Andean farmers for centuries . Funds are then divided equally among the families that form the association . This is a novel form of benefit sharing between a breeding company and indigenous farmers that supports rural livelihoods and in-situ conservation of potato agrobiodiversity .
AGUAPAN has also built
partnerships and acquired aid from various organizations . The International Center of Potato ( CIP ) which , through the use of new technologies and research systems , is in charge of conserving the genetic resources of various tubers for the coming decades . The non-government organization Yanapai is responsible for implementing innovation and development policies to improve the management of natural resources for sustainable agro-ecological systems . The Peruvian Society for Environmental Law is in charge of promoting and verifying the effective implementation of environmental policies and standards by participating as an intermediary between the government and the farmers . This cooperative work facilitates the coordination , monitoring and exchange of experiences in the microcenters located in different countries of Latin America .
Though Spanish is the country ’ s official language , majority of the people in the provinces speak Quechua . With foreign researchers and collaborators taking interest in helping these farmers , the issue of the language barrier was addressed . All engineers and researchers were trained in Quechua so they could communicate and understand the villagers . This was useful in the documentation of the diversity of tubers , production areas , management systems , local knowledge and threats to agricultural biodiversity .
Photo by : Gaia Luziatelli
19