The Andes is the center of domestication of many important crops, including potato, peanut, quinoa, and lupin as well as llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs. The ancestors of modern Quechua and Ayamara people developed agriculture in the highland Andes more than 5,000 years ago. Their descendants have been refining Andean farming systems ever since to adapt to the extreme and unstable mountainous environment characterized by large diurnal temperature changes and steep slopes.
The two central principles of Andean agriculture are 1) communal structures emphasizing reciprocity, and 2) mitigating risks through a diversity of crops, varieties, planting dates, and plot locations.
Current threats to Andean agriculture include global markets for labor and food as well as climate change. Local sources of innovation are abundant. Multi-actor connections need to be strengthened to provide sustainable responses to changing conditions.
Click here to download the Andes CoP Theory of Change.
Strategy
The Andes CoP encompasses the highlands (2,500 meters or higher above sea level) of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. The CoP supports integrated and diverse production. Funding is directed toward local food systems and markets, nutrition, seed networks focused on conserving and enhancing agricultural biodiversity, ecological pest management, risk management focused on climate variability, and soil health. Pathways to change in the Andes CoP include integrating different knowledge systems, taking a landscape approach, incorporating natural and human systems, and providing various options for different contexts. The CRFS emphasizes social and horizontal learning approaches based on trust and respect at all levels and scales.
The three pillars of the Andes CoP’s capacity strengthening strategy are:
improving research relevance through participatory approaches and a utilization focus
improving research quality, including the ability to embrace and explain social and biophysical variability, focusing on agroecological systems using mixed methods, and connecting local and global knowledge
communicating and sharing learnings with various audiences.
Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO)
Partners:
CLACSO political agroecology working group and member centers; CoP on family farming and agroecology Latin America and the Caribbean in collaboration with FAO; CoP with tutors, former scholarships, and teachers from Latin America, Europe, and US universities; SOCL; CCRP CoP members and projects; and local and regional universities
Partners:
CIP’s Andean Initiative; Andean Agrobiodiversity and Seed System Projects (AASSP); CCRP-Andes regional team and projects Agroecology, Research and Support Methods, Soils, and RHoMIS; Western and East & Southern Africa CoPs; CoPs on Seed Systems and In-Situ Conservation supported by RTB; Wageningen University; University of Florida; and Andean universities such as Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Universidad de Cotopaxi, and Universidad Mayor de San Simon
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Partners:
TAPE technical working group, whose members represent INTA/University of Gronigen, Cornell University, IRD, Friends of the Earth International, World Agroforestry, INRAE, CIMMYT, AVSF, La Vía Campesina, MAELA, and CIRAD; also Agroscope (Switzerland/Kenya), ARAA/ECOWAS (West Africa), ARFA (Burkina Faso), COLEAD (Benin), DCA (Cambodia, Nepal, Uganda), Diaconia (Brazil), DTEAP (Laos), Eclosio (Benin, Cambodia, Peru), ECOWAS (West Africa), Enabel (Benin), ENDA Pronat (Senegal), Haramaya University (Ethiopia), Iles de Paix (Tanzania), In Situ (Argentina), INTA (Argentina), IRPAD (Mali), Louvain Coopération (Cambodia, Madagascar), reNature (Kenya, Indonesia), RSDA (Lesotho), SPC (Pacific), Trócaire (Rwanda), ULB (Congo), UNAM (Mexico), Universidad Veracruzana (Mexico), VAAS (Vietnam); research methods support Stats4SD
OMSST, whose collaborators represent FAOSTAT, Koronivia joint work on agriculture, and Cornell University/Soil Factory
Agroecology Knowledge Hub (AKH) composed of IRPAD, Chulalongkorn University, Asian Institute of Technology, ASEAN Academic Network, SEARCA, FiBL, Coventry University, Agroecology Europe, SOCLA, Red PP-AL, CLACSO, Rede Sial (Brazil), IPES-Food, CIRAD, INRA, CGIAR, and TPP
Civil society organizations 3AO, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, Asian Peasant Coalition, Asiadhrra, CSA, China Digital Green, ELVC, Agency of Development Initiatives, MAELA, RIAM, RUPAP, IPC, CSM, IFOAM, PAN, and URGENCI
Private sector ROPPA, PROPAC, ESAFF, PELUM, COPROFAM, and Access Agriculture
Knowledge platforms Biovision Africa Trust, African Union, EOA Knowledge Hub Project, ALiSEA, LaoFAB, UNISECO, CELIA, WOCAT, and SIANI
NGOs or private foundations and donors Terre & Humanisme, Swissaid, Biovision, Groundswell International, PAN AP, SEI, Schola Campesina, Agroecology Europe, SDC, RADDO, Agroecology Fund, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, McKnight Foundation, OXFAM, GRET, ActionAid, World Rural Forum, SPC, and Agroecology Coalition
FAO working group through CoP on family farming and agroecology
This project operates in a relatively isolated region of Bolivia—two municipalities within the Department of Chuquisaca—where many members of farming households have migrated permanently. Farmers produce various crops, including potato, chile, maize, and groundnuts, both for sale and household consumption. Groundnuts are often the only cash crop, and many farmers grow organically specifically for the export market. To date, the project has focused on different themes of interest to these farmers, including organic peanut production (preferred varieties and management of pests and diseases) and an assessment of the agroecological systems functioning in their farms (exploring ecological/productive, economic/participatory, and cultural/organizational dimensions).