Climate Resilience of Peruvian Terrace Farming: 

 A 2021 La Via Campesina Panel 

Who Are We?

In 2021, La Via Campesina, an international peasant movement, created a six member panel consisting of Peruvian agroecologists, social scientists, and peasant farmers to discuss and develop a holistic understanding of the climate resiliency of Peruvian Terrace agriculture. The panel explored the benefits and limitations of terrace agriculture, the structural barriers to implementation, and its intersection with the social and economic resiliency of smallholders during the climate crisis. Panelists provided a variety of perspectives with the intention of elaborating on the structure and purpose of terrace farming, how it fits within an agroecological model, and the benefits and limitations according to different relevant stakeholders. Panelists offered potential policy initiatives that protect the interests of smallholder terrace farmers in Peru. 

Panelists reviewed relevant literature and relied on their personal experience to offer overviews of critical elements of terracing and how these elements should be considered by policy makers. Topics surveyed by our panelists include agrodiversity, land and water management, climate adaptability, land rights, gender equity, and social and economic resilience.

Terms to Know

•  Peasant 
  • Our panel uses "peasant" to refer to rural agriculturalists who self-identify with the term. The United Nations defines peasant as “any person who engages in small-scale agriculture (UN News 2018)” and the term is often used to include other rural workers, indigenous peoples, and pastoralists. Current literature claims that more than 70 percent of the world’s food is produced by peasant farmers using less than 25 percent of the Earth’s arable land (Holt-Gimenez 2021). In Latin America specifically, peasant agriculture accounts for 41 percent of that used for domestic consumption (Altieri 2013).  
  •   The term peasant also has political significance, and peasant movement such as La Via Camepsina, situate themselves as apposed to globalized industrial agriculture and neo-colonialism. It is also important to remember that peasants are not a homogenous group; our panel is made up of and concerned with peasants and peasant agriculture of Peru. Our panel is informed by the history of colonialism, genocide, and coerced labor that has violated the Peruvian landscape, and the resiliency of peasant and indigenous cultures that remain. Indigenous peoples, specifically Quechua and Aymara peoples, make up 45 percent of the Peruvian population and largely live in the Andean Highlands where terracing takes place (World Population Review 2021). Mestizo, Afro-Peruvian, and Asian-Peruvian populations also contribute significantly to Peruvian peasant culture and farming. Our panel did not focus specifically on any ethnic groups but, i  t is critical to remember that white supremacist colonialism racialized the rural landscapes and agricultural labor of Latin America and that its legacy permeates peasant struggles today.
• Terraces
  • Terraces describe “horizontal human-made spaces created to permit or facilitate cultivation on sloping terrains such as on hills and mountains [and have] been practiced as a key management strategy to minimize climate or human-induced disasters in those fragile landscapes (Wei et al. 2016).”
  • Peruvian people have employed terraces to cultivate the Andes for centuries; while terracing pre-dates the Incan Empire, those terraced landscapes created by the Incas in the 13th and 14th centuries are particularly significant and many remain in use today (Wei et al. 2016).

           Terraces in the Peruvian Andes. Pictured on the Globally Important Agricultural  Heritage  Systems website 

• Agroecology
  • Agroecology describes “ecological concepts and principles for the design and management of sustainable agroecosystems where external inputs are replaced by natural processes such as natural soil fertility and biological control (Altieri 1995).”
  • Agroecology is also political; and many peasants rely on agroecological models, such as terracing “to extricate themselves from the Green Revolution’s chemical treadmills and the inevitable cost-price squeeze of factor and grain markets under the industrial transformation of agriculture (Holt-Gimenez 1996).”
  • Not all terraces must be cultivated in an agroecological manner; however, our panel focused on agroecological terracing. 
• Climate Resilience
  • Climate resilience refers to the capacity of social-ecological systems to adapt to the stressors induced by climate change. We rely on a climate resilience framework to emphasize the importance of systems that can not only withstand the environmental degradation associated with the climate crisis, but can also protect, if not promote, social and economic equity despite the upheaval triggered by climate change. 
  •  Out panelists use both terms "climate resilience" and "climate adaptability." Climate adaptability refers to e cological capabilities of terraced landscapes, such as the ability to withstand increased natural disasters; climate resilience refers to the overarching social, economic, and environmental capabilities of terracing systems. 

Explore the page below to find synopsis of our panelists' perspectives on the climate resilience of Peruvian Terrace farming and panel recommendations for future policy initiatives to protect peasant farmers and the environment.

Panelist Perspectives

An Agrodiversity perspective

Background

The development of terrace agriculture in the Andes is tightly linked to the inherent climate variability of the region. Much of the agricultural land in Peru is situated on steep slopes, in which water scarcity and soil erosion are key concerns (Bocco & Napoletano 2017, Wei et al. 2016). Notably, mountainous regions are also especially vulnerable to climate change and atmospheric phenomena due to the high altitude, which leads to decreases in air temperature and humidity as well as increases in wind speed, turbulence, and solar radiation. The high altitude and mountainous terrain combine to create a complex series of microclimates, some only a short distance apart. 

Types of Diversity 

Spatial/Temporal

Crops with different maturation times are planted in various ecological zones, to further decrease risk in the face of drought, hailstorms, frost, and varied precipitation. Farmers cultivate grains and cereals, legumes, tubers, vegetables, spices, and fruits; often each small plot can have as many as 30-40 different cultivars, which are exchanged socially.

Varieties

The continuous experimentation of creation of new varieties has, over centuries, resulted in local varieties that are uniquely suited to the region’s climate and soil, enhancing resilience and sustainability. In addition, farmers encourage symbiotic relationships between crops through the use of crop rotation and intercropping, in order to feed “not just the harvest, but also the land” (Camara 2018). This tradition has resulted in Peruvian farmers growing "1,500 varieties of quinoa, 330 of kaniwa, 228 of trawi, 3,500 of potatoes, and 610 of oca (McMichaels 204)."

Benefits 

In ecology, it is well established that “a diversity of organisms is required for ecosystems to function and provide services”, and the same is true of agricultural systems (Lin 2011). Increased biodiversity buffers “against environmental fluctuations because different species respond differently to change”, demonstrating peasant farmers’ use of agroecological principles to build resilience in a harsh landscape characterized by a highly variable and unstable climate (Lin 2011, Bocco & Napoletano 2017). The benefits of such diversification include “pest suppression, disease suppression, and climate variability buffering” and mitigation, all of which can help increase yields (Holt-Giménez et al. 2021). 

Important  Takeaways

Terrace agriculture and the associated traditional practices create high biodiversity through the use of a wide range of crop species and varieties. The local varieties, developed over centuries, are well-adapted to the region’s climate and soil, and in combination with terrace agriculture help to increase the resilience of agroecosystems. When considering the importance of terracing to social and environmental health, agrodiversity cannot be overlooked. Policy makers must consider the the stability and cultural sigificance cultivated and protected by the agrodiversity of terraces when allocating agricultural investment dollars.

  A Peruvian farmer shows off their immense variety of Andean potatoes as pat of the Apachicuy  Initiative  shown on the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) website  

A Land and Water Management Perspective

Background

 In Latin America, much of the agricultural land is dry, subject to flooding, and on steep slopes, and terraces are used to help manage the key concerns of water conservation and soil erosion.

Terrace Land  Management

Compared to slopes, terracing decreased soil erosion by a factor of 11.46 times, and can thus help retain clay, silt, and organic matter which play key roles in soil fertility. As most soil nutrients are dissolved in water or attached to soil, terracing also improves soil nutrients by a factor of 1.2, which in combination with other factors helps to improve agricultural productivity (Wei et al. 2016). Terracing is useful for reducing erosion and improving microclimates (Bocco & Napoletano 2017).

Water Management

Water runoff was also reduced by a factor of 2.6, and terracing was shown to increase water holding capacity and to be a key means of rainwater harvesting. Main benefits of terracing include mitigating flood risks and retaining water (Altieri & Nicholls 2013, Bocco & Napoletano 2017, Camara 2018, Wei et al. 2016)

Important Takeaways 

The main function of terraces is to reduce erosion and conserve water, both of which are key concerns in the highlands of Peru where many peasant farmers subsist. By altering hydrology and topography, terracing is able to increase the productivity of marginal and fragile lands in a highly variable climate. The ecoservices provided by the land and water management capabilities of terraces must be calculated in any survey of Peru's rural assets. These capabilities will increase in importance as incidents of extreme weather events rise with climate change. Policy makers cannot overlook the importance of existing terraces or the potential of future terrace investment.

A Climate Adaptability Perspective

Background

Peasant farmers in developing countries are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, because they have been pushed to “more marginal and fragile lands” which are susceptible to degradation and tend to be steep, flood- prone, low-quality, or have fertility problems (Bocco & Napoletano 2017, Holt-Giménez et al. 2021). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it is projected that all tropical regions will experience substantial crop yield decreases, with Peru being one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change due to various factors such as its topography and reliance on agriculture (Altieri & Nicholls 2013, Tambet & Stopnitzky 2021). This is a major cause for concern in a country where about a third of the population is involved in agriculture, the majority of whom are subsistence farmers (Tambet & Stopnitzky 2021).

Why terraces?

Other options such as genetically modified crop varieties may be viable, but these are unlikely to be better adapted to local conditions than local varieties (Camara 2018). In addition, there will likely be a temporal mismatch in the rate of development of these technologies compared to the rate and extent of climate change impacts on peasant agriculture (Lin 2011). The lack of institutional support for peasant farmers means that adaptation strategies must rely on local actors using local knowledge and experience, and as such terrace agriculture is an accessible and potentially highly effective adaptation strategy for farmers in Peru. It is a form of agriculture that does not rely heavily on external inputs and infrastructure, instead using traditional agroecological methods that are well suited to the local landscape and climatic variability (Bocco & Napoletano 2017).

Benefits

More frequent extreme weather events, unpredictable weather patterns, and increased pest pressure have all been noted by Peruvian farmers (Camara 2018, Tambet & Stopnitzky 2021). Terraces are able to buffer against some of this climatic variability by keeping soil moisture and temperature more stable and increasing water retention. Under heavy rainfall, terracing is also able to drastically reduce erosion and thus mitigate yield losses (Altieri & Nicholls 2013, Tambet & Stopnitzky 2021, Wei et al. 2016). In addition, traditional agroecological practices such as cover cropping, polycropping, and increasing biodiversity, as discussed previously, further increase the resilience of terraced systems. 

In a massive field study after Hurricane Mitch, the largest to date, over 2,000 farmers in Central America collected data to measure differences in agroecological resistance between agroecological and conventional farms. Farmers using diversification practices such as cover crops and intercropping suffered much less damage than conventional monocultures. The agroecologically managed farms had 20-40% more top soil, lost less arable land, and had average profits equal to the average losses suffered by conventional farms (Holt-Giménez et al. 2021). At the farm scale, the benefits of terracing and its accompanying agroecological management strategies are clear. The biodiversity present in terraces builds resilience against climatic events and buffers against risk, ensuring food security for millions of peasant farmers who depend on “fragile and marginal lands” for subsistence (Altieri & Nicholls 2013, Holt-Giménez et al. 2021).

In addition to increasing climate change adaptability, agroecologically managed terraces also have the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation. By decreasing reliance on external inputs, GHG emissions from the production of pesticides and fertilizers could be greatly reduced compared to industrial monocultures. Management practices used by traditional farmers such as application of organic manures and intercropping also enhance soil carbon sequestration and decrease CO2 emissions through lower erosion (Altieri & Nicholls 2013).

Important Takeaways

Agroecological systems rooted in the ecological rationale of traditional small-scale agriculture are “biodiverse, resilient, energetically efficient, socially just forms of agriculture” that have the potential to “double food production within 10 years” (Altieri & Nicholls 2013). However, the vulnerability of peasant farmers comes not just from climate change but from a "double exposure" to both socio-economic and ecological hazards (Bocco & Napoletano 2017). While terrace agriculture is able to enhance adaptability at the farm scale, the overall climate change resilience of peasant livelihoods and communities cannot be addressed without also considering the structural causes of vulnerability and addressing the root causes of injustice (Holt-Giménez et al. 2021). In discussing climate change adaptation, it is important to distinguish between ecological resilience, which focuses on preserving a system, and socio-ecological resilience, for which the goal must be a transformation of the current untenable system (Córdoba Vargas et al. 2020).

  

Background

Terracing is a labor-intensive model of farming. Many of its critics cite terrace abandonment as a reason it might lack sustainable potential. However, terrace abandonment is related to poverty and depeasantization and may not be inherent to terracing generally, rather it is connected to rural social justice issues that must be addressed to protect rural communities in the climate crisis. 

Abandonment

According to a study by Camara et al., “[Abandoned] areas are mostly characterized by high levels of poverty, lack of productive infrastructure, absence of public and private investments, and serious feeding and nutrition problems (2018).” Bocco and Napoletano (2017) suggest that impoverished and abandoned terraces are associated with depeasantization and rural depopulation, compounded by a lack of investment in rural areas. Moreover, Camera et al. explains how this hollowing out of peruvian landscapes is driven by mining initiatives, which compete with peasants directly for land and water resources and increase the fragmentation of land ownership.

Depeasantization 

Following Spanish conquest in 1532, Spanish colonizers demanded labor tribute from peasant communities in the form of  “Mitas.” Mita quotas often demanded more men from a community travel to perform labor for the colonizer state than was realistic for the survival of rural communities. Mitas not only created labor shortages in rural Peru, but also disrupted kinship structures critical to knowledge transmission. Violent assimilation performed by Catholic missionaries compounded the effects of Mita disruptions, leaving rural communities with limited labor resources and limited access to cultural mechanisms used to perpetuate agroecological models of survival (Orlove 1985).

Today, lack of investment, coupled with the devaluation of domestic agricultural goods due to foreign, subsidized food aid, forces peasants to leave their communities in search of urban employment. Meanwhile, industries such as mining, further exploit rural landscapes for resources such as water (Camara et al. 2018). These historical processes and their contemporary counterparts, prompt the poverty, lack of infrastructure, and depeasantization that Bocco, Napoletano, and Camara cite in relation to terrace abandonment. 

Terraces in Use 

A table from Camara et al. highlighting the amount of hectares of terraces in use compared to the amount abandoned in 12 regions of Peru, showed more hectares in use across all surveyed regions (2018). Moreover, Bocco and Napoletano find that those terraces that are abandoned “can be reestablished without significant investments in technology or infrastructure. Treacy (1989, 220–221), on the amount of manpower needed to restore a terrace system in Colca, Peru, suggests that this can be accomplished with family labor, or with assistance acquired through reciprocal labor exchange networks or hired workers (2017).”

Important Takeaways 

While abandonment of terraces is a concern for viability, this is largely due to the broader structural issues that have led to high levels of poverty and a lack of infrastructure and investment in rural communities. Terrace abandonment should not be a reason for policy makers to reject terrace investment, rather those terraces that are abandoned prove the need for social and economic investment in rural communities. Moreover, functioning terraces may be important markers for flourishing rural communities that policy makers should look to to inform development initiatives.  

A Gender Equity Perspective

Background

Around the world, women are more likely to experience hunger than men and according to the World Food Program, women and girls make up 60 percent of those experiencing hunger globally (World Food Program 2021). These statistics are due in part to entrenched gender roles in which women and girls eat “last and least.” Gender-based violence serves to further impoverish women and according to a 2005 World Health Organization report, 61 percent of women in rural Peru reported experiencing intimate partner physical or sexual violence at least once. As land rights continue to fragment in the Andes, Quechua and Aymara producers who identify as women are less likely to own land and those who do are likely to own smaller plots than producers who identify as men (International Labor Office 2016).

Women in Agroecology 

According to the La Via Campesina website, “through agroecology, women’s rights are protected and realized, and not just as mothers and caregivers in the home. Agroecology implies their full participation in the social and political life of the community, ensuring equal and equitable access to and control over land, water, seeds and other means of production with autonomy and freedom (2021).” Moreover, La Via Campesina, an international peasant’s rights movement, commits to gender parity in “all spaces of debate, decision-making, representation and training (La Via Campesina 2021).” The movement views the dismantling of the patriarchy as critical to peasant’s rights and food sovereignty, and their members speak specifically of a “peasant feminism.” In fact, La Via Campesina situates agroecology as an anticapitalistic feminist pursuit, claiming “horizontal learning as a result of agroecology promotes collectiveness, which improves social integration and cohesion, a key societal foundation. This creates social conditions that erode patriarchal barriers and promote new gender relations (La Via Campesina 2021).” 

Important Takeaways 

Terracing operates within an agroecological model and peasant epistemology, thus presenting an effective mode for peasant women’s rights and liberation. Terrace agriculture offers women farmers a mechanism for survival inherently subversive of patriarchal oppression. Policy makers must consider the unequal distribution of climate change's negative impacts when calculating the importance of certain resilience strategies. Climate change will exacerbate the hunger that women already experience at disproportionate rates. Women's liberation is central to peasant feminism and agroecological models, such as terracing, therefore investing in terracing can be achieved through a gender equity lens. Rural climate resilience policy initiatives must consider the importance of gender equity in rural development and elevate women peasants' voices in all areas of decision making.

A banner from La Via Campesina used in their campaign to end violence against women  

A Social and Economic Resilience Perspective

Background 

Terracing allows for the productivity and improvement of landscapes not otherwise suitable for industrial agriculture. Thus, it is unhelpful to compare the cost of its labor-intensity to that of more capital-intensive industrial models of agriculture conducted outside of the Andean highlands. Altieri points out that ultimately, terracing can be helpful for the poorest farmers occupying the least favorable land (2013). Approximately 85% of farmers in the Sierra produce using 10 hectares or less of land (Camara et al. 2018), and women farmers are more likely to own the smallest and least favorable plots (International Labor Office 2016).  Thus, we must interpret the benefits of terrace farming through the perspective of these marginalized groups rather than the conditions deemed favorable by powerful stakeholders in the globalized agricultural economy. 

Alleviating Poverty

Altieri (2013) claims that the increase in productivity associated with terracing can alleviate poverty for farmers occupying otherwise unfavorable Sierra lands; particularly, Altieri points to the possibility of payments for ecoservices provided by terracing such as carbon sequestration as a mechanism for economic lift. Posthumus and Graaff (2005) discuss similar productivity improvements, citing the ability of terracing to manage conditions so that farmers might sew crops more densely as well as plant higher value crops such as vegetables. They also describe the ability of terracing to revitalize slopes previously thought too steep or degraded to cultivate (2005). Moreover, mixed and intercropping, common in terracing, thus improving the diversity of rural community diets. Moreover, Camara et al. highlights the benefits of terracing provided to entire rural communities due to the improvement in soil and water management (2018).

Community Building

Indigenous knowledge at the foundation of terracing and is reproduces with each season a community continues to use a terrace model (Bocco and Napoletano 2017). Indigenous knowledge is born of pre-colonial traditions, intimate knowledge of microclimates and localized ecological systems, and community resilience and resistance. Indigneous knowledge is heterogeneous, dynamic, and often rooted in peasant epistemologies inherently opposed to colonial models (Isaac et al. 2018). This knowledge not only builds productive and adaptive terrace models, but its continuance also protects cultural mechanisms important to communities.

Collective action is associated with terrace care. "A  family alone, or individuals, could neither (re)construct nor maintain an infrastructure necessary for the management, defense, and protection of complex irrigation structures. Within these irrigation systems, families and community members maintain the agricultural production system and participate in making collective decisions (2018).” Thus, strong community structures that privilege democratic decision-making and labor produce productive terraces, and terracing encourages these systems. Moreover, Camara et al. explain that “re-construction, maintenance, cleaning the canals, and most of the rural activities'' are conducted via celebrations embedded in local religion and culture (2018).

Important Takeaways 

Terrace agriculture exemplifies resilient social-ecological systems, in which the environmental and biological needs and benefits of the system encourage democratic community models and enhance economic standing. Reciprocally, those resilient communities managing terraces maintain the economic, nutritional, and cultural systems necessary to reestablish abandoned terraces, expand those in operation, and adapt to climate change degradation. Policy makers concerned with the wellbeing of, and investment in, rural communities should not falsely separate those communities from terracing. Terracing is a critical element of community health and climate resilience that must not be ignored, but celebrated. 

Summary

Policy  Initiative  Recommendations  

Living Heritage 

Policy-makers must officially recognize the "living heritage" of terraced landscapes, with respect to both the agrodiversity and the cultural diversity cultivated in terraces. 

Purpose 

Identifying the importance- the living heritage- of terraced landscapes will

• Center the land rights of peasant farmers. Current neoliberal policies prioritize land distribution to private industry such as mining, to the detriment of the economic viability and environmental health of rural populations. These policies increase depeasantization, poverty, and terrace abandonment. 
• Prioritize water quality. Current neoliberal policies prioritize land distribution to private industry such as mining, which undermines the careful water management practices of terraces, increases water pollution, and unfairly distributes water away from communities. 
• Elevate terraced landscapes as important cites for agrodiverisity, land and water management, and climate resiliency research. Current reprioritization of terrace landscapes and communities, diverts researchers and funds away from rural Peru, thus failing to capture the potential of these practices. Peruvian researchers should be encouraged to understand and support assets Peru already maintains.
• Respect the cultural and historical significance of terraces in Peru and offer further educational opportunities for Peruvians to learn about the historical and contemporary importance of these landscapes.

Structure  

Any measures set in place to protect the environmental features of terraces must center the traditions and needs of those peasants cultivating them. 

• Policy-makers in the 12 regions identified by Table 8.1 from Camara et al. (2018) should commission peasant farmer advisory boards to inform living heritage protection policies of terraces.
• An advisory board must reflect the diversity of the rural Peruvian landscape and prioritize gender parity.  

References

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Bocco, G., & Napoletano, B. M. (2017). The prospects of terrace agriculture as an adaptation to climate change in Latin America.  Geography Compass  ,  11  (10). https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12330

Camara, L., & de Mesquita, M. B. (2018). Terraced Landscapes in Perù: Terraces and Social Water Management.  Environmental History , 119–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96815-5_8

Córdoba Vargas, C. A., Hortúa Romero, S., & León-Sicard, T. (2020).  Resilience to climate variability: the role of perceptions and traditional knowledge in the Colombian Andes. In Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (Vol. 44, Issue 4, pp. 419–445). Taylor and Francis Inc. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1649782

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Isaac, G., Finn, S., Joe, J. R., Hoover, E., Gone, J. P., Lefthand-Begay, C., & Hill, S. (2018). Native American Perspectives on Health and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.  Environmental Health Perspectives  ,  126  (12), 125002.   https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp1944 

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About the Authors

Sophia Webber (she/her)

Sophia Webber is a junior at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, a land grant university occupying Ho-Chunk land. She is studying Community and Environmental Sociology with certificates in Food Systems, Global Health, and Gender and Women's Studies. Sophia is interested in the intersection of community health, food sovereignty, and social justice and views agroecological models of farming as mechanisms for liberation. While her current work in agriculture is centered in Wisconsin, she is interested in agroecological traditions around the world to further inform her understanding of the connections between food and freedom. These passions informed her choice to study the climate resilience of Peruvian terrace farming. While the aim of this project is to uplift peasant voices regarding terracing, it is important to note Sophia does not identify as Peruvian, Quechua, Aymara, or otherwise from Peru, nor has she visited the country. Moreover, no peasants were consulted in the development of the project; further engaged research is necessary to expand our understanding of the climate resiliency potential of Terrace farming in Peru.  

Michelle Ding (she/her) 

Michelle Ding is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying Biology with a certificate in Environmental Studies. As a sophomore, she was part of a research lab studying the effects of heat stress in potato plants, and how that could be mitigated using calcium treatments. This experience sparked an interest in the interplay between climate change, agriculture, and sustainability, and informed this current project on the climate resilience of agroecological terrace farming.