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Agriculture in The Upper Peruvian Amazon
Agriculture in The Upper Peruvian Amazon
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THE 'ROAD'1
Hamlin, Catherine (Environmental Studies, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA; e-mail:
Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA; e-mail: [email protected]). YANEsHA AGRICULTURE
IN THE UPPER PERUVIAN AMAZON: PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE FIFTEEN YEARS DOWN THE 'RoAD.'
Economic Botany 57(2):163-180, 2003. For centuries the Yanesha have practiced complex swid-
den agriculture well adapted to the narrow valleys of the upper Peruvian Amazon. The 1980s
marked a time of increased change in the Palcazu Valley, beginning with the construction of a
marginal highway (Carretera Marginal) in 1984 that dissected several native communities. This
study employs quantitative plant ecology and interviews to describe change in Yanesha agriculture
in Laguna fifteen years later. Percent cover, planting density, field size, and diversities of species
(a), field-type (f3), and height class did not change in fields. In 1999, black earth and commercial
agroforestry were new field types, and upland rice fields were absent. In home gardens, species
richness persisted, while changes in species composition reflected species experimentation and
aggregation of homes along the roadside (with upland soils). The road facilitated the flow of
plants, people, and markets to influence Yanesha agriculture, and facilitated other agents of
change during more than a decade of guerrilla, military, Ashaninka, and drug-trafficking activities
plaguing the Palcazu Valley. This violence punctuated calmer periods when "development" was
promoted by aid agencies. Agents of conservation included community land titles, immigration
QUINCE ANos. Por siglos los Yanesha han practicado un sistema agr(cola de roza-y-quema bien
adaptado a los valles de la alta Amazonia peruana. En los ahos ochenta varios incidentes afec-
taron el Valle Palcazu, incluyendo la construcci6n de una carretera (la Carretera Marginal) que
dividi6 algunas comunidades indfgenas. Esta investigaci6n utilizo metodos de ecologfa botdinica
y las diversidades de especies (a), del tipo de campo (/3), y del nivel de altura no cambiaron en
los campos agrfcolas. Entre los cambios importantes en 1999 se presentaron nuevos tipos de
campos con tierra negra y campo agroforestal comercial y una ausencia notada de arrozales.
carretera (con suelos pobres de altura). La carretera facilito movimiento de plantas, personas, y
mercados que influyeron la agricultura Yanesha, y facilit6 otro agentes de cambio durante mas
tral region of the Peruvian Amazon (Selva CenThese practices have been central to their sub-
2003.
change was poised to enter Yanesha lands. This
(C 2003 by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.
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and resources.
study in 1999.
ized environment?
the Yanesha?
STUDY SITE
When the last drug lords were gone, an explo-
the valley.
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/ m> I ,iElevations
V ley 17 x t . s
I Iscozacin) > s I
I . P~~~~~~~I
Fig. 1. Palcazu Valley in the Selva Central area of Peru. The Marginal Highway (Carretera Marginal) is
indicated, as well as cities, rivers, and protected areas mentioned in the text.
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the Yanesha of this region have seen more Euplantain, early upland, late upland cassava, and
ropean and Andean colonization, increased maragroforestry). Height class and ao diversities
drug traffic.
agricultural fields and home gardens, and were
nesha and non-Yanesha individuals in the Palence of the Raya River with the Palcazu River.
METHODS
Villa Rica garnered information about the ecoPermission for the present study and its pub-
RESULTS
leader), and from the Peruvian government, Ins-
VEGETATION ANALYSES
NA).
Eighty agricultural fields were sampled and
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Cl cv *l 4 cs - 00
~O00O
v : CN 66666o
1 - * _ 1983-86
00
1999
a C + + +tl l +1
00 66
66 006
! D X D <t N ~~~~~m z 00 r- I
0.
Field characteristics
> o 5) o o~~~~~0 oo 00 o)
+Is 6666oc
(field) diversities, and density (stems/m2), percent cov-
00 -0o
Q <: mv ~~~~I+ +1 t+ +1 +1 +1
Z~~~~~~~~~0c m N o N
.0U ; CX O. F c o 00
were planted mostly with market crops, includ-
Cl 00 No~W
followed by cassava, but in 1999 we found no
< H .= 0 O O O O X O
field size (area), and diversities of species, field-
O Cl
C: ? n >-t = r ~~~~~;>
with cassava in agroforestry fields. Upland rice
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Plantain
.~~~~~~~
Field groups
v A 1983-86
80 V A 1983-86 Rice
A v 1999
m v ~~~Vv vEw4
0 40 V8V
VA
V A AAV
40 40 80
Cd v~~~Maz 123%
=~~~~~~~~~~~1 0.2)
= 0.22). ~ ~ v
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. ~~~~A
Year
A 1983-86
80-
00 v
- ~~~~~vAV &
A~~~~~
0 40 80
AV
0 L0~~v
Axis 1 (19.84%)
Fig. 5. Bray Curtis ordination of agricultural fields by species density. Fields plotted are old (1983-1986)
and new (1999) measures of the same households. Field pairs were different between the two studies (n = 23,
z = 2.053, P = 0.04).
FIELD-TYPE DIVERSITY
fields makes greater field diversity possible.
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NANCE.
Among
field
Garden
(O)
diver-
richness on gardening
sity Household economy, family establishment
6
1.63 Swidden agriculturalists with secure land ten-
8 roadside home
1.52
9
1.39 Swidden agriculturalist and laborer with large
1.10 (same)
12 Small garden area at roadside home
13
1.05 (same)
1.04 (same)
19
cash cropping
20 knowledge
0.64 sive cash cropping
21
Swidden agriculturalist with small family (1-
28 ly
0.64 (same)
0.64 (same)
ment
3 persons)
drug-lords in 1995.
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TABLE 4. AREA OF LAND CULTIVATED BY EACH HOUSEHOLD AND PER HOUSEHOLD MEMBER; TOTAL AREA
= UPLAND ACIDIC SOILS. SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS CONCERNING FAMILY ESTABLISHMENT, LAND TENURE,
Per
0.57 0.10 0 L, U
0.56 0.08 0 L, U
0.54 0.11 0 L, U
0.37 0.12 0 L, U
Gray 1998).
cowpeas.
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guna in 1999.
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4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
Fig.6 UplAn l . i a f .
,~~~~~~~~~~~~6,
Fig. 6. Upland fields intercropped with commercial coffee (C. arabica) and fruit trees.
portation.
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Fig. 7. Upland black earth fields were planted by Amuesha agriculturalists with nutrient-demanding maize.
which has limited lowland floodplains for low(1989) showed previously, many Yanesha agri-
DISCUSSION
PERSISTENCE
cropping of cassava in almost all field types re-
fields.
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CHANGE
tage of the established market in Villa Rica. As
way.
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1995).
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YANESHA ALLIANCES
Peruvian Amazon. We have seen some signs for
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
After almost two decades of sweeping change,
This study was supported by the Ohio University John Houk Memorial
kindly prepared the map of the Palcazu Valley. We would especially like
their warmth, openness and support of our study. May your road be paved
with something more positive than good intentions and something less
organize a maintenance crew for the water wells,
LITERATURE CITED
life. Pages 187-205 in Leslie E. Sponsel, ed., Ininfluences the road has had on the community
Ecology 22(3):279-313.
have affected the survival and aspirations for the
. 1996. A formal justification for the applicapeople of Laguna. Apparently not so. Here is a
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Cambridge.
No. 5, Lima.
York.
Bunker, S. G. 1985. Underdeveloping the Amazon:
ture, Peruvian upper Amazon. Advances in EcoEllen, R. F. 1982. Environment, subsistence and sys-
among the Amuesha, Upper Peruvian Amazon. SoHecht, S. B. 1985. Environment, development and
ton, DC.
223.
estation in Brazil's Amazon region. The InternaScott, J. C. 1976. The Moral economy of the peasant:
vation 28:199-214.
prospects in the Brazilian Amazon. In A. Hall, ed.,
Washington, DC.
Smith, R. C. 1977. The Amuesha-Yanachaga Project:
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velopment 14:147-157.
Press, Tucson.
Lima.
119-128.
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