An article published by the United Nations entity for food and agriculture addresses the urgency of changes in current agrifood production methods towards others that are more respectful of the environment and which at the same time improve food security and nutrition while enabling increased income. farmers and other actors in the value chain.
FAO shows how, since the creation of SIPAM, targeting “agro-ecosystems in which communities live in close relation with their territories”, these changing agricultural systems “are resilient and based on traditional knowledge and cultural values to be avoided. not neglect ”.
It also establishes that the agro-biodiversity and landscapes of these areas are sustainably managed by farmers, herders, fishermen and people who depend on forests, thereby contributing to their livelihoods and food security.
The UN specialized agency detailed the benefits of GIAHS in agro-food systems in Ifugao, Philippines; Noto Peninsula, Japan; Aohan, China; Andes Mountains, Peru; and Souf, Algeria.
For example, the Cusco-Puno Corridor, 350 kilometers long in the Andean mountain range of Peru, is home to thousands of indigenous Quechua and Aymara farmers, who work the land with traditional farming practices, knowledge and rites handed down by their ancestors.
Families in the region install and maintain terraces, local irrigation systems and agricultural production methods adapted to different altitudes, underlines the FAO article.
The GIAHS has favored “agrobiodiversity zones” across the country to enhance agricultural biodiversity and recognize peasant and indigenous communities that preserve native species and wild variants of corn, potatoes, quinoa and beans, among others.
Currently, on the basis of funding from the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations entity is promoting in the South American nation, as an extension of the recognition of the GIAHS, a project aimed at helping communities to preserve the agrobiodiversity through sustainable management, marketing and preservation opportunities.
pgh / lcr
