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ECUADOR, 2025. Alexandra is a member of the women producers' organization,

06 July 2025. Cotacachi, Ecuador. Alexandra Morales (26), from the community of San Nicolás de Cuicocha and a member of the women producers' organization, poses for a portrait holding papa navos (turnip potatoes) on the terrace of Jambi Mascari, headquarters of the Union of Peasant and Indigenous Organizations of Cotacachi. She and her family participate weekly in the Pachamama Nos Alimenta community fair, which brings together more than 150 women producers from Cotacachi.

07/06/2025

Country or Territory Ecuador

Related URL Related FAO Feature Story: https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/secrets-of-the-andean-chakras/en

UNFAO Source FAO Photo Library

File size 9.11 MB

Unique ID UF1ADOU

Editorial use only. Photo credit must be given. For further information contact: Photo-Library@fao.org

Background Information Kichwa women and their ancestral agricultural knowledge have sustained food security in Ecuador’s highlands for centuries. Their farms, known as chakra, were recognized in 2023 by FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). Indigenous women like Magdalena are seed guardians, preserving native maize varieties and passing this knowledge to her daughter Verónica.

Climate change-related droughts, floods and pests threaten this system, but with FAO’s support, organizations like UNORCAC work with Kichwa communities to strengthen resilience through the use and exchange of native seeds.