This year, the program Sierra Productiva was chosen as one of 10 finalists for the BBC World Challenge, a worldwide search for the most innovative and enterprising grass roots projects.
Sierra Productiva was started in 1994 by Carlos Paredes, an economist from Cusco who took it upon himself to find solutions in some of Peru's most forgotten and poverty-stricken places: the subsistence farms of the Andean highlands. Through old-fashioned but ingenious techniques, use of organic products, and educating farmers, Carlos Paredes and his organization have helped lift 48,000 families out of poverty.
The World Challenge, in highlighting Sierra Productiva, writes:
"Yachachiq" is the Inca name for people who pass on knowledge. That's how Sierra Productiva - a federation of peasant's groups - is setting about improving the lot of small farmers in Peru, having started in the ancient Inca capital, Cusco. At elevations of 4000 metres and on precipitous slopes, "improvement" is a formidable undertaking. But through the Yachachiq the campesinos are learning organic techniques to dramatically boost production from both livestock and crops.
The main technology has been harnessing of springs and the use of drip irrigation systems, freeing the farmers from dependence on rainfall that gave them only one harvest a year.
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