FAO Digital Media Hub - ECUADOR, 2025. Handicraft items

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ECUADOR, 2025. Blanca is secretary of the women’s savings group in the community of El Cercado

ECUADOR, 2025. Flowers in Zayra's garden

ECUADOR, 2025. Blanca is secretary of the women’s savings group in the community of El Cercado

ECUADOR, 2025. Traditional weaving workshop

ECUADOR, 2025. Zayra is treasurer of the women’s savings group

ECUADOR, 2025. Zayra arrives for the community group meeting

ECUADOR, 2025. Members of the women's savings group

ECUADOR, 2025. Seedlings in Maria's garden

ECUADOR, 2025. One of Zayra's hens

ECUADOR, 2025. Harvesting maize

ECUADOR, 2025. Laying hens

ECUADOR, 2025. View of Andean Chakra, an ancestral agricultural system

ECUADOR, 2025. Women from the savings group preparing food

ECUADOR, 2025. Members of the women's savings group

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ECUADOR, 2025. Handicraft items

09 July 2025. El Cercado, Ecuador. Women from the community of El Cercado display their handmade crafts for sale and barter.

07/09/2025

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 13.21 MB

Unique ID UF1ADRN

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.