Cultivating Diversity: Field Scattering as Agricultural Risk Management in Cuyo Cuyo, Department of Puno, Peru

By Carol Goland, 1993.

Chapter 5 - Land and Land Tenure in Cuyo Cuyo

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reliance on Aripo manda fields and little in Paqhchani and Ñacoreque; in the following year the pattern is reversed). In order to understand this, it is important to remember that the crops sown in each of these field types are the same (potato, and especially, papa milli). In essence, these sets of fields are equivalent in terms of cropping opportunities.

The papa milli fields play a critical role in the seasonal provisioning of many Ura Ayllu households. Planting papa milli fields begins in July (the fiesta of Carmen, July 16th, serves as the target date) and continues into August. True papa milli, implicitly defined by early planting (July), is possible only in Aripo, site of the lowest elevation fields used by the community. Chaupi milli, that is middle milli plantings (after July), occur in higher elevation fields of Ñacoreque and Paqhchani. At these elevations the harvest time is often scarcely different from that of the estancia.

The key to understanding these chaupi milli fields is that while their harvest per se may be more or less coincident with the harvest of the estancia potato fields, they are also subject to early harvests, ankacha:

Milli es . . . para comer, como una ayuda es. Cuando esta yendo a terminar esta papa awicha, entonces milli, ya, el mismo entra. Por ejemplo, nuestro manda, reci,n esta de flor, verde todavía. Estas papas de la manda, se va a hacer la cosecha después de Carnivales. Milli, porque es adelantado, ya estamos de ankacha, ya estamos cocinando.

Milli is . . . to eat, it's like a help. When the papa awicha [potatoes remaining from the previous harvest] are just about to end, then the millis come in. For example, when our manda [i.e., the estancia manda] is just about to flower, still green. These potatoes of the manda are going to be harvested after Carnival [in March]. Because milli is ahead, we're already making early harvests of it, we're already cooking [them].

It is desirable to have at least some land for papa milli. In 1985-86, almost everyone had lands in Aripo manda, which could be used for this purpose. These fields are downvalley from the community and the repeated ankachas become problematic at this distance. My sense is that families attempt to have some closer milli land. In 1986-87, when the lands of Paqhchani were sown, people tended to plant their milli on these closer lands. I suspect (though I lack the data to prove) that the availability of milli lands also depends in part on which of the Ñacoreque mandas is to be planted. In 1985-86, only one family used Ñacoreque fields. Thus, the papa milli in Ura Ayllu that year was not the chaupi milli distinguished above, but true milli from the lowest-elevation lands of the community, and there was little of it. In contrast, in 1986-87 there was an abundance of papa milli, and most of it was the chaupi milli type grown in rented Ñacoreque fields and fields in Paqhchani.

The difference between the two years may be due to the differential availability of the appropriate lands, but another possibility suggests itself. The greatest risk to papa milli cultivation is the timing of the onset of rains. Since these fields are planted early, late rains would be disastrous to them. The first year of the study, 1985, was a wet year: the rains began early and were heavy. It is possible that the experience of this year (and an essentially missed opportunity to grow papa milli) led people in the following year to plant papa milli, in the belief that this rainfall pattern would continue. If this interpretation is correct, then growing papa milli is not so much dependent on the availability of the appropriate lands, but rather that appropriate lands are made available when people want to plant milli, for whatever reason.

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Another possibility is that the planting of papa milli may be dependent on the availability of the appropriate lands, but that these, in turn, are dependent on the estancia potato manda. The problem in part hinges on understanding the role of the Paqhchani lands, which were only used slightly in 1985-86, but heavily in 1986-87. This land, despite its proximity to the community estancia manda, is not integrated with it.

When I first visited Paqhchani in October of 1986 there was considerable variation in land use: some fields were in fallow, others were planted in potato, and others were in oca. I was told that each family decides in which one of three years they will take their field(s) here out of fallow and begin to plant. That year was the second of the three years of planting in Paqhchani. The community had agreed to a set period of cropping usage for these lands (meaning a set period when grazing would be prohibited), but did not coordinate usage beyond this. Sebastiano described Paqhchani to me as "compensation":

Cuando la manda es pequeña, continua en Paqhchani, es la recompensa. Pero si tiene suficiente terreno en la manda, no usa (Paqhchani) en el mismo año.

When the manda is small [i.e., the papa manda of the estancia], it continues in Paqhchani, it's the compensation. But if you have sufficient land in the manda, you don't use Paqhchani in the same year.

As attractive as this explanation may be, the data, in fact, do not unequivocally support it. As seen in Figure 5.27, on the aggregate level the papa manda of the estancia actually increased between the two years (although, as explained above, much of this is accounted for by the rentals of one family). This may be a sampling problem: it is unknown to what degree the land distribution of these ten families is representative of that for the entire community, but there is no reason to believe that the sample is biased. I am inclined to think that the use of the Paqhchani lands occurs on an unscheduled basis and is the result of the lobbying efforts of Ura Ayllu comuneros who find themselves faced with a shortage of estancia manda potato land. It seems likely that additional factors enter in: specifically, the availability of land for papa milli in the Aripo manda and the availability (and proximity) of land for rental in Ñacoreque.

The remaining two production zones are maizales and what I have termed "transitional." Maizales are fields that are intensively cultivated with maize and its associated crops. These fields comprise the lowest elevation lands used for subsistence production by Ura Aylleños (between 2700 and 3100 meters). These are the fields which are "not manda." Informants state that these fields are cropped with maize until a time when the owner feels that its yields have dropped too low to make it economically worthwhile. The field is then allowed to fallow for three to ten years, according to informants. When maizales are first opened after fallow, the first crop to be grown is papa panq'o. This is followed immediately with maize, sometimes alone and other times intercropped with yacon, poroto, and racacha.

Table 5.19 and Figures 5.36 and 5.37 show the area planted in maizales in each of the two years. In Figure 5.36, most families show little change in land area between the two years. This would be expected since these fields are almost continuously cultivated. As noted above, planting papa panq'o marks the beginning of a new cropping sequence in the maizales. In Figure 5.37 I have shown the land area in maizales for each family but have excluded those with papa panq'o crops. With reference to the two figures, five of the ten families maintain identical amounts of land in their maizales from one year to the next. For those that do show change, in 1986 Family D decided to fallow two of its very small maizales (total area about 60 square meters) and allowed a relative to use a third. Family E planted three of the four maizales in use in 1985. They explained that they ran out of seed, and so had to leave one maizal unsown. Comparison of the two figures shows that Family F acquired a new maizal in

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1986 (cropped in panq'o); otherwise the area planted in maize was unchanged. Family H also gained a field, but immediately cropped maize. Family I is the only family to have no maizal land in one of the study years. Family J lost maizal land between the two years: one was handed over to a recently-married daughter for her use; one was damaged in a landslide caused by road work; a third field was not planted, for reasons unknown.

The land area available for growing corn in maizales is augmented in the fields I have termed "transitional." Conceptually, these are the most difficult of the field types to understand. Two variables are fundamental in understanding their classification. First, these fields are transitional in elevation between the maizales and the Ura Ayllu estancia manda (average elevation: 3160 m, with range 3100 - 3250 m). They are also transitional, both in terms of intensity of cultivation and crop mixes: these fields follow no set rotation for fallow, but they are not cultivated as continuously as the maizales. Crops grown in these lands include those grown in the estancia manda (potatoes, oca, isaño, illaco, habas) and those grown in maizales (maize, racacha, yacon), according to family choice and need. Terminologically, they fall somewhere in the middle. Although they are described by informants as "not manda," they are not described as "maizal." Geographically, transitional fields are located in two places: on the valley sides between Ura Ayllu and Aripo (the lowest lands are maizales) and in Aripo itself, on land interspersed with the lower zones of the Aripo estancia manda. In these cases, fields are enclosed (canchones) to protect them from grazing animals when surrounding fields lie fallow. One informant explained as I struggled to understand: "No es manda para [nosotros] pero es para los de Aripo" ("It's not a manda for us [Ura Aylleños], but it is for those from Aripo.")

SUMMARY - THE LANDS OF PUNA AYLLU AND URA AYLLU

This chapter has described landholdings and land distribution in the two study communities. I have focussed this discussion, where possible, around the principle of the manda system, since this framework is conceptually fundamental for the agriculturalists of Cuyo Cuyo and how they organize their agricultural activities. Three manda systems were described: the estancia manda of Puna Ayllu, the Awi Awi manda of Puna Ayllu, and the estancia manda of Ura Ayllu. I used the similarities of the estancia mandas of the two communities to stress the differences in the use of other lands, both within the same community and between the two.

Puna Aylleños utilize virtually no agricultural land which is not manda. The only exceptions are household gardens. They grow potatoes and ocas in both the estancia manda and the Awi Awi manda. The lesser tubers (illaco, isaño) and habas are grown only in the estancia manda. The rotational sequence is different in the two mandas. In the estancia manda the cycle lasts six years and includes four years of cropping and two years of fallow. In the Awi Awi manda the cycle is seven years in length and involves two years of cropping and five years of fallow. Distinctive sequences of working the land follow from these basic differences.

In contrast, a larger proportion of land used by Ura Aylleños is not manda. However, when the estancia manda of Ura Ayllu is compared to that for Puna Ayllu, there are many similarities. The major differences have to do with (a) the source of manure fertilizers and (b) cropping choices in the third year of the sequence. Still, agriculture in Ura Ayllu's estancia manda is more like that of Puna Ayllu than it is the other lands of Ura Ayllu.

Other lands in Ura Ayllu are not used according to a sectorial fallowing organization, although they may fall within the manda of other communities (Aripo, Ñacoreque). These

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fields, along with those in Paqhchani, are used especially for growing an early crop of potatoes (papa milli) and sometimes a second cropping as well (papa panq'o). The lowest elevation lands used by Ura Aylleños, the maizales, are cultivated intensively with maize alone or with maize and other temperate crops (habas, poroto, yacon, racacha, calabaza). At intermediate elevations, in the fields I have identified as "transitional" there are irregular fallow periods (not coordinated by the community), and the land is used for various crop mixes.

When the lands of the two communities are considered together, from the Awi Awi manda (in which fields exceed 4000 meters in elevation) to the maizales of Ura Ayllu (some at 2700 meters), we witness in detail the expression of a classic pattern in Andean agriculture and land tenure. As elevation decreases, intensity of cultivation increases and communal control in cropping decreases. In Awi Awi, the fallow lasts five years of the seven year cycle. In the estancia of both communities, there are two years of fallow in the six year cycle. In the maizales, fields may be cultivated for ten years or more, and fallow for however long the owner deems necessary. With respect to communal control and organization, in the manda systems community practice dictates cropping usage. In the low-lying fields of Ura Ayllu, crop choices are made independently by families according to their capacities and needs.

I have gone into some detail with respect to the year-to-year changes in the distribution and quantity of the land utilized by families in order to underscore the fluidity of agriculture in Cuyo Cuyo. Structurally, the system remains the same with passing years, but the particular mix of fields, land quantities, and cropping alternatives changes for each family each year. Even the two years of data used here do not capture the full range of variation facing individual families through time. There is probably no such thing as a "typical" year in the agricultural life of Cuyo Cuyeños. Rather, the differences in landholdings they experience with each new planting season necessarily force them to re-schedule and re-organize details of their productive activities.

The distinctions I have made here between the Awi Awi manda, estancia manda, Paqhchani, Ñacoreque, Aripo manda, transitional fields, and maizales are critical to further discussion of the practice of agriculture in Cuyo Cuyo. They represent the different zones of production in the communities. Labor, its scheduling, and the application of fertilizers are dependent on the distribution of lands across these zones and the choices individual families make about crops.

At the start of this chapter, I noted that the agricultural landscape of Cuyo Cuyo orders the activities of people in it. In the following chapters I continue to develop the distinctions between production zones begun here, focussing first on labor, and then on fertilizer applications.