Despite the challenges of farming at altitudes ranging from 2 500 to 3 400 metres above sea level, Kichwa Women and their ancestral agricultural knowledge have sustained food security and sovereignty in the Andes of Ecuador for centuries.
Their plots or farms are locally known as chakra, a biodiverse agricultural system recognized in 2023 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). In addition to nutrition, food security and income, chakras provide Kichwa people medicine, fuel and fodder. Today, chakras are central to their climate resilience through the use of native seeds.
Source:FAO