjab feels contradictory: prosperous and tragic. Some farmers are producing huge yields (with the help of subsidies and chemicals), while others are stuck in a debt trap and resort to suicide. They know about the ill-health effects of chemicals but are willing to take the risk for menial profit. I have also come to understand the inherent paradox to mechanization: on the one hand, it displaces labor and forces farmers off their land; on the other hand, it relieves farmers from drudgery and has the potential to incentivize youth to come back to the land. Thus agricultural technology has the potential to assist farmers if it is implemented appropriately, which is where the term “appropriate technology” comes in. Even though my stay was just a little more than a week, I feel like I’ve learned so much and that I am being challenged in all directions. For better or worse, organic farming is not as simple as it seems. Those who try it do not have the support of family, community or government. They are like salmon swimming upstream to spawn – against all odds, trying their best. Even just weeding for a couple of hours, I can see how it might be tempting for farmers to simply spray pesticides and herbicides on their fields instead of backbreaking, monotonous labor. I think that it is so simple to romanticize organic but in reality, it’s just not that easy – labor is expensive, making compost and biopesticides is labor and time intensive, the government does not support it, and there are no assured markets. So I am coming to many realizations here and also trying to push aside my inherent biases and preconceived notions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After my stay in Punjab, I felt more prepared to attend the World Agricultural Forum Congress in Hyderabad, which was supposed to focus on smallholder farmers. During the conference, I randomly met another female delegate who offered to host me for four days at her home. She helped me dress in saris for the Congress gala dinners, and one night, we even rode to the venue on her scooter, an incredible experience, zooming through the crowded streets of Hyderabad, riding sidesaddle in a flowing sari on the back of her motorbike. The wind whipped through my hair (on a helmetless head, mind you) and ruffled the fabric of the traditional dress (which I was careful to tie up so that it wouldn’t catch). India has the power to make me feel so alive. Despite its imperfections and drawbacks, I find myself in love with this country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fortunately, the World Agricultural Forum (WAF) 2013 Congress was a significant opportunity for me to engage, learn, and collaborate with a variety of stakeholders in the global farming system, ranging from industry leaders to politicians and farmers to academics. There was also deep irony in that one of my hosts (a scholar and activist) and his colleagues withdrew their invitations to speak at the Congress, held a press conference/rally at the fair, and made demands for the state government to withdraw support, all in protest of the corporate-dominated agenda. Essentially, I am discouraged and tired of hearing the same rhetoric on opposing sides: the organic movement critiques MNCs and the industry for exploiting small farmers and on the other hand, industry says that privatization, technology, and modern inputs are going to be the saving grace of small farmers. I feel pulled in opposite directions and seek a neutral opinion, as both ends of the spectrum articulate and support their arguments eloquently and compellingly. While I acknowledge that all stakeholders have their own values and agendas, I like to think that everyone wants the same thing and that it is just a matter of how we achieve these collective goals without letting vested interests get in the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Moving on to two weeks in Vidarbha, the farmer suicide belt of India. Again, it was quite the whirlwind tour of dryland farming in this marginally productive area. I spent time with Subhash Palekar, founder of the Zero Budget Spiritual Farming movement in India. Although I commend Palekar’s efforts to mobilize a mass movement of farmers who are saying no to market dependence and uplifting themselves through proactive measures, I am extremely skeptical of his conspiracy theorist tendencies (he recently published a book titled, “Is Organic Farming a Conspiracy?”). Though he did raise one excellent point, which further motivates me to take up farming as an occupation and lifestyle at some point in my future:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“All these techniques and principles of organic farming are introduced by those intellectuals in society </i><i>who are not practicing farming, they do not know how to plough or harrow the soil; how to sow the </i><i>seeds, how to harvest with their own hands. They don’t know the actual problems, which the farmers are </i><i>facing.” </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the model farm visits, I was able to see impressive yields and incomes, content farmers, and generally successful operations. It made realize that seeing is believing for farmers who have not yet phased out chemicals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After the tours, I found myself in the town of Yavatmal. During my 7+ farm visits, I saw firsthand how technology definitely does not mean progress. I was able to contrast Punjabi farmers who have the most modern technology (which demands monoculture) with marginal dryland farmers in Vidarbha who, without access to irrigation or high tech machines, are intercropping cotton and pigeon pea for nitrogen fixation. In my mind, this mixed cropping and lack of mechanization is actually much more “progressive.” It was powerful and depressing being in the birthplace of cotton where farmers don’t understand the BT GMO technology and are killing themselves, coexisting alongside farmers who very much recognize the flaws and are avoiding the system. The Director of the Centre of Sustainable Agriculture aptly told me, <i>“Where we thought and assumed that technology was not available it was the </i><i>other way round. The suicides were a result of technology failure.” </i>It was a poignant moment attending a farmer meeting where I asked them if they know about the genetic modification technology behind BT Cotton and when they replied “no,” hearing it explained to them for the first time. Ultimately, my time in Vidarbha was dominated by both theoretical and practical learning, as well as stark visual comparisons. I received a basic lesson in watershed development; an explanation of pesticide management techniques (comparing integrated pest management (IPM), non-pesticidal management (NPM), and Insecticide Resistance Management (IRM)); and the importance of data-driven studies directly comparing organic and chemical farming systems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And I can’t think of a better way to wrap up my research in India than visiting the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai. Almost since the beginning of my time in India, I had been hoping to meet and interview Dr. MS Swaminathan himself. He is known as the “Father of the Green Revolution in India” and worked with the late and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the 1960s to double India’s grain production, transforming the hungry nation from food insecure to a self-sufficient net exporter. Dr. Swaminathan is a bit of a foodie/ag celebrity in my mind, so I was shocked and exhilarated when his secretary was able to arrange an interview. Although he just celebrated his 88th birthday, he is still very much young at heart. My time at MSSRF was useful because of the overall balanced approach to these issues. Dr. Swaminathan summed up very well that everyone has to devise their own thoughts on new developments and technologies, but it should not be based upon emotions, ideology, whims, or other people’s flimsy opinions but rather data-driven, independent science. Furthermore, there is no magic bullet solution to the agrarian crisis – as Dr. Swaminathan said, “organic is not the panacea for everything” (and neither are GMOs). Yes, sustainable agroecological farming may hold the answer to many of our problems, but perhaps it really does entail some integrated approaches (i.e. not ruling out external inputs, chemicals, and hybrid seeds all together) – honestly, I really don’t know. And as stated before, I’ve spent my fair share of time with conspiracy theorists and ideology-driven people on both ends of the spectrum: comparing the March Against Monsanto global protest, which I attended in New Delhi in October, with the corporate-laden World Agricultural forum is a stark contrast. However, I finally feel like neutral voices are coming through. Lastly, I asked Dr. Swaminthan what his advice would be for an aspiring young person such as myself and he said: <i>“My advice would be don’t go by slogans, emotions, or </i><i>because somebody says, ‘this is bad. That is bad.’ Apply your own mind,” </i>which is exactly what I am attempting to do this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I finished my time in India by taking side trips to Varanasi and Darjeeling, which made me feel like I am teetering on the edge of being a tourist and an inhabitant. By no means do I claim to be an expert in Indian culture or to have any true comprehension of the crisis of poverty and hardship here, but I do feel like I have been able to closely observe and experience the beautifully rich culture (e.g. politics, food, dress etc.) through my rural and urban homestays. I also acknowledge that I am much closer to a tourist, but my quotidian activities feel far from touristy. That being said, I become disoriented when I meet other travelers, since it has been a very long time since I’ve encountered them. I realize that this fellowship and all of its independent glory allow me to intimately and genuinely interact with communities and issues that would most certainly be inaccessible if I were a merely a tourist or in a group. This distinction was further highlighted by the fact that I was able to go to Bhutan on a non-tourist Visa. By working with the Ministry of Agriculture’s National Organic Program, I bypassed the $250 per day tariff and got off the beaten path, going places that tourists are not allowed. Without the Watson, this would have most certainly been impossible, so thank you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bhutan. What can I say about this amazing little Himalayan kingdom? One that makes up for its lack of size in natural beauty and personality, and the first country in the world to declare the goal of 100% organic agriculture. It is called the Land of the Thunder Dragon or the “Last Shangri-la” for its </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">remoteness and cultural preservation, but I would rather call it the “Land of the Unexpected.” For </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">instance, I’ve eaten more meat in the last week than the last six months combined and Bhutanese are </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Buddhist, meaning they shun the killing of animals and thus I expected them to be largely vegetarian. Not to say that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the yak burger or wild boar, but my stomach is overwhelmed </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and confused. Moreover, I honestly thought that coming to Bhutan, a country that was an absolute </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">monarchy until 2008, that uses Gross National Happiness (GNH) alongside GDP as an index of growth, where Internet and TV didn’t come until 1999, a national traditional dress code is required in government offices, and all buildings must conform to the national architecture, would be true cultural immersion into a pristinely traditional society. Instead being in the capital city of Thimphu felt more like home than anything in the last 6 months: a shower with running hot water, eating pasta and tomato sauce for dinner, watching a Pixar animated film on a flat screen TV, going to a bar to listen to acoustic covers of American bands – all in the company of my new Bhutanese friends who are part of the growing urban, middle class.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet I quickly found myself in a truck going 6 hours south, mentally preparing for a short stay with a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">farming family. During this drive, I once again re-boarded the time machine and have since been jolted out of both time and space. Practicing milking a cow, churning butter, making cheese, weeding the broccoli patch, harvesting yams, maintaining the vermicompost, transplanting, and seeing the water mill were just a few of the activities. I imagine this is how it would have been living in Old Sturbridge Village, a popular field trip site during elementary school where people would dress up in colonial-era clothes and churn butter for an audience of restless schoolchildren. Except this isn’t 18th century New England – this is 2013 in rural Bhutan in a village where electricity didn’t come until last year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over three weeks, I did four farmer homestays, saw five Dzongkhags (districts), and conducted 28 interviews/visits with a variety of stakeholders. Through these enriching experiences, I have come to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">understand many things. For instance, Bhutan may still be attempting to scale up to 100% organic, but this doesn’t actually seem to be the hard part. In reality, the country is facing a number of other unique challenges, namely related to its dramatic topography, varying climate, and sparse population. The issue is not that farmers are dependent on chemical inputs for farming or are at the whim of multinational corporations such as Monsanto, as is the situation in much of India. In contrast, one of the major problems is very poor road infrastructure, which limits marketing options for farmers, keeping most in a subsistence lifestyle. Moreover, fragmentation has led to even smaller land holdings and even those minute acres are often mountainous, difficult to cultivate, and nearly impossible to mechanize. And the lack of both export and domestic markets dis-incentivizes farmers from scaling up to commercial production.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unlike India and many other countries in the world, the Bhutanese government plays an extremely large role in the agricultural system with most areas entirely nationalized and minimal privatization. There seems to be genuine concern for farmer welfare on behalf of the state and the necessary oversight, though perhaps too much in some cases. At the National Biodiversity Center, I was told about efforts to promote biodiversity and traditional seeds through value addition and marketing of local products; of the importance of appropriate technology at the Agriculture Mechanization Center; post-harvest storage and processing for preservation and value addition at the National Post Harvest Center; different methods of pest, disease, and weed control at the National Plant Protection Center; various nutrient management techniques at the National Soil Services Center; and aims to promote food self-sufficiency through improved seed varieties at the National Seed Center. I also observed first-hand the potential for private business through the eyes and experiences of a young entrepreneur; about struggles with improved methods such as System of Rice Intensification from farmers, extension officers, and department directors; and efforts to support farming through academic conduits at the secondary school and university level.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After an enjoyable week living with four different farming families, attending a Bhutanese wedding (the first wedding in my life! I can add this to the list of the unexpected), conducting nine farmer interviews, and gaining hands on experience in farming, I found myself back in the capital city of Thimphu. And it was perfect and just in time for a very special guest: Andre Leu, President of IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements headquartered in Bonn, Germany). Andre was visiting Bhutan to do a seminar for Ministry of Agriculture executives, including the Minister himself. Obviously, I was not expecting this, so it was a wonderful surprise and remarkable way to celebrate the six-month mark on the Watson Fellowship. The most poignant part of his seminar, titled “Achieving Food Security with Science-Based High Yielding Organic Agriculture in Bhutan,” was that modern organic agriculture is not the same as the low-yield, backbreaking farming of the past. He noted that today, organic agriculture combines tradition with innovation and science by focusing on ecological processes, biodiversity, and local cycles. An exciting “Aha” moment for me: I think organic farming may be one of the answers I have been looking for all along: how to marry traditional indigenous wisdom with modern science and technologies for improved agriculture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like Dr. Swaminathan, Andre also emphasized the deep need to remove dogma from the organic </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">discussion and instead promote science. In a balanced and realistic approach, he introduced me to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">concepts such as Ecological Function Intensification. He did some myth-busting about organic with well defined arguments as to why yields do not have to go down, the potential for small-farm income </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">generation, and the prospective for participatory guarantee system (PGS) certification in lieu of an </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">expensive third party scheme. It was a striking moment hearing the Minister of Agriculture himself admit that the presentation was eye opening and to observe ministry employees show both the resistance and eagerness to move forward on the national organic plan. Thus, the last major unexpected aspect of Bhutan: during my interviews, I felt some clear reservations and doubt within much of the ministry with regard to the 100% organic plan, as many individuals argued for integrated pest and nutrient management systems that utilize chemical inputs as a last resort.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So now, as I prepare to embark on my next Watson journey, this time to the Bolivian Altiplano, where I hope to spend the next three months learning about quinoa, I will leave you with visions of Bhutan:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>As I sleep and wake to the rhythms of the Earth, it’s like heaven here. It feels like I am closer to the sky, </i><i>within kissing distance as the clouds engulf the lush and verdant hillside. </i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today, while harvesting pole </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">beans, the sun’s rays pierced through and peaked out over the impending clouds, as if the Gods were </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">splitting open the heavens with a triton of sunshine. </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The air is so crisp and fresh; life just seems to make </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sense. I am not saying that a rural existence is easy, but it is logical. </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Earth is ready to give us so </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">much – why not borrow it as long as we give back? </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For instance, harnessing and mimicking nature </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">through vermicompost or water-powered mills – these simple schemes are low cost and environmentally </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sound. </i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am truly amazed by the productivity of such a small landholding: 30 crops on one acre – the </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">way the fields are just bursting with life in an abundance of fruits and vegetables. </span></i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The feeling of having </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fresh compost slip through my fingers or the snap of the stem when picking beans. </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To some degree, I </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">crave self-sufficiency and I hope that I can take some of these lessons home: the slowing down and letting </i><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the seasons and daylight be my timekeepers.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thank you again for everything and best wishes for a Happy New Year,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lauren</span></div>
Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Lima, Peru-12.046374 -77.0427934-12.108488 -77.123474399999992 -11.98426 -76.9621124tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-68389277028935703842013-12-27T16:47:00.000-08:002014-11-10T13:30:11.912-08:00Post-Bhutan Ponderings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">December 27, 2013</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some photos from my final day of research, field visits, and interviews in Bhutan:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the National Seed Center</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Certified seeds</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With my host and Coordinator of the National Potato Program - in the tissue culture lab :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paro Museum was under construction</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paro Valley in the background</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last time wearing my kira!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I provide my own final re-cap and analysis of this magical place, I will amalgamate some particularly poignant quotations from <i>Married to Bhutan</i>, the memoir written by Linda Leaming, which I have so often cited in my recent blog posts. This entertaining book had become a sort of helping hand for me while in Bhutan, as I was able to relate to and trace the progression and emotional/spiritual development of another Western woman who eventually called this Himalayan kingdom home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“The world outside Bhutan seemed drained of color. I had never been so in love with a place and its people as I was with Bhutan. For the first time in my life, I was pining for something.”</i> (p. 26)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Likewise, I think I left my heart somewhere in the Himalayas; how else can I explain the void and weariness that permeates my bones? Or perhaps it’s the inexplicable exhaustion and jet lag that is leaving me feeling empty and homesick. I have crossed 12 time zones in the last three days, miraculously made five international connections, and somehow my luggage also ended up in South America. My body and internal clock have no idea what time it is and I feel so exhausted, I can barely sleep. I began the long journey departing from Paro International Airport in Bhutan on Tuesday morning. The sequence of tiring travel events started when I accidently had my Swiss army knife packed in my carry-on bag, which made the security check interesting. This incident was followed by the fact that I couldn’t get through immigration because the border police had not stamped my passport when I first arrived in Bhutan, overland from India. In fact, they merely looked at my paperwork, including my paper visa, and let me go freely. In retrospect, they should have charged me $20 and stamped my passport, but I had no idea. So here I am, frantically trying to get through immigration and having them explain the difficulties in leaving the country. After several phone calls to higher ups, I managed to pay the $40 visa fee, get my passport stamped, and ran to the tiny plane where they had already fired up the engines and I was literally the last passenger to board before they closed the doors. Adrenaline rush to say the least! This was compounded by the fact that I was graced with surreal views of the Himalayas as my flight made its way westward to Nepal, including vistas of Mount Everest. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last one on the plane!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Goodbye Bhutan!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-aezTjmTOjTlKv1UEpYPuTBmgT8VOJ1zp7A-W3IDVLyvQkmGdVnETe7HimJ7ZzKS4qRC9Xck0gkaudcofEsbg6Nd7bicfsQLvFcVL4QFSVBUOdjmIZGuvPy4asksIDWylZHXM2o1MAVz/s1600/DSC00733+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-aezTjmTOjTlKv1UEpYPuTBmgT8VOJ1zp7A-W3IDVLyvQkmGdVnETe7HimJ7ZzKS4qRC9Xck0gkaudcofEsbg6Nd7bicfsQLvFcVL4QFSVBUOdjmIZGuvPy4asksIDWylZHXM2o1MAVz/s1600/DSC00733+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hello Mt. Everest and Nepal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I spent about ten hours in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, of which a brief two-hour city tour occupied some of my time. I way overpaid for a taxi, not realizing that the exchange rate of Nepalese Rupee is even better than the Indian Rupee and the Bhutanese Ngultrum, if that’s even possible. But I was smart enough to ward off some extra men who offered to “be my guide” by retorting that the taxi driver could serve as both driver and guide. One man responded with: “oh you are clever, madam.” Yep, sometimes I can be. However, I didn’t realize that entrance to one of the temples would cost another 1000 Rs. This may not seem like a lot, but when you are trying to operate on a shoestring budget, these kinds of unexpected expenses really catch you off guard. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So to the tune of around $10, I was able to enjoy another UNSECO World Heritage Site, Pashupati Temple. I can add this to my growing list, which now includes several national parks in Tanzania, the Taj Mahal, and the Darjeeling Himalayan Express Train to name a few. According to one brochure,<i> “Pashupatinath is Lord Shiva, the God of Gods. Ancient Scriptures have described Him as Lord of the entire living beings and the source of eternal bliss and peace. The Pasupatinath Temple is one of the holiest temples of the world revered and worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists.”</i> Records indicate that it was rebuilt around 1120 AD and today, it is part of Pashupati Development Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple<i> “symbolizes Nepal’s national glory. It is a centre of faith and religious piety for the Hindus and Buddhists of the world, as well as a unique treasure that forms part of the world heritage.” </i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Looks like Varanasi, India</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was told that these old men sit around all day on drugs...interesting</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY85EwWFc2Eat2iG4shLnsHQjhwuAcoRAd7EGLbk3EgBhYOzV7XERdksip7qzrpEW4xifj8KOAimoW0AumtByy8GckCZ_a2FOiVAyRgVhoIOy_je2YXpk1xij5y8nWQK8RwEoPaSkqnzjY/s1600/DSC00756+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY85EwWFc2Eat2iG4shLnsHQjhwuAcoRAd7EGLbk3EgBhYOzV7XERdksip7qzrpEW4xifj8KOAimoW0AumtByy8GckCZ_a2FOiVAyRgVhoIOy_je2YXpk1xij5y8nWQK8RwEoPaSkqnzjY/s1600/DSC00756+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9QZbIKIg6SRBl6z69rfxs3PLEHQ6MIIZHRKqybrW0IHUSxSwRF24yzDF7HYsqtL9B6KQPhmMBoS0WWnm4t6Ayp-fZ6GJ05firXVNSMAF2muPh8rIbe752C9x3nTNZqo0s3QqNirBeVDK/s1600/DSC00778+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9QZbIKIg6SRBl6z69rfxs3PLEHQ6MIIZHRKqybrW0IHUSxSwRF24yzDF7HYsqtL9B6KQPhmMBoS0WWnm4t6Ayp-fZ6GJ05firXVNSMAF2muPh8rIbe752C9x3nTNZqo0s3QqNirBeVDK/s1600/DSC00778+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Famous </span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I love this: Buddha Air alongside Yeti Airlines. (Jack - I think I found Sasquatch in the Himalayas :P)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Spending only a few hours in Nepal was mildly disorienting because it felt like being back in India, if only for a fleeting moment. The crowded streets had a palpable layer of dusty smog and scattered litter as rickshaw-like vehicles rambled by. In fact, Pashupati Temple reminded me of a mini Varanasi (the famed Hindu city in Uttar Pradesh), as there were even burning ghats where people were cremating the bodies of loved ones along a contaminated river. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“This little spot I have come to think of as my hideout. Living in Bhutan is already like hiding out from the rest of the world, so here I suppose I’m about as far away from the world as I can get without leaving the planet, a hideaway within a hideaway. I recommend two things to anybody interested in finding out more about who they really are, what they’re made of, what they can endure, and how far humor will take them: running away and hiding out. If you have a chance to do either or both in your life, then by all means, take it. Two trees at the bend in the river act as camouflage. Some people might call what I’m doing meditation, but I prefer the term daydreaming. It is a lost art. I look around. Everything is achingly beautiful, shining in the pristine air. The glorious early-winter light; the river, now bright blue reflecting the sky; whitecaps, perfect in their water-ness – these white flecks of pure liquid energy make me feel relaxed. I think of the movie White Mischief and the character that actress Sara Miles plays, a jaded American heiress living in Kenya. Every morning she opens the French doors in her bedroom and views the spectacular Kenyan landscape, the flawless sky, and says, ‘Oh, God, not another fucking beautiful day.’ I don’t want to be jaded by this beauty. The water is rushing and so clear you can see the smooth black and brown rocks shimmering in the bottom. In fact, everything shimmers. The thin air is crisp and electric. A haze in the distance will burn off in an hour or so. Hot sun high up takes the edge off, so it’s not that cold. The brush-covered cliff to my right had bear tracks below it a few weeks ago. The bears were foraging, getting ready to hibernate. Above, the tree line goes all the way up a small slope to the sky. The landscape is one-third blue sky, two-thirds sand and evergreen trees pointing up, taking my eyes to heaven. Nearby, green and red prayer flags on long poles whip gently in the wind, sending prayers off the cosmos. I envision myself growing roots like a tree. My legs knot at the place where they meet the ground, my buttocks grow long roots that push me into the earth. My straight spine forms one long brown taproot that burrows into the ground as it forms fine lateral rootlets. I am immovable and unyielding. Rivers figure largely in my personal metaphors: water coming and going means being graceful, fluid, and adaptable. Learn to be water. In dreams, rivers are symbols of change or transition…I’m aware how far away the world is from this maze of rivers cutting through mountains. I can’t stop thinking of this as an impossible place, as magical. It’s certainly done its magic on me, and I feel like a benevolent Buddha. Of course, I am far from Buddha-like. I am very much of the world, and stressed. That’s why I’ve come to the river. I like to unwind here because even in Bhutan the world closes in. There are things to do, hassles, and tensions, and we’re always broke. But here we live so much in the moment. It’s a gift to know this: that life and the world are fleeting, like water in a river. Knowing that change is inevitable and life is ephemeral is being mindful. It makes each moment rich with possibilities. To really understand this, to feel it, you have to derail, switch off, and run away. That’s why I come here.”</i> (Leaming, p. 140-142)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next, I found myself on a fifteen-hour red eye flight from Kathmandu, Nepal to Paris, France with a brief stopover in the Middle Eastern city of Doha in Qatar. I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know Qatar was a country before this and had only heard of Doha because of the famous round of economic talks. I managed to watch some good movies including <i>When Harry Met Sally</i> and <i>Dead Poets Society</i>, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, I was dreading getting to Paris because I was extremely worried about not making my connection. At the time of booking, I guess I had a little bit of a brain lapse because I didn’t realize that Paris had two international airports. So I was very relieved and excited when I saw that I could fly to Lima, Peru from Paris with an ample four hour layover between flights. Yet to my surprise, I had accidentally booked my second flight from Orly International Airport, <i>not</i> my port of entry: Charles de Gaulle. Worst case scenario, I thought to myself: take a train from Paris to Amsterdam if I miss the connection. Fortunate reality: I made it across the city in a mere hour with plenty of time to spare. Next stops: Rome and Amsterdam, which hardly made sense, because flying to Italy was like going back in time and space when I really needed to move westward to South America, but alas, one cannot control these absurdities. After some serious internal debate, I decided to book an overpriced hostel in Amsterdam so I wouldn’t have to spend Christmas sleeping in the airport. In fact, everything about Europe feels drastically overpriced, from the train fare to the hostel to my dinner, especially coming from India where I could often get by on less than $3 a day. Spending time, albeit brief, in the “West” where squat toilets are not a thing and designer stores like Dior were everywhere, was disorienting. Even seeing so many white people with an excess of belongings draped over their bodies was disconcerting. I had become so used to only see Indians or Bhutanese people that being jolted back into the developed world was a shock and one from which I was eager to extract myself. Unfortunately, in Amsterdam, I had to wait until 15 minutes before the gate closed to know whether I would make it on my flight out of Europe, since KLM Royal Dutch Airlines had overbooked the flight and I didn’t yet have a seat. As you can imagine, this was quite stressful. Miraculously, however, I made it on the flight and after an additional one hour delay on the plane, I even enjoyed several more films: two Woody Allen movies (<i>Match Point</i> and <i>The Scoop</i> – I’ve decided he’s one of my new favorite filmmakers), <i>The Butler </i>(a film about an African American butler who served several administrations in the White House, tracing his family’s personal story of growing up picking cotton in the deep south, through the era of the Civil Rights Movement up until the 2008 election of Barack Obama), <i>Elysium</i> (a rather violent dystopian sci-fi-y movie with Matt Damon and Jodie Foster), and <i>Argo</i> (again, though I slept through most of it as I struggled to keep my eyes awake). So all in all, I can’t believe I made it to Peru, with my bags! It was strangely comforting arriving in a warm city where I can (mostly) read and understand the billboards and even communicate freely with my Spanish speaking taxi driver. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“It’s almost winter, my favorite season. I know this is unusual. I love the way the trees have a soft brown look without their leaves, and their sap, their life force, concentrates in the trunks. The river makes a soft lulling sound, a winter sound; and water moves slowly, like it is caught up in the sunlight and wants to stay. Slow glistening of the sun on the slow-moving water. A clean sound. Here, my body rooted to the earth, my thoughts flowing, I understand that we can’t see what’s right in front of us unless it is comfortable and expected. To truly see something, we don’t need to reply on senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing. For clear perception, we need to rely more on natural, not reasoned, impulses. I think of the choices I’ve made in my life. For me, there is a big difference between choosing and deciding: Choosing means we take the initiative – we learn about options, think of alternatives, and then pick one – and I prefer it. Deciding means someone has already made the choices for us. They are assembled in front of us, like a big menu in a fast-food restaurant. We merely pick A, B, or C. IT is more passive. These aren’t the traditional dictionary definitions of choosing and deciding I’m using, but I make the distinction because in the world, so many things seem to be decided for us. We don’t really believe we have much choice but we do. If we choose to follow our dreams and desires, then other things, good or bad, fall into place. I discovered this in Bhutan. In its remotest corners, with so many layers stripped away, I find my inside self is the same as my outside self.”</i> (Leaming, p. 143-144) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But rewind back to Bhutan. What can I say about this amazing little Himalayan kingdom, one that makes up for its lack of size in natural beauty and personality? Although I was only able to spend a mere three weeks there, I feel like I am coming away with a much deeper understanding of both its agriculture and culture. I don’t know how I can possibly summarize what I’ve learned, but I’ll try. In short, I did five homestays (four of which with farmers) and saw five Dzongkhags or districts, in addition to 28 interviews/visits with a variety of stakeholders:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Two interviews with the Coordinator of the National Organic Program</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with an Agricultural Marketing Officer at the Centenary Farmers Market</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Visit to Wangsisina Organic Research Farm and interview with Farm Manager</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Personal Interview and International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) Seminar with IFOAM President Andre Leu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Several informal conversations with a Senior Research Officer of the National Organic Program</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Visit to the National Post Harvest Center</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview and Visit to the Agriculture Machinery Center</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with Director of the Plant Protection Center</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with National Soil Services Center</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with Marketing Officer of the National Seed Center</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with National Biodiversity Center</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with Agriculture Professor at the College of Natural Resources</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with Agriculture Extension Officer doing trials in SRI</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with Druk Organic Farm Manager</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Visit to an Organic Research Center</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Visit with young entrepreneur of “Himalayan Chefs Garden”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Interview with seed producer and farmer outside Thimphu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">·</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Informal conversations with Agricultural Extension Officer of Sarpang</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Living here, I understand the notion of time as a quality or shade of being. We are ruled by weather, so time is inseparable from the seasons, what food we eat, where we go, what we do. We are able to forget about the schedules of the world for now and make a little world of our own. Sit back and take care of our own…I’ve been sitting with my eyes closed. Sometimes I fear that if I blink or tilt my head in a certain way, all the beauty of Bhutan, these gorgeous evergreen mountains dotted with fall foliage, the white snowcaps in the distance, will disappear. Mindful of being mindful. Change is constant. Suffering inevitable. Sow your own garden. If enlightenment is possible anywhere, I think it is particularly possible here. Tantric Buddhism teaches that there are many paths – as many as there are stars in the sky. Vajrayana, the diamond vehicle, means that anything can be an aid to enlightenment: jade, meditation, coq au vin, standing still, sex, walking out of a door, compassion, waking up, happiness, intuition, choosing, not taking yourself so seriously, mountains, breathing. Like the title character in Voltaire’s Candide: Or Optimism, the 18<sup>th</sup> century satire about how we ought to view the world, I’m a disenchanted optimist. Most optimists are, when they reach a certain age or accrue enough experiences. Dr. Pangloss, Candide’s teacher, said, “This is the best of all possible words.” This is not true. Yet I do believe in miracles and magic in this part of the world. I believe in accidental enlightenment. It could happen, and probably about as easily as one could become enlightened form, say, reading a lot of books about Buddhism.”</i> (Leaming, p. 155)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Through these enriching experiences, I have come to understand many things. For instance, Bhutan may still be attempting to scale up to 100% organic (without a set time frame), but this doesn’t actually seem to be the hard part. In reality, the country is facing a number of other unique challenges, namely related to its dramatic topography, varying climate, and sparse population. The issue is not that farmers are dependent on chemical inputs for farming or at the whim of multinational corporations such as Monsanto, as is the situation in much of India. In fact, very few farmers have access to synthetic fertilizers and even less to pesticides and herbicides. In contrast, one of the major problems is very poor road infrastructure, which limits marketing options for farmers, keeping most in a subsistence lifestyle. Moreover, fragmentation has led to even smaller land holdings and even those minute acres are often mountainous, difficult to cultivate, and nearly impossible to mechanize. And the lack of both export and domestic markets dis-incentivizes farmers from scaling up to commercial production. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unlike India and many other countries in the world, the Bhutanese government plays an extremely large role in the agricultural system with most areas entirely nationalized and minimal privatization. There seems to be genuine concern for farmer welfare and the necessary oversight, though perhaps too much in some cases. However, efforts are being made to privatize some aspects of the agricultural supply chain to relieve the burden on the government and promote efficiency and quality, but also to monitor to prevent exploitation of farmers. The country lacks agricultural subsidies in the conventional sense and the import and distribution of synthetic inputs is highly regulated at the federal level. Unlike in India where the state seems to be failing farmers, Bhutanese farmers get most of what they need from the government, including a well-developed extension service. At the National Biodiversity Center, I was told about efforts to promote biodiversity and traditional seeds through value addition and marketing of local products. Of the importance of appropriate technology at the Agriculture Mechanization Center; post-harvest storage and processing for preservation and value addition at the National Post Harvest Center; different methods of pest, disease, and weed control at the National Plant Protection Center; various nutrient management techniques at the National Soil Services Center; and aims to promote food self-sufficiency through improved seed varieties at the National Seed Center. I also observed first-hand the potential for private business through the eyes and experiences of a young entrepreneur; about struggles with improved methods such as System of Rice Intensification from farmers, extension officers; and department directors and efforts to support farming through academic conduits. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Even as Bhutan evolves and modernizes, it is as if the geography and weather are holding it back. Nature is saying, ‘Not so fast.’ But the Bhutanese are philosophical about it. They take things as they come. I think it has something to do with the fact that they see things in a continuum. They don’t have to have everything in this lifetime. They have an ease with death and dying, maybe because the end isn’t the end if you believe in reincarnation. It’s just a blip on the screen of your existence, a momentary setback, an intermission in the movie – go out and get some popcorn and it will all start again…When people die in Bhutan, being good Buddhists, they are cremated…mostly the Bhutanese are concerned not so much with the dead body as with the spirit of the dead loved one. Cremation is to help the spirit find its way to the next reincarnation…Some people come to Bhutan to die because they think it is an auspicious place to achieve their next life.”</i> (Leaming, p. 185-186)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In addition to learning about the various challenges that farmers face from the government side, I was also able to observe and interact with small farmers themselves. I saw that Bhutanese farms are predominantly small, diverse, and integrated operations (e.g. 30 different crops on one acre, livestock, and agroforestry). Some are selling half of their produce or more but struggle to make ends meet financially because of expenses such as transporting produce, high labor costs, and lack of surplus. I was also able to witness the benefits of participating in a farmers group first hand: free hybrid seeds, polythene greenhouses, increased attention and training from extension agents, group financial accounts with low interest loans, economies of scale and joint marketing. In terms of agricultural development, I observed a sequence of development in that farmers were naturally more interested in roads and electricity than agricultural implements. Largely speaking, the farmers I met seem to be very satisfied with their occupation and quality of life, including contentment with government support, agreement with organic farming and are aware of human health effects of using chemicals, and hopes of obtaining larger land holdings and more commercial activity. Furthermore, I was exposed to organic technologies such as vermicompost, vermiwash, biofertilizers, green manuring, botanicals, and biopesticides, and was able to gain valuable hands-on experience in farming activities, including: milking cows, making butter and forming cheese, weeding the vegetable patch with hand tools, harvesting grass for fodder with a small scythe-like knife, harvesting vegetables by hand, seeing a hydro-powered traditional thresher and the water wheel stone mill, cleaning millet by sifting it through a hand woven basket, learning how to maintain vermicompost, preparing the field/bed for planting, transplanting seedlings to the field, and transferring compost and planting seeds in a nursery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“In my life, adventure and dreams have taken precedence over desire for material objects. I follow my intuition and my dreams because this is the only way change happens. I am not adverse to working without a net. And I’m not adverse to leaps of faith…In the West, it is possible to live and be asleep. In Bhutan, one is compelled to wake up. There are all kinds of ignorance in the world. Education, learning to read and write, doesn’t necessarily give us knowledge. We have to learn to use our minds to see what is really happening…[but] Some things in life are more important than understanding.”</i> (Leaming, p. 216-217)<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After an enjoyable week living with four different farming families, attending a Bhutanese wedding, conducting nine farmer interviews, gaining hands on experience in farming, and twisting/spraining my ankle from falling down a treacherous hillside path (the not so enjoyable part), I found myself back in the capity city of Thimphu. And it was perfect and just in time for a very special guest: Andre Leu, President of IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements headquartered in Bonn, Germany) was visiting Bhutan to do a seminar for Ministry of Agriculture executives, including the Minister himself. Obviously I was not expecting to meet Andre, so it was a wonderful surprise and awesome way to celebrate the six month mark on the Watson Fellowship. And even though he’s probably traveled to more than 100 countries representing this international umbrella organization (that has a presence in 120 countries around the world), he is very much approachable, humble, and does not make you feel intimidated at all. He raised a number of excellent points, both in his seminar and in our two-hour interview. The most poignant parts of his seminar, titled: “Achieving Food Security with Science-Based High Yielding Organic Agriculture in Bhutan,” was that modern organic agriculture is not the same as the low-yield, backbreaking farming of the past. He noted that today, organic agriculture combines tradition with innovation and science by focusing on ecological processes, biodiversity, and local cycles. Andre also emphasized the deep need to remove dogma from the organic discussion and instead promote science. In a balanced and realistic approach, he introduced me to concepts such as Ecological Function Intensification or the science of applied agroecology to deliver multiple ecosystem functions. He did some myth-busting about organic with well-defined arguments as to why yields do not have to go down, the potential for small-farm income generation, and the prospective for participatory guarantee system (PGS) certification in lieu of an expensive third party scheme. It was a striking moment hearing the Minister of Agriculture himself admit that the presentation was eye opening and to observe ministry employees show both the resistance and eagerness to move forward on the national organic plan. Yet during my interviews, I felt some reservations and doubt within much of the ministry with regard to the 100% organic plan, as many individuals argued for integrated pest and nutrient management systems that utilize chemical inputs as a last resort. Regardless, I think the IFOAM president sums it up quite well, as in my interview, I asked what it would mean for the rest of the world if Bhutan succeeds in its 100% organic plan:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“<i>There is a lot of misunderstanding about organic. People are saying if we went organic, the world would starve and they are confusing organic with old style traditional. Seeing a country like Bhutan go ahead with it is very important in providing an example to other countries. I personally see Bhutan as a shining beacon of light in the world, not because of organic but also the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). If you look, everywhere else has gone down using GDP and its effects: overcrowding, pollution, depression. Most of us would agree that we haven’t developed the world the right way. Here we have an experiment that could show the world the right way to go. Combining the issue of human and social well being and the right level of development that looks after the environment. It may be a little country but a huge shining beacon of light to the world.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And lastly,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“I’ve learned not to question so much. I understand that life is full of these happy, life-altering coincidences. They probably happen much more than we think or know, especially when we are traveling, loosened from our moorings, if you will. They happen quite often in Bhutan. And I know that if a day comes when you’re in a place that seems absolutely magical, when you feel like anything can happen, you just have to go with it: go ahead and let yourself get carried away.”</i> (Leaming, p. 224).</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Lima, Peru-12.0478158 -77.062202800000023-12.1099298 -77.142883800000021 -11.985701800000001 -76.981521800000024tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-18216069871710772952013-12-23T14:49:00.000-08:002014-01-10T14:57:06.379-08:00Photos from My Hike to Tiger's Nest (Taktsang)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here are some photos from my day hike to Tiger's Nest, a famous spot in Bhutan. According to trusty <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paro_Taktsang">Wikipedia</a>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Paro Taktsang (spa phro stag tshang / spa gro stag tshang) is the popular name of Taktsang Palphug Monastery (also known as Tiger's Nest),[1] a prominent Himalayan Buddhist sacred site and temple complex, located in the cliffside of the upper Paro valley, in Bhutan. A temple complex was first built in 1692, around the Taktsang Senge Samdup (stag tshang seng ge bsam grub) cave where Guru Padmasambhava [aka Guru Rinpoche and the Second Buddha] is said to have meditated for three years, three months, three weeks, three days and three hours in the 8th century. Padmasambhava is credited with introducing Buddhism to Bhutan and is the tutelary deity of the country. Today, Paro Taktsang is the best known of the thirteen taktsang or "tiger lair" caves in which he meditated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Guru mTshan-brgyad Lhakhang, the temple devoted to Padmasambhava (also known as Gu-ru mTshan-brgyad Lhakhang, "the Temple of the Guru with Eight Names") is an elegant structure built around the cave in 1692 by Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye; and has become the cultural icon of Bhutan.[2][3][4]A popular festival, known as the Tsechu, held in honor of Padmasambhava, is celebrated in the Paro valley sometime during March or April."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paro Dzong</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My favorite of the day - a young monk and his friend</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which way is up?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mini chortens</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pack/trail ponies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One last photo with my guide</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Paro, Bhutan27.4285949 89.41665160000002326.5269164 88.125758100000027 28.3302734 90.707545100000019tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-57037730747296599162013-12-21T16:39:00.000-08:002019-05-21T15:09:25.013-07:00Punakha: Druk Organic Farm, College of Natural Resources, and SRI Trials<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">December 21, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Punakha: Druk Organic
Farm, College of Natural Resources, and SRI Trials<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">During my trip to Punakha, I was able to interview an extension officer who has been doing a few years of trials with SRI (System of Rice Intensification). I first learned about SRI in India from a Dehradun-based NGO called People's Science Institute. According to PSI, the basics of SRI include:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SRI alters transplanting, weeding, water and nutrient management to yield an impressive harvest; uses traditional organic techniques and requires less external inputs (less seed and water and manure is cheaper than urea), so decreased input costs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The most important technique is the preparation of a nursery where paddy saplings are grown, which are then transplanted to a field free of any weeds (planted around 8 inches apart)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Paddy – staggered nurseries (repeated establishment of nurseries with a gap of 7 days) were encouraged instead of relying on a one-time nursery </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Focuses on root rather than plant - ensuring healthy roots ensures healthier and more productive plants</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another crucial factor is seed sowing time, transplanting age of paddy seedlings (e.g. can’t be too old)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fewer seedlings are planting per unit area, reducing competition for nutrients and instead of keeping the fields flooded, SRI drains water out after 3-4 days. This increases the supply of air (e.g. nitrogen) to the roots. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SRI recommends use of organic fertilizers (also applicable to wheat, maize, finger millet (mandwa) and kidney bean (rajma))</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Systematic sowing of seeds at fixed planting (compared to conventional broadcasting method) saved 60-70% of seeds and reduced plant competition</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Digging and sowing is reduced, so it saves time and labor</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Yield increases: “In SRI, paddy plant is six feet long and has around 600 grains. Conventional paddy is 3.5 feet long and has about 350 grains”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">PSI has developed prototype single and double row seed drills and an SWI weeder, which have a mixed response among farmers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scaling up/spreading of System of Wheat Intensification (SWI) in the Indian states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradessh was done through network of local voluntary organizations. It trained their personnel and other progressive farmers as Master Trainers and experienced local farmers as village level resource persons</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Farmer feedback: </span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Most adhere to just line sowing; farmers prefer sowing of two seeds per hill instead of one; farmers have realized that SWI requires time bound operations such as sowing, weeding, water management etc. for better results. All of these are labor-intensive operations, especially without a seed drill. In spite of higher labor inputs in sowing and weeding, farmers have expressed immense satisfaction without higher SWI grain and straw yields</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cost-effective method of enhancing grain yield and straw volumes in rice (wheat and other crops)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The much higher SRI crop stalk volume provides more fodder for cattle, leading to increased milk production and increased FYM for fertilizing fields</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SRI/SWI increased crop production while enhancing intrinsic productivity of land with minimum use of external inputs. Healthy roots and more productive plants were ensured. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SWI is basically the same (wheat) except it changes sowing geometry, weed management and stresses organic manuring</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“SWI wheat produced more effective tillers per plant, each plant was taller and had longer panicles with more and heavier grains yielding about 5.0 T/ha, showing an average increase of about 80% in grain yield of SWI wheat over conventional wheat crop”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Trials are being carried out of comparing SWI performance under intercropping with different pulses like gram and lentil to maintain nutrient status of soil</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Benefits of System of Crop Intensification (SRI/SWI):</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Less seed requirement</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Saving in water</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Early maturity</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Decreased chemical application</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Improved soil quality and health</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Higher grain and straw yield</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Reduced women’s workload</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Concerns: </span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">SRI technique needs to be extended to other crops</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thorough cleaning of weeds from the field is an arduous but necessary process</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Farmers find operating the weeder very cumbersome and would like it to be made mechanical. This would increase the cost of the machine but would ease the work of the farmer; Design modification of the seed drill to ensure fixed spacing of seeds while sowing</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Farmers accessibility to quality weeders</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Capacity building of farmers in the adoption of SWI</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Availability of water under rain fed conditions, especially during weeding operations, transplanting, and after milking stage</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So in general, it sounds like SRI/SWI/SCI is ideal. But experiences in the field in Bhutan demonstrate the ground realities:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kesang, National Organic Program Coodinator: <i>“It has been
tried in many districts on a trial basis.
But until now, the results are still mixed and the reception is not
clear. People have experienced a lot of
difficulties with implementing the technology.
Yield increases were noted but many extension agents cited difficulties
with weed and water management. Lack of
appropriate tools and equipment in weeding and planting. And young seedlings in our environment where
the climate is quite cool, in two weeks the seedlings are still very small and
it is difficult. It is appropriate
technology – how do you plant it efficiently and fast? Seedlings by 12 days in warm areas like
Thailand or India are larger. Adoption
of technology has not been very efficient.
For SRI to succeed in Bhutan, we need to improve and localize the
technology. We need a full package or
modification of technology. We could
still reduce water requirement and increase yield. You train extension agent but is also depends
on how they monitor and deliver each season.
There is a weakness of technological demonstrations not being successful
since SRI hasn’t taken off at farmer level.
We are having difficulties in showcasing the technology itself.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dr. Tinlay (National Plant Protection Center): “<i>With SRI, we found 2-3 major problems. Have to sow very young rice (7-8 days) and
they are either killed by water or sun (not physically strong). Second, this alternative wetting and drying
encourages weed growth. This requires
herbicides and manual weeding. Third is
that SRI requires labor and farmers don’t have this. We have tried two years in Punakha valley.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">According to my interview with an Agriculture
Extension Officer in Punakha dzongkhag,
they conducted three years of SRI trials from 2009-2012. It began with 4 acres (6 households) and
then in 2010, decreased to one household with 0.25 acres and stayed the same in
2011. The farmers were provided with hybrid
paddy seed (IR64), trained in germination, pre-soaking, and transplanting 21
day-old seedlings from the nursery, and in the second year, transplanting 14 day
old seedlings. Farmer feedback was
mixed: they were happy with the decreased seed amount (i.e. only 2 kgs of seed
per acre as compared to traditional paddy cultivation, which uses more than
40-50 kgs), but were initially skeptical about the age of and spacing between
seedlings: traditionally, farmers use more than 2 month old seedlings planted
very close together (5-15 cm), but in SRI, the farmer plants young seedlings
(2-3 weeks old) relatively far apart (~20 cm) and only one at a time instead of
2-3 seedlings together. The farmers had
to be convinced that the gap needs to be maintained, but after harvesting, they
were satisfied with the high yields.
Unsurprisingly, intensive and expensive labor in the form of transplanting
was the major problem, as well as frequent re-irrigation (traditional = 1 time
irrigation; SRI = 3-4 times). In terms
of nutrient management, farmers are fond of using synthetics such as suphala
and urea, as well as the traditional FYM.
Currently, the extension services are not advising them against
synthetic fertilizers since <i>“farmers know
the difference of yield with using chemical fertilizers.”</i> Pest and disease don’t seem to be much of a
problem but weeds abound. Farmers are
mainly hand weeding but were recently given a hand and rotary weeder. In conclusion, in terms of a yield
comparison, SRI outperformed in grain yield, plant height, number of grains per
panicle, tillers per hill, straw yield, milling recovery, and length of panicle. Yet the problems are labor: more than 30
people are required for transplanting 1 acre) and to a lesser extent, cultural
barriers as farmers are not accustomed to the varied practices. Moreover, SRI is difficult to carry it out
without mechanization, so there are no concrete plans to continue the trials in
the future. However, if the Agriculture
Machinery Center (AMC) can provide a transplanter, weeder, seed drill etc. and
the government can provide adequate irrigation water (which is often a problem
due to rainfed agriculture), then perhaps SRI will be promoted since it does
lead to increased yields and less seed usage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Punakha Dzong</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Doors of Bhutan</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also had an interview with a Professor at the College of
Natural Resources who teaches courses in agriculture. He is currently getting his PhD and doing his
dissertation work on comparing organic and conventional paddy, though
preliminary results show little difference between the two. His study involves farmers who are using
their own management practices without expertise intervention (though some were
trained by NOP). Personally, he aspires
for a 100% organic Bhutan, though he acknowledged that this requires hard work
and good planning/management, as opposed to defaulting to integrated management
with chemicals. I learned of some
tension between NOP and BAFRA (regulatory body) in terms of certification: NOP
is considering a label for farmers who are selling produce locally since
consumers domestically should have assurance that it is organic. The main issue, however, seems to be that BAFRA wants
to strictly regulate the domestic market whereas NOP wants to promote (more
leniency through PGS) without external involvement (e.g. BOCS – Bhutan Organic
Certification System – per BAFRA versus an “assurance system” as per NOP). Unfortunately, the regulatory presence of
BAFRA might discourage farmers from taking on organic due to the increased
bureaucracy. The professor noted, <i>“If you are really committed and want to go
organic, we should ban all chemicals.
Not many of our farmers are using chemicals and they are limited types
(e.g. urea, borax, suphala etc.) in terms of commercial crops (potato, citrus,
apple, paddy); second thing is that we have been importing lots of vegetables
and food from outside, so we will depend on imports for next few years, but the
natural resilience of the environment will be established.”</i> An NOP officer chimed in, <i>“If Bhutan joins WTO, the agriculture sector
will suffer because imports of food from India will grow even more and local
farmers will struggle.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In terms of management practices, according to the CNR
Agriculture professor, we need to make serious efforts to recycle weeds and
crop waste, which currently is not happening much on the farmer level. Also biofertilizers, composting (good plant
protector because of nutrients), FYM through collecting forest waste, plowing
of weeds back into the soil, and mulching (prevents against soil born diseases)
are all important and most are recognized by the farmer, but the problem is
that they feel that there are more important things to do (e.g. tend to
livestock). However, if extension agents
in each geog (block) could collect stories of best practices and then spread these to
farmers, as well as facilitate field visits, then this would promote horizontal
knowledge exchange. Another challenge is
that nutrient gradients may exist even on a small plot and this heterogeneity
challenges farmers (which is also where soil testing comes in). Thus applying a blanket application of one
fertilizer or synthetic chemical, may not do the trick and instead,
vermicompost might be better (but you can’t have vermicompost in cold places).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In terms of scale, he told me that <i>“the way we have been farming is not very
intensive. We have been giving it time
to rest [especially because of] lack of irrigation water. Wildlife is a blessing because soil does not
get exhausted, so there is lots of fallow land in each district but this is not
quantified (also because of land shortages).
We stopped the double harvesting of paddy because of lack of water and
labor shortages,” </i>which he thought was good.
In the future, however, he has a big fear of monocropping, especially as
many acres are being converted only to potato because<i> “Farmers want to upscale
whatever is bringing them the most profit.
Checks and balances are in the limited land. Unless we pool land or get into contract
farming, this will limit monocrops. If
you really want to improve agriculture, contract farming will help with
upscaling and economics of scale and address marketing problem. If we can really strengthen the marketing and
let farmers be on their own. We need to
facilitate marketing. Production and
supply will happen on its own if we focus on developing demand. If you bring farmers together, it is
questionable as to how income would be shared, but if you break them up, then
produce would be very small quantity. A
well managed cooperative could be the biggest asset for Bhutanese farmers. The major problem is marketing. Instead of every farmer coming to sell. For livestock, we have quite a lot of
marketing. We should also focus on
comparative advantage. Bumtang is good
at potato and instead of introducing new crops, which would increase production
costs and new pests and diseases; rather, we should specialized in a specialty
crop. This would increase production
efficiency, but the problem of this is again monocropping. We also need to have some kind of forum with
critics and supporters in the same room for empirical evidence and
discussion. There are lots of skeptics
within the ministry because of lack of understanding of science of organic
agriculture. They are not focused on
long-term benefits or from the sustainability focus. We need to stress the long-term benefits
without using “sustainability” [which turns people off]. Moreover, finance support is not systematic
in terms of support given to farmers. We
need to truly support the market sector – this will incentivize farmers to grow
and produce.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And lastly regarding mechanization, the Professor commented: <i>“Our agriculture will be much worse if we go
towards full mechanization. We should
document all agricultural practices now before they’re gone, compare in 15 years
and then decide best practices. We need
common sense and to follow ecological balance, which would take care of most of
the problems and may replace the need for mechanization, which is also
difficult on our land and is damaging to water resources. If mechanization is easy, farmers will go for
intensive farming. It is good and easy
but it will promote intensification and this might be harmful for the
environment.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Paddy terraces are just so lovely</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">College of Natural Resources Experimental Farm Plots</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After my interviews with CNR, I found myself sharing a bedroom with a sixty-year-old
retired civil servant named Tshering who is managing Druk Organic Farm, a 5
acre mixed vegetable farm with an additional 15 acres of paddy (800 kg/hectare
yield). There is also a soybean cheese
factory is being built as a development project by Japan. The farm is also the collection site for the
Druk Organic Farmers Cooperative, which consists of 30 small farmers who are
all into organic vegetable production.
Every Thursday, they harvest and bring their vegetables to the
collection center, though it is usually only 4-5 farmers each week. Then the vegetables are brought to either the
Thimphu or Paro markets. Regarding the
relationship between the farmers’ cooperative and Druk Organic Farm, I
discovered that the farm controls the cooperative by technically guiding the
farmers (e.g. when to sow, how to maintain soil fertility etc.). They conduct a monthly meeting for farmers to
discuss problems. As most cooperatives,
this one has a chairman, secretary, and accountant. They collect 100 Nu (~$1.67) per month per
farmer for an emergency welfare fund, then farmers can take out loans for agricultural development at 10-11%
interest rates for 3-5 years. The
farmers market their produce together and at the end of the month, there is a
coop meeting, during which the farmers receive payment from their individual
sales. The government has provided them
with a seed drill, plastic green house, and weeder on an individual and
subsidized basis, while they still purchase seed and chemicals. Moreover, farmers are doing training with NOP
and going on study tours, learning about such topics as how to grow organic and
how to control pest and disease through biopesticides, crop management, and
vermicompost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tshering is a very funny guy who seems to be permanently
cracked out on lack of sleep and lack of food ("too busy to eat"). As farm manager, he specializes in production
but is also responsible for marketing due to a staff shortage. With more than 40 years of experience in the
agriculture sector, he’s seen Bhutanese farming evolve and was at the forefront
of its development. Unfortunately, the
language barrier made our interview less fruitful than I would have hoped. But I did glean some interesting
information. From 1971-1984, he worked
as an extension agent in the Ministry of Agriculture and from 1984-2006 in
national seed production. Before the
1970s, it seems that there wasn’t much agricultural development work or related
programs, including extension services.
So Tshering claims to have started an agriculture development program in
1971. During his early work, he supplied
seedlings, fruit plants, synthetic fertilizer (urea etc.), and plant production
chemicals. He described how “at this
time, it was only traditional farming.
There was no new technology applied during this period.” Moreover, early on, Bhutan’s government used
to provide synthetics free of cost as a demonstration and guided farmers in using
fertilizer and pesticides. Tshering
explained how farmers liked the fertilizer and pesticide: “it was the first
time of applying and they were happy because of high yielding new
technology.” Then we got into discussion
on seeds since he worked in seed production for more than 20 years, and more
specifically into hybrid seed production in cereals, vegetables, oils, and
pulses. He explained, <i>“Before this, we
bought parent seeds (male and female) from India and made hybrids in Bhutan. Many farmers liked them but could not afford
parent seed because it was costly and they had to buy from India. After a few years, we stopped buying parent
seed from India and to replace it, the government used to supply high yielding
variety of maize (suwan 1 – OPV). It was
introduced in 1992 in Bhutan and still being used, giving 1200-1300 kg per
acre. Now farmers are using hybrid
broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage.”</i> When I
asked about seed saving activities, he said that hybrids are expensive: a 10 g
packet = 70 Nu or $1.17 for hybrid; 10 g packet = 30 Nu or $0.50 for OPV and “farmers
look for low price not for yield.” I
don’t know if I agree with him entirely, especially because many farmers I
talked to definitely prefer hybrids because of their increased yields, but at
this point, they are receiving them at a subsidized rate from the government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Almost four years ago, Tshering retired from his work in
government seed production and earlier as an extension officer. Now he’s been managing the farm after only
agreeing to do six months, and almost four years later, he’s more occupied than
ever and desperately wants to go back into retirement and meditation. He was commenting on how he keeps trying to
leave but the owner insists on keeping him on.
Tshering kept me laughing almost the entire time, just making funny
comments with accompanying facial expressions.
I discovered that the farm is very short on labor and if I had come
sooner, I would have been able to volunteer/apprentice/intern on the farm for a
week or more. But alas, I was only able
to stay one day and Tshering had to do several hours of banking work. So I accompanied his laborers (two young women,
each with babies strapped to their backs on those cloth pouches and later two
young men) and basically followed them around the farm like a puppy. Unfortunately, the women spoke hardly any
English, so I had to just watch and copy their movements, never quite sure if I
was harvesting the vegetable in the right stage of growth or putting enough
onions in the bundle. Despite the
frustrating language barrier, I was still able to get some experience
harvesting, sorting, bundling, and packing vegetables such as lettuce, swiss
chard, cauliflower, onion, and pak choy, as the next day, we would head back to
Thimphu with a truck full of vegetables to sell at the Farmers Market. I found the leafy vegetables quite difficult
to work with because they are so fragile.
In contrast, I enjoyed hacking the cauliflower with a sharp knife and appreciated
the hardiness of the onion while we peeled back the outer layers and ripped out
the roots.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Later that evening, Tshering and I had dinner at a local
restaurant then retired back to the house, which is an incredibly beautiful and
old Bhutanese house perched on a hillside overlooking a panorama of rice paddy
terraces and surrounding hills. Although
it is gorgeous on the outside, the inside was another story. It was really dirty and not well maintained
at all. In fact, I am pretty sure I
acquired bed bugs or fleas in his house, as I woke up this morning with a bunch of nasty
mosquito-like bites all over my body that were not there before. In any case, the owner of the house and the
farm is a wealthy man and the former National Speaker. As “Druk Organic Farm” is his own personal
commercial endeavor, he invests quite a lot of money each month (about 100,000
Nu or $1,667 USD) to pay for expenses such as labor, transportation, and fuel
and only gets about 30,000 Nu back $500.
The Senior Researcher Officer at NOP who is helping coordinate my stay
in Bhutan said that the farm is not financially or agriculturally viable right
now namely due scale – they are trying to produce commercially for a farm that
really should only be a family farm.
Furthermore, according to the agriculture research program director, they are currently working on increasing the financial and
production sustainability of the farm, so they have hired a consultant. There is a need to increase interventions on
the farm because right now, nutrient management is minimal and there is the need
to build up the soil fertility and structure.
There are also attempts to bring in improved livestock for increased
milk production and manure. Even though
the farm is 4-5 years old, the management is changing constantly, which is
hampering the farm’s growth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was able to continue my interview with Tshering later that
evening. I found it interesting because
his background really seems to be more in conventional agriculture, which
showed through in his responses. For
instance, he said <i>“Compared to inorganic, organic is very difficult because we
have to prepare compost, FYM, vermicompost, and on top of that, prepare
biochemicals. In conventional, it is
very easy when you apply fertilizer (only 1-2 months to complete crop cycle). But in organic, it takes a long time for the
crop cycle (3-4 months) (e.g. mustard green, cauliflower) because of source of
plant nutrition (fertilizer is faster).
FYM, compost, etc. develops soil fertility and is good for the crop but
it takes a long time. When I was working
with the government [in the 1970s], I used to apply NPK and urea when we
noticed a poor crop. Now I think that
NPK is good for crop but bad for soil.
It makes the soil hard and the taste is not as good as organic,
especially vegetables. I was working for
the government for 34 years and used to eat conventional vegetables. Now for 3.5 years, I’m growing organic
vegetables and the taste is quite different.”</i>
When I asked about pest, disease, and weed management on the farm, he
explained that they do mostly hand weeding and tried mechanical weeders but
“during summer, the soil becomes very muddy due to heavy rain, which makes it
difficult to use the weeder.” He is a
funny guy indeed. He explained how two
years back, he used to prepare botanicals for pest protection (ginger, garlic,
onion, chili etc.) but they weren’t effective because, quote, “I didn’t do the
research. Now I don’t like to use it
because I want to keep it natural.” I
discovered these nasty little caterpillars on the cauliflower while harvesting
and when I asked him, he said he’s not doing anything because wants to see how
much it can damage the crop. I’m not
sure if the owner knows about his little experiments…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For nutrient management, he’s using compost, FYM, and
vermicompost. He said that “labor
expense is only for compost making because have to collect ingredients from
forest, cow dung and urine.”
Unsurprisingly, labor is the largest expense. They’ve use a power tiller for plowing since
2000, which is “good because it’s efficient.
We don’t use bullock because it takes a long time to prepare the
field. It is not so expensive to fuel or
service but really saves labor.” I also
asked about best practices on the farm and he said, “grow pea as green manure
and we can sell the pod and also soybean, mulching with straw is good for
preserving moisture during the dry winter and protect against crop damage,
helps keep weeds down; crop rotation with leguminous crops.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He said that<i> “for me, it would be difficult to achieve 100%
organic. It takes a long time to
complete a crop cycle from sowing to end of the crop. For a leafy vegetable, it is 4-5 months. Inorganic cultivation is very easy because
when we notice the crop is suffering, we can just apply nitrogen fertilizer and
yield will increase.”</i> I think given
Tshering’s background working for so many years under a paradigm that, at the
time, promoted synthetics, his opinion about Bhutan going 100% organic is
valid. But he did note that<i> “if we can
build up soil fertility and get irrigation, we can really profit. We need more FYM and compost, most
important. Problem now is that our owner
doesn’t believe or trust in paying money for purchasing FYM, so there is
insufficient application. Making compost
here is not enough for 10-20 acres, so we have to buy from other farmers.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was curious about Tshering’s opinion of how government
support for farmers has changed over the years.
He commented how <i>“government is supporting farmers more now than in the
past. Before, the government didn’t
understand agriculture. Now the government
is providing free of cost, which is good.
It is quite different than before.
But sometimes farmers expect but when government staff explains they
can’t provide free all the time or subsidized, then some years farmers may have
to pay out of pocket. Farmers need to
have good management.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The old house I stayed in perched on a hillside</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">More paddy terraces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Harvesting and peeling onions for the farmers market</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Make shift packs for babies</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Loading up for the Thimphu Farmers Market</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After our interview, I went to sleep early around 9:30 PM,
only to be jarred away at 4:30 by Tshering doing morning puja in my ear, which
sounded like fast paced mumbling. I
shouldn’t have been surprised because he is very religious man and did puja for
an hour the prior night before we went for dinner. But my lack of surprise did not make it any
less annoying. And then we didn’t end up
leaving for the farmers market until 7:15.
We packed the truck full of vegetable crates and I found myself squished
in between Tshering and his Indian driver in the cab of a very old pickup
truck. In fact, ancient is probably a
more accurate term. It was a funny sight
as I was straddling the gear shifter and the driver had to constantly
manipulate it as we drove through the rocky, mountainous, and winding
roads. It should have been an easy and
uneventful 1 hour and 45 minute drive, but it had been particularly cold the
last few days and a dense cloud of fog engulfed the farm that morning. As we climbed in elevation, the drizzle and
fog turned to snow flurries and near Dochula Pass, a full-blown snow
storm. It made the surrounding evergreen
dotted mountainsides picturesque but the roads a nightmare. It was terrifying as we saw huge 18-wheeler
trucks skidding out and all of a sudden, our own truck started slipping. I later found out that because it’s so old,
it didn’t have four wheel drive. So our
truck was paralyzed on the road as a never-ending train of buses were coming
down from the pass in our direction. It
was total chaos on the road and we decided to get out and start going by
foot. Unfortunately, as I stepped out of
the vehicle, I slipped immediately and fell quite hard on my tailbone. I was rolling around on the icy ground,
crying out in pain as Tshering frantically tried to help me up and get me out
of harm’s way, as cars continued to try to pass. So I guess I’ll be adding this bruised
tailbone/back business to my list of unfortunate injuries in Bhutan, alongside
my sprained ankle and the bedbugs or fleas I contracted in the old house. We walked slowly past a stalled line of cars
and immobile trucks with spinning wheels, conscious of our own slipping. We walked about a kilometer up to Dochula
Pass where at least I could take some photos of the prayer flags and army of
chortens in the swirling snowfall. We
continued to walk and Tshering was still making me crack up. For some reason, I found everything he said
hilarious. This time he was going on
about how we didn’t eat a proper breakfast and if we didn’t make it the 4 km to
the next restaurant, we might starve out here and die. I think he was being quite serious, but I
couldn’t stop laughing. Maybe it was as
result of delirium from lack of sleep.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to walk 3 miles through the icy and
dangerous roads, trying to stay out of the way of moving cars and also avoid
going over the cliff side. We hitched a
ride with a tourist mini bus that we driving by and I was able to engage in
pleasant banter with a couple of women from Singapore. As we came down from the pass and descended
into Thimphu Valley, the sun was almost shining and you’d never know that the
road we had come from was virtually a war zone.
We saw emergency vehicles and tow trucks whiz by us, in addition to a
huge cement truck completely flipped over.
And in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but worry that my backpack
(and most importantly, computer) was still in the bed of the truck with the
vegetables. Fortunately, I got my things
back later that day and needless to say, we never made it to the farmers market. So much for an uneventful ride… </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At least the first snow was beautiful...</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Thimphu, Bhutan27.44261 89.66732827.3299125 89.5059665 27.555307499999998 89.8286895tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-32390774499018293772013-12-20T16:29:00.000-08:002014-01-10T20:15:22.594-08:00My Exciting Interview with IFOAM President (International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Interview with Andre,
IFOAM President<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">December 16, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">IFOAM is the international umbrella organization for organic agriculture and operates in 120 countries. Thanks to my colleagues at the Ministry of Agriculture National Organic Program, I was so fortunate and excited to score an interview with IFOAM's president, Andre Leu, who was lovely enough to give me nearly two hours of his time! Here is the transcript from our interview if you are interested in our in depth exchange and Andre's insightful responses:</span><br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Basics:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>in your
opinion, is organic agriculture the panacea that can feed the world or do we
need integrated management systems?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: “<i>Organic
can feed the world and we have enough science.
Swaminathan I also met, he is a perfect gentleman and lovely man but he
thinks of organic as the way we farmed 100 years ago. And he’s right, if we went back to the way we
farmed 100 years ago, we can’t feed the world.
But we don’t need synthetics.
We’re working in ecological and biological sciences now and we can fix
as much nitrogen as we need without a drop of synthetic fertilizer, which does
the opposite (it stops biological processes).
It’s about bringing ecological and biological sciences to the forefront. Before it was chemistry without any
relationship to biology. For chemistry,
we need organic chemistry to understand how metabolic processes work and more
importantly how soil processes and biology work to bring in and make nutrients
available and suppress disease. Then we
can use these systems and improve upon them.
This is exactly what is happening now.
With the new organic agriculture, we are getting more than 100%
increases in yields in traditional systems.
The other point that is critical to get across is – looking at who feeds
the world. 70% comes from smallholder
farmers and only 30% from the agribusiness channel. And in the developing world where we have the
food security issues, according to FAO, 80% of food comes from
smallholders. We can get 100% increase
in yield, so that’s it. It’s
simple. We’re not talking rocket
science. We’re talking about what we’ve
done already and through research, we can do it even better. We can, we have, and we are. And more importantly, with research, we’re
improving on it. The key is not
genetically modifying more plants and growing more GM maize in Kansas and GM
soy in Brazil in Argentina and sending it to China to feed cattle through
agribusiness chains. Those systems have
failed to feed the poor. With FAO
figures, you can make a graph from 1995-1996 when GMOs started and you’ll see
that the rise in GM and the rise in world hunger tracks precisely. That is because these systems aren’t designed
to feed the poor. No matter how much we
produce, the poor cannot afford to buy it because they’re market based. And in our countries, we have obesity
epidemics because we are over producing empty calories. The key is actually food sovereignty. We need to grow increased production locally
where they need it by the people who need it, rather than try to grow it
large-scale in other countries and ship it.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My follow up question: <b>Do you think that </b></span><b>integrated systems, or Low External Input
Sustainable Agriculture (LEISA) have a role or should we strive for 100%
organic with zero chemical tolerance?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: “<i>I
know that Swaminathan and others are saying this as a half way point. But use the example of nitrogen, people say,
“if we add a little urea, it will improve it.”
But science says the opposite. It
will stop natural nitrogen fixation. And
say “we’ll use some chemical pesticides.”
The data we have now shows that what we know about endocrine disruption
with neurodevelopment toxicity in children – there is no safe level and there
is absolutely no need. For every
chemical pesticide, we have a biopesticides that can do the job and they’re not
residual. In organic, we want 24-hour
breakdown for zero residues. So if we
don’t need pesticides or synthetic chemical fertilizers, why do we need to
integrate them? We can show farmers how
to get every nutrient at a lower cost and how to manage every pest through
ecological solutions such as ecosystem intensification with biopesticides as a
last resort.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My
question: <b>If Bhutan succeeds in achieving 100% organic
agriculture, what would this mean for the worldwide organic movement?</b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: “<i>It
would be very important because there is a lot of misunderstanding about organic. People are saying if we went organic, the
world would starve and they are confusing organic with old style
traditional. Seeing a country like
Bhutan go ahead with it is very important in providing an example to other
countries. I personally see Bhutan as a
shining beacon of light in the world, not because of organic but also the
concept of GNH. If you look where
everywhere else has gone down using GDP and the effects: overcrowding,
pollution, depression. Most of us would
agree that we haven’t developed the world the right way. Here we have an experiment that could show
the world the right way to go. Combining
the issue of human and social well being and the right level of development
that looks after the environment. To me,
this is very important, so I personally take a great interest in this
country. It may be a little country but
a huge shining beacon of light to the world.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Do you
think any other country in the world is on track to make a similar declaration
of 100% organic?</b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“Cuba
has already done it. There are a couple
of Pacific islands and the other one is North Korea. Kim Jong Il started this process. We actually do have a project there. Our point of view is that we do not play
politics with governments. In our case,
it’s humanitarian – helping the country feed themselves. And it’s the same in every other countryl we
work in 120 countries with all different governments. We can’t afford to say one government is
better than another. We’re there to help
the people. If we have government that
work with us, so much the better – well work with them on that level. We are completely apolitical and neutral.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>In
general, should it be farmers’ choice to go organic (according to Bhutan’s
National Organic Program) or should there be some kind of command and control
mechanism such as higher taxes on chemicals or a ban all together?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“I
actually believe in farmers’ choice and education. I gave the example of Tigray [Ethiopia], which
was farmers’ choice. Getting the right
organic system where they found that compost costs them nothing to make, just
an opportunity cost and gave them higher yield and better protection against
diseases. Farmers worked out quickly
which way they wanted to go. Farmers are
what I call fence watchers, not fence sitters.
They look over the fence to see what their neighbor is doing. They’ll only make a move if they see
something is successful. Farmers have to
be conservative. They stay with what
they know works because they cannot afford crop failure. They only move when they see that the early
adopters are doing well. I would rather
see a system where organic is working well and robustly and then other farmers
will move to adopt it. The government
won’t have to force them to do it.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Similar
to organic agriculture, discussions surrounding GMOs are saturated with
ideology. In both, how do we remove the
dogma and bring in the science?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“Next
year, we will show the reason why we don’t use GMOs because of the peer
reviewed science showing the serious problems that validate our position of
taking the precautionary approach. The
same as with nanotechnology. We put a
moratorium on it until we have science that shows that it is okay or where it’s
okay. From our point of view, we have a
principle of care and in this, taking the precautionary principle is an
essential part of how we approach new technologies. It’s not that we dismiss them outright but we
look at taking precaution and look at science as it comes in. And the science coming in behind GMOs and
synthetic pesticides are not good.”</i> </span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Myth-busting and Addressing Critiques of Organic:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>In
global dialogue, is there is an over-emphasis on animal manure rather than
green manure? If green manure can
provide more nitrogen, such that an increase in cultivated land may not be
necessary, why is this information not widely known?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“The
emphasis on animal manure comes from the non-organic people talking about
organic because they know nothing about it.
They think without animal manure we can’t do it. There are heaps of organic systems that use
green manure and not animal manure and other natural minerals to bring in
fertility. Animal manure is not
necessary in an organic system. On the
other hand, we can integrate animals into systems to increase the efficiency,
get extra protein, and more outputs such as higher grain yields. This could be small animals like chickens,
goats, or pigs or larger ones like cattle.
It’s up to the farmer and the size of the farm, depending on what’s
suitable. Generally, animals will
improve the efficiency but strictly speaking, they are not necessary.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>How do
we compensate for the high labor requirements (e.g. weeding in System of Rice
Intensification, preparing compost) and a diminishing “work culture”?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“With
the right systems. What I showed today
is the use of cover crops. The idea that
we have to nuke everything that’s not the crop is outmoded. By putting in the right agroecological
systems to do the work for us, we can suppress the weeds and give other
ecosystems services. And I gave up
turning compost years ago. Now I use
worms and they’ll turn it for you.
Similarly, with spreading out compost, the idea that we have to spread
it out over the whole field, no, just put it right next to the seed or
transplant, which gives it the extra boost and dramatically increases
yield. It’s about getting the system
right. The right organic system lowers
the amount of the work. And look at me,
I run an organic farm and am hardly there.
It’s about designing the system so that we have ecofunction intensification. We get functional biodiversity to provide all
ecosystem services rather than buying chemicals.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Scaling Up Organic Agriculture:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Organic
farming requires diverse, integrated systems, so do you think it is possible to
‘re-complicate’ large-scale, conventional, monocropping systems (e.g. dairy,
beef, or cereal production)?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“With
organic highly diverse farming on any scale, we’re already doing this around
the world. I’ll give you an example
–pasture cropping in Australia. We have a highly biodiverse pasture and instead
of spraying and killing everything to put in our grain crop, we work with
nature. We bring in animals and graze it
right down, use modified no till equipment, and till the grains into it. It works in the principle that annuals always
come up in a perennial system and if you do it properly, the grain yields in
these systems are just as high as the ones where they spray out all the weeds,
plow it up, and pour in tons of chemicals.
The advantage of this system is minimal labor, less energy, and crop
yield is the same. And when you take the
crop off, you have a highly diverse perennial pasture, you put the animals back
on it and can get another crop. It’s using
no till equipment except instead of running it through dead sprayed out
material, the root mass is still alive, so you need to make [the equipment]
more robust to bust up the root mass where you are seeding. This is the only modification [to a seed
drill or thin knife for planting]. There
are different versions but the key is making one piece of planting equipment a
bit more robust. The head and harvesting
equipment is the same.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Should we attempt to scale up organic/natural farming beyond
just individual smallholder farmers? For
example, organic in the United States may mean a several hundred-hectare farm
with large-scale machinery, commercially acquired organic inputs, and monocropping
– is this desirable? Is it still organic
technically but not necessarily agroecological.
<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer:<i> “I
have seen more organic farms across continental USA and particularly in the
Midwest where the biggest ones are and in the central valley of
California. In the Midwest with large-scale
farming in Nebraska or Kansas, it’s a square mile. People go in and say it’s a monoculture, but it’s
not. They are large fields that are
rotated. If you walk around that square
mile with one field or soy, corn, alfalfa and one that’s grazing and under
clover/pasture. If you go back next
year, each one will have been rotated.
It’s a four year rotational system.
Similarly, I’ve walked on fields of carrots in the central valley of CA
that are a 4,000 acre monoculture. Next
time I go back there, I’ll find it’ll be under cantaloupe, zucchini and a whole
range of other things broken up in that field.
They don’t do continuous monoculture year after year after year. In this rotation, there will be legumes. These fields are rotated for
biodiversity. It’s just a difference in
scale. And that rotation they’re doing
in vegetables is no different than most agroecological farms where fields are
just a lot smaller. It’s just the nature
of that part of the States and Australia, and Eastern Europe where field sizes
are larger, they have to plan out. They
are big fields in rotational systems throughout the year – not the same crop
year after year. We won’t allow non-rotational
systems.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Organic agroecological farming is time,
labor, and knowledge intensive rather than capital intensive. It implies self-reliance and on-farm
management rather than purchasing off-farm external inputs from the market. If this is the case, should we promote the
commercial production of compost, botanicals, and biopesticides?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“It’s the same thing again: we should allow
farmers’ choice. On my farm, I don’t use
anything. At the beginning, I had to buy
BT and wettable sulfur until my system built up. But some farmers find it more convenient to
buy it and bring it on as compost. Me, I
prefer to make it. Some things I bring
in like minerals (rock phosphate, gypsum, calcium phosphate) that my soil is deficient
in. Now it’s reached an equilibrium. I’ve always found it better and cheaper to
make it. But some farmers who are time
short prefer to buy it and it’s their business model, so let them do it. It’s about choice. For me, it gets down to the fact that we want
systems that don’t harm the environment or human health. I think that too many people quibble about
dotting the I’s and crossing the t’s and little details. There is no one size fits all regarding what
is organic. Each farmer has to decide
for himself, as long as we do it within a general set of principles. We’re still saying organic has to meet this
standard, but that is only a marketing tool.
On our website, we have the four principles of organic agriculture. Any farming system that fits in can be
considered organic. Organic is the English
word we use from Jerome Rodale when he wrote in the 1940s. But if I’m in Germany or France, they use
“bio” for organic (coming from biological).
If I’m in Spain, sometimes it’s agricultura ecologica. There are a lot of different words to
describe what we’re doing that fit under the organic paradigm: permaculture,
agroecology etc., and they’re all within this paradigm. For us, we use the four principles. If farmers want to call themselves something
else, so be it.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Would scaling up necessitate organic agribusiness? Or is this not a desirable objective because
it would ultimately operate similarly to conventional agribusiness? (e.g. biopesticides factories).</b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“It’s
two sides to the coin here once again. I
think for us, one of the things that IFOAM is pushing is full sustainability in
organic systems and increasing the biodiversity. We want all organic systems to use applied
agroecology and where possible, minimize the amount of inputs they use. I’m not too worried if companies get into
production of organic agriculture that it will corporatize it. For instance, DOW chemical company came out
with the first organically allowed product over a decade ago. And has it been the end of the world for
organic? Has it corporatized it? No, I don’t think so. I think it’s the nature of organic and what
we’re trying to do. Corporatization will
never go away and can be minimized. If
we look at the world’s biggest organic business, it’s Organic Valley in the USA
and it’s all family farmers. Yes, we
have General Mills and some big brands with an organic line, but is this a bad
thing? Some people are blowing it out of
proportion and have an unrealistic notion in the world. The majority of people, whether we like it or
not, are going to supermarkets to buy food and we’re not going to change
them. Most people are going to keep
their lifestyle. And if they can get
healthy organic agriculture in the supermarket instead of toxic food, it’s
still better than what we have. It will
be a mixture. When organic products
first went into the supermarkets, we had all these people protesting it. Has it been terrible? No. Has it seen total
corporatization? No. It means that when people go into the
supermarket and start buying organic instead of conventional, it’s the time
they start thinking of food. And it has
directly led to the increase of farmers markets and buying local. It has been a paradigm shift and trigger in
them. So at the same time, we’re seeing
growth in these other systems. Again, it
gets down to choice. Consumers should
also have choice. If it’s more
convenient for them to go to local supermarket, then so be it. The best thing we can do is provide an organic
alternative. And from IFOAM’s point of
view, we are focusing on the famers market and local. We have to build this up as an alternative to
the large marketing system. It’s not about
either or; it’s about having both but making sure the weight is right. We want to see local and short chain systems
more promoted and accessible to the people.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My question: <b>Regarding scaling up organic, we need both
public and private support. In your
opinion, what does the organic farming movement most need in order to become
globally successful? What are the
largest barriers to scaling up?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“It’s
not one thing. It’s a lot of
things. One of the most important is
that we formed TP – technical information platform of IFOAM, where we brought
together scientists and researchers from all the continents. Part of the problem with organic is this lack
of understanding about it. Like
Swaminathan thinks about it as going back to the past, and most regulators and
researchers feel this way. By getting
organic to be seen as science and innovation based, we can start changing
that. We see that where we are applying
science, we are high yielding. And that
is critical. The other part is getting
the information out about the new science behind organic and give it to farmers
so they can improve their yields. Another
thing that is critical is that there is a mythology that conventional food is
safe, that our regulators have the pesticides totally under control. We actually have thousands of peer-reviewed
papers that it is not safe, that they’re working under a huge amount of
data-free assumptions. What we now know about endocrine disruptions, especially
chemical exposure to fetus and early development. U.S. President’s cancer report said that 80%
of cancers are due to chemicals and this has been ignored. We have substantial bodies of science that
show that pesticide use is not okay and this needs to come out. People are under the assumption that
everything is safe and okay with no pesticide residues in our food, so there is
no need for organic. But the rates of
the chronic disease records in the west is directly related to pesticide
residues in food.”</i> </span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Organic Certification:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Another problem is that organic produce is
not differentiated in most local markets, so it does not have a price premium –
should there be an organic certification/labeling system for domestic markets
or is this only necessary for export? <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“No,
[certification] is not necessary in domestic markets. The longer your supply chain is between
producer and consumer, you need some sort of verification. People are buying organic for many reasons. Some people are cancer patients that want to
be free of pesticides and they have that right.
There is a duty that they get what they’re buying. And other people are buying organic for other
reasons and they’re paying a premium, so we have a duty to provide them with
value for their money. For longer
chains, we need more credible systems and third party seems to be the best at
this stage. But with some PGS systems
(e.g. India and Brazil), they can be just as credible for longer supply
chains. You have to ask the question: if
I am in the south of Brazil or south of India with a PGS product and selling it
to the north of the country, it’s further than going from one country in Europe
to another. I can think of crossing many
countries in that distance and yet you can do that with PGS in those two
countries. So I would argue that as we
improve PGS, it could be used for long chain as well. We are getting really behind PGS and
promoting it everywhere we go.<o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But when you get down
to it, shorter chains such as consumer support agriculture: why do you need
certification for that? You don’t. And there you have transparency and trust, so
why do you need certification? As a
consumer, you are directly certifying through that process. And we have farmer consumer coops, and most
organic products sold in Japan Taiwan or Korea are sold on those. They’re huge.
They may have 1,200,000 consumers and several thousand farmers supplying
them. Consumer and farmer representatives
meeting to plan the season, discuss prices, and have ways of verifying the
farmers. They take 84% of sale price
back to the farmer and the rest is used to run the cooperative. They have turnovers of hundreds of millions
of dollars. And this is just one example
out of many. These coops turn into
communities with events, newsletters, children’s days, aid programs to help
organic farmers in other countries, run shops with internet, run home delivery
(all out of 16% shared). What is
exciting in these systems is that consumers get best quality, generally local
organic vegetables at a price same or less than supermarket and those farmers
earn higher income than average wage in Korea (which is amongst the highest in
Asia, only Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan are higher). And the average size of the farm is less than
2 hectares. And this is the type of
model that we need to replicate and you don’t need certification there because
they have their own systems for verifying and guarantee. It’s about transparency. They all fit under PGS – participatory guarantee
system – consumers and farmers are participating. And CSAs are participatory;
when you subscribe you are actively participating. These are all systems that do not require
certification.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question:<b> Is organic certification the only way for
organic farmers to receive the true value of their crop or is it just a money-making
tool for the West? Does third party
organic certification enslave farmers in the developing world by promoting
production for commercial export rather than home
consumption/self-sufficiency/local food security? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“This
is something I’ve heard time and time again.
What we’re doing is exploiting the poorest farmers in the developing world
to grow luxury products for the rich of the west. Sounds very nice. But go back to what I said about the 200,000
farmers in Uganda who can now feed their families because of organic
exports. We’re not saying, just grow
pineapples for a commercial market. We
say food on the table first – we want them to have kitchen gardens and to feed
their family first and then pineapples for the local community. And these farms are not just
monocultures. You go on these farms and
see coffee, a whole range of fruits and vegetables for local concern, and in
there, there are some cash crops because farmers don’t want to be subsistence,
growing only enough food to eat. How do
they pay for other expenses? Medicine, clothes, children’s clothing. I’ve heard horrible stories where women
cannot even go out and socialize because they don’t have decent clothes. And socializing in a community is so
important but they’re so poor that they are considered social outcasts. What we’ve done with this is not only improve
food security but also a cash income.
They’ve built houses. We’ve taken
them out of abject poverty into relative prosperity. We’re not talking about compared to someone
in Germany but in their own community, they have nice houses, their children go
to schools, they can afford medical bills, a phone, transport, decent clothes, can
socialize and have a good quality of life and that’s what it’s about.”</i> </span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Agricultural Mechanization and Technologies:<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Do labor-saving agricultural machines have a role to play in
organic farming or is organic inherently labor intensive? Mechanization is paradoxical because it both
displaces small farmers (adding to unemployment in the cities), but also has
the potential to reduce drudgery of agriculture if the technology is
appropriate, incentivizing youth to farm.
</b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: “I think appropriate mechanization is very
important. I do that in my own
farm. I used to employ 30 people but our
labor costs in Australia, it’s not viable.
I have cherry pickers and each cherry picker replaces six other pickers.
It is almost impossible to get fruit pickers
in Australia. I’ve mechanized the packing
shed. Next step will be to computerize
it to make it smarter and easier to run. It’s the same thing in small
holders. We have appropriate scale
machinery that we can use in the smallest syetsms. Part of it is to take the drudgery out of
farming. And a lot of the youth don’t
want to end up with broken backs like their parents. And there’s no reason they have to. So having the right type of equipment, even
hand equipment. Teach them about using
it and maintaining it. There is
definitely a role. I mentioned SRI [System
of Rice Intensification] with small-scale mechanical planters and weeders
developed in Malaysia. This is the way
to go: appropriate machinery for the scale of operation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>Should widespread mechanization be
implemented and if so, how? E.g. private
companies or leasing agencies that contract/hire out machines?</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“I
think contracting is really good.
Instead of everyone buying one machine, if we could get a contract
harvester or planter to do it, it’s economically much better. And in my farm, I do the farming but the
picking and packing takes the time, so I have a contractor who does it. I do it on a commission basis, which is fair
for both of us. There are different ways
to work with contractors and in modern farming, if it’s done properly, it’s a
win-win for both parties. Particularly
with machinery, if you have every person buy one machine used once a year, this
doesn’t make sense for the environment and is not economical. Having a contractor come in, it’s economically
more cost effective and environmentally sound.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>What do
you think about precision agriculture and its relevance to organic farming and
smallholders? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“I
have seen it used in small scale horticulture in New Zealand, using GPS to weed
lettuce. There is no reason why we can’t
use precision agriculture in organic.
Small-scale horticulture can use it.
Precision is small by nature and these days, it’s the way of the future.
I personally believe that working with my son (who is a computer programmer) to
turn cherry pickers into robots, which will pick and pack. The engineering side of it is very simple and
most of this can be bought off the shelf.
Now it’s about getting the software and algorithms right. You can get precision agriculture down to the
smallest equipment.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My follow up question: <b>But
what about the barriers of expense regarding precision agriculture and marginal
farmers?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“I
agree. I still weed by hand because I like doing it. ‘Horses for courses’ is a saying in Australia
– you get the right horse for the conditions of the course. It’s about choice and what you prefer to
do. By myself, I hand weed 30 acres of
trees. I do it strategically and I’ll go
through the rows with a tractor and motor but the last bits, I do by hand
because I love it. But I’m not everyone
and I think it’s about choice. I am a great believer in hand tools and with the
right hand tools, it can be done quicker than machinery if you teach people how
to do it. Any new technology is
expensive. I was one of the pioneers in
IT and music. I spent 8,000 $ 26 years
ago for a 274 K (8 bit) computer to start programming music and that is a
fraction of the price and a billion times more powerful (smart
phone/tablet). It’s always in the
beginning with these technologies, it’s the early adopters and first things
that are expensive. But people are
already doing it now. If I wanted to, I
could run my equipment from an app. And
that’s what’s going to happen. Smart
phones will be the future. I’ve been in
remote areas of Kenya and people have them.
If you go up to Gasa [in northern Bhutan] where they just got their road
(it used to be 4 days by donkey). All of
a sudden they have a road and phone tower and now everyone has a smart phone
and is on the Internet. This phone is
the way of the future. And a lot of
people mistake the lack of having the same form of education as us as stupidity,
but they’re wrong, these people have street smarts and can pick up this
technology and these phones really quickly.
They are driving this revolution and to me, as technology becomes more
affordable, precision agriculture will happen and in many cases, it will be the
farmers driving it, not companies.
Farmers will look at these things, modify and weld them together,
program them etc.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other topics (yield, seeds, biodynamic):<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>The </b><b>FAO says we
will need around 60% increase in productivity to feed the population by 2050
and with climate change, overall production is expected to decline. But today, we have enough food to feed 12
billion people and 40-50% of all food is wasted – so do we actually need yield
increases?</b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“For a
start, I’ll challenge FAO figures as to what we need to produce. They’re making whole range of assumptions
that aren’t right. We’re already producing
2.5 times more food than we need now. If we increase again, will it solve the
problem? It’s not solving it now. All that aside, the population is growing and
we’ll need to feed more people. But it’s
about time people start looking at zero population growth. It’s not just food, it’s highways, forests,
and all other resources we use as a human species. Maybe it’s not that we need to grow more food
but maybe reign it in and let the rest of the world have a fair go so we don’t
use up the whole planet. This has to be
a serious part of the argument. It gets
down to we need more empowerment of women in reproductive choices. Rio +20 did badly when they removed
that. I was shocked. Women’s control over reproductive rights has
to be a critical issue and it has to be really promoted. The other is climate change. I did present data today showing how organic
systems are more resilient in the face of climate change and much better at
coping with what we’re seeing now: longer drought periods broken by destructive
rain events. How our soils, from
building up organic matter, are better at capturing that rainfall, maintaining
integrity during destructive events and holding that during the dry period so
that they’re much more resilient during drought. I’m not going to say if you have a 9 year
drought and no rain, organic is the solution.
There is no silver bullet here.
But we have good peer reviewed science that shows that in these events,
organic is more resilient and high yielding.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>If hybrids are basically the same as OPVs
(except you cannot save them), then why is there so much controversy around
them? Do they have a place in organic
farming in the future or should we shift back to traditional seeds? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“We
have a lot of evidence that traditional seeds actually have very good drought
tolerant varieties in the mix of farmer land races. One of the biggest issues is the loss of
traditional seed and animal varieties.
This is the largest extinction event – the thousands of varieties we’re
losing each year. And even in those
places with seed banks, we’re losing the knowledge of the seed capabilities
under certain conditions. We don’t know
if the seeds cope with wet years or are drought tolerant. These are the issues we need to focus on and
where these are being saved, I will use the example of MASIPAG in the Philippines. They will work with farmers to do their own
breeding. Participatory plant breeding is
really the key as well. In-situ
conservation is good for genetics but in terms of keeping high biodiversity,
these seeds didn’t just appear magically, they were developed over time by
farmers. We still need to have this
process of continuous improvement to cope as the climate continues to change
and as part of that, we need to keep a huge gene pool so we have access to
various genetics so farmers can assess what performs well under different
conditions.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My follow up comment: <b>But</b><b> it’s
not necessarily positive that hybrids require farmers to be dependent on seed
companies each year.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: “Yes
and no. It depends on how you do
it. In hybrids, the first cross F1 has
hybrid virgor, which is part of the yield.
And F2 has variability. But what
you can do from those is pick the best of the F2s in quality and yield and then
self pollinate them to get an F3 – still some variability, pick the best, self
pollinate again, and by F4, you have an OPV of that. I’m a plant breeder amongst many things with
40 years of experience. What I am trying
to say is that if a hybrid turns out to be good, a farmer can turn it into an
OPV line that comes true from seed. We
are teaching farmers how to do this in participatory plant breeding. It’s surprisingly easy. Breeding and cross pollination – once you
teach farmers the basics of how genetics works, you’d be surprised how easy it
is and how quickly farmers pick it up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My question: <b>What
do you think about biodynamic farming?
Some of the BD preparations involve obscure or expensive ingredients and
modern science tends to doubt the legitimacy.
What is the value of the BD cropping calendar?<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre’s answer: <i>“To
me, biodynamic is within the continuum. The
best biodynamic farmers will use different whole organic systems and biodynamic
preps on top of this. I know some people
find them laughable and particularly they find it difficult to read Steiner,
but now there is a bit of science to underpin it. I think you’ll find the last laugh is on the
BD farmers. What we’re learning about
compost teas, brewing up different microbe brews, we’re starting to validate
what BD farmers have been doing all along.
Maybe not for the reasons Steiner has said, may or may not come to pass,
but the fact is that there is now some scientific validity. A very good peer-reviewed study done by London
University with potato seedlings and BD preparation 500. They applied it in recommended dilution and
then ran it against growth hormones as a comparison and a control group. If you believe the skeptics, there should
have been no difference between the BD prep and control. But there was an enormous difference. The BD at the prescribed level has the same
increase in growth as the best growth hormone.
This was a peer reviewed paper that shows there is some response that
comes from these preparations its not
just mire, muck and magic. These people theorized
growth hormone factor, others would say it’s like a compost tea or
microbial. There are many different
theories as to why it worked and the jury is still out but the fact is that
there is a response that happens with this.
So I think people have to be a
bit careful about just writing it off.
And some of the best farms I’ve been on are biodynamic and something is
happening there. So I won’t write it off
and say it’s nonsensical because these are some of our most profitable farms.
They’re in business as their neighbors are going out of business. Something is going on, so now we have to move
from the dogma into the science and stop ridiculing it and dismissing it. We have to look and find out why, if we
understand why, we may be able to improve it, do it better, and replicate it
more efficiently.”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Andre and I after a very intensive and of course informative two hour interview :)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
</div>
Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Thimphu, Bhutan27.44261 89.66732827.3299125 89.5059665 27.555307499999998 89.8286895tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-48872615133683796102013-12-19T16:19:00.004-08:002014-01-10T19:36:03.268-08:00Celebrating National Day & IFOAM Seminar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">December 19, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">IFOAM Seminar and
National Day<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After an enjoyable week in the dzongkags (districts) of
Tsirang and Sarpang living with four different farming families, attending a
Bhutanese wedding, conducting nine farmer interviews, gaining hands on
experience in farming, and twisting/spraining my ankle from falling down a
treacherous hillside path (the not so enjoyable part), I found myself back in
Thimphu. And it was perfect and just in
time for a very special guest: Andre Leu, President of IFOAM (International
Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements headquartered in Bonn, Germany) was
visiting Bhutan to do a seminar for Ministry of Agriculture executives,
including the Minister himself. It was
sort of a running joke all morning that colleagues thought I was a new employee
at the National Organic Program and that I’m rude because I wasn’t listening or
responding in Dzongka. When people
discovered that I was American, we all had a big laugh. Obviously I was not expecting to get to meet
Andre (or to be hobbling around on one leg with a wrapped ankle), never mind
the fact that he gave almost two hours of his time for an intensive interview
after the seminar, so it was a wonderful surprise and awesome way to celebrate
the six month mark on the Watson Fellowship.
Andre is an exceptionally down to earth person who is quite easy to talk to
and has been an organic farmer himself for around 30 years in Australia. Funny story and coincidence, I think I may
have walked by his farm gate nearly two years ago when I was studying in
Australia. He lives in the Daintree
Rainforest, quite far north in Queensland.
Some of my study abroad friends and I decided to take a trip up to the
Great Barrier Reef at the end of the program and visit the Daintree. Andre noted how you have to cross a river on
a ferry and then only a few kilometers down the road is his farm. I recall the ferry ride and am almost certain
we must have walked by his gate. It’s a
small world sometimes! And even though
he’s probably traveled to more than 100 countries representing this international
umbrella organization (that has a presence in 120 countries around the world),
he is very much approachable, humble, and does not make you feel intimidated at
all. He raised a number of excellent
points, both in his seminar and in our interview.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Summary of “Achieving Food Security with Science-Based High
Yielding Organic Agriculture in Bhutan,” a presentation by Andre Leu, President
of IFOAM:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Modern organic agriculture is not the same as
the farming of the past; now the scientific community is paying more attention
to organic</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->IFOAM is the international umbrella organization
for organic agriculture and operates in 120 countries</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic is the world’s fastest growing
agribusiness market in the world (high growth rate in certified organic sector) - high value premium export markets for coffee, teas, spices, grains, oils,
fruits</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Bhutan will always be a high value/premium/niche
producer with small markets – it is not possible to compete in the area of commodity
marketing because of volume</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->“Organic Bhutan” has one of the greatest brand
potentials in the world</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic agriculture:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Focuses on ecological processes, biodiversity,
and cycles within local conditions</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Combines tradition with innovation and science –
not going backwards</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Cuba achieved self-sufficiency with organic</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->“Organic” was popularized by Jerome Rodale in
the 1940s – emphasis on recycling organic matter</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic matter directly assists plants – e.g.
spaces allow for nitrogen fixation </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Biological nitrogen - not only from legumes,
as free living bacteria can also fix nitrogen (e.g. endophytic nitrogen fixing
bacteria in rice)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->In fact, synthetic nitrogen fertilizer stops the
natural processes in the soil and limits natural nitrogen fixation</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->India is currently developing commercial
inoculants</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic has higher yields in climate extremes
(rain and drought) when compared to conventional</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Most of the world’s agriculture is and will continue
to be rainfed (even if water is available, the infrastructure for irrigation is
not)</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic matter increases water infiltration and
soil stability</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Soil organic carbon mitigates climate change and assists with adaptation</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Humus is a sponge and stable polymer (glue) –
keeps soil integrity and strength</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic uses water more efficiently than
conventional</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->We can build soil back to pre-farming forest
levels – can capture rainfall and use water efficiently if combined with good
practices</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic is a simple, effective, and low cost
production system </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Ecological function intensification (EFI)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Science of applied agroecology to deliver
multiple ecosystem functions</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Example of Push Pull System in Maize for stem
borer and striga control</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Desmodium is an example of a legume that pushes
the moth (pest) out through phenolic compounds and napier grass pulls or
attracts the moth (napier grass, however, is a false host plan that actually
breaks the moth’s breeding cycle because of the sharp hairs that form on its
leaves that break eggs)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->This is an example of selective allelopathy
where one plant poisons another but does not damage the crop and can benefit
(eg. Legume fixes nitrogen), can suppress weeds by causing suicidal germination
through phenolic compounds </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Push-pull may be the future of farming (can be
used in grains, vegetables, fruits, etc.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Desmodium (legume): suppresses weeds, adds
nitrogen, conserves soil as cover crop, repells pests, and is a high protein
stock feed (multiple ecosystem functions through biodiversity)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->System of Rice Intensification</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->We can combine organic SRI with push-pull: legumes can decrease weeding needs, give impressive yield, and improved time
management</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Insectaries</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Ecosystem intensification in which host plants act as refuge, food, etc. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">for beneficial species</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Calendar – it is possible to have insectary
plants in flower all year</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Borders of flowers, hedgerows, etc. create
refuge for beneficial insects and also keep harmful ones out (yellow color
repels)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Myth-busting about organic:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->With science-based approaches and good management
practices, there is no reason for organic to be low yielding</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Green Revolution did not work in Africa – 10%
less food per person than in the 1960s</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The African Union has included Ecological Organic
as a core part of agriculture and food security programs and policy –
recognizing its role</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Good soil health prevents diseases (negating the
need for chemicals)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic, low/no till agriculture without
herbicides is possible:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Use cover crops and then small machines to roll
down the grasses – then plant the soybeans or whatever crop in the bed of
mulch, then they grow up weed free </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Examples of studies on yield comparisons:</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Wisconsin Integrated Cropping System</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Iowa State University Long-term Agroecology</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Washington State on apples </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Tigray, Ethiopia case study</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Controlled grazing, ponds to decrease gully
erosion, edible legumes for soil fertility and food security, rehabilitated
biodiverse hillside </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Functional biodiversity – long grasses,
composted fields growing tef, wheat, and barley</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Biogas for energy self-sufficiency – biomass
from the revegetation was sustainably harvested to create energy</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Not an organic project per se but results showed
that compost had highest yields</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Income generation through organic agriculture:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Higher market prices and premiums and lower
production costs for organic famers leads to higher incomes on average,
especially in the developing world</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->CBA for farmers in Tigray revealed that the net
income nearly doubled in organic</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->MASIPAG in the Philippines</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Rice yields were similar between organic and
conventional</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->But the average income was 23,599 Pesos in
organic versus 15,643 pesos in conventional (~8,000 peso difference)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic had surplus income as compared to the
debt of conventional </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Organic certification: IFOAM advocacy and
standardization</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Most systems around the world are based on IFOAM
standards</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Third party certification is necessary for
export markets (long supply chains, consumers who are paying a premium deserve
to be guaranteed)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Different standards need to be equivalent</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->IFOAM Standard Requirements (ISR) and Family of
Standards (both regulatory and private)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Allow countries to use their own standards (e.g.
Bhutan can develop standards suitable to Bhutan’s unique conditions) – then ISR
can be used to establish equivalency </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span> Participatory Guarentee System (PGS) organic certification</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->To ensure that the smallest farmers have access
to markets</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Third party certification is not suitable for
the majority of the farmers in the world because of cost – IFOAM made a mistake
and is now trying to correct for that by supporting PGS</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->PGS is cost transparent, efficient, group with
internal control system, can just be a check list</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A peer reviewed system</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 2.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Many governments see peer review as a conflict
of interest (as opposed to a neutral third party) – but remember that
scientists, medicine, and law all use peer reviewed systems – how should
agriculture be any different?</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 2.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->In fact, peer review is more rigorous than
simply inspecting</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 2.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Rather than treating a non-compliance as an
“offense” and just writing it off, members are taught how to improve their
system</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 2.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Non-compliance in PGS is usually not from
farmers deliberately cheating the system but lack of knowledge</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 2.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level4 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->So PGS brings everyone up to the same standard through
a group dynamic of continuous improvement – brings market premiums </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->In contrast, third party usually implies the
bare minimum to get away with audits</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->PGS is usually focused on local and regional
markets – but some nations like Brazil and India are creating national PGS
schemes</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Countries need to decide the appropriate
choice - what system is most suitable for
their unique circumstances</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->IFOAM can help Bhutan development an appropriate
organic guarantee system</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Conclusion:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>“IFOAM can
assist Bhutan with developing science-based organic system to:<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Achieve
higher yields – food security<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Lower
inputs costs – most of the inputs can be generated on farm at no or very little
cost (no need for expensive imported synthetic pesticides and fertilizers)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Organic
matter to provide biogas energy self-sufficiency and the residues as compost
can give over 100% increases in crop (carbon credits)<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Premium
prices for exports<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>Farmers
can achieve much higher net returns to improve standard of living<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]--><i>The
combination of higher yields, higher prices, resilient production systems and
lower production costs will achieve both food and income security”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Comments/Q+A</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Minister of Agriculture:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Presentation was an eye opener in terms of
yield, income, and husbandry aspects of organic farming</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->NOP is already in the process of developing a
proposal</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The Royal Government of Bhutan is keen to
upscale organic but needs internal technical analysis to see the pros and cons</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Many options for standardization, which is good</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Bhutan is not yet ready to take organic on a
national scale but is identifying areas</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->IFOAM will certainly be assisting Bhutan with
this task</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Andre’s response:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Next month will start work on developing
strategic areas such as rice</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Possibility for organic wild harvest – herbs,
honey, mushroom, lemongrass etc. – could get a premium on the world market for
those things being grown organically already</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Steady, orderly, and logical fashion is
good. Need to build expertise first
[before scaling up] and respond to problems with science</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Director General</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Right now they are making the shift in an area
and commodity-specific manner – on a trial basis through cautious pursuit</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Initially skeptical of organic because of the
need for local food security (concerned with immediate yield decreases)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Also limitations from new technologies and
improved techniques not emerging</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->70-80% of farmers are organic by default but
there are limitations of scale – certification is tedious and expensive
(regular visits, consulting services) – small scale makes it economically
inefficient</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Goal is to certify what is organic by default</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Andre’s response</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Acknowledges the unsuitability of third party
certification</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Wants to assist in creating a suitable
certification system and market access</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Yield – past it used to be a problem, but now
good science reveals that yield decreases are not necessary – in fact, yield
has been shown to increase in the first year in some cases</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->IFOAM is working to take organic away from dogma
to science</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->New international technical body – people on
every continent that can network to boost research and trouble shoot</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Goal is to develop expertise here rather than
parachuting in science-based expertise</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Important to get PhDs and Masters students in
Bhutan to stay and solve the local agricultural problems </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Karma, National Soil Services Center</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Advocating integrated nutrient management</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Integrated management under the current system
treats high yielding varieties differently than traditional</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Permaculture – how does it relate to organic
(e.g. part of the agroecological paradigm and also related to ecofunction
intensification and functional biodiversity)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Andre’s response</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Modern varieties usually have the need for high
inputs</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Not against modern hybrids per se but believes
that it’s about doing trials</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->There is no one rule regarding modern hybrid
versus traditional seed, so we should run tests and leave it up to the farmers
to decide what works best</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->IFOAM helps farmers develop trial methods</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Supports integrated systems as a way to
incorporate organic principles</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Kesong, Horticultural Specialist from organic
farming center</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Issues of soil fertility maintenance – limited
labor regarding high volume of compost</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Decrease in farm labor usually means a decrease
in cattle, so limited manure and the cost of FYM goes up</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Plant protection – limited availability of
biopesticides and are expensive from India</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Potato – production is still low even with
applying compost and seed production is insufficient</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Andre’s response</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->#1 is plant nutrition then pest management</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->We find that it is usually an incorrect balance
of nutrients or under application of certain nutrients</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A firm believer in soil testing (but my question
– is expensive soil testing feasible for small farmers?)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Insectaries should be prioritized over
biopesticides </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Need to set up natural systems to do the work so
biopesticides become secondary</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Can cut down on the amount and frequency of
biopesticides spraying (decreasing cost too) and start with ecological systems</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->IFOAM can show how to make biopesticides from
locally sourced materials</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Suggesting a whole industry around growing prymethium daisy – most
effective and broad range biopesticides – could be used for both local farmers
and exported </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Other comments: </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Q: In a natural system with insectaries and trap
crops – in the developing world there is usually minimal land availability, so
farmers feel like they are sacrificing area for food crops</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Andre’s A: So we need trap crops that don’t take
up space and utilizing the most marginal areas that are now just weeds – we
need to redesign to include and transform these areas into functional
biodiversity [so farmers do not have to sacrifice quality land]</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Q: Is PGS possible for export? Most countries require third party standards,
which farmers find discouraging</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Andre’s A: IFOAM is working on bringing
equivalency so PGS is possible. Can work
with BAFRA (Bhutan’s regulatory body) instead of an international certifying
body. This equivalency will make it so
that Bhutan’s certification system is viewed as equal </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">§<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Another option in the mean time is to start with
PGS and then group certify what is already organic</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->According to Andre, Bhutan is in the middle of
the fastest growing organic market in the world (India and China)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">o<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Importance of human resource development (PhDs
and Master students) using Bhutan as a research site</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ministry executives</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think I can add my meeting with Andre, another awesome
food/ag celebrity chance encounter, which I would put on par with meeting India's Dr.
MS Swaminathan, to the list of reasons why Bhutan is still the land of the
unexpected. Instead of Christmas this
year, I’m celebrating National Day in Bhutan: Tuesday December 17. It is a
public holiday in honor of the King with all of the government offices shutting
down, supposedly free taxi rides around the city (though my driver charged
me…hmmf), and the highlight as a large celebration in Thimphu’s stadium. Thousands of Bhutanese people gather here to
see the King give a big speech (apparently his only large public speech each
year, so I would equate it to the State of Union address in the United States),
a cultural program that consists of various traditional song and dance, prayers
and offerings, and a generally festive atmosphere. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Whenever a
celebration is imminent in Bhutan, up go the tents. Painted on each of these were the Eight
Auspicious Symbols, or luck signs, images one sees throughout India and the
Himalayas. The signs, originally Hindu
symbols, have evolved over the centuries to present parts of the Buddha’s body
as well as elements of the dharma, or Buddha’s teachings. The lotus flower represents purity of body,
speech, and mind and is a symbol of compassion; the endless knot symbolizes
wisdom and love; the parasol protects against illness and other harmful forces;
the golden fish represents freedom and emancipation from suffering, the
reassure vase symbolizes long life and prosperity; the right-turning conch
shell, whose sound when blown spreads the dharma, means “Wake up!”; the
victory banner symbolizes the triumph of body, speech, and mind over death,
ignorance, and suffering; and the dharma wheel represents the law of karma and
Buddha’s teachings.”</i> (Leaming, p. 83)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Traditionally
a Buddhist monarchy, Bhutan is ruled by the fifth Druk Gyalpo, the hereditary
King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck.
He succeeded his father, who abdicated in December 2006. The country has recently evolved to become a
parliamentary democracy, with a constitution and voting. True to form, the Bhutanese aren’t taking the
road most traveled to democracy. They
held elections, ran for office, and moved the country to one person, one vote,
but not because they wanted to – because their beloved king asked them to. They have a lot to lose if things go south:
it’s one of the few countries in the world that gives its people free health
care and free education. We should never
underestimate the Bhutanese resolve.
They have dodged major bullets, both literal and geopolitical, in their
unique and varied history. Bhutan has
survived by enlightened governance, by grace, by work, by luck, and by sheer
will. The country doesn’t particularly
need the rest of the world. But the
world needs Bhutan.”</i> (p. 235)<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Excited to have another excuse to wear my kira, I was able
to snag a special invitation to sit on the lawn during the National Day
Ceremony, which allowed me to enjoy the show from a sort of VIP section. However, I quickly realized that security
wasn’t as tight as it seemed because there was practically a homeless man
sitting next to me and fortunately they didn’t verify ID with my
invitation. The one precaution they took
seriously was shutting down mobile service in the whole city for fear of cell
phone activated bombs. I also discovered
the hard way that it would have been much better to watch from the stadium
seats where you could actually see something from above (or from the television as most Bhutanese prefer), rather than constantly
craning your neck and standing on tip toes as I was. I’ve also been thinking how it’s been quite
nice to blend for a change (i.e. people thinking I am Bhutanese), however,
during the ceremony, I wish that I had been blond haired and blue eyed or had
sign on my forehead that said something to the effect of “tourist,” “chulep”
(“foreigner” in Dzongka), or “American,” because when the king sees chuleps
during his rounds through the crowd, he usually stops and makes quick small
talk. But alas, I missed the chance
since I intermingled effortlessly with the Bhutanese crowd. I also may have been only one out of several thousand people able to snap some photos of the event before the "friends of the police" (voluntary officers?) asked me to put my camera away. Score!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The King's car: a Range Rover with a license plate that reads "Bhutan"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thimphu Dzong (administrative and monastic body headquarters)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These great fortresses used to be for defense during invasions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Monks :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My primary contact at the National Organic Program under the Ministry of Agriculture :)</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Thimphu, Bhutan27.44261 89.66732827.3299125 89.5059665 27.555307499999998 89.8286895tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-83404826841823787372013-12-16T16:15:00.000-08:002014-01-10T19:17:49.913-08:00Reflections from the Field: Ag. Experiences in Thimphu, Tsirang & Sarpang<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">December 16, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Agricultural
Experiences and Reflections from Thimphu, Tsirang and Sarpang<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the Organic
Research Center outside Thimphu, I learned that they share space with
livestock, piggery, BAFRA (Bhutan's regulatory authority), and mushroom development units. The Center is 100 acres that has been totally
organic since 2004, mainly for demonstration and experiments. They are cultivating high altitude
horticultural crops such as apple, pear, plum, walnut, hazelnut, chestnut and
some vegetables and principal activities include apple breeding and germplasm
preservation. They are crossbreeding
using traditional breeding methods (no hybrids) and grafting for the apples and
fruit plants. In developing new
varieties, the criteria includes: yield, resistance to pest and disease, and
taste. As it is closely associated with
the Forestry Department, there are also community forestry projects efforts for
reforestation. They are performing feed
and fodder field tests before giving varieties to farmers (crops include oat
and foxtail millet). I learned that
alternatively to a plastic greenhouse, a shade net is often better because it
can adjust heat, moisture, and evaporation, protecting seedlings from direct
sunlight. I also saw what they call “SALT
– Slope agricultural land technology,” which was brought in from Nepal. SALT involves terracing, proper spacing,
legume tree cultivation, and intercropping with vegetables, mainly for soil
conservation and to prevent erosion.</span></div>
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Nursery</div>
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At an organic research farm - SALT (Slope Agricultural Land Technology)</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While at the organic research center, I made the acquaintance of a young entrepreneur who received agricultural training in both the U.S. (7 years at Chefs’ Garden in Ohio) and Switzerland (3 year organic farming internship). He is the founder of his own business, Himalayan Chef’s Garden, a two year old private herbal plant and specialty vegetable operation. He grows and markets culinary herbs to high end hotels and one of the advantages is that he provides micro greens and specialty crops such as multi-colored carrots and garnishes. The government is supporting him by providing cheap land (only $640/year for 1 acre), but he acquires all other<span style="color: red;"> </span>inputs, including seeds, from outside. He’s using neem oil for pests; manure and leaf mold for nutrients (buys manure from farmers), and in the future, he is hoping to scale up to ideally 15-20 acres in the form of a lucrative commercial business. He also has a vision to help train farmers in the future, provide them with seedlings, inputs etc. and then market their produce. I saw an interested technology he is using that involves lining the frame of his wooden greenhouse with plastic bottles, which will heat up during the day and then slowly cool down at night, maintaining an ideal temperature.</span></div>
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With a young entrepreneur who founded ¨Himalayan Chefs Garden¨</div>
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Threshing</div>
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At a roadside market</div>
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Ministry colleague at the market</div>
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The phallus is an auspicious sign painted on many buildings</div>
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Apple orchards</div>
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Vermiwash</div>
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Rotational compost</div>
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Biopesticides</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I also met an older woman who runs a small shop/bar/restaurant and sells seeds and chemical inputs. Farming is not her main livelihood and source of income because of labor shortages (has 4 acres, sometimes leasing land to itinerant farmers) and instead, she has 30 years experience in selling seeds, which are much easier and cheaper to transport than fruit. She is also a commission agent who is selling inputs on behalf of the government (e.g. urea, SSP, MOP, Suphala), from which she makes 10% profit. She is using chemical fertilizer in her apple orchards, which is</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“more practical for commercial scale operations.”</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And according to her,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“If we don’t use chemical fertilizer, there will be no production, no market, or income for the family. The soil has become used to it. Before it was okay when fertilizers were not here, but now we need them to get yield.”</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I discussed with the manager of the farm that there is this common misconception of farmers who have started adopting synthetic inputs – a dependency mentality that can only be remediated through education and sensitization. This renders education and technology transfer of utmost importance.</span><br />
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Nursery</div>
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Local materials for erosion control and terracing</div>
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New government organic farm outside Thimphu</div>
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Traditional technology - bamboo for irrigation pipes. I also saw this in Tanzania</div>
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New post harvest storage center outside Thimphu</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After time in Thimphu, I transitioned to the southern
Dzonkhags of Tsirang and Sarpang for a week of farmer homestays. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Practical skills observed and learned in the field:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Milking cows</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Making butter and cheese</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Weeding the vegetable patch with hand tools</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Harvesting grass for fodder with a small
scythe-like knife</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Harvesting pole beans by hand</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Observing the hydro-powered traditional
mill/thresher hybrid used to separate the chaff from the grain for millet and
rice (which later needs to be sifted or cleaned)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Seeing the water wheel stone mill for grinding
maize and other grains into flour</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Cleaning millet by sifting it through a hand
woven basket</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Organic technologies such as vermicompost,
vermiwash, biofertilizers, green manuring, botanicals, biopesticides </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Learning how to maintain vermicompost on the
farm (mixing cow dung, vegetable scraps and greens; sifting the finished
compost and sprinkling on fields)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Preparing the field/bed for planting by digging
with spades and pulling out paddy straw and rocks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Preparing mixture of cow dung, urine, and ash,
which then gets filled into holes before transplanting seedlings (this liquid
fertilizer/microbial culture is good for leafy vegetables because it increases
moisture retention, whereas traditional compost dries it out; this liquid,
however, will burn crops like garlic and onion)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Transplanting seedlings to the field</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Transferring compost and planting seeds in the
nursery (rows and watering)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Harvesting vegetables (cutting cauliflower
heads, lettuce, peeling onions, pak choi, arugula etc.) and packing them for
the marketing (making bouquets of lettuce, tying bunches of onions, etc.)</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Moreover, it seems that the story of the agrarian crisis is
virtually the same worldwide. I don’t
know if this should be disturbing or comforting but basically, small farmers
everywhere seem to be struggling with the same plights. This year could not be more fitting for me,
as the UN has declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming. Across the board so far in Tanzania, India,
and Bhutan, small farmers are either struggling on the production end (e.g.
input challenges, lack of knowledge and implements such as machines, lack of
irrigation facilities, pest and disease problems, livestock or manure shortages
for natural fertilizing, labor shortages, crop losses in the field from a
number of factors including wild animals, poor yield, conflicting knowledge
about seeds, poor extension services that may be lacking entirely, mixed
messages and support from the government etc.), environmentally (depleted
soils, water shortages, changing and erratic weather patterns from climate
change, contributing to climate change through burning of crop residues etc.),
economically/financially (e.g. land fragmentation, cannot qualify for credit,
struggle to get remunerative prices for their produce, can barely break even as
input costs exceed output profit, forced to take out loans that many times they
cannot pay back, get stuck in a debt trap, and in some cases, this leads them
to commit suicide), and in post-harvest and marketing (e.g. lack of cold
storage, underdeveloped supply chain infrastructure, poor roads inhibiting
transportation, lack of processing equipment for preservation and value
addition, lack of access to markets in general, especially more lucrative
export markets, inability to get certified if organic because cost may be
prohibitive, lack of privatization and investment in the supply chain etc.).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have also come to understand that in my quest to marry
traditional knowledge with modern technology and techniques, organic
agriculture may be one of the most promising solutions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Contrary to critics
who jibe that it’s going back to farming like our grandfathers did or that most
of Africa already farms organically and it can’t do the job, organic farming is
a sophisticated combination of old wisdom and modern ecological innovations
that help harness the yield-boosting effects of nutrient cycles, beneficial insects,
and crop synergies. It’s heavily dependent on technology—just not the
technology that comes out of a chemical plant.”</i> – 2006 World Watch Report<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I remember when one Indian PhD student pointed out to me
that organic farming today is not what it used to be in the past and that
organic is not synonymous with traditional.
She said that organic today may use similar principles as the past but
it requires certification. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Moreover, Dr. Tarak Kate of the Wardha-based NGO Dharamitra
said, “<i>It’s not we want to just go back
to the traditional system, we want to go one step ahead: agroecology is a
modern branch of science (holistic and based on ecology)…it says we have to
recycle resources and emphasizes biodiversity, optimum productivity (not
“maximum productivity”) with efficient use of inputs from local resources, also
talking about higher yields. Challenges
between traditional farming and [modern] agroecology were different – in the
past, the land:man ratio – the population
was less and land was more. Now we have
to go for more intensive farming as the traditional system had some fallow land
during rotation and now we can’t do that.
We are moving toward permaculture – intensive and ecological: the old
system was horizontal, now we have to look at vertical, multi-tier cropping
because the challenge today is how to grow more in same area with local inputs.”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So basically, organic farming (or agroecological, low
external input sustainable agriculture, whatever you want to call it) is a
knowledge, time, and labor intensive system that utilizes modern science
through ecologically sound technologies and techniques. As I may have shared in a previous post, Dr.
Kate compiled and disseminated a package of 17 non-chemical techniques to
hundreds of farmers in Vidarbha: </span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Raising of soil bunds</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Preparation and use of Farm Yard Manure </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Preparation and use of vermi-compost</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Incorporation of agro-waste in the soil instead
of burning it</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Conducting seed germination test</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">6.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Treatment of seeds with the mixture of cattle
dung, cattle urine and ant hill soil</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">7.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Sowing across the slopes</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Leaving weeds on the farm for in situ composting
during rainy season instead of putting it on the bunds</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">9.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Use of different mixed cropping patterns</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">10.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Deep
hoeing accounting for rainwater harvesting</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">11.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Use of Sanjeevak (or jeev amrit) - a fermented
product of cattle dung, cattle urine and jaggary which acts as growth promoter</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">12.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Use
of vermiwash as growth booster</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">13.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Use
of cattle urine and neem leaf extract for pest management</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">14.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Use
of trap crops for pest control</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">15.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Use of bird perches for pest control</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">16.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Introduction
of perennials in the system in the form of planting of tree saplings</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">17.<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Development of farm ponds for rainwater
harvesting and watershed development</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The holistic, diverse, nuanced, and cost-effective system of
organic agriculture is in stark contrast to the capital-intensive chemical or
conventional farming system that utilizes modern technology in the form of
synthetic fertilizers for nutrient management, petrochemical pesticides and
herbicides, high yielding varieties of improved hybrid or GMO seeds, and
large-scale machinery such as tractors and combined harvesters. Organic production also results in food that
is safer for consumption (e.g. petrochemicals that cause cancer among farmers),
potentially more nutritious, and does not damage the natural environment
through pollution, contamination, overexploitation of soil and water resources
etc. So in this way, organic farming may
be the answer I was looking for all along – it utilizes traditional indigenous
wisdom such as “knowledge of farming practices and the physical environment,
biological folk taxonomic systems or use of low input technologies…ecological
features of traditional agriculture, such as the ability the bear risk,
production efficiencies of symbiotic crop mixtures, recycling of materials,
reliance on local resources and germplasm, exploitation of full range of
micro-environments etc.” (from the National Organic Program “Training Manual:
Organic Production Technologies in Bhutan”) and infuses it with modern science
(i.e. ecology) to be more environmentally sound, climate resilient, and
productive while also ensuring less risk and more control/self-sufficiency for
the farmer through dependence on on-farm inputs rather than inputs and
implements purchased externally from the market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The farmers of Tsirang and Sarpang with whom I lived,
worked, and interviewed were largely organic farmers and were benefitting from
their engagement in farmers’ group in terms of government support. I had nine interviews and to set the scene,
something I really noticed was a perceived lack of expression and emotion:
Bhutanese farmers replied in a simple, non-elaborate manner; it almost felt
like I was pulling teeth to get them to answer.
Of course, the language barrier and translation difficulties might have
been the issue. In contrast, I felt like
many farmers in India were very effusive, opinionated, dissatisfied with the
government, gung-ho about chemicals, and aspired to improve their lot. Bhutanese farmers, however, are all very
aware of the negative effects of chemicals on health (and didn’t even want to
experiment with them for yield increases); they all agree with organic (perhaps
from lack of exposure); and generally seemed very content.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Traditional technology - greenhouse made from mostly local materials. With one of my homestay dads</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Agricultural extension officers and weeding a mixed plot :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlHf_ZJxmeZBu59TxRIIg4trMDc7SEq3MC88obKTx1xeAvsmNAJvgqBF-fXT1QzoBYuid3aHXJWeiPyHTnrtJzau9car9x9TAFF67B-5i-B2NdPyUulGEoub42e9W3gvQJV_iuYWj77Lha/s1600/DSC00236+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlHf_ZJxmeZBu59TxRIIg4trMDc7SEq3MC88obKTx1xeAvsmNAJvgqBF-fXT1QzoBYuid3aHXJWeiPyHTnrtJzau9car9x9TAFF67B-5i-B2NdPyUulGEoub42e9W3gvQJV_iuYWj77Lha/s1600/DSC00236+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Preparing the bed for planting then transplanting cauliflower and broccoli</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of my translators</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A couple who is growing oranges on a contract basis</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Incredible Bhutan</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our taxi got stuck</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More cozy cats</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Looking at the new bio gas scheme</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Transplanting</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Into a mix of cow dung, urine, and ash</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another homestay in Sarpang</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cats and Buddhist prayer flags</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Summary of farmer
interviews in Tsirang and Sarpang:</span></b></div>
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</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Mostly all small landholdings (~3.5 acres
average, sometimes less than 1 acre with 7 on the high end) with mixed cropping
(like a larger backyard garden really because of small scale and lack of
mechanization) – very diverse (up to 30 different crops on only one acre),
integrated systems with generally lots of livestock (around 10 cows and some
have goats, chickens, and pigs)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Most are selling at least ½ of produce and some
dairy products to the market (only one contract farming scheme with oranges and
cardamom seems to be the only “cash crop” but it’s fairly recent since it was reintroduced following a massive crop failure many years ago) – sometimes not enough
surplus to sell</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Paddy/rice yield (using traditional seed) is
around 6-12 quintals per acre (1/4 of Punjab, which was 30 quintals per acre)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Income varies but on the low end: $300/year and high
end: $1800/year with average around $500-600 (largest expense seems to be
transportation, school fees, groceries such as spices/oil/paddy)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Labor is mostly family (few household members
such as 2-3 parents) with village exchange – some noted labor shortage as a
limitation to cultivating more land</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Benefit of the group is free seeds, greenhouse
for nursery, access to extension services – the Tsirang group is able to give
1% interest loans to farmers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Seed:</span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Farmers prefer hybrids because of high yield and
better germination (don’t have to pay because freely provided by government) –
except for local saag (mustard greens), which is better tasting and sells in local market</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">However, for about 6 years, Druk Seed Company
was privatized and they were selling low quality OPVs to farmers. After the re-nationalization process, as of
last year, the National Seed Corporation began giving out improved hybrid
vegetable seeds to farmers along with greenhouses (per the Horticulture
Department) to promote commercial vegetable production and try to fix the
previous situation – thus farmers only have bad OPVs to compare the hybrids to,
when in reality, hybrids often perform the same as good OPVs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">In my opinion, hybrid seeds being freely
provided by the government is giving farmers a false sense of security – they
don’t feel pressure to use local seeds, which would actually be cheaper because
they can be saved, but instead, farmers are becoming used to the good yield and
germination of hybrids without thinking about the actual cost. This does not seem like a sustainable system
and it doesn’t promote seed saving.</span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Nutrient management: heap compost or FYM/cow
dung, some experience and training in vermicompost but huge cultural barrier
because Buddhists don’t want to kill earthworms</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pest, disease, and weeds: nothing or mixing some
cow urine, ash, Artemisia etc., broadcasting ash, planting marigold, garlic, or
onion on border areas</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Mostly progressive farmers (all part of group,
so biased data) – are receiving government support and extension training (e.g.
vermicompost and biopesticides) but learn best from other villagers or from
personal experience (e.g. making observations and inventing own methods for
pest and disease control, nutrient management through mixtures, catching pig
waste etc.) – most progressive is the farmer who took the initiative to
construct biogas and carefully track his own expenses</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Few water problems (e.g. doesn’t seem to be any
shortages except for a few months before the monsoon) but lack of widespread
irrigation limits crops (e.g. can’t cultivate paddy) – some farmers have
invested their own money in water tanks and piping for storing rainwater and
irrigating own fields with sprinkler</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All ploughing with bulls, some would like a power
tiller but barriers are expense, topography, and poor roads</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Farmers would generally prefer a vehicle for
transportation to the market (progress of development seems to be roads and
electricity before agricultural implements), though some want power tiller (but
not suitable because of terrain)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Farmers are very satisfied with government
support but the most important thing they want is electricity, also water
storage tank (“expects” from government – phrasing that implies how accustomed
farmers are to government handouts)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">All farmers agreed with organic farming and are
aware of human health effects of using chemicals (but are not aware of Bhutan’s
100% organic plan) – little connection with environmental impact of chemicals</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Challenges: poor roads and transportation
difficulties (though one progressive farmer group got a farm road constructed
last year which turned a 3.2 km 3 hour walk into a 5-10 minute drive or 30 min
walk), wild animal damage, erratic weather, labor shortages</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Hopes for the future: larger land holdings, more
commercial activity</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Satisfaction levels: most farmers seem happy
with what they are doing even though few are actually making any profit since
expenses are high (mixed feelings about children being farmers – not the same
stigma around farming as in India and although most want to educate their
children, there seems to be the idea that they will eventually return to
farming to inherit the land) – perhaps this happiness comes from lack of
exposure to alternatives (e.g. conventional agriculture, western development
and culture)</span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other notes:</span></b></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The local agriculture extension officer prefers
working with the upper village because the farmers are very cooperative and
listen to the government advice.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">In
contrast, the lower village has poor turnout (only about 50% of farmers) at
meetings and they mostly ignore the advice.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">They are difficult to convince (she’s tried using the idea that
government is pouring in a lot of money) because they are only in the early
stages of commercialization.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The reason
for lack of cooperation could be that there are plans to turn it into a town,
so there may not be as much incentive to invest in agriculture.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Moreover, the climate is hotter so people
don’t want to cultivate vegetables.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">“Progressive farmer” can be defined, according
to the extension officer, as those individuals who cultivate crops in a larger
area or follow government advice (e.g. bed formation in nursery, mulching,
manuring, irrigating and other good management practices), producing and
marketing independently.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">In contrast,
before joining a vegetable group or becoming a “progressive farmer,” an
individual may only be cultivating a small kitchen garden, not following
government advice, or using poor management practices.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Some farmers used to sell cardamom to the Food
Corporation of Bhutan (FCB) for export to local market sales.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Each geog or block has an FCB warehouse but
today this one is not being used because lack of product to sell, since several
years ago, they had a huge problem with a disease outbreak so they terminated
the commercial cultivation.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Now they are
taking it up again, slowly.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></li>
</ul>
</div>
Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com1Thimphu, Bhutan27.44261 89.66732827.3299125 89.5059665 27.555307499999998 89.8286895tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-58485001358559865452013-12-12T16:24:00.001-08:002014-01-10T19:03:33.930-08:00On Happiness and Authenticity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">December 12, 2013</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are, in the
heart of the vast Himalayas, some strange marketplaces where one can barter the
whirlwind of life for infinite wisdom. - Jetsun Milarepa, Tibetan Yogi and Poet<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While I’m in the country that uses Gross National Happiness
(GNH) alongside GDP as a metric for development, here are some thoughts on
happiness from author of <i>Married to
Bhutan</i>, Linda Leaming:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Since
we’re all trying to be happy, and since I’ve studied happiness in depth for
some time, I feel qualified to make some observations:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>There will probably be some
physical pain and some form of renunciation on the road to happiness.</i></b><i> No,
I m not advocating masochism. But once
you take the road to happiness – the road less traveled, or the open road, or
whatever you envision as your route to bliss – you have to be ready to face
some discomfort. Ironically, this will
make you happier. Try to avoid
associating happiness with comfort.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We
are hopelessly addicted to comfort in the U.S.
I submit that comfort is a diversion, and it’s not related to
happiness. We have plenty to eat, and
though this should afford us some comfort, it doesn’t really. As we collectively loosen our belts and try
to touch our collective toes, we realize we’re not happy. We’re too fat. We’re unhealthy. So we go buy some more stuff. And maybe on the way home from the mall we
get something to eat. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>It’s
not just physical comfort we’re addicted to.
We are addicted to insulating ourselves from unpleasant realities. The average Bhutanese knows much more about
the world than the average American and goes through some discomfort, if you
will, or at the very least some maneuverings, to pay attention to what’s going
on. Bhutan is small, fragile, and vulnerable. It behooves the people of Bhutan to know
their adversaries and to keep tabs on what’s happening in the rest of the
world. Americans don’t feel the urgency. What we learn when we do look beyond our
shores is uncomfortable and discontenting.
It’s more comortable to watch fake news about celebrities than to know
what’s happening in China or Southern Sudan.
But events happening in China or Sudan affect us so much more because
they are real.” </i>(pp. 157-158)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I continue to ponder the notion of authenticity as I
consider what is “real.” As I was
writing postcards last night, I began thinking more about my time in Bhutan, as
well as my larger experiences in Africa and the Indian subcontinent. This year, I am celebrating Diwali (the
Indian Festival of Lights) and National Day (for Bhutan’s king) instead of
Thanksgiving and Christmas respectively.
For me, these last six months have been challenging, eye-opening, and
dream-like. I am seeing places and
engaging in activities that I could only have conceived of in my wildest
dreams: hiking through the remote Bhutanese jungle en route to visit farmers,
threshing barley in the high Himalayas in preparation for winter, facilitating
a school garden with ex-street boys in Tanzania, and learning how to milk goats
in Maasai-land. Sometimes I feel so full
of elation and wonder with the world that I want to cry. As I take in the sheer beauty of the
surrounding natural environments, those so stunning that they appear as if
they’ve been painted on canvas, I am afraid that if I blink, it will all
dissipate into a dream-like fog. And the
cultural exchanges I’ve shared are jarring, overwhelming, and comforting. My guide yesterday was a 28-year-old dropout,
who was actually expelled from school for using marijuana (which grows
rampantly in the wild) with his friends.
He is obsessed with China and wants to marry a Chinese girl and settle
there one day. He asked me what my
favorite “tribe” in the world is (e.g. American, Indian, Bhutanese) and how I
felt when Osama Bin Laden bombed the Twin Towers on 9/11. I am working my way through <i>The World is Flat </i>by Thomas Friedman
about the forces that shaped modern globalization and leveled the playing field
for most of the world’s citizens. It
could not be more ironic and fitting as I encounter threads of my own American
culture woven into the fabric of Bhutan’s development. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Although I’m not very far into the book, here are some
interesting points thus far from <i>The
World is Flat</i>:</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Communism keeps people equally poor but capitalism
creates unequal wealth</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The Indian growth rate before economic
liberalization (~1990) was 3% compared to 7-8% after</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Capitalism fuels innovation</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->But in my mind, the big question is: can we
pursue capitalism sustainability and equitably?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And in the context of a “flat world,” I should note that
Bhutan is relatively pristine, both environmentally and culturally. It is not yet a member of the WTO (there are
current national debates about whether to join), there are no MNCs present
(e.g. Monsanto), and everything is very centrally planned (on the 11<sup>th</sup>
Five Year Plan for economic development, the government provides almost all
services, and there is very little privatization). As a country that has promoted Gross National
Happiness since the 1970s, it will be very interesting to see how Bhutan’s
development proceeds in the coming decades.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And while this has all been very novel and unreal for me, I
have to maintain that this is obviously the raw and quotidian existence for
everyone with whom I come into contact.
Try as I might, this will never be my world, especially as a jump around
to different households. But I will
continue to work hard in the coming months to bridge this gap between my mental
“bubble” and the lives of my hosts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Moreover, during my subsequent homestays, I realize that
Dawa and his family are my “Kirans” of Bhutan (in reference to my very positive
homestay with a man named Kiran in Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh, India, which was
comfortable, filled with good company, and educational), while I just don’t
feel as at ease with my new family in Sarpang Dzonkhag. I am missing Dawa’s jolly laugh and the fact
that everyone seemed to be constantly smiling.
Things made sense at my homestay in Tsirang. I could help prepare dinner, wash the dishes,
and milk the cows. Here, the cows aren’t
even friendly, ha (i.e. they might not give milk if a stranger milks them or
better, they might kick). It’s not that
the new host family here is not friendly, but the Dad doesn’t speak much
English (or he doesn’t feel comfortable using it) and the two kids (17 year old
son and 16 year old daughter who is only in the equivalent of the 4<sup>th</sup>
grade because she started school late and missed exams from being in the
hospital) speak some English but we don’t have too much to stay to each
other. I miss knowing how things worked
at Dawa’s. Now I feel like a bit of a
burden here since I am only staying for one night and they are treating me too
much like a guest. I want to learn and
participate but not watch Hellboy in Hindi.
I think that my hosts at my last three homestays were confused and
overwhelmed – they didn’t know what to do with me since I was a foreign visitor. Furthermore, it was difficult for me to
insist that I wanted to help, learn, and work, but also not be a burden or
liability in the field, getting in the way and being inefficient and clumsy with
the tools. And sure, my new family has a television and
a gas stove, but they don’t seem any happier.
In contrast, Dawa’s house did not have a proper kitchen or a TV but they
seemed to derive contentment from each other’s company. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And while we’re on the topic of happiness, here’s some more
food for thought: </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Renunciation
follows the desire for happiness naturally, but in our national disconnect, we
can no longer intuit that small is beautiful and less is more. The inclination of Americans is to pile it
on, get more, supersize, acquire: larger houses, bigger pants and bigger cars,
more gadgets, another piece of cake – and eat up more of the ozone while you’re
at it. Our recent economic problems
drive home the point. The way we live is
unsustainable. Now we’re all beginning
to see.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Giving
up, letting go, pushing away, peeling off and culling will make you
happier. I know you don’t believe
this. But answer this question: How
happy are you now with all your stuff?
Are you blissful? Will a new set
of towels make you blissful? If so, for
how long?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another
truth about happiness is this: <b>Ultimately,
no one else can make you happy. You have
to do it for yourself.</b> But you know
this already. If other people make you
happy, then great – it’s value added.
But we put way too much pressure on our loved ones when we make them
responsible for our happiness. Which
leads to my last point: <b>Happiness
doesn’t come from outside forces. It
comes from how you view the outside forces.
It comes from inside.</b> In
other words, attitude is everything.
You can train yourself, like your mom trained you to wash your hands
before meals, to have an attitude that is conducive to happiness. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The
first thing you do is think about death.
Several times a day. This will
clarify a lot for you. It’s a shortcut,
because, in the end, so much of what we do is to avoid thinking about our end,
so focusing on it will help stabilize your mind. A stable mind won’t make you happy, but it
will set the stage for happiness. Next,
just like you train your mind to think about death, so you can train it to
manifest gratitude. If you have two arms
and two legs, be grateful for them. If
not, be grateful for the air your breathe, and then take a good deep
breath. Look for other things to be
grateful about; be grateful you’re alive.” </i>(pp. 158-159)<i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Thimphu, Bhutan27.44261 89.66732827.3299125 89.5059665 27.555307499999998 89.8286895tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389282336429009704.post-56127419033295361612013-12-10T16:07:00.000-08:002014-01-10T18:56:09.145-08:00Back in Time in Bhutan: the Land of Shortcuts & Surprises<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">December 9, 2013 – Back in Time in Bhutan</span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just as Alice, when she walked through the looking glass, found herself in a new and whimsical world, so we, when we crossed over the Pa Chu, found ourselves as thought caught up in some magic time machine fitted fantastically with a reverse…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-Earl of Ronaldshay, British Governor of Bengal, 1921, on crossing the river (Pa Chu) that led him into Bhutan (from <i>Married to Bhutan </i>by Linda Leaming)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve hit a new low. Or perhaps it’s a new high: in bed before 7 PM. Sitting by the fire, or more accurately, the wood-burning stove used for cooking, makes me sleepy. Because it is winter in Bhutan and we are nestled in a valley, the sun sets early and rises late. Without heat, there is little incentive to stay awake when I know I can curl up in bed under multiple covers. I am currently living with a farming family of Nepali descent in a small village near the town of Damphu in Tsirang Dzongkag (district). Similar to the neighbors, who are few and far between, the family’s house is perched on a grassy hillside overlooking paddy terraces (FYI, paddy is rice before it is husked). The view from the house looks a bit like the hill station of Darjeeling in India, except the landscape is much, much less populated. I remember my friend Raj saying that Darjeeling felt like heaven because the lights from the buildings at night resembled stars and you couldn’t tell where the hillside ended and the sky began. Here, the houses are so few that the actual stars are much brighter. Like most structures in Bhutan, there is no heating here, so I am sleeping with a sleeping bag and four blankets, huddled with long underwear and a jacket. It’s more pleasant to not bathe because of how cold it is after the bucket shower. The food I’ve been having at this rural homestay is the best I’ve had in Bhutan so far, without a doubt. I tried wild boar, which is definitely some of the best pork I’ve ever had. It’s a shame that Buddhists don’t want to kill animals (hence no hunting) because the wild boar inflicts so much damage to their crops (nearly 25% of their paddy was lost last season). If hunting were morally permitted, they could eating delicious pork daily and ameliorate the wild animal problem. And there is something about eating fresh vegetables that you harvested earlier in the day or drinking milk that you milked from the cow only a few hours before. In fact, tonight is the second evening in a row I was able to milk the cow, and I think I am slowly improving. While working, I heard a chain saw and casually saw the uncle chopping down some trees for firewood, dressed in his plaid flannel, really looking like quite a lumberjack. The pace of life is much slower here and if I had to imagine a nearly complete self-sufficient existence, this would probably be it. In fact, I have found Bhutan to be a bit confusing and disorienting. Within less than a week, I seem to have boarded a time machine twice and gone both forward and backward. For instance, being in the capital city of Thimphu felt more like home than anything in the last 6 months: a proper shower with running hot water, eating pasta and tomato sauce for dinner, watching a Pixar animated film on a flat screen TV, going to a bar to have a beer and listen to acoustic covers of American bands, etc. Yet I quickly found myself in a truck going 6 hours south, mentally preparing for a short stay with a farming family. During the drive, we made it to one beautiful viewpoint known as Dochula Pass. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“The road east out of Thimphu winds upward for about 45 minutes to Dochula Pass at 13,000 ft. Like all of the passes in Bhutan, Dochula is covered for several acres with multicolored prayer flags. It is auspicious to put prayer flags high up on the pass. The constant wind sends the prayers to heaven; the steady flapping of thousands of flags creates a satisfying snapping sound. At the pass, Namgay takes off his baseball cap to show respect for the mountain deities and says a short prayer. We pause to look at the view. If it’s a clear day, which this one is, you an see the snowcapped Himalayas laid out for hundreds of miles. Gasa Dzong sits like a bright white bird off on a mountain slope, and in the distance are the mountains of Tibet. Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, the eldest Queen Mother, has built 108 stupas on a knoll at the top of the pass. The scene looks like something the artist Christo would create if he converted to Tantric Buddhism. These white adobe structures stand about five feet tall, and their red-and-gold roofs glisten in the crystal-clear mountain air. With prayer flags draped over everything, they move me because she built them in honor of the fourth king, her husband, who in 2003 led the Bhutanese army in ousting several thousand Indian insurgent hiding in the jungles of southern Bhutan. Although the Indians were threatening Bhutan’s sovereignty, the monument honors their fallen as well as the Bhutanese who lost their lives. Imagine having the wherewithal and the space and the resources of a country to build monuments to your husband, an enlightened monarch. It begs a comparison to Shah Jahan’s creating one of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal, for his beloved wife. It’s biblical in scope, epic in its magnificent symbolism. We’re all living large in this tiny country, I think.” </i>(Leaming, p. 165-166)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chortens at Dochula Pass</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A frosty morning with the snow-capped mountains of Gasa and Tibet in the background</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">During the drive, I had a great conversation with my primary contact at the Ministry of Agriculture who is part of the National Organic Program (pictured above). I learned more about biogas schemes, discovering that the anaerobic digestion that takes place actually breaks down the animal waste and scraps into almost ionic form, which when the biogas slurry is applied to the fields, it means that plants can more readily absorb the nutrients. During this drive, I once again re-boarded the time machine and have since been jolted out of both time and space. Practicing milking a cow, churning butter, making cheese, weeding the broccoli patch, harvesting yams, and walking to see the water mill were just a few of today’s activities. I imagine this is how it would have been living in Old Sturbridge Village, a popular field trip site during elementary school where people would dress up in colonial-era clothes and churn butter for an audience of restless schoolchildren. Except this isn’t 18<sup>th</sup> century New England – this is 2013 in rural Bhutan in a village where electricity didn’t come until last year. Each year, the monsoonal rains wash away the lone, unpaved road that hardly connects houses, which are rather linked by treacherous footpaths that weave through the jungle. This annual disaster forces the villagers to come together and rebuild the road with hand tools every single year. I can’t imagine. This community action reminds of another passage from Linda Leaming’s memoir, one concerning cooperation: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Bhutan is smaller in population than most American cities – about the size of Seattle – so it is culturally cohesive. People have to cooperate in order to survive in these isolated mountains. They have developed a sort of groupthink: they look out for one another. Although the self is important, the Bhutanese see themselves less as individuals and more as members of a community: a family, a social set, a tribe, a country. This interconnectedness gives rise to a security and comfort with themselves and the people with whom they live. They know who they are, and they are generally happy. They are part of a larger whole and are willing to give up some individual freedom to help the cause of everyone else. It’s not so much political; it’s just pragmatic. It seems to me that the rest of the world is looking for this kind of connectedness. In the U.S., the opposite attitude prevails, perhaps because we started as a colony of England. The individual is paramount, and our individual rights are taught to us as children. Individuality is rewarded. There are many examples of this mindset that we as Americans don’t really see because we live in it. But as much as Americans are perplexed by Bhutan’s dress code, Bhutanese are stunned by Americans’ sense of individual entitlement…It’s not really fair to compare the two countries, as they are like apples and oranges. Americans think the way they do for good reasons, as do the Bhutanese. But it is important to understand that people elsewhere think differently; and being aware of this and flexible about how one thinks can alleviate some discontent and, dare I say it, even make us happier.”</i> (55)<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the village, daily activities predominantly surround food (for both humans and animals): milking the cow in the morning and evening, making all of the associated dairy products, cooking three meals a day from scratch (probably 90% grown on the farm), cleaning the rice, milling the rice or millet, threshing the grains, taking the cows to graze in the jungle, cutting straw for fodder, washing dishes, and maybe occasionally washing clothes. Actually, the care and attention they give the cows is incredible, namely the effort that goes into preparing the feed (putting all of the kitchen scraps into a large cast iron cauldron, to which they add water and slowly heat). I swear, they eat just as well as the family, if not better. And nothing feels hurried and I don’t feel bad about going to bed so early. Everything feels pure: the crisp mountain air that is pollution free, the natural springs and streams that pour from the hillsides, and the abundance of produce sprouting from the earth. I just feel really good here, like my body and mind are being washed and rung out, cleansed if you will. It is difficult, however, not to romanticize a rural existence and I know that if I were here for many months or years, I would probably go stir-crazy. But for now, I am just trying to enjoy it and take everything in. I was able to see three farms today and almost all are small and very diversified with grain production (rice, maize, millet, wheat), horticultural products (fruit trees and vegetables), animal husbandry (cows, goats, sheep, chickens), and forestry (leaf litter is often used in the compost making). While the land holdings are small and the farmers lack access to most inputs and implements, the farms are amazingly productive from a qualitative standpoint. These farmers are part of a group of 32 households that are cultivating organically and collectively have a biogas scheme and vermicompost. They share labor and water mills freely and I believe they also do collective marketing. Unfortunately, the language barrier makes it difficult to ask meaningful questions to the farmers, which is frustrating. I can use the extension officer as a translator when she comes, but I feel that this will paint a very biased picture. I just want to know what the farmers think about “organic farming” (what they’ve been doing traditionally), as well as agricultural mechanization and improved inputs. I want to know their challenges because as of now, it seems that there aren’t any. Walking to see the farms was an adventure in itself as we went up and down through the jungle, crossing streams over rickety wooden bridges. I guess that is one challenge: the roads here are horrible quality, rendering the transport of produce really difficult. However, it is kind of nice being in a place where tourists rarely come and my hosts have never had a foreigner stay with them. Yet this novelty is subdued somewhat by the fact that I look very Bhutanese. I know that everyone I meet is quite confused when I tell them I’m American and when I wear the traditional dress (the Kira), the perplexity is amplified. Speaking of the kira, I hope to be able to wear it tomorrow at a wedding ceremony in the village.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Homestay in Tsirang</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Traditional water powered mill/thresher for the millet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paddy terraces everywhere</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Buddhism</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Homestay mom sifting the grain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cleaning/sifting the millet with a hand woven basket</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Such a beautiful place</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My bed for a few days :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Getting to practice milking cows. I was much better this time around (as compared to learning how to milk goats with the pastoral Maasai in northern Tanzania)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Homestay family in the traditional kitchen</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoR0xcxsajIIvYD4DKlj_PLmuNH4AyLMLPe0kGB2QzQUIm80dT1v5ehzoktXuYlDiW4j9f6OrsQHr-nyo0dw3dsDGZtyB_IIvXRp3JW6Fq2vGIFrPQ8BSHPiAOw2QF0PRqzKj-0rzo_W0/s1600/DSC00061+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoR0xcxsajIIvYD4DKlj_PLmuNH4AyLMLPe0kGB2QzQUIm80dT1v5ehzoktXuYlDiW4j9f6OrsQHr-nyo0dw3dsDGZtyB_IIvXRp3JW6Fq2vGIFrPQ8BSHPiAOw2QF0PRqzKj-0rzo_W0/s1600/DSC00061+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cozy cats always curled up somewhere</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Churning butter. Also putting the skills I learned in Ladakh to work :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdN4Cb7aNGQwTKYfHLlaor9WLX1rLjQiABB57mS3CWSciyOoDQlfeoVZvjlNdifPEpvIIRm2I7mt17lOFEzapAG98LrZq_lH2THkK-iOEUTttlqqjMnqcMrqcPx4xoiZsBaf5xd-5k_Vw/s1600/DSC00067+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzdN4Cb7aNGQwTKYfHLlaor9WLX1rLjQiABB57mS3CWSciyOoDQlfeoVZvjlNdifPEpvIIRm2I7mt17lOFEzapAG98LrZq_lH2THkK-iOEUTttlqqjMnqcMrqcPx4xoiZsBaf5xd-5k_Vw/s1600/DSC00067+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Making cheese!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Shelling beans</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Learning how to make cheese from my homestay family, which they bring to the weekly market</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisJ4_g5P2IZa1uXEudSRpv8aq5reAMLKkwvBSxiU-rBByw__P18aD3-MMtGFPqUdmoE8taLeH8LfeXf-jgg4-HMxzYSh8uPkqWiPMVtBjfQCC0HMIqkc1_F-6wURNhkF8_NEupuaoLaxty/s1600/DSC00074+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisJ4_g5P2IZa1uXEudSRpv8aq5reAMLKkwvBSxiU-rBByw__P18aD3-MMtGFPqUdmoE8taLeH8LfeXf-jgg4-HMxzYSh8uPkqWiPMVtBjfQCC0HMIqkc1_F-6wURNhkF8_NEupuaoLaxty/s1600/DSC00074+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More paddy terraces</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A traditional water mill for grinding flour</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Traipsing through the jungle to visit various homes in the village</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Never too early for a beer...homestay dad was "feeling cold" at 10 AM. ha.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Photo shoot with neighbors :)</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">December 10, 2013 – Bhutan: Land of Shortcuts and Surprises<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Long ago, on my first trip to Bhutan, in a strange, new place where everything was the opposite of what I expected, I asked and got answers to many questions. Sometimes when I asked a question, I was met with silence. But sometimes in the silence there were answers: What does it matter when we get there? We are here now. How is it or you here? There probably won’t be any hot water in your hotel room. The world is getting smaller. What each one us thinks and matters and our smallest actions affect everything on the planet. There is no power in not seeing and in not being aware. Try to get out of yourself and overcome your ego. You might be a good mother. You might not. What good does it to do ask that question?”</i><b> </b>(Leaming, p. 216)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unexpected aspects of Bhutan:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Even though Internet and TV didn’t come until 1999 and it was an absolute monarchy until 2008, the capital city of Thimphu feels more like home than any place I’ve been so far (hot shower, [yak] burger and fries, American music/acoustic covers at the local bar, movies on a flatscreen TV, checking my email on my host’s Ipad)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">I’ve eaten more meat in the last week than the last six months combined (and Bhutanese are Buddhist, meaning they shun the killing of animals and thus I expected them to be largely vegetarian. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Not to say that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the yak burger or wild boar, but my stomach is overwhelmed and confused)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The world is small: I was late getting to the ministry office so I was trying to hitchhike. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">After unsuccessfully attempting to flag down near about 10 vehicles, I came by two young Bhutanese who were on their way to work at the local security company. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">They helped me stop a truck and it turns out that the woman knows the Pioneer Valley and even my hometown of Easthampton, MA since her eldest daughter did undergrad at Mount Holyoke College and is now studying architecture in a Master’s program in Boston. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">What a strange world it is. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">I also saw a Middlebury College sticker on one car in Thimphu. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">For being a relatively insulated rural nation, love marriages, dating, matrilineal land inheritance, and relative openness about sex as compared to India</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The sale of tobacco may be banned in the country, but the Bhutanese love their alcohol!</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> Drinking seems to be a way to both pass time and to keep warm (alongside chewing doma or paan in India, the beetel leaf and nut, which stains teeth and turns spit red).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Integrated farming practices might actually be better than going completely organic, as told to me by several civil servants at the Ministry of Agriculture (the jury is still out)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Today I attended my first ever marriage ceremony</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That’s right, in my 22 years of living in the United States, I’ve never attended a wedding. And my first is in Bhutan, go figure! This place continues to astound me, catching me off guard at every turn, hence “Land of the Unexpected.” I tried so hard to attend a wedding in India, a legitimate excuse to wear my sari and to be able to witness the Indian occasion that I had heard so much about from friends. I came close, as I was invited to a wedding in Punjab at the end of November, but alas, I could not make it back. And I didn’t try at all in Bhutan…the wedding just appeared before me and it couldn’t have been more epic. I was able to dress up along with the other members of my homestay family and we set off, everyone donned in their kiras and ghos (except for the granddaughter who preferred to wear jeans and a plaid pea coat). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“I wore a kira, the floor-length woven dress of Bhutanese women, cinched at the waist with a tight belt and pinned with a brooch at each shoulder…A kira requires frequent, yet discreet, adjustment. Eventually, I learned to incorporate the necessaries into my personal mythology: I’d stand up, smooth the skirt of my kira, and tuck my hand into the front to straighten the fold of the pleat and show that I was ready to get going. It’s a no-nonsense gesture, like rolling up your sleeves. It means “I’m ready,” or “I’ve had enough.” It’s a great gesture for teachers. Smooth the collar of your wanju, or curl it under with your hand as you talk, and this says you are charming, coy, and girlish. You can soften what you are saying by doing this. Its equivalent in Western dress would be playing with your earring. When you walk up the stairs, you hike your kira ever so slightly so you don’t trip over it. </i>[or like myself, you hike it up past your knees, revealing the worn leggings underneath so you really don’t trip over it, especially when traipsing through rocky footpaths in the southern hills]<i>. This gesture feels quite antiquated. If you do it right, it’s elegant and sexy. If you do it incorrectly, you look prim and stuff, or in my case, like a Western woman who’s not used to wearing a long dress.” </i>(Leaming, p. 42)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We traipsed through the Bhutanese countryside, following a meandering footpath through the jungle and up endless hills before we reached the neighbor’s home, again perched on the edge of a mountain. As Leaming noted, it is necessary to hike up one’s kira when climbing hills, which does feel rather Victorian. This wedding marked the union of three couples and nearly 100 people, mostly from the village, attended. There was delicious food (beef and mutton with vegetables, rice, black dal) that was served cafeteria-style as family members came around with big buckets filled with food and slopped it on our plates. I was the only person given a spoon, since they assumed I would be uncomfortable using my hands. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Side note: <i>You know you have been traveling for a while when it’s actually more comfortable to eat with your hands, when you are accustomed to squat-toilets, and when you actually prefer to take a bucket shower. I think my mother would be appalled.</i> <i>Moreover, I continue to reply to people with the distinct Indian head wobble/wag that indicates yes/no/yes/maybe, despite that I have been out of India for some time now. And over Skype, my boyfriend told me that my accent has changed. I guess that’s what happens when you become accustomed to speaking English with non-native speakers (those to whom it is their second or third language), so I have found myself changing my inflection, using the gerund much more (e.g. “you are looking” instead of “you look”), and just generally talking slower. I have also grown accustomed to waking to incense overwhelming my olfactory system, a distinct part of Buddhist puja (prayer) each morning. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the wedding, alongside the delectable fare was of course, homemade alcohol: both ara (homemade wine) and Bungchang (a weaker drink made from pouring hot water over fermented millet and consumed with an oversize bamboo-like straw), as well as Druk 11,000 supreme beer (“super strong” at 8% alcohol by volume). It was 10:30 AM and I was already drinking a beer…“this day is going to be interesting,” I thought to myself. And it certainly was. I drank, danced to Nepali and Dzongka music, watched a traditional Sherpa dance, and was so grateful that my kira had a lot of extra fabric because the outhouse lacked toilet paper for my numerous pee-runs. I was also grateful that I look Bhutanese on an occasion such as this because I wanted to maintain a low profile and not disrupt the ceremony, drawing attention away from the brides and grooms in their special day. However, Dawa, my homestay father insisted on speaking loudly in broken English to me, ushering me to the front of the ceremony and commenting that I could take photos. I winced as I tried to avoid being perceived as a tourist. I constantly think to myself, however, that many of the events I have attended, people I have met, places I have visited, and activities I have engaged in would most definitely not have been possible had I been a traditional tourist or in a group. So I am infinitely thankful for the Watson Fellowship because it has given me the opportunity to intimately and independently explore cultures through a unique window. Today, I found myself so overwhelmed by the culture and the situation that I almost cried. I thought for a second about how I was nestled in the lush mountains of southern Bhutan, off the beaten path so to speak, joining in a marriage celebration alongside an entire village. It blows my mind sometimes to think about what I’ve been able to experience over the last six months and I feel so full of life and gratitude. I was able to meet two of the brides today, one who was picking vegetables for her mother-in-law. I considered how at a wedding in the US, the bride would not be caught dead doing any kind of work. The day would be hers entirely and she would expect the limelight to fall on her the entire time. In contrast, these Bhutanese brides hardly vied for attention and instead held a low profile after the initial ceremony. They weren’t dancing in the circle or taking meals with everyone else. In fact, I could only identify them by the mass of white Buddhist scarves wrapped around their necks like a shawl of fluffy icing. To me, it just seems to attest further to the sense of humbleness here. And to boot, both brides were very excited to make my acquaintance, commenting that this was a most auspicious occasion having a foreigner in their presence. I was presented with a white scarf called a kata (the same as I received from my rural homestay in Ladakh), which is apparently a sign of status; it confers to others at the wedding that I am a guest of importance. As you can imagine, however, I was the one who wanted to thank them. Moreover, I think I confused most of the people there, again, because I was looking very Bhutanese, especially in my kira, and they were surprised when I said I was from America. It’s a strange and interesting feeling being with people whom I so closely resemble. Regardless, I had a wonderful time at the wedding and am happy to be able to cross it off my bucket list.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With my homestay family before the wedding</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ghos and Kiras</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The union of three couples. A mix of Dzongka and Sherpa (Nepali)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lunch was served cafeteria style</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Homestay brother</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of my favorite portrait photos. This little girl and her grandmother are family of the bride. You can really tell the resemblance. So adorable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dancing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A traditional alcoholic drink: millet mixed with boiled water and consumed with a big wooden straw</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vhE_jCfjivg3gKcDhc9YMjdjZGJh3WycyOAs1yVsqr2GEQ2ePGlk3UzdSjhJ9V3BrQsCZ-Hg8v1SS_-RTxTI2AzXrtZWfcKvLCN52jWmPbnw2-MdRiU3B-pZZJi0_TclIyz2u6FKxTIC/s1600/DSC00171+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-vhE_jCfjivg3gKcDhc9YMjdjZGJh3WycyOAs1yVsqr2GEQ2ePGlk3UzdSjhJ9V3BrQsCZ-Hg8v1SS_-RTxTI2AzXrtZWfcKvLCN52jWmPbnw2-MdRiU3B-pZZJi0_TclIyz2u6FKxTIC/s1600/DSC00171+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With one of the brides</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And another :)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I sleep and wake to the rhythms of the Earth, it’s like heaven here. It feels like I am closer to the sky, within kissing distance as the clouds engulf the lush hillside. Today, while harvesting pole beans, the sun’s rays pierced through and peaked out over the impending clouds, as if the gods were splitting open the heavens with a triton of sunshine. The air is so fresh and life just seems to make sense. I am not saying that it is easy (e.g. preparing the vermicompost was actually quite labor intensive – the fetching and preparing dung and green material, the digging, hauling, sifting and applying and frankly, I can’t imagine creating it in large volumes to feed a hundred acre farm. Moreover, the physical difficulties of preparing the field for cultivating, the dirtiness of handling cow dung and urine is not pleasant), but it is logical. The Earth is ready to give us so much – why not borrow it as long as we give back? For instance, harnessing and mimicking nature through vermicompost or the water-powered mill – these simple schemes are low cost and environmentally sound. I am truly amazed by how productive such a small landholding is – the way the fields are just bursting with life and an abundance of fruits and vegetables. The feeling of having fresh compost slip through my fingers or the snap of the stem when picking beans. I think that in the west, everything is much too sterile. Of course, personal hygiene is important to some extent, but in other ways, I think our hands and clothes were meant to be dirty and we are too obsessed with constantly washing. I had the not-so-bright idea of digging the compost barefoot today, which left my feet freezing but also huge laughs as I sprinted back up to the house to wash them in warm water. I just feel so close to the earth here, it’s indescribable. I crave self-sufficiency to some degree and I hope that I can take some of these lessons home: the slowing down and letting the seasons and daylight be my time keepers.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiId3u6iFYHkyN-H37hFRwdd8rCehdqRL1KZAbzx5MeHSpRYbqCnffjMowWrbcB7tO7b0ammd2XgQBLNhAefmO7byB3kF-ZnD5l3ZRwo2nx2Sm0a3vK0ePsqi1NFQWEa45E4t4gsaJvNQN6/s1600/DSC00175+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiId3u6iFYHkyN-H37hFRwdd8rCehdqRL1KZAbzx5MeHSpRYbqCnffjMowWrbcB7tO7b0ammd2XgQBLNhAefmO7byB3kF-ZnD5l3ZRwo2nx2Sm0a3vK0ePsqi1NFQWEa45E4t4gsaJvNQN6/s1600/DSC00175+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Barefoot in the vermicompost</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvS8bVNe5f0oDKTIs2HVhJsqrsYN2ja8X5REKPjR31u9y40doL2cMWHnw4X20CiY_r7rMeGyFqT9Ci-ObyV7f6Ot6kepHcHaU4jxOOboonm-dmNpKZiAJlOcIqvnmSHEnRmfzF7gIzkVL/s1600/DSC00182+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXvS8bVNe5f0oDKTIs2HVhJsqrsYN2ja8X5REKPjR31u9y40doL2cMWHnw4X20CiY_r7rMeGyFqT9Ci-ObyV7f6Ot6kepHcHaU4jxOOboonm-dmNpKZiAJlOcIqvnmSHEnRmfzF7gIzkVL/s1600/DSC00182+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj925JIF2nS0kJoCw207RFqvhU5VjRJ9CIZKdaTLqg2Ncr9Y3IsAUMoS61dvKHTJD25pWAdOfnWOlImnL41TIZ2no7q4XvSQpsq0RFCZWvnqvBuTJv8ZSIXMZVMXjJzvLbpxDhkH_WhHIjR/s1600/DSC00186+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj925JIF2nS0kJoCw207RFqvhU5VjRJ9CIZKdaTLqg2Ncr9Y3IsAUMoS61dvKHTJD25pWAdOfnWOlImnL41TIZ2no7q4XvSQpsq0RFCZWvnqvBuTJv8ZSIXMZVMXjJzvLbpxDhkH_WhHIjR/s1600/DSC00186+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Preparing the mixture of cow dung, urine, green waste and food scraps for the vermicompost</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Vof6wSTaLL_Ft2lNVE4qU4AfG9B2yITPSvv7LmNqM790hXwIdSZ-xM08iVxhH669OxsVRqO6_uKsr6tHYJoAXazsAkxa7ig2PXIi35f53pWc71zJEop6N3mQndJ-ni-mqoIEgpy6rHO-/s1600/DSC00195+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Vof6wSTaLL_Ft2lNVE4qU4AfG9B2yITPSvv7LmNqM790hXwIdSZ-xM08iVxhH669OxsVRqO6_uKsr6tHYJoAXazsAkxa7ig2PXIi35f53pWc71zJEop6N3mQndJ-ni-mqoIEgpy6rHO-/s1600/DSC00195+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Spreading it onto the vegetable plot</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Fy1un-Dj28255aVwk6BWB7YYS3oO9P-wyMINyoMfUsFwIpoK-g-43hni1gs3fnMVaksznvd420BqA_OtqEkWrGxBME31pnpaHEQrfvlwd_JJ9Vv9wSg0DiKLnBrjI8M6exbCZtULAfku/s1600/DSC00199+(800x600).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Fy1un-Dj28255aVwk6BWB7YYS3oO9P-wyMINyoMfUsFwIpoK-g-43hni1gs3fnMVaksznvd420BqA_OtqEkWrGxBME31pnpaHEQrfvlwd_JJ9Vv9wSg0DiKLnBrjI8M6exbCZtULAfku/s1600/DSC00199+(800x600).jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I think Bhutanese people must have very strong heads/necks as they use this hand woven basket to tote heavy things around</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnXr61BFr7CJOcFCOQKQi3yvHT9ADVcLOVwvD9Pa56XicerC6K2q6xCoki4QIsr-x0ACA3E217-P2GBuDsKmIFgM5p0vJAXGyPFJO5PNjelkQtY2uhrJd0c8aH6JXDC6PlIIgjz3wTDOGs/s1600/DSC00200+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnXr61BFr7CJOcFCOQKQi3yvHT9ADVcLOVwvD9Pa56XicerC6K2q6xCoki4QIsr-x0ACA3E217-P2GBuDsKmIFgM5p0vJAXGyPFJO5PNjelkQtY2uhrJd0c8aH6JXDC6PlIIgjz3wTDOGs/s1600/DSC00200+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Harvesting pole beans</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz969AvzCAobAN8bubd3PAL_lE8A_Uwte5Rt3iItPSyKMndVgpdsVyyAMlEVFWxUc-m5MSjqcGw9N0tkLkYsBr8gWDT6Rb58Pcqr8pzdvvEFrhZ80tbIVLJOk4n8nXD3lmbM_aiX6B-jv1/s1600/DSC00203+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz969AvzCAobAN8bubd3PAL_lE8A_Uwte5Rt3iItPSyKMndVgpdsVyyAMlEVFWxUc-m5MSjqcGw9N0tkLkYsBr8gWDT6Rb58Pcqr8pzdvvEFrhZ80tbIVLJOk4n8nXD3lmbM_aiX6B-jv1/s1600/DSC00203+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Poetry inspiring imagery</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0biwWdMgTTEimQlE9fB4enOkTtGbvg1bf-hNxibFj_2uSJ1AfvPWs5_dWb3CNxN1N07pUapocD8En2c9ny5ZBcuwbIBbg6M4Ui0mM0GsNGkwnKmVi99qTtBA54UQE-ZLPh0am1nVmRmD/s1600/DSC00211+(600x800).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0biwWdMgTTEimQlE9fB4enOkTtGbvg1bf-hNxibFj_2uSJ1AfvPWs5_dWb3CNxN1N07pUapocD8En2c9ny5ZBcuwbIBbg6M4Ui0mM0GsNGkwnKmVi99qTtBA54UQE-ZLPh0am1nVmRmD/s1600/DSC00211+(600x800).jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And finally, I will leave you with another inspirational quotation from Leaming’s book, this time about slowing down and being aware:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Using and honing intuition changes one’s thinking. An American friend who visited Bhutan from the U.S. commented on the frenetic level of physical energy everyone seems to have in the U.S. There’s all this multi-tasking, and we have to schedule our days and carefully plan so we get everything done. We talk more in the U.S. The opposite is true here. Multitasking is not evident yet, and the pace is much slower. But the mental energy here, the level of awareness that comes from paying attention, from having less stuff around and have less in our calendars, is formidable. In the West, many have lost their sense of wonder about things. If miracles happen, how can we possibly know about them? We are too busy to notice. We’ve gained wonderful things such as wealth and efficiency, but I think we’ve lost a great deal of perception – sixth sense, insight, call it what you like. When you’re occupied every minute of the day, there’s simply no time for this kind of awareness.”</i> (80)</span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07828583420518267349noreply@blogger.com0Thimphu, Bhutan27.44261 89.66732827.3299125 89.5059665 27.555307499999998 89.8286895