BGR partner Wawasonqo works with a local farming family to build a simple greenhouse in the rural Andean foothills.
By BGR Staff
Considered as a whole, Peru is a success story of modern poverty reduction. Between 2007 and 2019, the national poverty rate in Peru declined from 35.5 percent to 20.6 percent. Over the last ten years, chronic child malnutrition was lowered to 13.1 percent, a 50 percent reduction.
However, even as Peru’s economy has grown, many rural people have been left behind. In 2020, 46 percent of the largely indigenous rural population were poor, compared to 26 percent in urban areas. In many rural areas, a devastating 33 percent of indigenous children suffer from malnutrition, and levels of stunting due to extreme malnutrition have not decreased among rural children in the last decade, according to the World Food Programme.
Peru has also been severely devastated by the Covid pandemic. With more than 200,000 Covid deaths in this country of just under 33 million people, Peru’s death rate from the pandemic is the highest in the world, at nearly 650 deaths per 100,000 people. (For comparison, the U.S. has lost approximately 300 lives per 100,000 due to Covid.)
Wawasonqo, a BGR partner based in Peru, has been working since 2006 to break the cycle of poverty that affects rural children and families in the rural Andean foothills near the city of Cusco. For the past five years, BGR-sponsored projects have addressed chronic malnutrition in children and young people in the Piskak’uchu, Tiaparo, Olmiron, Palomar, and Chaquepay indigenous communities. In these rural areas, families’ cultivatable land is small, generally averaging between 1,000 and 2,000 square meters, and many people here use their land to raise products for sale, relying on inexpensive purchased food to feed their families. As a result, many children and families consume food of low quality, mostly noodles, rice, and potatoes.
Wawasonqo’s goal is to support families in creating new nutritional habits and customs to enable long-term food autonomy. The projects therefore generally proceed in two stages. The first stage involves raising awareness among families, especially mothers and pregnant women, about good nutrition and the importance of a balanced diet for their children’s growth, health, and well-being. Then, to support parents in putting this knowledge to work in nourishing their families, Wawasonqo provides hands-on education in the cultivation, preparation, processing, and preservation of fruits and vegetables.
Wawasonqo staff demonstrate composting techniques at workshops offered freely to the local community.
The projects provide families with training and resources to cultivate vegetables such as spinach, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, and tomato for home consumption, to provide much-needed nutrients in the families’ diets. Workshops are given on topics including organic agronomy, nutrition, preparation of dishes, and the making and sale of agricultural products such as jams, pickles, nectars, and preserves. Additionally, the projects support the construction of simple greenhouses. In these greenhouses, families use seeds provided by our partner to grow fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals.
The communities where Wawasonqo works are often small; the Chaquepay community, the focus of this year’s BGR project, is home to about 150 families. The trainings and workshops are freely offered to the entire community, and our partner estimates that a third of the households may participate.
Vicentina Quispe Solis and Juan Huaman Apaza are migrants from the heights of the Peruvian Andes; previously, they lived in the Q’esqa region, located some 14,700 feet above sea level. Together with their two young children and extended family members, the family lives in a modest house in the remote Kabrakancha area of Piskak’uchu. Construction of a greenhouse here involved the arduous leveling of a parcel of steep hillside. After the work was completed, the Wawasonqo trainers joined the family for a meal and, over a supper of chicken soup and boiled corn, together brainstormed ideas for marketing the organic produce they planned to grow.
Alipio Ramirez’s family has a long history in the Olmiron-Piskak’uchu-Kabrakancha region. He lives with his wife, Alicia Chata, and their children on a steep plot of land where harsh winds made building a greenhouse a difficult task. With persistence and ingenuity, the Wawasonqo trainers were able to work with the family to construct a weather-resistant and high-producing greenhouse. Eager students, the family were also teachers, sharing knowledge with neighbors and their Wawasonqo trainers about the cultivation of mushrooms, avocados, peaches, and other locally grown crops.
Crisologo and Eulalia Huaman are the parents of three young girls in the Huarocondo district. A local leader, Crisologo approached Wawasonqo to request that the greenhouse project be brought to his community and worked with neighbors to spread the education and resources provided by the trainings throughout the community. Percy Rodriguez Cámara, executive director of Wawasonqo, was moved by the commitment and collaborative spirit of this small community. “Their effort and perseverance inspires us to continue with the work of helping those who need it most,” he said.
