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Digital Asset Management (DAM) by Orange Logic
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Farmers
Seeds (food)
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ECUADOR, 2025. Holding container with garden fruits
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ECUADOR, 2025. MarÃa is the coordinator of the Chakras Andinas SIPAM project
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ECUADOR, 2025. Centeno, a rye variety
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ECUADOR, 2025. FAO Goodwill Ambassador Rodrigo Pacheco with Women’s Committee member, Luz MarÃa
ECUADOR, 2025. MarÃa is the coordinator of the Chakras Andinas SIPAM project
ECUADOR, 2025. Women farmers participate in ancestral harvest gratitude ceremony
UCUADOR, 2025. Luz MarÃa, a member of the women’s committee of UNORCAC
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ECUADOR 2025. Holding centeno or buckwheat seeds
07 July 2025. Cumbas, Ecuador. MarÃa Piñan, leader of UNORCAC (Union of Peasant and Indigenous Organizations of Cotacachi), holds centeno seeds in her hands.
07/07/2025
Country or Territory
Ecuador
Credit
© FAO / Johanna Alarcón
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
9.75 MB
Unique ID
UF1ADN7
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.