FAO Digital Media Hub - ECUADOR, 2025. Preparing the fire to cook tortillas

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ECUADOR, 2025. Preparing the fire to cook tortillas

06 July 2025. Cotacachi, Ecuador. A local producer from Cotacachi lights the fire to cook maize tortillas—a traditional dish made with local ingredients harvested by women farmers. This food is sold and traded at the community fair Pachamama Nos Alimenta, which brings together over 150 women farmers and local producers.

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 9.06 MB

Unique ID UF1ADMW

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.