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Conserving crop diversity and a way of life in Ecuador.

Article Excerpt
Can conservation of traditional crops, in an area considered one of the cradles of world agriculture, contribute to the livelihoods of the local people? An ARS researcher is working with an international team of scientists to do just that in rural indigenous communities in Ecuador.

For thousands of years, in the northern Andean highlands of Ecuador, people in the Quichua-speaking communities surrounding the town of Cotacachi have cultivated crops across a wide range of elevations, climates, and soils. The result is a microcenter of agricultural diversity, a region where fields and gardens offer 30 varieties of corn, 40 varieties of beans, and a stunning diversity of chile peppers, squashes, potatoes, cape gooseberries, passion fruits, and other crops little known outside the Andes.

As in many rural areas, life in Cotacachi is changing. Many families now depend on income earned elsewhere, and men, in particular, often work away from family farms.

The changes have prompted concerns among local people that the traditional way of life in...

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