Vegetable Growing in Pucara Village in Central Andes, Peru

Transcription

1 142 Vegetable Growing in Pucara Village in Central Andes Peru Akimi Fujimoto* Rie Miyaura* and Roberto Ugas** Introduction A study of vegetable farming systems was conducted in **+ ** in Pucara Village located in Mantaro Valley in Central Andes Peru as a part of the Academic Frontier Research Project (AFRC-TUA *** **+ ** **- **.). The study village was actually the first village in the valley to introduce intensive vegetable cultivation in irrigated flat fields in the +3/* s. Although the size of production remained small vegetables certainly provided an important source of cash income for the villagers who traditionally cultivated potato corn beans and wheat for subsistence purposes. In an earlier paper we focused on land tenure and cultivation of these subsistence crops on rain-fed fields on the slope (Fujimoto et al. **.). This paper aims to describe the current conditions of vegetable growing in the village. Even though the questionnaire survey aimed at the collection of quantitative data related to vegetable farm management conducted on irrigated flat fields information actually obtained was severely limited on the use of some inputs and only on some products from vegetable cultivation. A total of 0. farmers were studied but there were too many items in the questionnaire which could not be filled by enumerators. This was largely due to the inadequate memory and accounting ability among the respondent farmers pointing to the need of a di# erent approach if quantitative data on farming are to be collected to a satisfactory level. However we decided to write this paper in the hope of presenting some important information in a descriptive rather than analytical manner in order to contribute marginally at least to the accumulation of knowledge concerning agricultural conditions among Andean farmers. Mantaro Valley and Pucara Village Mantaro Valley is located in the middle of the Central Andes extending over four provinces of Jauja Concepcion Huancayo and Chupaca in Junin Department. The Junin Department is a huge area consisting of nine provinces of which four are in the Mantaro Valley and three in the jungle region. Of the total 0. million hectares as much as /- and 0 are natural pasture and forest areas respectively. Arable land area is -/0// ha *Tokyo University of Agriculture ** National Agrarian University La Molina

2 Vegetable Growing in Pucara Village in Central Andes Peru 143 including a mere.+-0/ ha of irrigated fields (PEISA **-). Due to the close proximity to Lima about six hours by road the Junin Department especially Mantaro Valley has been rapidly commercializing its diversified agriculture. In fact the Government agricultural statistics cover a total of.2 products in this Department. For some of these vegetables Table + presents harvested area production and average yield for +33* ***. It is clearly seen that the major crops are sweet corn carrot broad beans sweet peas and onion. Both harvested area and production of these crops have greatly increased in the last decade. Carrot in particular made a sudden expansion. It should be clearly noted here that potato is not usually categorized as vegetable in Peru and therefore not included in this table. However potato is the staple food in the Andes and certainly the most important crop planted in the area. In *** for instance harvested area of potato was 0 0*- ha and the total production.+*/ tons with the average yield being +/. 2tons/ha. Thus potato occupied nearly three times as large an area as sweet corn in Junin Department. The same trend applies to Mantaro Valley. Mantaro Valley extends along the Mantaro River which is an upstream of the Amazon River and flows from northwest to southeast of the area in which other streams also join the main river. In terms of altitude it extends from a low of -*** m to a high of -/** m and the main city of Huancayo is located at -** m above sea level. As is seen in Table the total area of the valley is more than +** *** ha most of which are actually arable land and where Table + Harvested area production and yield of vegetables in Junin Department Peru : Three-year moving averages Harvested area (ha) Production (tons) Average yield (kg/ha) +33* +33/ *** +33* +33/ *** +33* +33/ *** Sweet corn Carrot Broad beans Sweet peas Onion Lettuce Spinach Cabbage Artichoke Beetroot Pumpkin Squash Swiss chard Turnip Leek Celery Radish Garlic Caigua Coriander Cauliflower Hot pepper Rocoto Snap Bean Total.5*0+.5*3/ *5-* * * *+3 +5*/+ /0531/ 2/ /- 51./ * / / / *-* /5+-* 05+* / / 35/+ +.5/33-35+*- +15*3/ /* +5-* * /+ 350/* 35/0 +05+*0 1+* /5322 / * / 05/+. -50/+ +.50/3 +/5/ * +3/ /*/ * /+ 3. 3* +0/ +5* * +5/- ++5.*+ +-5*+* 35/-. 0* 3/ / * /*. 1+/ 153 +* / / / / *5.10 // /2/ /+0 +52/. +*5/11 +*5/.. ++5*+0 /.- +*- 0*/./+ +5/-* +.5** / /* +-5-0* +-5/ 3533*.- 1 -/ + -/ /52/ +- * +* / / /5* * *5-- +* / /- 02 -*3.5/+/ /0/ / / / / *1 *2511/ * Source : National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA) Huancayo.

3 144 +** **/ various crops and vegetables have been grown. The valley also produces leafy vegetables milk and beef and farming has been quite commercialized. In terms of geographical distribution of the major crops in the valley sweet corn predominates on the left bank while carrot green peas and broad beans are more commonly planted on the right bank. In the southern part of the valley leafy vegetables are popular and onion becomes more common in the northern part of the higher altitudes. Needless to say potato is the single largest crop planted in every corner of the valley. In the valley average maximum temperature is +3.. and the minimum /.* (Figure + ). The rainy season extends from October to March and the dry season from April to September with the annual rainfall being 1/2 mm on the average (Figure ). The rainy season is commonly called the big growing season in which planting usually takes place in September and October and harvesting in February and March. The dry season is the small growing season and cropping is carried out under irrigation from May to August but it was estimated that the planted area in the latter season was a mere +* of the former indicating the traditional dependence on rainfall for cropping. Pucara village constitutes one of the villages in the District of Pucara located at the southern edge of Mantaro Valley. The total population was about 2 *** people in ** with a total area of ++ *.3 ha extending from the lowest of -/* m to the highest.** m above sea level. More than 2* of the area within the district was agricultural and pasture land and farming is carried out on broadly two types of land : irrigated fields in the relatively flat portion of the village and rain-fed fields on the slope. The former is further divided into two areas : those irrigated by water from Pucara River and those by spring water (Fujimoto et al. **.). In fact Pucara Peasants Community a legally registered organization of all farmers in the village consists of two irrigation associations : Pucara Irrigation Sector and Waripukio Irrigation Sector. In the former there are about -** farmers who use irrigation water from the Pucara River in their fields while about +** farmers are organized into the latter for the use of irrigation water from two springs called waripukio and woncopukio. These +** farmers were commonly members of the former association as well indicating that many farmers owned fields at three di# erent locations including the one on the slope. Our questionnaire survey was directed to a total of 0. farmers who planted vegetables on those fields irrigated by the waripukio spring. Although there are two more springs in the village oksepukio and Table Agricultural land use in Mantaro Valley +33. Unit : ha Province Total area Arable land Permanent crops Associate crops Jauja Concepcion Huancayo/Chupaca Total *5/2+ 5/ *.0 5* * *2 /5//0 /5312 Note : Chupaca became independent from Huancayo in +33/. Source : National Institute of Statistics and Information ( +33. ) as quoted in PEISA( **-).

4 Vegetable Growing in Pucara Village in Central Andes Peru 145 Fig. + Average monthly temperatures in Jauja * Source : http : // clima_ peru.shtml# 1 Fig. Average montly rainfall in Jauja * Source : http : // clima_ peru.shtml# 1 milpacha their users have not been organized. The existence of springs actually makes this village a unique one in the area. Needless to say spring water is clean and the contamination of water in the Mantaro River due to the mining activities upstream results in high evaluation of the natural resource in this village. Farmers in fact hoped to further develop vegetable farming with a catch phrase of vegetables grown with clean water. The Waripukio Irrigation Sector completed construction of a network of canals for a total of five hectares of flat land in Vegetables were grown all year round on about three hectares while the remaining two hectares were devoted to grain cultivation at the time of study. There was actually abundant water but the irrigated area remained at five hectares only because of the lack of canals. Present Conditions of Vegetable Farming Introduction of Vegetable Cultivation As mentioned earlier this village was the first to introduce vegetable cultivation in the Mantaro Valley. As early as the +3-* s a merchant from Arequipa noticed the great potential

5 146 +** **/ of the village for its favorable climate and spring water and strongly recommended vegetable cultivation. In the +3.* s and early /* s some villagers who returned to the village after working at Chinese Japanese or Italian vegetable farms nearby Lima began cultivating vegetables under a mixed cropping system. A large quantity of vegetables was thus produced in the +3/* s and apparently some trucks came all the way from Lima to buy vegetables every day. In the +30* s however the availability of guano which had been extensively applied as fertilizer began to decrease rapidly and thus farmers had to introduce chemical fertilizer and pesticide. According to them soil fertility and vegetable production gradually declined and forced the village to the current level of a minor producing area. Today no buyers come to the village and the farmers have to transport their products to a market in a nearby city Huancayo. At the time of study a total of - kinds of vegetables and herbs were grown in the village the major ones being as follows : parsley coriander bunching onion turnip radish spinach sweet chard lettuce oregano head onion leek pakchoy Chinese cabbage and carrot. In recent years the cultivation of herbs has been expanding because of their high prices. Both parsley and coriander are specially preferred by the farmers as the seeds can be produced in the field. Mixed Cropping One unique feature in vegetable growing in this village was the practice of mixed cropping. It was not unusual to see that farmers sowed seeds of more than four di# erent kinds of vegetables and herbs concurrently at one and same bed all of which could be harvested within about three months. Therefore this practice could easily be repeated three times in a year. In fact only -- of the farmers practiced sole cropping while * / and planted two three and more than four kinds of vegetables and herbs respectively under mixed cropping system. Some of the common combinations included cornpotato corn potatobroad beans leekparsley and leekparsleycoriander. Mixed cropping system provided farmers with the opportunity for using the limited land resource to a maximum intensity. They usually planted concurrently vegetables and herbs of di# erent types maturation periods and size. Actually they were well aware of economic and agronomic advantages of mixed cropping and noted the following points. First it would give many kinds of commodities with the consequent reduction of risks in sudden fall of prices and improved cash flow. Second some vegetables especially spinach could be protected from frost damage by planting adjacent to taller vegetables like radish. Third slug appeared to be a serious pest especially for spinach but damage could be reduced by mixed cropping. Fourth oregano onion and garlic were considered to have a repellent e# ect on some insects : for instance garlic was said to be e# ective in keeping aphid away from the plot. It may be noted that oregano bunching onion and sweet chard did not seem to grow well under mixed cropping and thus they were commonly cultivated under di# erent combinations or sole cropping system. And fifth di# erent vegetables have di# erent growing periods with di# erent timing for harvesting resulting in a su$ cient space for the growth of

6 Vegetable Growing in Pucara Village in Central Andes Peru 147 longer maturing vegetables. Red radish for instance could be harvested in one month giving space for onion and other vegetables to grow larger in the remaining period. In other words it can be said that mixed cropping is a system of time and space sharing suitable to farming under the limited land resource (Willey +313). In fact the similar practice in highland Indonesia demonstrated that mixed cropping resulted in a higher total production than sole cropping as measured in Land Equivalent Ratio (Fujimoto and Miyaura +330a +330b). Unfortunately the Land Equivalent Ratio could not be calculated for vegetable growing in the study village due to the lack of production data but it could easily be assumed that the farmers were aware of this advantage as well. Notwithstanding it was estimated that one season of mixed cropping would result in a total sale of +/* sols per +** m (one US dollar was approximately -./ sols at the time of study). Assuming the rate of income to be one third their net income would be around /* sols only. However in view of the fact that cash living expense was only - to / sols per day for an average family mixed cropping on a total of -** m was considered su$ cient to provide for the necessary level of cash income. In addition the farmers owned + ha of rain-fed upland field on the slope from which su$ cient amount of food crops could be produced for home consumption (Fujimoto et al. **.). Likewise vegetable farming on irrigated flat fields provided an important source of cash income for the farmers in the village. Production and Sale Farmers in the village usually owned two di# erent types of land for farming : rain-fed field on the slope used mainly for growing subsistence crops and irrigated fields for growing vegetables and food crops. Table - shows the distribution of farmers studied according to the area of vegetable gardens in the waripukio irrigation area. It is clear that the majority of farmers owned a very small area with the average being.11 m providing the background for their intensive cultivation of vegetables. Table. presents production and sale of the major vegetables grown by the farmers studied. It is shown that four crops of potato corn broad beans and green peas were most commonly planted and the volume of production was also large. Actually they were the main food crops constituting daily diet among Andean farmers and mostly planted on rain-fed fields on the slope (Fujimoto et al. **.). But it now becomes clear that they constituted the major crops on irrigated fields as well presumably because it was easier for farmers to grow Table - Number of farmers by the size of vegetable gardens in Pucara ** Size (m ) No. of farmers Average area (m /farmer) S.D. (m ) -33.** 133 2** ** +/ / +-- / ** Unknown +. Overall / Source : Questionnaire survey.

7 148 +** **/ these main crops on flat and irrigated fields rather than growing on the slope. Judging by the proportion of sale more than half of the production of these crops except for green peas was kept for home consumption. In contrast parsley leek and coriander were the main leafy vegetables and herbs commonly planted for commercial purposes. In fact the volume of production of these crops was not so large but all the produce was sold to the market for cash income. It is also seen that prices of these crops actually fluctuated throughout the year. For instance the extreme case was found for green peas whose price ranged from a mere *-. sol per kilogram to -*. sols at the highest. Potato showed the smallest range in price fluctuation *2. to *.*. sol per kilogram but it is possible that the average price of *-. sol was actually lower than the break-even price (Fujimoto et al. **.). With these price fluctuations it is quite understandable that farmers preferred planting of a variety of crops including subsistence food crops under a mixed cropping system. Input Use in Vegetable Cultivation Unfortunately neither productivity nor income of vegetable cultivation could be calculated due to the lack of precise data concerning the area of land as well as production of each crop. However some information on the use of inputs became available through the questionnaire study. Let us therefore concentrate our discussion on vegetable cultivation practices with the hope of clarifying some clues for improving productivity and sustainable development of vegetable farming in the village. On the question of soil fertility Table / shows that as many as -+ of the farmers clearly felt that it had been declining in recent decades. No particular reasons were pointed out but it became clear that most of them not only applied manure and chemical fertilizer but also practiced crop rotation for improving and/or maintaining soil fertility. Crop rotation was preferred presumably in order not to extract certain soil nutrients in excessive ways by repeated cultivation of the same vegetables. Manure applied by the farmers was mostly fresh dung which was actually a mixture from various animals such as cattle sheep and donkey. Farmers raised a relatively small number of various animals mostly in grazing style. Dung was therefore collected in the shed during the night and also picked from the grazing fields resulting in a relatively large Table. Production and sale of the major vegetables in Pucara village ** Vegetable No. of farmers Total production (kg) Proportions sold ( ) Average sale (kg/farmer) Average price (sol/kg) Price range (sol/kg) Potato Corn Broad beans Green peas Parsley Leek Coriander / / / 015./* 252/ +-5./* 05//* / +** +** +** * *4- +4 * *4. *42 *4.* *42* 4** *4-* +4* *4-* -4** * ** 4** *4/ *4/* Source : Questionnaire survey.

8 Vegetable Growing in Pucara Village in Central Andes Peru 149 quantity of manure application with an average of -3 kg per +** m. Assuming three crops a year this was equivalent to +-tons/ha per crop. It is possible that this relatively large quantity of manure was caused by the fact that dung applied was actually fresh. Table 0 shows the average amount of manure applied per year by the size of vegetable gardens. There seemed to be no clear correlation between the size and the average quantity of manure but the size groups of less than.** m and 2** m seemed to apply a specially small quantity. It is desirable to increase the quantity and improve the quality of manure for sustainable vegetable farming. Chemical fertilizer was also applied and there were in fact many kinds of commercial fertilizer available to the farmers. But the most common was urea which was applied by / farmers followed by super triple by / nitrate-phosphate by - NPK mix by - and nitrate by one farmer. In other words farmers showed a very clear preference for urea and Table 1 Table / Soil fertility change as reported by the farmers in Pucara Farmers perception on fertility change Increasing Decreasing No change Measures for fertility improvement* Use of manure Use of chemical fertilizer Practice of crop rotation Overall Source : Questionnaire survey. Note : *Multiple answers. No. of farmers * /34. / / 2+4- /+ 2*4* 0. +**4* Table 0 Use of manure in Pucara ** Size of vegetable garden (m ) No. of farmers Average amount (kg/ +** m ) SD /.** *1 2** ** +/33 / /3 -/ Unknown +. Overall /1+ Source : Questionnaire survey. Table 1 Intensity of urea use in Pucara ** Size of vegetable garden (m ) No. of farmers Average amount (kg/ +** m ) SD /2.** /* 14/2 2** /4** +** +/33 / Unknown +. Overall ** Source : Questionnaire survey.

9 150 +** **/ shows the quantity of urea application per year by the size of vegetable gardens. The average quantity of urea applied by the farmers was 2.. kg per +** m or -20 kg/ha of nitrogen and the intensity declined as the size of garden became larger indicating more intensive use of urea by smaller farmers presumably in order to increase their productivity. Assuming again that the farmers planted three crops a year this level of nitrogen application was equivalent to +2 kg/ha per crop on the average. One important point concerning fertilization among the farmers is the heavy concentration on nitrogen use and the lack of phosphate and potassium application. As mentioned earlier the common manure used was obtained from cattle donkey and sheep. Nutrients of cattle manure (NPK /. :.+. : *-. ) are not very high while chicken manure (NPK /*. :.1. : -. ) is considered more suitable for vegetable cultivation but it was actually applied only by one farmer. In view of high production of vegetables attained by the use of guano (NPK+. : +. : *) in the +3/* s it is probable that the farmers should apply more nitrogen and phosphate to their field for increasing vegetable productivity. This speculation seems to be supported by Table 2 which shows the Government recommendation on fertilization in the highlands. The recommended dosage of nitrogen was +2* kg/ha for potato +* kg/ha for white corn and 0* kg/ha for green peas in addition to +* to * tons of cow manure (N/* /** kg/ha) and one ton of guano (N+.* kg/ha). It seems that the farmers were actually using a su$ cient amount of chemical fertilizer specially urea and a reasonable quantity of manure but the non-application of guano resulted in the shortage of nitrogen and phosphate in the fields. Concerning pest control practice a total of -+ farmers or.2 of the total studied applied synthetic chemical pesticide : fungicide by +* farmers and insecticide by + farmers. Surprisingly not all farmers used pesticide presumably because of high cost and the practice of mixed cropping with some repellent e# ects. Table 3 shows the number of farmers who Table 2 Recommended quantity of fertilizer application for highlands in Peru Potato While corn Green peas Wheat/Barley Nitrogen (kg/ha) +2* +* 0*.* Phosphate (kg/ha) ** +** 2*.* Potassium (kg/ha) +/* 2* 0*.* Guano (ton/ha) +4* +4* +4* * Cow manure (tons/ha) * +* +* +* Expected yield (tons/ha) * -* * (fresh) 2 (fresh) / 0 Source : Personal interview with Director Santa Ana Experimental Station (Sep. **). Table 3 Pesticide application in Pucara Type of vegetables Leafy Fruit Root Overall No. of farmers who applied pesticide Average frequency of application S.D. Source : Questionnaire survey *42 *

10 Vegetable Growing in Pucara Village in Central Andes Peru 151 applied pesticide in vegetable cultivation. Common insecticides were metanidofos carbofurano and dimetoato whereas benomil propineb and mancozeb were the commonly used fungicides. In addition some farmers used ash for protecting crops from fungus. Especially for leafy and fruit vegetables a small number of farmers applied pesticide with the average frequency of +1. and +. times respectively. For root vegetables many more farmers applied pesticide with significantly higher frequency. It is assumed that this pesticide application was actually carried out for potato cultivation as it was the most intensively grown crop in the village (Fujimoto et al. **.). How should we interpret this relatively low rate of pesticide application? It certainly did not mean that the pest problem was minor in this village. Many farmers actually pointed out pest damage as one of the serious problems facing vegetable cultivation and the need for pest control. It is likely that more farmers would apply pesticide should they have su$ cient funds. For the time being their economic hardship appeared to have constrained them from the excessive introduction of pesticide. Instead many of them adopted mixed cropping with the hope of pest control e# ect and paid constant attention to their crops in the field. It is therefore vitally important to establish scientifically the optimum combinations of crops under mixed cropping and crop rotation systems to the best e# ect for possible crop protection. Meantime our project introduced foliar fertilizer cum bio-pesticide called biol (Fujimoto et al. **-) among the farmers in **. Although its e# ect is yet to be evaluated more research e# orts should be directed to the development of environmentally and economically friendly inputs and farming systems based on these inputs rather than continuing and increasing dependence on potentially harmful synthetic pesticide for the promotion of sustainable vegetable farming. It is also noted that 0+ of the farmers positively sought technical information from various sources. As Government extension service no longer exists in Peru technical information has often been disseminated by NGOs in Andean provinces (Fujimoto et al. **-) but there was no such organizations working in the study village. Farmers therefore obtained information on inputs and cultivation technology from input dealers (-* ) neighbors ( ++ ) relatives ( ++ ) and others ( 3). Because input dealers may be interested in selling their merchandise they may not be the best disseminators of technology pointing to the need to establish a non-profit making technology extension system for promoting sustainable vegetable farming in the area. Conclusion This paper presented a description of the actual condition of vegetable growing in Pucara Village located in Mantaro Valley in Central Andes Peru. Farmers in this village grew such subsistence crops as potato corn broad beans and green peas on rain-fed fields on the slope while vegetables and herbs were planted in addition to these subsistence crops on flat fields irrigated by water from a spring. In fact this was the first village in Mantaro Valley where intensive vegetable cultivation was introduced in the +3/* s. Although the size of production

11 152 +** **/ remained small vegetables and herbs certainly provided an important source of cash income for the villagers. The unique feature in vegetable cultivation in the village was the practice of mixed cropping as well as crop rotation. Judging by the farmers behaviour it became apparent that crop rotation was practiced partly for maintaining soil fertility while mixed cropping was preferred with the hope of better income and crop protection e# ects. The farmers were clearly aware of many advantages of mixed cropping including repellent e# ects of certain crop combinations. Reasonable prospects seemed to exist for developing sustainable vegetable farming system in this village should there be intensive research conducted on farming systems especially on the biological e# ects of crop combinations under mixed cropping system. References AFRC-TUA (***) Development of New Bio-Agents for Alternative Farming Systems +333 Report Tokyo University of Agriculture Academic Frontier Research Center. AFRC-TUA (**+) Development of New Bio-Agents for Alternative Farming Systems *** Report Tokyo University of Agriculture Academic Frontier Research Center. AFRC-TUA (**) Development of New Bio-Agents for Alternative Farming Systems **+ Report Tokyo University of Agriculture Academic Frontier Research Center. AFRC-TUA (**-) Development of New Bio-Agents for Alternative Farming Systems ** Report Tokyo University of Agriculture Academic Frontier Research Center. AFRC-TUA (**.) Development of New Bio-Agents for Alternative Farming Systems Final Report Tokyo University of Agriculture Academic Frontier Research Center. Fujimoto A and R. Miyaura ( +330a) An Eco-Eco Farming Assessment of Vegetable Cultivation in Highland Indonesia In Anase M. T. Mandang and R. Lasco (eds.) Rehabilitation and Development of Upland and Highland Ecosystem Tokyo University of Agriculture Press. Fujimoto A. an R. Miyaura ( +330b) Development Process and Prospects of Highland Vegetable Farming in Indonesia Part + Historical Development and Regionality in Vegetable Farming in Indonesia and Part Technical and Economic Assessment of Vegetable Farming Systems in the Major Producing Areas Bulletin of NODAI Research Institute Tokyo University of Agriculture No. 0 (In Japanese). Fujimoto A. R. Miyaura K. Yamazaki H. Takahashi S. Siura and R. Ugas (**-) Trends and Issues in Agricultural Production in Peru : A Preliminary Consideration of Potato Cultivation in the Highlands Journal of Agricultural Science Tokyo Nogyo Daigaku Vol..2 No.. Fujimoto A. R. Miyaura and R. Ugas (**.) Cultivation Practices and Economics of the Major Crops in a Central Andean Village Peru : A Case Study of Pucara in Junin Province in Mantaro Valley Journal of Agricultural Science Tokyo Nogyo Daigaku Vol..3 No. +. PEISA (**-) Atlas : Regional Del Peru : Junin Lima. Willey R.W. ( +313 ) IntercroppingIts Importance and Research Needs Part + Competition and Yield Advantages and Part Agronomy and Research Approaches. Field Crops Abstracts Vol. - No. + and No.. Received December 2 **. Accepted January + **/

12 Vegetable Growing in Pucara Village in Central Andes Peru