There and Back Again: the World Travels of a Watson Fellow: Food Security and Adaptation to Climate Change: Quinoa Project with PROINPA

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:

“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.”

PROINPA uses “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.” Moreover, “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.”

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”).

From their literature, I also learned that:

“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.

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.

The strengthening of in situ conservation depends on three levels:

· Socio-cultural, seeking to respect and value central aspects and traditions related to biodiversity

· Environmental, promoting the respect use of water, land and ecological farming, and strengthening the relationship between human beings and their environment

· Economical, generating added value to biodiversity and developing local business with market links

Ex situ conservation includes research studies into genetic diversity, gene banks, conservation and protection, building up core collections, bioprospection and developing conservation techniques.

The challenge is to use these agro-biodiversity resources as a mechanism to alleviate rural poverty and malnutrition, particularly in biodiversity micro-centers.”

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).

The goals of the project include:

Improving food security of the population of Jacha Suyu Pakajaqi through agricultural systems that are resilient to climate variability and change.
Improve food availability through processes of revitalization of local agrobiodiversity and intercultural participatory innovation.
Increase consumption of foods of high nutritional value to strengthen the food consumption patterns of the population.
Increase technical capacities of local authorities and organizations to support the productive sector.

And for the 2014 operational year, the project aims to:

· 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

· 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.

· 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.

· 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.

· 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).

· PROINPA and PROSUCO are approaching the project from various standpoints:

o Intercultural (“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.”)

o Participatory research/innovation

o Sustainable agriculture (“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.”)

o Sustainable market dynamics

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^nd year of production. For instance, they will gather data on the following:

· 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

My colleague also noted how we have to consider all aspects of food security:

Availability (depends on production practices, climate, yields etc. – focus of the project)
Use (depends on technology, ovens, mills etc. at the community level, school breakfast programs, government policies and promotional activities etc. – focus of the project)
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)
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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My first time trying llama meat, on the way to the field

PROINPA truck all loaded up with biopesticides and organic inputs

My first quinoa field in Bolivia (quinua dulce or sweet quinoa) :D

My colleague Eliseo in the field (he's also local ;)

Purifying the fields

Apthapi communal lunch

potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes (also chunos and about 2 fried eggs)

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.

Most of the farmer demonstration plots have four varieties:

· Local variety aka Ninokaba

o Local to Pacajes

o Short cycle (4 months)

o Small grains (disadvantage)

o A pure variety but with mixed colors

· Chucapaca variety

o Red

o Semi-short variety – (~165 days = 5.5 months)

o Large grain

o Improved hybrid

· Jach’a grano

o Green

o Short cycle (~145 days = 4.8 months)

o Large grain

o 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

· Blanquita

o Very white

o Semi-late variety (~175 days = 5.8 months)

o Small grains

o Improved hybrid

o Very white

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).”

We visited some mini salt flats :)

Eliseo and Eliseo

"Train bus" in Pando (yes a bus converted into a train lol)

Climhate Change educational material

Life cycle of the native potato

Recipe for quinoa cookies

I tried making them...they turned out more like biscuits

Recipe for bread using quinoa flour

Coca leaves to chew for the funsies

Spraying the potatoes with something stronger necessitates protective gear

More apthapi communal lunch - everyone just reaches in and takes a handful of potatoes and cheese

Stages of quinoa growth

After a storm

Typical complex

A particularly motivated community where I ended up staying for about a week

Driving on the Altiplano is beautiful

Colleague Eliseo checking out the conditions

With one farmers' community

Awayus (woolen blankets) and quinoa

The world's most photogenic farmer

Always chewing on coca

Some of the cactus vegetation

Preparing the biopesticides

Spraying the fields

Colors of Bolivia

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)