Second Encounter of Small Farm Communities in the Dry Forest of the Piura Region
“Small farm communities as stakeholders in regional development”

• Building sustainable livelihoods and food systems

Food dependence has produced profound changes in the economic, social and cultural situation, especially in rural areas and communities, changing eating habits by replacing local products with cheap imports; causing families to reduce or abandon croplands; expanding monocropping and single-species husbandry as strategies for communities to increase their income, since this will supposedly increase productivity; causing the loss of genetic variability in native crops and breeds, cultural practices, Andean agricultural technology and the biodiversity of fragile ecosystems (such as the dry forest and high mountains); weakening community organizations (encouraging individualism in response to the market); encouraging young people to migrate from the countryside to cities in search of jobs; and leading to disadvantageous trade relations for rural families. This has resulted in hunger, malnutrition and poverty, not only for rural families and communities, but also in sizable sectors of urban areas.

Heifer’s goal is to counteract this situation, so it is important to review and re-evaluate rural development models and strategies in a mega-diverse country such as ours, developing viable productive, economic, social and environmental alternatives: agroecological production, access to and protection of resources, fair trade relations between rural and urban areas, access to healthful and nutritious foods for both rural and urban dwellers, sustainable management of ecosystems, and recovery and valuing of ancestral knowledge and culture. We also work with people’s homes, promoting healthful living environments to contribute to family welfare

Rural Peruvians, mainly in small farm communities, live in poverty with serious deficiencies, although they play a key role in mountain areas and have shown throughout history that they are able to cope with major challenges. They also have great potential for modernization, although conditions are not conducive to building on that potential, because they are constrained by policies that are discriminatory or indifferent. Besides promotion of their goods and activities, therefore, they need development and capacity-building, new leadership, and partnerships with other sectors of society.

We work to enable increasing numbers of rural and urban dwellers to develop critical awareness and reflect on the situation of and participation by rural organizations in public and private activities at various levels. This full exercising of citizenship includes knowledge and awareness of rights and responsibilities as part of a social collective. This calls for community education involving adults, youth and children to increase participation in and sustainability of community development. We also promote intercultural sharing, meetings and discussion of the situation in Peru, based on our conviction that food sovereignty is crucial for development.

We feel that this area must be mainstreamed and included in alliances, so that education at all levels can involve rural organizations in broader processes, in which education and advocacy work together to make them stronger. Suitable strategies must be designed so that rural organizations, rural communities, the agrarian movement and partners can make a major impact on Peruvian government policies.

Small farmers and other rural people bear the brunt of legal contexts and local, regional, national and international policies, because many of these policies, systems and practices fail to support sustainable small-scale agriculture or work for inside-out development (e.g. most social policies are based on charity and handouts). It is necessary to influence the legal framework of development policies, generated from rural communities. We support efforts by rural and small farm movements and organizations to build alliances and coordinate on policies, systems and practices for small-scale producers.

The agrarian movement (1 ) faces legal constraints and lack of political will for rural sector development. In recent years, Heifer Peru has supported partnership among rural communities, building their critical awareness and understanding of the context, defining a political vision — which does not mean getting involved in party politics — to determine “where rural communities are headed” in the long run. As new leaders emerge, organizational and democratic capacity-building will support strong leadership and foster horizontal relations.

Heifer Peru has grown steadily in recent years as a result of a view of national problems (2 )that has required us to revise our structure and operations and become an organization that facilitates change. We have adapted our intervention style to areas with new characteristics, revising our programs to address new situations and challenges and making the best use of our staff’s skills.