FAO Digital Media Hub - ECUADOR, 2025. Local farmer Magdalena at work with her daughter

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ECUADOR, 2025. Local farmer Magdalena at work with her daughter

07 July 2025. Cumbas, Ecuador. Magdalena Laine carries a container filled with Kalpu beans, native seeds from the region, to prepare lunch at her home. She is a guardian of a wide variety of native Andean seeds that support food sovereignty and cultural preservation.

07/07/2025

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 11.33 MB

Unique ID UF1ADO8

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.