Abstract

CHUMACERO MOSCOSO, Claudia  and  CAMACHO MARQUEZ, Magda Cristina. Evolution during ten years of the aynuqa system in four communities of the Bolivian Altiplano. Ecología en Bolivia [online]. 2006, vol.41, n.3, pp.19-39. ISSN 1605-2528.

In order to know about the future of the long fallow - potato cropping system, managed by the community and locally known as the aynuqa system, we have analyzed the changes of the aynuqa system between 1987 and 2000 in four communities located in northern and central zones of the Bolivian high plain. We have compared two dates of land use evaluation by updating in 2000 maps previously elaborated. The evolution of the aynuqa system shows two related trends: 1) the partial change of the aynuqas to intensive cropping zones, with emphasis on forage, and 2) the reduction of the aynuqa farming area. The proximity to roads, regional fairs and the La Paz market is not the unique intensification pressure as also the distance to their houses and land potentials (water availability, soil productivity, tractor plowing possibility). In these communities, plots have been left in cultivated aynuqas or the total sectors are placed faraway from houses and then converted into rangelands. This reduction of the cultivated area derives from farmer’s decisions to invest their reduced production means (work and capital) into better productive sectors near their houses. Market opportunities (e.g., cattle, milk, cheese, and vegetables) allow better incomes from these intensive cropping areas. The community combines both intensive and extensive zones, maintaining the aynuqa system communal norms, except in communities that are localized near to the city of La Paz.

Keywords : Altiplano; Fallow land; Cropping system; Intensification; Market.

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