Five Years of PLEC in Peruvian Amazonia
A Final Report on PLEC-Peru Activities:
Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez, Pilar Paredes del Aguila, Roberto Romero,
Michelle Rios and Mario Pinedo
I. Preface: Agrodiversity characterizes smallholder farming in Peruvian
Amazonia and the resultant agrobiodiversity and other forms of biological diversity are
the main resources upon which poor farmers (known locally as ribereños) depend. Since
the mid-1990’s PLEC has been engaged in demonstration activities in villages located in
the Sector Muyuy floodplain to identify, test and promote production technologies that
are both biodiversity-friendly and economically rewarding. Over the years PLEC-Peru
has found that the demonstration methods used by the PLEC project are effective tools
for recording agrodiversity and for evaluating agrobiodiversity and other forms of
biological diversity that are produced, managed and conserved by ribereños. Through
complex agrodiversity practices ribereños use highly dynamic Muyuy environments to
produce a great diversity of crops while creating habitats for endangered and
overexploited species of fish, river turtles, plants, and wildlife. The ribereño approach of
“producing to conserve and conserving to produce” allows them to conserve a great
diversity of varieties and species of crops in their fields, house gardens, fallows and
forests. In addition, agrodiversity practices help Muyuy’s small farmers to maintain a
broad resource base that helps obtain both food and needed cash in difficult times when
the Peruvian government agricultural loans and other services were withdrawn. The
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social and economic values of ribereño agrodiversity are emphasized in this document.
The PLEC-Peru team believes that PLEC’s demonstration approach is a critical concept
for understanding how biodiversity can be conserved, managed and produced in a
sustainable way. We conclude that meaningful attempts at biodiversity conservation must
begin at the interface between ecological and social processes and incorporate locally
developed knowledge and agrodiversity practices.
II. Introduction: This report summarizes the outcomes of integrated research,
demonstration and training activities that were implemented over more than five years as
part of the global PLEC project. The document provides descriptive and analytical
information that explains how PLEC’s demonstration method was implemented in
several ribereño communities. Factors that limited or facilitated the recording and
dissemination of ribereño agrodiversity practices using the demonstration method are
included and discussed in the report.
A major objective of the data reported and analyzed in this final report is to
demonstrate why it was critical for team members to identify and record agrodiversity
practices for understanding how agrobiodiversity and other forms of biological diversity
are produced, managed and conserved by small farmers in Amazonia. Results of several
studies have shown that important and critical biological resources in Amazonia depend
on the agricultural technologies and conservation practices of ribereños. To examine the
value of smallholder agrodiversity practices, data were collected on land-cover dynamics
using Landsat images, biodiversity inventories and household surveys of resource use
technologies and conservation practices were carried out. These were all stored in a
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database. Following PLEC methodologies, production technologies that are biodiversity
friendly and economic rewarding were promoted in demonstration activities. Selected
expert farmers were the instructors in each demonstration activity and they used their
fields, fallows, house gardens and forests as demonstration sites to conduct field visits
and explain how to use the systems and techniques applied. Results from demonstration
activities are used to argue why the PLEC approach is valuable for understanding the
multi-functionality of agrodiversity in ribereño societies.
Most agricultural technologies and conservation practices promoted in
demonstration activities were the results of the responses of ribereños to changes
produced by ecological and social processes and events in their landscape. Ribereño
technologies are clear example of how smallholders deal with the dramatic series of
natural and social processes influencing their social and natural landscapes. These
technologies are as dynamic as the floodplain environments and the product of
continuous interaction with the constant flux in social and physical landscapes.
We begin the report by describing the composition and role of the PLEC-Peru
team in conducting project activities. Data collected and social processes that shape
Muyuy’s landscapes are discussed in the following section. As part of this section we
describe the environmental diversity of the Muyuy floodplain. Production technologies
and conservation practices recorded in household surveys are reported and discussed in
the next section. The agrodiversity data are organized by land forms (levees, silt and sand
bars) and land use units (fields, fallows, house gardens and forests).
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The next section of the report describes and analyzes the agrobiodiversity and
other biodiversity data collected and stored in a database during in the last five years. The
recorded biodiversity is organized by environment and land use units that composed the
landholdings of Muyuy’s residents . Species richness is calculated for fields, fallows,
house gardens and forests. This information is compared with the estimated diversity
indices of areas that are not under use.
The following section is devoted to the description and analysis of the results of
demonstration activities. Since the number of demonstration activities and the list of
participants for each demonstration activities are included in annual reports, we include
here only the average of demonstration activities and participants per year. In this section
we also explain how we monitored the assimilation or dissemination of the technologies
learned in demonstration activities. The role of expert farmers as instructors in
demonstration activities is also analyzed in this section. We argue that ribereños do not
copy the technologies but rather modify them and produce new techniques.
The final report concludes with a set of recommendations on how to promote
ribereño agrodiversity and how to integrate such small farmer technologies into rural
development and conservation programs. Recommendations are made based on the
results of project activities. Results of demonstration activities are used to recommend
methods for training rural extension agents and people working in development and
conservation projects. Similarly, we propose specific strategies and methods for making
the results of the projects available to wide sectors of the society, particularly to
politicians and other groups that are making decisions on development and conservation
programs for rural Amazonia. A list of impacts and influences of the project are also
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included in this section of the report. Since most of the descriptive information on project
activities is available separately in a series of reports, in both Spanish and English, this
report concentrates on presenting an analysis of project results.
III. The PLEC-Peru team: Since the beginning of the project, PLEC-Peru
maintained a small interdisciplinary team composed of 3 Peruvian researchers, 3 field
assistants, 6 expert farmers and 2 students from the local university (Universidad
Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana – UNAP). Although the team managed to train an
average of 9 graduate and undergraduate students per year, only 2 of them were
incorporated into the team. Three professors from the UNAP and two from the Instituto
de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana – IIAP (Research Institute of Peruvian
Amazonia) provided technical advice and access to laboratories and libraries. During the
five years of the project the team worked in partnership with IIAP and its director was
one of the main advisers of the project. In addition, the team maintained a working
relationship with leaders of the regional farmers’ union (Federacion de Campesinos y
Nativos de Loreto – FEDECANAL). At the outset of the project, relationships were
developed with a local non-governmental organization, the Centro del Hombre, Ambiente
y Conocimiento de Recursos Amazonicos – CHACRA.
The nature and composition of PLEC-Peru team has played a key role in the
implementation and monitoring of demonstration activities. Villagers have appreciated
the inclusion of expert farmers in the team. With the help of expert farmers the team
attracted large participant groups to demonstration activities. The selection and training
of field assistants from village also played a key role in advancing the exchange of
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technologies and germplasm during and after demonstration activities. The participation
of local researchers, who have roots in rural communities, also helped in negotiations and
the establishment of partnerships with selected expert farmers as well as with local
authorities and people working in rural development and conservation programs in the
floodplains of Peruvian Amazonia.
Although the PLEC-Peru team has few permanent members, other researchers,
farmers, leaders and other local experts participated in the processes of design, planning
and carrying out demonstration activities. The participation of researchers from
Amazonia-based academic and research institutions provided valuable information on the
activities of institutions that are working in floodplain villages. Information collected
from interviews and reports by members of these institutions helped us identify factors
that promote successful demonstration activities and active participation of smallholders.
Similarly, the close interaction with village and farmers’ union leaders helped the team
develop friendly and trusting relationships with villagers within and outside PLEC sites
in Muyuy.
IV. The Muyuy floodplain: The total area of the floodplain known as Sector
Muyuy is approximately 292 km2 of which approximately 223 km2 is land and 69 km2 is
river during the season when river levels are at about an annual midpoint. The Muyuy
floodplain is located near Iquitos, the largest urban center in Peruvian Amazonia and
ribereños are the largest population group (Fig. 1). Over the last five years the population
of Muyuy has experienced slow growth from approximately 3560 in 1995 to 3810 in
2002. Although 8 villages changed their locations due to lateral erosion, the ribereño
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population of Muyuy remained distributed in 38 villages during the last five years.
Muyuy is one of the most densely populated rural floodplain regions in Amazonia with
about 67 people per km2. The age and gender composition of the Sector Muyuy
population is roughly similar to that of other Amazonian regions (Fig. 2). Muyuy’s
population is remarkably young and constantly moving between the villages and the city
of Iquitos. Each village family has relatives in the city and the majority of them maintain
a house in the shanty towns of the city. The ribereños of Muyuy and neighboring
communities are typically engaged in multiple production and management activities.
Virtually all of Muyuy’s landscapes are constantly subject to complex and interlinked natural and social processes of change. These processes are highly variable and
unpredictable in their frequency, intensity and spatial characteristics. Muyuy is an area
dominated by a yearly flood cycle during which river levels rise and fall an average of
over 9 meters. When river levels are at their lowest annual level the land area increases
by about 30%; when it is at its highest level, virtually all land disappears. Due to its
location largely within a highly dynamic floodplain, Muyuy includes a diversity of
environments exposed to flooding of varying intensities and frequencies, riverbank
erosion and deposition due to lateral migration, as well as other powerful fluvio-dynamic
processes. The exact timing and height of floods varies from year to year.
The flood regime is not the only agent of change and instability in Muyuy, there
are multiple social processes and events that shape the social and natural landscapes. As
ribereños interact with natural processes, socioeconomic factors are also constantly
altering the availability of resources and the value of what is produced. Political change,
including variation in regional, national, and international economic development and
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credit policies are yet other sources of change and instability that have long affected the
biodiversity of Muyuy’s environments. Globalization has long played an important role
the lives of Muyuy residents by creating periods of booms and busts that profoundly
changed important biological resources of the region (Fig. 3).
At the time the project was conducted, the social landscape of the Muyuy
floodplain changed drastically due to government changes in rural development and
conservation policies. Government services such as agricultural loans, that were available
for more than a decade, were abolished by the Peruvian government in the 1990’s. The
national agrarian bank (which was the main source of loans for rural people) was closed
down, the practice of guaranteeing minimum prices for cash crops such as rice was
abolished and the government rural extension agency closed down. In order to endure and
prosper in this environment, the Muyuy residents developed technologies and strategies
for managing and maintaining high levels of biodiversity, widening the resource base
upon which they depend.
V. Agrodiversity practiced by the Muyuy’s residents: Ribereño knowledge of
diversified resource use and their dependence on a large number of produced, managed
and collected resources have enabled them to survive a variety of disasters including the
loss of access to agricultural loans, high floods and other political and ecological events.
Residents of Muyuy take advantage of fluvio-dynamic and other natural processes to
produce, transform, and conserve agrobiodiversity and other forms of biological diversity
in their landholdings and surrounding environments. The resultant patchy landscape
produced by fluvio-dynamic activities and land use practices provides a great diversity of
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land, forest and water bodies where they engage in agrodiversity and conservation
practices. The diversity of landscape elements such as water bodies, land forms,
settlements, forested areas, agriculture fields, fallows and forest gardens produce a great
diversity of habitats making the Muyuy one of the floodplain regions with the highest
beta diversity () in Amazonia. Such landscape heterogeneity offers farmers many
potential agro-environments. Farmers identify and select agro-environments by practicing
horizontal and vertical zonation. Based on landscape and land surveys conducted in 1995
and 2001, the four main land forms that compose the Muyuy floodplain offer several
environments to ribereños for production of crops (Table 1).
High levees and low levees offer more agro-environments than do silt and sand
bars (Table 1). While high levees are exposed to only unusually high floods and low
levees are inland and not exposed to strong river currents, silt and sand bars are very
unstable and affected by both floods and river currents. The relief in each one of the four
land forms, however, is characterized by many micro topographic conditions that offer
differing micro environmental conditions for the production and management of
resources. In addition to relief and other horizontal variations, the landscape of Muyuy
presents important vertical variations that facilitate the formation of agro-environments.
Different degrees of canopy opening provide a series of light gradients for the growth of
shade tolerant and intolerant species. Verticality layering of floodplain vegetation
produces agro-environments in the canopy, sub-canopy and suppress layers of the forests
(Fig. 4). Vertical zonation of the landscape helps ribereños choose and manage light
gradients in agro-environments that are suitable for building agroforestry and agriculture
fields.
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The degree to which agro-environments are used for production and management
of resources varies during the aquatic (creciente) and terrestrial (merma) phases. Muyuy
is a highly dynamic landscape and the number of agro-environments in each landform is
constantly changing. For instance, after floods farmers expect changes in the area and
sediments of sand and silt bars and are usually ready to change the species and varieties
of crops to be planted. Every year we observed that some areas of sand bars became silt
bars or vice versa after floods.
Changes in landforms and agro-environments facilitate rather than limit the
practices of agrodiversity in the Muyuy floodplain. Data collected in household surveys
show that ribereños use a great diversity of production and management technologies for
the production, management and conservation of resources (Table 2). Using complex
technologies ribereños maintain large numbers of species and varieties of annual as well
as habitats for wildlife and fish species (Table 2). For instance, the tablone system
(cluster system) allows farmers to plant beans in beaches to create habitat for fish during
the flood season. Similarly, the ladera system (edge system) helps farmers reduce damage
to corn and other crops by rodents such as capybaras, by planting sugar cane at the
margin of fields made in low and high levees. On the relatively stable levees farmers
practice more production and management systems and techniques than on the unstable
silt and sand bars.
The combination of production and management practices we refer to as
agrodiversity, allows farmers to build and maintain different kinds, sizes and ages of
fields, fallows, house gardens and forests (Table 3). For instance, each household that we
surveyed maintains a field or fallow for trapping rodents and land birds. Similarly, the
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integrated management and conservation of forested areas provide valuable resources to
ribereños. Managing forest for multiple uses including for fishing explain why ribereños
maintain more different kind of forest in low rather than in high levees. In contrast, more
kinds of fallows are managed in high than in low levees, because farmers need the areas
for making fields or planting agroforestry crops that are less resistant to floods. Ribereños
also make more kinds of house gardens in high than low levee areas. The two kinds of
house gardens managed by farmers in low levees produce habitats for fish that help
farmers to catch fish during the flood season. The multi-functionality of farmer’s
technologies has help to conserve biodiversity in the Muyuy dynamic floodplain.
VI. Biodiversity in the landholdings of ribereños: Ribereño practices of diverse
land and resource use systems help them to maintain high levels of biodiversity in the
dynamic Muyuy floodplain. Their landholdings contain an immense diversity of species,
ecosystems, landscapes and environments. Farmers’ maintenance of large numbers of
species and varieties of crops allows them to keep farming on the four main landforms of
the Muyuy floodplain (Fig. 5). Riberenños plant varieties of beans, rice, watermelon and
other annual crops that are particularly adapted to the flood pulse. Some of the varieties
locally known as dos mesinos (“two months”) are planted on the lowest parts of silt and
sand bars. Most varieties of annual crops planted on silt and sand bars can also withstand
floods and remain under water for at least two weeks. Farmers explain that the capacity
of crops to remain alive under water attracts fish and river turtles that make easy to fish
while farming.
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The general pattern observed in Muyuy and reflected in the biodiversity inventory
data is that smallholders tend to maintain or in same cases increase levels of biodiversity
in all land use stages. Plant species that produce valuable “forest products” are planted
and incorporated in their fields, fallows, forests and house gardens. It is common to find
seedlings of timber and forest fruit species growing in fields. The range of Shannon Index
values (H’= 0.91 to 1.87) clearly show that ribereños maintain biodiversity-rich fields in
the very dynamic Muyuy floodplain (Table 4). In most cases ribereños have purposely
planted a lesser number of crops in their fields in order to encourage the natural
regeneration of valuable shrubs and tree species. Such strategies explain why it is
common to find fallow areas in their landholdings where the density of juveniles of
timber and other valuable tree species is very high.
Management of fallows for multiple uses (including for providing habitats for
rodents, land birds and even fish) help ribereños to obtain many products for their
consumption and the market. Data collected in household and land surveys show that
each households maintain fallow areas under different intensities of management (Table
5). Differences in the range of Shannon Index values (H’= 1.79 to 3.68) among fallows
clearly demonstrate that biodiversity levels vary considerably with the intensity and
frequency of the owners’ interventions (Table. 5). Farmers who were interviewed
corroborated the estimated Shannon Index values, by mentioning that vegetation in
fallows where no management operations were conducted tend to be dominated by
individuals of cetico (Cecropia membraneaceae). Ribereños have managed to control the
establishment and dominance of cetico, by managing individuals of valuable species in a
spatial arrangement that allows them to compete with fast growing species. The
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application of such management strategies varies not only among households but also
among villages (Figure 6). We found that farmers in some villages maintain more
biodiverse fallows than do those in other villages (Figure 6). These villages are locally
known to be purmeros (“fallow users”) due to the amount of fallow products that they
consume and sell in the markets.
The majority of forest areas that are part of the landholdings of ribereños are the
results of successive management operations that began at the field stage and continued
into the fallow and forest stages. Inventories conducted in a sample of 9 plots of multipleage managed forest (each 900m2 in size) show that the forests in ribereño landholdings
contain high levels of species richness. The mean average number of plant species per
hectare estimated using data collected in the 9 plots is greater (83) than the number (52)
found in forests that were not reported as managed. The range of variation in the Shannon
index (H’= 1.77 to 3.98) is similar in pattern to that estimated for managed fallows. We
found that the differences in species richness and Shannon index values among forests
reflect the histories of management and resource extraction practiced by their owners.
Field observation and interviews suggest that some ribereños are more dedicated
to enriching their forest with timber species, while others are more interested in fruit and
medicinal species. Despite the abundance of commercially valuable plant species,
inventory data show that ribereños also maintain small numbers of individuals of some
non-commercial species. Among these are pioneer species such as Cecropia
membraneaceae that play an important role in attracting game animals and fish during
floods. Ribereños keep constantly removing individuals of Cecropia and other fast
growing species to make light available for the regeneration of more valuable species. By
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removing adult individuals and encouraging the establishment and growth of seedlings
and juveniles, farmers maintain forests where the density of individuals is correlated with
the number of species (Figure 6).
House gardens are also very important reservoirs of biodiversity for Muyuy
farmers. We found that farmers have many species and varieties of herbs, vines, shrubs,
grasses and trees in their house gardens. There is more variation in number of individuals
and species planted in house gardens than in fallows and forests (Figure 8). Variations in
species and density of individuals reflects different uses of house gardens. While some
house gardens are used more for ornamentation and shade, others serve as nurseries and
for experimenting with the cultivation of forest or exotic species. In most cases house
gardens provide fruits, species, medicinal plants and other resources for the consumption
and the market. The kind of uses and the intensity of management reflects variation in
species richness among house gardens (Table 7).
Results of the biodiversity surveys presented and discussed above show that a
great diversity of resources are produced, managed and protected by ribereños in their
landholdings. The reported levels of agrobiodiversity and other forms of biodiversity
should add useful biological data and further clarify the complex and diverse operations
and technologies used by smallholders to produce and maintain Amazonian biodiversity
in a highly dynamic environment such as the Muyuy floodplain.
VII. Demonstration activities: In most of Peruvian Amazonia government
agencies play at most a very marginal role in rural development and conservation
programs. Existing development and conservation programs in Muyuy as in much of
rural Amazonia, are conducted by non-governmental agencies. Although PLEC-Peru did
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not function as an NGO, the residents of Muyuy at first perceived the team as belonging
to an NGO and PLEC demonstration activities as yet another standard NGOimplemented program. Despite our explaining that PLEC activities differed
substantively from other “training courses”, most farmers (particularly the leaders) did
not initially distinguish our efforts from training courses that NG0’s offer and that are
frequent in Muyuy and neighbouring regions.
After speaking with farmers about demonstration activities and how we were
interested in promoting ribereño-developed production and management techniques we
found that the majority of wanted to see results before they decided to incorporate any
demonstrated techniques in their repertoires. PLEC-Peru involved expert farmers (who
were identified and selected in household surveys) in designing, planning and the
implementation of demonstration activities. Expert farmers demonstrated their production
and management techniques and used their fields as demonstration sites to show the
results of such employing their carefully developed techniques. Gradually most farmers
discovered that PLEC demonstration activities were different from the training courses
given by NGOs. They found that demonstration activities do not lack concrete examples
of the results obtained by using the demonstrated techniques. PLEC-Peru did not use
experimental and training centres as demonstration sites, but rather the fields, house
gardens, fallows and forests of expert and successful farmers.
Through observation and discussions with many farmers, we found that most
Amazonian farmers value training courses as opportunities to socialise rather than to
learn production systems and techniques. Based on this information, PLEC-Peru has
promoted formal demonstration activities as part of village or inter-village meetings
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(reuniones) and did incorporate some social activities into the meetings. Expert farmers
told the team that most farmers are learn new techniques while working in mingas and by
participating in visitas a la familia. Mingas are shared labour groups organised by
members of households to help each other with agricultural activities. Visitas, are
typically gatherings of families or close friends. PLEC-Peru incorporated these forms
into a diversity of demonstration activities. In both more and less formal meetings,
expert farmers are the leading figures and are the ones who invite participants to visit
demonstration sites.
For the Peruvian team, demonstration activities provided an opportunity for
identifying and critically analysing the processes and methods by which production and
management technologies are transferred and shared among ribereño farmers. PLECPeru’s demonstration activities are conducted following several models in each of which
selected expert farmers act as instructors, and their fields, fallows, house gardens and
forests are used as demonstration sites.
Although our results are still preliminary, we believe they indicate the success of
giving the role of instructor to local farmers. Over the last five years of activities a
number of important lessons were learned while conducting demonstration activities. The
integration of expert farmers into all phases of demonstration activities helped the
Peruvian team to identify several specific approaches. During the first year of the project
the team planned and conducted demonstration activities as part of reuniones. The other
three years the team was engaged in organizing mingas and visitas following the advice
of the expert farmers. During the five years we held an average of 12 reuniones, 60
mingas and 25 visitas per year (Table 7). The largest number of participants were
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involved in mingas and the smallest in visitas. The increased participation of farmers in
mingas is now greatly helping expert farmers to promote biodiversity friendly and
economic rewarding resource use systems within and outside the Muyuy floodplain.
Although PLEC-Peru identified a large number of successful production and
management systems and techniques (see table 2), only few of these have been promoted
in demonstration activities (Table 8). The main reason why the majority of systems and
techniques are not promoted is because the expert farmers who are using them are still
not willing to demonstrate them as part of PLEC activities. Expert farmers who are
integrated into the team are demonstrating 9 systems for producing and managing
resources in higher levees (Table 8); they are promoting 4 systems for planting crops on
low levees, 3 systems to cultivate annual crops on sand bars and 2 systems for planting
rice and other crops on silt bars (Table 8).
Most farmers who participated in demonstration activities have begun testing the
techniques that they learned from the expert farmers and observed in demonstration sites.
The team learned that smallholders do not copy the production and management
techniques demonstrated by the expert farmers. Instead they combine these ideas with
their own and create new and original techniques. Farmers tend to incorporate the
learned production and management technologies only after a long process of
experimentation. We found that the trial and error approach employed by farmers to test
technologies and crops is increasing the diversity of technologies used through the
modification of demonstrated techniques and systems.
The diversity of responses from participant farmers allowed PLEC-Peru team to
make changes in the structure and direction of demonstration activities. For instance,
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excessive formality in establishing partnerships with expert farmers limited the success of
demonstration activities at the beginning. The team has learned that exchange of
knowledge and experiences among farmers takes place in an informal environment.
However, such informality makes it difficult to record and monitor the flow of production
and management technologies and conservation initiatives thought by expert farmers in
demonstration activities. PLEC-Peru has dealt with this problem by 1) maintaining a
team composed of members with a strong rural background and experience working with
ribereños; 2) having most members of the team spend their time in the field, conducting
field observations, following farmers in their daily activities, engaging in informal
conversations with farmers and writing daily observations; and 3) building a data base for
each household whose members participated in demonstration activities. While the three
strategies used by the team are helping us document the expert farmer to farmer
exchange, recording the flow of knowledge in an informal environment is still the most
difficult and complex problem that PLEC-Peru is facing in the application of PLEC
demonstration methods.
VIII. Conclusions and Recommendations: The Muyuy case shows that
ribereños do not separate conservation from production as is done by experts engaged in
the promotion of conventional development and conservation programs. The dynamic
nature of the floodplain with high local turnover of habitats and species creates ecological
conditions for practicing resource use systems where conservation and production
practices are united. Residents of Muyuy “produce to conserve and conserve to produce”
as part of a long tradition of making their livelihoods in a rich but highly risky
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environment characterized by extreme natural and social dynamism. Agrodiversity has
allowed ribereños to profit economically while enhancing the conservation of floodplain
biodiversity.
Ribereño production, management system and conservation practices are valuable
technological resources that can help to reduce the current rates of biodiversity loss while
enhancing income sources for the rural poor. We offer the following recommendations
for promoting and integrating such small farmer technologies into rural development and
conservation programs:
1) The transfer of technologies in ribereño societies is done mainly through existing
formal (meetings and festivities) and informal (labor groups, family and
neighbor’s gatherings) channels rather than through training courses and other
urban forms. PLEC’s demonstration approach provides the tools for using such
existing forms of farmer interaction. Therefore, we recommend that such
demonstration activities be more frequently employed in rural development
programs. Demonstration activities should use existing forms of social gatherings
2) The promotion of farmer’s technologies is greatly facilitated when is conducted
by farmers. We recommend the inclusion of expert farmers as team members of
rural extension programs dedicated to train farmers. It is important to identify and
select the right individuals to do this training. We found that in rural communities,
the leaders or more outspoken members are often less qualified to promote
successful and innovative farmer technologies. However, there are individuals
that are well known by other members of the communities as good farmers with
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particular techniques for the production, management and conservation of
resources. These individuals we recognized as expert farmers.
3) We recommend the use of expert farmers’ fields, fallows, forests and house
gardens as demonstration sites. Ribereños are generally very pragmatic, therefore
they like to see results and not to hear about the results of particular production
system or technique tested under unfamiliar conditions. In addition, farmers tend
to value more the technology that is promoted when they see how successful the
expert farmer is.
4) In Peruvian Amazonia, there are many programs for inventorying biodiversity and
uses of biodiversity. We recommend that as part of these programs, some efforts
should go to inventories of production and management systems as well as
conservation initiatives used by farmers.
5) The integration of farmer technologies and conservation initiatives in
development and conservation programs should clarify how they aim to satisfy
farmers’ agendas and not merely the priorities of outside institutions. In many
cases in Muyuy farmers have refused to participate in demonstration activities
when it was not clear how they would benefit.
PLEC-Peru also would like to recommend the following strategies and methods for
promoting the results of demonstration activities in a wide social context.
1) We help rural community leaders to summarize the results of demonstration activities
and present to government officials. Such documents are discussed with government
representatives and new demonstration activities are promoted.
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2) Members of the team organize demonstration activities for politicians, people
working in development and conservation that include visits to demonstration sites
and demonstration sessions with expert farmers.
3) A set of manuals, posters and pamphlets that illustrate the production technologies
and conservation practices that are promoted in demonstration activities are been
produced by the team.
4) Members of PLEC-Peru are also advising the government on the design of new rural
development and conservation policies.
While ribereños were the main target group in PLEC-Peru work, there are
important impacts of the project on the way politicians, researchers and students think
about rural development and conservation. PLEC-Peru is managing to have important
influence not only on people working for the government but also on people working for
NGOs. We would like to mention some of the most relevant impacts of the results of
PLEC-Peru work. There has been interest expressed by local university officials in
introducing PLEC ideas into a new curriculum for training agronomists, biologists,
foresters and sociologists. This development indicates a substantive change of view
among university officials. All of the approximately 34 students that were trained and
advised by PLEC-Peru have graduated and are currently working in key positions in
NGOs and government institutions. They are facilitating the incorporation of PLEC
methodology and thus changing the rural development and conservation programs of
NGOs and government agencies. The demonstration sites of PLEC-Peru and our
experienced expert farmers have been used by NGOs and government conservation
21
officials (INRENA) as examples of sustainable use of biodiversity. Two of the most
influential elected local politicians are helping us frame a proposal for implementing
demonstration activities as part of rural extension.
22
Figures & Tables
Fig. 2: Percent of the population of Muyuy according to sex and age in 2002
75 +
70 - 74
65 - 69
60 - 64
55 - 59
50 - 54
45 - 49
40 - 44
35 - 39
30 - 34
25 - 29
20 - 24
15 - 19
10 - 14
5-9
0-4
female
male
20
15
10
5
0
Percent by sex
23
5
10
15
20
Figure 3: A timeline of economic booms and busts that influenced the population and
natural resources in Muyuy
A rise and collapse of fundos (small
latifundios) from 1940s to 1950s
In the 1950s and 1960s
there was a timber boom
to supply the international
demand for high grade
wood
A firewood boom for fueling
steam boats at the end of the 19th
and beginning of the 20th century
In the 1970s there
was a short boom
produced by oil
exploration
A turtle egg boom to
supply the demand for
olive oil during World War
II
Agricultural
loans in the
1980s
1900
2000
1920
1940
24
1960
1980
Fig. 4: Vertical zonation in a patchy landholding in Muyuy, Peru
Canopy
(trees &
vines)
Sub-canopy
(Shrubs
and vines)
Suppress
(herbaceous &
natural
regeneration)
25
Fig 5. Horizontal zonation and number of species and varieties planted in each landform
high river level
low river level
High levee
112 species
274
varieties
Low levee
72 species
188 varieties
Silt bar
Sand bar
28 species
96 varities
26
17 species
62 varieties
river
Figure 6: Range of fallow diversity in Muyuy
27
Figure 7. Comparison of species richness and number of individuals in a sampled of 10
sampled managed forests (average area 0.9 ha). All trees greater than or equal to 5cm dbh
were inventoried
28
Figure 8. Comparison of Area and Species Richness for 13 sampled house gardens
29
Table 1: Agro-environments used by ribereños in the four main land-forms of the Muyuy
floodplain. Three land-surveys were conducted Average number were estimated using
data collected in three land surveys (1995, 1999 and 2001) in the 38 villages
Land Forms
Average Number of
Agro-environments
High levee
34
Low levee
17
Sand bar
7
Silt bar
3
Table 2: Average number of production and management systems and techniques used by
ribereños to farm in high levees, low levees, silt and sand bars.
Land-forms
Systems
Techniques
High levees
32
53
Low levees
17
36
Sand bars
8
18
Silt bars
5
12
Table 3: Average number of kinds of fields, fallows, house gardens and forests
maintained by ribereños in their landholdings
Land use unites
High
levees
Low
levees
Sand
bars
Silt
bars
Fields
9
5
3
2
Fallows
18
13
1
1
House gardens
4
2
0
0
forests
7
11
0
0
30
Table 4: Variation on species richness and Shannon Index among fields made in levees
by 11 sampled households (Average size of each field was 0.5 ha).
Villages
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
land use
stage
field
field
field
field
field
field
field
field
field
field
field
Area
Number of Species Shannon
Sampled Individuals Richness Index
175
323
8
1.10
849
7104
13
1.10
162
115
8
0.91
3535
606
13
1.87
192
236
8
1.26
612
773
7
1.06
207
357
9
1.62
354
835
11
1.73
1848
166
10
1.33
800
1364
12
1.66
319
180
12
1.29
Table 5: Species richness and estimated Shannon index for a sampled of 6 managed
fallows
Villages
1
2
3
4
5
6
Area Sampled Individuals Species
Richness
900
114
25
900
363
38
342
55
10
900
259
36
900
369
72
900
158
22
31
Shannon
2.80
2.35
1.99
2.45
3.68
1.79
Table 6: Species richness and estimated Shannon index in 9 samples of managed forests
Villages
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Area Sampled Individuals Species
Richness
900
501
81
900
182
82
900
258
74
900
252
96
900
402
74
900
352
82
900
417
88
900
361
93
900
272
78
Shannon
2.50
2.43
3.60
3.09
1.77
3.71
3.98
2.48
1.29
Table 7. Species richness and estimated Shannon Index in 14 sampled house gardens
Villages
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
land use
Area Sampled Individuals Species
stage
Richness
house garden
9928
401
25
house garden
1176
1584
62
house garden
8000
568
29
house garden
1800
135
27
house garden
8000
765
39
house garden
2000
259
22
house garden
1500
303
33
house garden
1539
109
26
house garden
4000
480
21
house garden
6000
161
17
house garden
9000
210
29
house garden
5000
696
22
house garden
10000
353
25
house garden
4000
337
53
32
Shannon
2.15
3.19
2.44
2.88
2.03
2.40
2.25
2.24
1.86
2.31
2.37
2.01
1.75
3.24
Table 8: Average number of demonstration activities carried out by the PLEC-Peru team
from 1995 to February 2002. The average number of participants in each and all activities
during the year are also included.
Demonstration
Average Activities
Average
Average
Activities
per year
Participants
Participants per year
Reuniones
12
360
30
Mingas
60
1140
19
Visitas
25
225
9
33
Table 9: Number of production and management systems demonstrated by expert farmers
in demonstration sessions and visits to demonstration sites during the last five years.
List of systems
Description
High levees:
5) Vuelito
Production of vegetables, spices and medicinal herbs under shade
6) Bajada
Management trees and vines that are tolerant to high humidity
7) Ladera
Production of annual or semiannual crops at the edge of fields
8) Shunto
Production of spices and vegetables using ashes
9) Quiruma
Production of medicinal herbs and spices around tree stems
10) Retama
Production of beans, corn and banana using leguminous trees
11) Estacas
A system to produce beans using poles of a Ginerium species
12) Ensombrado
A system to produce annual and semiannual crops under trees
13) Huactapeo
A system for the management of seedlings of trees in fields and fallows
Low levees:
1) Encañdo
A system for controlling rain water in fields
2) Enposado
A system that help to maintain high humidity for rice production
3) Enpurmado
A system of leaving weeds to control infestation of insects on corn
4) Sogal
A system for managing selected vines in fallows and forests
Sand bars:
1) Tablone
A system for planting beans, peanuts and water melon in blocks
2) Hilera
A system for planting water melon at the edge of sand bars
3) Tacarpeo
A system for planting cassava with squash in the highest part of sand bars
Silt bars
1) Voleo
A system for planting pre-germinated rice in the lowest part of silt bars
2) Regado
A system for planting rice in the highest part of silt bars
34