Sustaining Local Food Systems, Agricultural Biodiversity and Livelihoods



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Sustaining Local Food Systems,

Agricultural Biodiversity and Livelihoods

Barter Markets:

Sustaining people and

nature in the Andes

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A wealth of Andean biodiversity

The Andes are rich in biodiversity, but the

growing conditions are harsh and constrained by

altitude, which means that there are a limited

number of food crops that communities in

different locations are able to grow. To overcome

this constraint, Andean people have always had

to be strategic to ensure that they have enough

food, and enough of the right kinds of food.

Instead of fighting the restrictions that their

location and climate impose on food

production, they have become specialists and

traders – growing many different types of the

crops that they can grow, and growing enough to

trade the excess with other Andean communities

who can grow different crops.

While this system has been in use for

thousands of years, it was recently threatened by

neo-liberal policies that sought to pull the

Andean communities into the cash economy.

Since the 1950s the Peruvian government,

international finance institutions such as the

World Bank, and multinational agricultural

companies have promoted the use of new, foreign

technologies for agricultural production – such as

genetically engineered crops – and have

introduced new technologies in storage, transport

and organisation geared towards creating an

export economy. Since 1995, some areas have

been pushed into providing for the national

urban demand, and others for the export market.

Rural households in the Department of

Cusco, in the southern Andes, were groomed to

supply the national urban market, with

predictable results. Farmers already worked hard

to produce enough food for their own

communities and some extra to trade. Now they

had to increase considerably the volume of food

production, using the land that had once fed

their households. Farmers became slaves to the

market, producing exotic crops such as barley to

supply beer manufacturers as well as commercial

varieties of native crops that required high

inputs of fertiliser and pesticides and that

displaced more useful and desirable native crops,

which survived only in particularly isolated

areas. At the same time, the cost of these inputs

increased continually, while the price that their

new products fetched declined. The new varieties

and crops were farmed more intensively, and

required much more time from the farmers. Not

only were labour-intensive inputs required to

produce them in these inappropriate conditions,

but there was also the need to produce tubers,

grains, fruits and vegetables whose appearance

was acceptable to urban consumers (for example

large tubers with no marks at all from pests or

disease, and with even colour). The widespread

use of pesticides destroyed local biodiversity,

and short rotation cycles combined with

artificial fertiliser diminished soil fertility.

2

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A marketing triumph

To try to mitigate the damage that these

policies had on the local economy

President Fujimori introduced social

assistance programmes, including a

National Programme of Food

Assistance that distributed food. But

these programmes only deepened the

communities’ problems. They were still

trying to produce for the urban market,

and could no longer grow or buy the

food that they needed for their own

consumption. These programmes and

the changed production pattern had

another even more devastating result:

between 1996 and 1998 malnutrition

rates for children under five in rural

areas went up from 37.8 per cent to

47.7 per cent. The high-altitude regions

suffered most, including the

departments of Huancavelica, Pasco,

Apurimac, Ayacucho and Cusco.

Out of this social crisis emerged a

local solution: the appearance of



chalayplasa, a network of Andean

markets based mainly on bartering.

Indigenous social and management

systems combined to enable

communities to grow, trade, and

consume the foods that they wanted. An

action research programme studied the

market in

the Lares

Valley in

order to

understand

this new

phenomenon and learn

more about how local

food systems were being

supported and sustained. It

generated new evidence on

the importance of Andean

barter markets for:

•  giving some of the

poorest social groups in

the Andes better food

security and nutrition;

•  conserving agricultural

biodiversity (genetic,

species, ecosystem)

through the growing and

exchange of native food

crops in barter markets;

•  maintaining ecosystem services and

landscape features in different agro-

ecological zones; and

•  enabling local, autonomous control

of production and consumption –

and more specifically control by

women over key decisions that affect

both local livelihoods and ecological

processes.

The Lares valley 

The Lares Valley is about 3,600km

2

and is located in the south-



eastern Andes. The 19,600 people living in the valley are Quechua,

and are spread over about 50 communities. The valley has three

agro-ecological zones: the yunga, below 2300masl, the quechua,

between 2300 and 3500masl, and the puna, above 3500masl.

Each week a market is held in the village of Lares, in the middle

quechua zone, and women travel from the other two zones in

order to trade the products that they can grow but the other two

zones cannot. There is some overlap of course, but yunga women

bring up their fruit, coffee, yucca and coca, quechua women

contribute corn, pulses and vegetables, and puna women bring

down Andean tubers, potatoes and meat. Anyone can participate,

and can trade any amount of any crop. Each week at this one

market – there are three others – the yunga zone contributes about

2400kg of food, while the quechua and puna zones provide about

3300kg. Altogether they trade more than five tonnes of food per

week – more than 15 times the volume distributed by the National

Programme of Food Assistance.

YUNGA

ANDEAN TUBERS



MEDICINAL PLANTS, MEAT, WOOL, OTHERS

MAIZE 


GRAINS, MEDICINAL PLANTS, OTHERS

FRUIT 


COCA, COFFEE, YUCCA, OTHERS

QUECHUA


PUNA

3

red stars: 



barter markets locations

blue arrows: 

people’s trips to barter

market places

IIED bartermarkets  20/6/06  9:35 am  Page 3




4

The research highlighted here was an integral part of ANDES

and IIED’s joint programme on Sustaining Local Food

Systems, Agricultural Biodiversity and Livelihoods.

Participatory Action Research (PAR) was key to creating an

intercultural dialogue. The active participation of the people of

the Lares Valley in describing and translating their reality into

quantifiable data was particularly valuable.

The research assumes that the Andean agro-ecosystem

is a complex social and ecological system. The aim was to

consider the agro-system as a whole, starting from the

point of view that in a subsistence context, a household’s

capacity to produce food is related to how well they can:

(a) conserve agricultural biodiversity;

(b) maintain soil fertility for agriculture; and

(c) maintain pest control and pollination processes.

The research analysed not only households but also the

agro-ecosystem, which comprises the Lares River basin and

Lares District. It includes several agro-ecological zones and

constitutes an integrated economic and social system of

culturally divergent communities. Three communities were

selected in the puna and  quechua agro-ecological zones,

based on their distance to the main road and whether they

had links with the city of Calca in the Incas’ Sacred Valley and

the city of Quillabamba in the Amazon forest. In the quechua

zone the communities of Qachin, Choquecancha, and Lares

Ayllu were chosen. In the puna zone the chosen communities

were Pampacorral, Wakawasi and Qochayoq. In each

community, three families were selected to study local

livelihoods. The households were randomly selected through

a community assembly based on their willingness to

participate (after a survey showed that all households

participated in the barter markets).

The research took place in four phases:

(a) local food system analysis and agro-ecosystem

characterisation;

(b) description and interpretation of the emergence,

functioning and flow of food through the barter

markets;


(c) assessment of the status of agro-ecosystem

functions; and 

(d) interpretation of the role of the barter market.

The selected households were followed through all their

daily agricultural activities for three months. An open-

ended questionnaire was complemented by the reflections

of women from the quechua and  puna zones using a

deliberative focus group technique during three

workshops. A land inventory was made during fieldtrips to

the Choquecancha and Qachin communities, and

experienced local peasants developed an inventory of wild

and domesticated species and explained how they

accessed and used them. The results were further

complemented with a spatial analysis of the food

production and access zones produced during a focus

group workshop with women who use the barter markets

and who identified the borders of the zones on a

topographic map (1:85,000).

To analyse the emergence of the chalayplasa – a new

institution but based on traditions of reciprocity – a focus

group drew up a chronology of the appearance and expansion

of the Lares Valley barter markets. Focus group members

included bartering yunga women and quechua and  puna

women who attend the markets. They described in depth the

factors that had caused the barter markets’ proliferation and

how the markets currently work, including the products,

varieties and exchange equivalencies for different food items.

The Lares barter market was analysed in detail because it

convenes more regularly than the other three in Qachin,

Choquecancha and Wakawasi. An in situ survey was carried

out with 49 bartering yunga women based on produce

composition, volume, origin, and seasonal variability. To

A participatory research  methodology

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5

complement these results 196 in situ semi-structured

interviews were conducted with quechua and puna peasants

who frequently visit the four markets. Among the most

important questions asked were (a) Why do they participate in

the chalayplasa? (b) How often do they participate? (c) What

products do they exchange? and (d) What do they think about

the importance of bartering?

A descriptive evaluation of the agro-ecosystem

functions based on social perceptions was conducted

covering the period from the beginning of the presidential

term of Alan García (1980) until the middle term of Alejandro

Toledo (2003). It included economic aspects such as an

analysis of the history of price changes in the commercial

sales of both potatoes and maize in the cash economy, as

well as commercial production inputs and agro-industrial

food items.

To show the role of chalayplasa in conserving agricultural

biodiversity, soil quality, and pest control and pollination

processes, household strategies for food procurement

were evaluated, including subsistence production, cash

purchases, traditional means of reciprocity, and new barter

markets. This interpretation was discussed and re-

interpreted with social representatives, politicians and

technicians in a workshop with all the focus groups and in

an inter-institutional workshop between the local people,

local and regional political authorities, and scientists

involved in the research. The results were then used to

evaluate the importance of the physical evidence collected

from plots.

Conservation of agricultural biodiversity

The data collected from various sources about types and

varieties of crops grown was used to estimate households’

‘minimum mean richness’, in other words how many

different types and varieties of produce they grow and

consume. By comparing the produce that is traded in the

markets with the produce used in households, it was

possible to show to what extent markets were households’

main (in some cases only) source of many local and

traditional varieties.

Maintenance of agricultural soil fertility 

Soil samples were analysed from each of the nine

communities. In each case three plots were selected

showing the different phases of agricultural management:

soil under cultivation, soil under fallow, and soil never

cultivated because of poor quality. Three soil samples were

collected for each plot and analysed to estimate the

richness of ‘indicator species’ – those species known to

show evidence of good soil condition. The contribution of

barter markets to the conservation of soil fertility was

estimated by recording how many indicator species were

present in plots growing crops traded in the 



chalayplasa

compared to all plots.

Existence of pest control and pollination

processes

A sample of insects was collected in each agro-ecological

zone and then classified as pollinators, pest controllers, or

pests. This enabled researchers to compare the

abundance and diversity of useful insects on plots

growing native crops and being farmed in a traditional way

(for example rotating crops and avoiding artificial fertilisers

and pesticides).

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Emergence of chalayplasa

The barter market – and specifically the

chalayplasa network in Lares – appear to have

emerged in connection with ancient traditions of

the production and supply of coca (Erythroxylum

sp.) for highland consumption. Coca

consumption and direct use by the highland

population has been largely determined by its

exchange for quechua and puna food products. In

some cases puna and quechua farmers travelled to

yunga areas to exchange their coca for yunga food

products. Coca salesmen obtained potatoes,

maize and meat for their temporary workers

from highland farmers during coca harvesting.

Muleteers and llama ranchers from the quechua

and puna zones also travelled to the lowlands to

make a variety of exchanges for a range of goods

and services, from transport to agriculture and

livestock products such as wool and meat.

Since the 1970s, however, two main factors

have helped weaken these patterns: (a) the

institutionalisation of ‘local development’

assistance programmes that aim to get local

produce into the cash economy through more

intensive farming practices and (b) the

prohibition on the free trade of coca through the

Law on the Repression of the Illicit Drug Trade

(DL Nº22095/78), which makes the state the only

institution allowed to trade coca leaves (internally

as well as externally) through the National Coca

Company (ENACO). Because it was impossible

to continually intensify production methods,

households instead participated in the cash

economy but kept their ‘non-currency’ economic

system going at the same time.

In 1973 the first market appeared in the lower

valley, in Lowaqay. Local women describe the

emergence of the chalayplasa as a strategy to

procure food directly derived from ancient forms

of coca–food exchanges between people from

different altitudes. After that new markets began

to appear further up the mountains. In 1978, and

following the construction of a road into the

upper watershed, markets were also established

in Pirki and Yerbabuenayoq. People from the

Choquecancha and Qachin communities – on

opposite sides of the valley – attended these

markets. The number of organised yunga women

attending the markets slowly increased, and then

stabilised with about 40 of them attending each

weekly market. In 1982, the progressive advance

of the road into the highlands enabled bartering

women to set up three new markets, in Lares

Ayllu, Choquecancha and Qachin in the quechua

zone. These markets still exist. In 2003, a new

market in Wakawasi in the puna zone appeared as

a result of the construction of a new road. The

expansion of the barter market network drives

the institutionalisation of food exchange

strategies among people from different

ecological tiers.

President Alan Garcia (1980–90) tried to

encourage people in the region to buy more of

their food, a state strategy that continues to this

day. But the women who participate in the

markets say that there is a constant increase in

the proportion of each household’s food that

comes from the barter markets. Today,

participants describe barter markets as the

second best way to procure food, after

subsistence farming.

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How does chalayplasa work?



Chalayplasa is a network of

marketplaces in communities from the



quechua and puna zones in the Lares

Valley. Women are the main

participants in these markets, where

they exchange – without using currency

– fruits from the yunga zone (lower

valley areas corresponding to the

Yanatile and La Convención forests) for

grains, tubers and other products from

the quechua and puna zones in the upper

valley. Approximately 4,000 people

from 31 communities from the middle

and upper valley use the chalayplasa.

Surveys of women who participate in

the chalayplasa reveal that about

3,300kg of food comes from the yunga

forests, compared to 2400kg from the



puna and quechua zones. Most foods

from the middle and upper valley are

starch-rich products (94 per cent) and

legumes and meat (6 per cent). Potatoes

account for almost half of the weight

(47 per cent) of the starch-rich group,

followed closely by maize (44 per cent),

along with olluco (3 per cent), chuño and



oca tubers (3 per cent), and quinua (1

per cent). Most of the food exchanged

from the lower valley comprises fruits

(87 per cent), starch (4 per cent),

vegetables (4 per cent), coca (2 per cent),

and legumes and meat (1 per cent).



Yunga women reveal that they bring

to the market a range of fruits

produced on their mixed-crop plots.

These lands are mainly used for

subsistence farming, with the

production surpluses exchanged in the



chalayplasa. Subjective assessments

during focus groups with women from

the quechua and puna zones suggest that

35 per cent (quechua) and 38 per cent

(puna) of the food available for

household consumption comes from

subsistence farming. Almost a third of

the household’s food comes from

barter markets (30 per cent in the

quechua zone and 29 per cent in the

puna zone). Farmers bring their

surpluses from subsistence farming to

the markets, making them an efficient

way to give farmers economically and

ecologically sound options within their

food system.

Some products from the lower valley

such as manioc play a similar role in

the household’s diet to products from

the middle and upper valley, such as

potato. Even though these products are

so similar, however, the women still set

some aside to bring to the market and

trade (even if there is no surplus of

that crop). This satisfies families’ desire

for a diverse diet that has different

flavours, textures and appearances –

even though it means storing and

transporting the products to market.

Because the women come from such a

range of altitudes the volume and

diversity of produce in the barter

markets is quite stable. The amount

that women set aside to exchange in the



chalayplasa depends on their weekly

food requirements. Quechua and puna

women use most of the food acquired

in the barter markets for family

consumption (approximately 95 per

cent). The other 5 per cent is used for

gifts and to exchange with friends and

family for other goods and services.

Chalayplasa

Products are exchanged in the barter markets

using socially agreed measurements. Some

products are exchanged item by item, for example

potato and manioc. Others are exchanged using

local measurements of volume such as hawkt’ay

and  poqtoy, which refer to one or two handfuls of

any product. Another exchange equivalency is the



unay precio system, which is based on the amount

of a given product whose original price has been

socially maintained from the past. Sometimes a

trade also involves generosity and expressions of

solidarity, such as yapa, which is when an extra

amount of a given product offered on top of the

agreement, for example to a woman who is clearly

in difficult circumstances, or who is unable to

produce as much as other people, for example

because of old age.

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Keeping agroecosystems healthy

The results of the agro-biodiversity conservation

assessment show that quechua households

conserve an important level of food crop richness.

Many broadly distributed and common varieties

are present, such as ch’ullpich’uspiowina, and



paraqay for maize and boliberuntosqompiswayro

and k’usi for potato. At the agro-ecosystem level

there are about 53 maize varieties and 247 potato

varieties, although not all households are able to

conserve such diversity. Although these figures are

not exact (due to farmers’ resistance to counting

conserved richness), these results show that barter

markets directly contribute to agro-biodiversity

conservation at the household and agro-ecosystem

level. About 86 per cent of listed crops in the



quechua zone are bartered, along with 100 per cent

of recorded crops in the puna zone, while only 34

and 60 per cent of crops from both zones are sold

in the cash economy. Maize varieties participating

in the chalayplasa account for 80 per cent of maize

richness at the household level, while for potatoes

the figure is 60 per cent. In the cash economy, only

30 per cent of maize varieties and 23 per cent of

potato varieties are eligible to be sold (that is they

comply with certain parameters such as size, shape,

and lack of pest infections or diseases). Even

though every crop that is sold may also be traded

in the barter markets, the reverse is not true.

This research demonstrates that the collection

of potato varieties traded in barter markets

satisfies all the criteria that farmers desire.

Commercial varieties only satisfy production and

financial criteria, whereas native varieties also

satisfy criteria linked to medicinal, cooking,

exchange, social and cultural uses.

Results from both the soil quality assessment

carried out during the fieldwork and the physico-

chemical analysis suggest that farming practices

used in the landholdings visited in the quechua and



puna areas would enable the soil quality to recover

through different management practices. The

concentration of organic matter and nitrogen was

found to be high. And the traditional practice of

allowing plots to rest for seven years helps it to

recover; soils at the end of their rest period have a

higher proportion of the species that are an

indicator of high soil quality.

As it is possible for only one controlling

species to be vital in biological pest control, the

existence in the Lares Valley of a combination

of natural enemies – like parasitic wasps,

predator beetles, spiders and fleas – suggests the

existence of active pest-control processes.  The

pollinator species distribution found among the

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9

different altitudinal tiers suggests that they are

directly associated with the dominant native

vegetation. Considering that samples were

collected after the harvest, the existence of a

combination of species suggests that their

survival is due to the presence in the agro-

ecosystem of alternate populations with

fluctuating prey and other food sources – such

as seeds and organic material – that are found

not only in the cultivated plots but also in

borders and neighbouring areas with non-

domesticated vegetation. The transition between

border areas and the inside of landholdings is

facilitated by crop association systems.

Data from the Third National Agricultural

Census revealed than in 1993 pesticides and

fungicides were used on approximately 4 per

cent of the total cultivated area in the valley.

Only 29 per cent of this 4 per cent

corresponded to holdings smaller than 4ha;

farmers had learned very quickly that the

planned intensification with pesticide use that

was being promoted simply was not viable in

their farming system. Even when cultivation and

management practices by farmers in the Lares

Valley varied, the results show that farmers did

not apply much fertiliser and pesticides, and that

they conserved multi-cropping practices,

associations, and rotation cycles. These strategies

help maintain a permanent heterogeneous

mosaic of natural and agricultural areas that are

farmed at different times, some more intensely

than others. The agro-ecosystem managed as a

complex and diverse whole creates the living

conditions for a wide variety of organisms that

would not exist in a simplified system. Farmers’

local adaptive management practices thus ensure

that genetic, species and ecosystem diversity are

conserved and renewed. The resilience of linked

social and ecological systems is enhanced as a

result of this dynamic management of

biodiversity by Andean indigenous peoples.

Our results suggest that participation in barter

markets enables the farmers to keep their own

technically complex processes alive. These

dynamic processes are based on the rational use

of physical, chemical and biological phenomena,

not only on agricultural land but also on natural

and semi-natural ecosystems in the wider

landscape. As regulative institutions, barter

markets help sustain local food systems and the

ecosystems in which they are embedded. They

do this by mediating activities that enhance the

conservation of agricultural biodiversity, soil

fertility, and local pest control and pollination

processes at different spatio-temporal scales.

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10

Principles behind the

social systems 

The household surveys from the



puna and quechua zone show that

everyone participates in the



chalayplasa. The main factors behind

its popularity are:

•  There is no minimum amount of

food required to participate in the

chalayplasa; any amount can be

exchanged.

•  Exchanges are not based on the

visual quality of products. The

principal preference factor is

flavour, which the native varieties

on offer provide. The women also

argue that low pesticide use results

in a better flavour.

•  Exchange is based on reciprocity and

complementarity. It includes people

whose productive capacity is lower,

such as widows and older people,

who may have fewer products and

whose products may be smaller and

visually less attractive. Proof of this

is the persistent use of the ritual of

yapa in adjusting the proportions of

products exchanged.

Survey results on household

participation show that the markets

are based on principles of open

access. Time constraints during

certain months of the year (mainly

during the growing season) mean

that not every household visits a

market every week. This is often the

case in newly formed households

with small families, and also in

households with mainly older

people or people with physical

disabilities. In these cases, traditions

of reciprocity and solidarity ensure

that these families have access to the

barter markets by entrusting others

with their goods or errands, locally

called encomiendas or encargos. For

these households, access to

chalayplasa depends more on good

relationships with neighbours and/or

relatives than on the availability of

time or on produce to trade.

The way chalayplasa works

suggests that exchanges contain the

following elements: (a) reciprocity

based on friendship and kin

relations between women from

yungaquechua and puna zones; (b)

redistribution based on social

participation norms and access

strategies to the different altitudinal

tiers by different agro-ecological

zone communities; and (c) self-

sufficiency based on subsistence

farming by each household.

Through chalayplasa, inter-family

relations are maintained by doing

errands for each other. Aside from

constituting a material exchange

network, they also represent a

symbolic and effective exchange

network. The chalayplasa are

economic systems governed by a

polycentric system of local

institutions that manage the agro-

ecosystem.

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11

Local governance for food security

and ecological sustainability

A number of different communal institutions

contribute to barter market governance. Women,

households, and communities are the key elements,

but women are the hub of the network, managing

the local food systems at different levels and on

different scales. They not only feed their family,

but also manage the household budget and

participate in both agricultural planning and

chalayplasa management. Women’s participation at

many different levels ensures that the governance

of local food systems can be adapted to the needs

of the community and to dynamic ecological

processes. The analysis of governance aspects

suggests that barter markets are a genuine example

of a popular economy. They emerged as a dynamic

way to keep alive the productive self-management

and decentralised governance of local livelihoods

and biodiversity. Barter markets also strengthen

social relationships. They ensure that families have

a stable food supply over the short and long term

through the management of: (a) risk, (b)

uncertainty, and (c) ignorance linked to human

subsistence and development in the Andes.

Chalayplasa’s working principles are those

governing the individual and collective activities of



quechua communities: (a) munay, meaning ‘to

want’, (b) yachay, meaning ‘to learn’, and (c) yankay,

meaning ‘to work’. These principles are applied by

local people in order to adapt traditional norms

and behaviours to new circumstances, resulting in

genuinely local responses.

The barter markets in the Lares Valley are

forms of non-monetary food procurement that

have grown out of the Andean culture. Their

consolidation is a household’s key strategy to

buffer imperfections of the cash economy while

satisfying local food needs. Chalayplasa is a

local response to both the loss of control and

the increase in uncertainty of food markets.

Barter markets allow farmers to keep on caring

for processes associated with agro-ecosystem

multi-functionality at different levels using

conservation strategies and traditional

agricultural practices. With the chalayplasa,

local communities redefine their economic

system and incorporate a combination of

monetary and non-monetary forms of exchange

that sustain fragile mountain ecosystems,

biodiversity and culture.

IIED bartermarkets  20/6/06  9:35 am  Page 11



In Peru: 

Ingeniero Alejandro Argumedo 

Country Coordinator, ANDES 

–Asociacion Kechua-Aymara para 

Comunidades Sustenables 

Apartado 567, Cusco, Peru 

Tel: +51 (0)84 245021 

E-mail: andes@andes.org.pe 

slfsal-peru@terra.com.pe 

At IIED: 

Dr Michel Pimbert 

Director of the Sustainable Agriculture,

Biodiversity and Livelihoods Program, 

Overall project coordinator 

IIED – International Institute for 

Environment and Development 

3 Endsleigh Street, London, 

WC1H 0DD, UK 

Tel: +44 (0)20 7388 2117 

E-mail: michel.pimbert@iied.org 

Websites: www.iied.org 

www.diversefoodsystems.org 

In Spain: 

Dr Neus Marti 

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain  

E-mail: neus.marti@uab.es 

How – and under what conditions – can diverse, localised food systems be sustained in the twenty-first

century? Who gains and who loses when local food systems are strengthened? These are some of the

questions examined by the Sustaining Local Food Systems, Agricultural Biodiversity and Livelihoods project. 

This project combines a political ecology perspective on food systems and livelihoods with action research

grounded in local practice. As such it seeks to bridge the gap between the academic orientation of political

ecology and the largely activist focus of food sovereignty, human rights and environmental justice movements. 

The decentralised management of agricultural biodiversity by farmers and their communities is increasingly

seen as a prerequisite for sustaining food systems, livelihoods and environments. Although the international

community does emphasise the need to involve farming and local communities more centrally in the

management of agricultural biodiversity, there are huge gaps in knowledge and institutional constraints that limit

national capacities to scale up these approaches. In order to help fill these gaps, this research seeks to analyse

how and under what conditions can decentralised governance, farmer participation and capacity building

promote the adaptive management of agricultural biodiversity in the context of localised food systems and

livelihoods. 

The project is working with partners in four different countries, India, Iran, Indonesia and Peru. The research

adopts an international, action-oriented, interdisciplinary and case study approach that builds on the expertise

of local resource users and national and international partners. Throughout, the emphasis is on doing research

with, for and by people – rather than on people – for learning and change. 

PERU 


The action research facilitated by ANDES (Quechua–

Aymara Association for Sustainable Livelihoods) and

IIED emphasises participatory and people-centred

processes in sustaining local food systems, diverse

ecologies, livelihoods and culture. 

INDONESIA

Working with a new foundation, FIELD – Farmers

Initiatives in Ecological Literacy and Democracy – the

project builds on the pioneering approach to farmer

training, the Farmer Field School, and their work on

community integrated pest management (CIPM),

which depends heavily on both using functional

biodiversity to control rice pests and co-ordinating

action by farmers to sustain local livelihoods and

change policies. 

IRAN


Dialogues with partners identified in Iran have focused

on a ‘learning by doing’ project aimed at reviving

nomadic pastoralism and associated livelihoods and

agricultural biodiversity. The Centre for Sustainable

Development (CENESTA) is IIED’s project partner in

this endeavour. 

INDIA

Local control over biodiversity important for food and



agriculture in the drylands of Andhra Pradesh is the

focus in India. IIED’s partner is the Deccan

Development Society, and joint work between local

farming communities and women’s collectives

(sanghams) has grown out of village-level dialogues

where farmers identified priorities and opportunities

for this participatory action research.

CONTACTS:



This brochure is based on the PhD thesis of Neus Marti (La multidimensionalidad de los sistemas de alimentacion en los

Andes peruanos: los chalayplasa del valle de Lares (Cusco), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, 2005).

This research acknowledges the knowledge, intellectual contributions and joint analysis of women and men engaged in

farming and barter markets in the Lares Valley, Department of Cusco, Peru.

ISBN 1 84369 625 8



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