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PLACE: MORAY ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER
DATE: 27 JUNE 2008
PARTICIPANTS:
1. 120 International Congress of Ethnobiology Attendees
2. 150 Male and Female Farmers from the communities of Mullak’as Misminay, K’ajllaraqay, Pichingoto and Maras Ayllu
3. 25 persons from the Municipality of Maras (Authorities, Officials, Workers)
4. 08 Volunteers
5. 05 Association ANDES Profesionals
In accordance with the ICE 2008 program, on 27 June 2008 the Field Workshop took place at the Traditional Agriculture Experimentation Center in Moray (Maras). Its details are the following:
During the morning registered attendees met at the Kusipata Plaza in Cusco, site of the punctual 7:00 a.m. departure of five vehicles, each carrying 30 persons, that passed by the villages of Poroy and Kachimayo, (Cusco), Chinchero and Maras (Urubamba), en route to their 9:00 a.m. destination arrival at the archaeological complex “Traditional Agricultural Experimentation Center of Moray,” in the communities of Mullak’as Misminay and K’ajllaraqay, located in the Maras district, where they were received by male and female agriculturalists from the aforementioned communities, who were dressed in colorful vestments, and accompanied by typical Pututero dance and musical groups from Chinchero and Maras. Following, the visitors settled down in an outdoor esplanade where the field workshop was initiated according to the program design.
Methodologically, interactive workshops were held in the morning between attendees and farm leaders from the village communities. Topics discussed were related to the strategies currently being implemented in respect to climate change, food sovereignty and local livelihood, while the afternoon was reserved for a tour of the zones with touristic interest related to local livelihood activities. In the case of Maras, the group benefitted from the presence of Architect Carlos Milla, who spoke about the significance of Moray and climate change in the Andes, as well as the participation from local farm experts from Mullakas Misminay and specialized professionals from Association ANDES.
In the afternoon, following lunch and the tour of the Moray archaeological complex, which then lead to the visitation of the Maras Salt Quarries, the delegation of workshop attendees was received by a typical musical ensemble, as well as peasant women and men welcoming them with flowers and mistura. The group made the rounds at Maras, where the head of the Intercommunal Social Property Company provided a brief explanation about the functioning of the salt quarries as well as the relation that the company maintains with the local residents that work there. Proceeding, an interesting dialogue developed among the visitors, and after all of the questions were fully responded to according to the visitor’s satisfaction, the group headed back to Cusco, arriving at 7:00 p.m. and thus concluding the field day.
In general the conclusions reached during the morning field workshop were the following:
- That families from Andean indigenous communities have always lived with climate change, generated by the el niño phenomenon on the great part of the Pacific coasts of South America, and for what they have designed a collection of strategies and actions, that combine the diversity of altitudinal levels with the diversity of species and crop varieties, that have managed to secure harvests and strengthened their food sovereignty
- That families work closely with biological and weather indicators to advance or retard their plantings and depending on said, whether to cultivate in the high, medium or low parts, or in any case all three locations and in associated plantings, or in crop and field rotations.
- That this concrete activity has permitted them to increase the diversity of species and varieties for their local livelihoods.
The Field Workshop Program was the following:
1.- Introduction and facilitation of Field Workshop by Flavio Flores Olayunca of the Regional Association of Ecological Producers of Cusco
2.- Welcoming by the Mayor of the Maras District, Profesor Eriberto Quispe Tito
3.- Exposition: The farmer’s vision on climate change in the Maras zone by Buenaventura Humilde Mora, President of the Mullak’as Misminay Farming Community.
4.- Topic questions, clarifications, debate and conclusions.
5.- Snack provided by the District Municipality of Maras.
6.- Exposition: Local strategies of food sovereignty and local livelihood faced with desertification in Maras by Luz Delia Ayma Quispe, President of the K’ajllaraqay Farming Community.
7.- Topic questions, clarifications, debate and conclusions.
8.- The el niño phenomenon and its effects on high mountain ecosystems and adaption strategies by Edgar Gonzales Castro of Association ANDES.
09.-Topic questions, clarifications, debate and conclusions
10.-Importance of the Moray Traditional Agricultural Experimentation Center by Amauta Architect Carlos Milla.
11.-09.- Topic questions, clarifications, debate and conclusions.
12.-Recognition and Honoring of Architect Carlos Milla by the Mayor of the District Municipality of Maras for his academic and investigative contributions on the Andean culture.
13.-Complimentary Lunch for attendees (Dish: Chayro and watiada with cheese and llantan)
14.-Guided Tour of the Moray Archaeological Complex
15.-Tour of the Maras Salt Quarries. Open Conservation.
16.-Return to Cusco.
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