A total of 182 farming families from 16 rural communities in the districts of Laria, Nuevo Occoro, Conayca, Izcuchaca and Huando were recognized as “Farmers of the Bicentennial of Huancavelica”, and received PACS payments, granted by the Ministry of the Environment (Minam), in recognition of their efforts to ensure food security and conserve agrobiodiversity, the country’s genetic heritage.
The Minister of the Environment, Rubén Ramírez, participated virtually in the ceremony of delivery of these retributions, held yesterday in the district of Laria. In this context, he highlighted the work of conservationist farmers and the importance of the PACS mechanism.
He assured that this mechanism seeks to promote the recovery of the diversity of crops at risk, where traditional farming families and peasant communities are the protagonists of conservation and food security. “The PACS promotes sustainable and efficient agriculture through an articulated work between several state entities,” affirmed.
Likewise, as part of the commemoration of Peru’s 200 years of independence, it recognized the traditional farming families of the aforementioned districts as “Farmers of the Bicentennial of Huancavelica.”
This was due to their efforts to recover 32 cultivars (native varieties) of 6 crops at risk of disappearing: 10 potato, 4 oca, 4 olluco, 4 mashua, 4 quinoa, 3 tarwi and 3 maca. As a reward for their conservation work, the farmers of the aforementioned rural communities received agricultural goods such as agricultural tools (chaquitaqllas, hoes, hoeing tools, irrigation hoses, spray backpacks, wheelbarrows and calaminas, among other equipment).
The event, together with representatives of the conservationist families, was also attended by José Álvarez, General Director of Biological Diversity of Minam; the district mayor of Laria, Urbano Cuicapuza; the regional vice-governor, Guillermo Quispe; Eusebio Vásquez, president of the National Association of Ecological Producers – ANPE, and the national coordinator of the GEF-Agrobiodiversity- GIAHS Project, César Sotomayor; in addition, Marleny Ramírez, from Bioversity International, among others, also participated.
Payments for Agrobiodiversity Conservation Services (PACS)
The PACS promotes the conservation of agrobiodiversity and food security in Huancavelica and other Andean regions and, at the same time, promotes sustainable and efficient agriculture where the State, through Minam, Midagri, FAO, Profonanpe, the Regional Government of Huancavelica and local governments, join their efforts, through the GEF Agrobiodiversity Project, to directly support farmers and rural communities in this area of the country.
Fact:
– Minam, with the scientific support of Bioversity International, has been developing the PACS mechanism to strengthen in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity. Its main purpose is to recover at-risk crops and increase the current agrobiodiversity in rural communities, to guarantee food security, face climate change and generate economic income possibilities for farmers based on conservation.
