Food sovereignty in the Andes

Project Number: 420.1020

The rural population in the Andes is particularly affected by malnutrition and faces multiple challenges in the face of increasing weather extremes such as drought and frost. Our partner organizations support over 6,000 Quechua and Aymara-speaking smallholder households in rural and urban regions in the high mountains of Peru and Bolivia. Thanks to organic farming, they should be able to overcome anemia and nutritional deficiencies and their right to food should be guaranteed. Families are increasingly cultivating their land and fields in harmony with nature. With the help of local seeds, their own organic fertilizer and small greenhouses, they are creating self-managed new food systems. This enables economically poorer families to provide themselves with nutritious food all year round and opens up new income opportunities for them.

Women and women's associations are becoming key players in providing for their households, the village communities and the ecosystems on which their survival depends. They are learning to treat nature with respect and are constantly working on adapting their agriculture to climate change. Families from one of the most marginalized population groups in the Andes are thus working on their own resilience, health and autonomy.

Background information

In the strategic area of food sovereignty, we work with numerous indigenous smallholders. The projects are being developed in the greater Cusco area (Peru) and in the catchment area of Lake Titicaca (Bolivia and Peru). In these areas, the population lacks a varied, balanced and healthy diet. However, extreme weather events such as drought and prolonged extreme cold, which leads to frost, are also increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate change. As a result, the right to food and health is being curtailed for many indigenous smallholder families.

The search for strategies to adapt to climate change and the attempt to meet food needs often lead to natural resources being overused - on the one hand by the state-supported agro-industrial cultivation of potatoes and quinoa, and on the other by smallholder families themselves, who want quick solutions and also resort to pesticides, genetically modified seeds or artificial fertilizers. This burdens households with additional expenditure and leads to increasing dependence on the agro-industry and a considerable loss of biodiversity and soil fertility.

Key role and vulnerability: women in agriculture

Poverty in the project regions often causes men to temporarily migrate to cities or mining areas in order to improve their household income, either during the week or for several months at a time. The women are then usually left behind in the households to look after the farm and the children. However, if there is a lack of water or if the water and soil are polluted and the livestock and children cannot drink enough or the field cannot be sufficiently irrigated, the mothers have to see how they can manage their household in order to get enough water and food.

Food insecurity also increases the risk factors for sexualized violence, which is widespread. Despite their great achievements, women are disadvantaged in terms of land ownership and the right to have a say in village communities or at local level, and they are also severely affected by sexualized violence. Our projects work with transformative approaches that empower women in particular and enable them to take decisive action against violence.

Project goals

We support families so that they can create new sustainable food systems with the help of local seeds, self-produced organic fertilizer and small greenhouses. The combination of traditional knowledge with modern agroecological approaches secures the project participants' right to food and creates new income opportunities for them.

In terms of promoting equal opportunities, women and women's associations in particular are supported. We promote cross-project training courses that specifically address the links between climate change and gender equality and provide space for the prevention of sexualized violence.

Target groups

The direct target population comprises around 6,000 people. They are mainly small farming families in the regions of Cusco and Puno in Peru and in the La Paz region in Bolivia, who live in the area around Lake Titicaca.

The projects are also aimed at disadvantaged people from marginalized urban settlements in El Alto (Bolivia) and Cusco (Peru). As women in the region continue to be socially and economically disadvantaged, our projects particularly promote work with women and women's associations, which make up more than 60 percent of the target population.

Activities

Training courses in organic farming methods to promote soil fertility and resource-saving water management
Training courses on healthy eating
Income generation: for example, participation in agricultural fairs to market products and raise awareness of agroecology and local organic products among the population and the hospitality industry
Promoting the political participation of women in indigenous and smallholder communities and before local authorities
Networking and lobbying: Promoting dialogue between indigenous, traditional farming and scientific research in the field of agroecology and forming alliances with other non-profit and government organizations in the field of agroecology
Cross-project training on the links between climate change and gender equality and the prevention of sexualized violence
Training in agroecological farming methods (use of local seeds, organic fertilizers, biological pest control, mixed crops and others) and sustainable water management. Promoting healthy nutrition and increasing income through market access and surpluses

Project progress 2025

Our seven partner organizations in this project carried out various activities and measures to achieve the project objectives in 2025. They are presented for each partner organization.

Fundación Machaqa Amawta - FMA

The Machaqa Amawta Foundation promoted the development of technical, productive and organizational capacities in the communities. Young people, women and community authorities were involved with the aim of creating a joint production and environmental agenda. Numerous families learned practical methods for better agroecological production. They achieved higher and better quality agricultural yields and improved their nutrition as well as the income opportunities of their households.

Women and young people were involved on an equal footing with men and strengthened in leadership roles. The communities learned how important gender equality is for a functioning community life and social justice. Thanks to the guidance and support provided by FMA, it was also possible to overcome tensions resulting from the innovations.

Prodiasure

The Prodiasur Foundation developed an action plan in one community based on the methodology „Recognizing abundance and scarcity“. Based on the plan, a water source was restored by removing 60 eucalyptus trees that were drying out the source. A team of women now regularly measures the water quality of the springs.

Prodiasur achieved awareness-raising and change through continuous training via talks and workshops: for families on productivity, income generation and equality; in separate groups of women, men and young people to explore gender roles; for young people to clarify their needs.

Focapaci

In its project, Focapaci combines theoretical and practical training as well as technical advice on water management, agroecological production and reforestation.

A participatory approach strengthens neighborhood coalitions, committees and consolidates organizational processes in food sovereignty, water management, income generation and climate change adaptation.

Plataforma Nacional de Suelos - PNS

The PNS network successfully carried out training and exchange sessions between smallholder farmers. As a result, the producers learned how strategically important integrated water management, sustainable soil management, a varied diet, the preservation of indigenous seed varieties and ecological waste management are.

In addition, several stakeholders were able to participate in a coordinated manner in the development of the National Strategy for Agroecology, a public instrument that enables administrations to design agroecological policies, programs and projects and implement them with public funding.

Cedepas

The project activities strengthened the capacities of indigenous communities in water management and spatial planning. Communities developed criteria for the protection of water sources, defined productive uses of the territory and involved more women and young people in decision-making processes. Communities were sensitized to responsible and careful water management. Irrigation committees have been strengthened so that they can exert more influence on policy.

Further families have been trained in agroecological methods and healthy food systems - so that the general resilience of the communities is also growing. The new seed bank, in which many families participate, is now a symbol of food sovereignty and climate resilience. The regional farmers' forum promoted innovation and reinforced the certainty that agroecological production is the key to sustainable agriculture. Various training courses on income generation increased diversification options for families.

CBC Puno

The Centro Bartolomé de las Casas trained environmental activists and successfully implemented measures for gender equality, such as learning spaces for both girls and boys.

In the network of female leaders, Aymara and Quechua women consolidated their leadership role. In 2025, they made a significant contribution to Lake Titicaca being granted the status of a legal entity in a state decree and they also played an important role in publicizing this decree. The next step is to draw up the regulations, and the women in the network visited 14 village communities and reached around 680 people to provide information on the drafting of these regulations.

Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristán - CMP

Workshops were held by the agroecological school with female producers, focusing on economic independence, food security and food sovereignty. The producers then provided further training as multipliers in their communities. 30 female producers from Huasao, Patabamba and Muñapata were empowered through good cultivation techniques. 30 greenhouses and drip irrigation modules were maintained. Training processes combined theory (workshops, review days) with practice (on-site advice) and led to more sustainable learning in the cultivation of fields and greenhouses, for income and nutrition - and promoted a more equitable distribution of roles in the families.

The women's association and Flora Tristán were included in the local development coordination office. Awareness-raising campaigns on the right to healthy production and nutrition were held at markets and fairs in Cusco, which 920 people were able to take advantage of. Organizationally, the women's association was strengthened and anchored at community, city and regional level.

Water extraction for disaster protection: since 2025 as a project with its own number

Infiltration ditches, water retention basins and a long-term reforestation strategy are measures to reduce the risks posed by droughts. Reforestation in particular helps to moisten the soil and revitalize important ecosystems. Since January 1, 2025, these activities have been made possible by a special fund with the project number 400.1022. Donations and funding contributions are used on an ongoing and targeted basis in the area of water catchment to adapt to climate change in the Andes.

See here our 5-part documentary film to our food sovereignty projects in the Andes.