The lottery of the crazy ones Agricultural production and management under insecure climate conditionsThe case of the small-scale potato farmer in Carchi, Ecuador

Jerôme G.J.H. Eggen

Wageningen University • Wageningen School of Social Sciences

Wageningen University - Wageningen School of Social SciencesCommunication and Innovation Studies, COM-80430

Thesis by Jerôme G.J.H. Eggen, BSc. MSc. candidate Management of Agro-ecological Knowledge and Social Change

The lottery of the crazy ones - Agricultural production and management under insecure climate conditions

The case of the small-scale potato farmer in Carchi, Ecuador

April 2012

Supervised by Dr. Stephen Sherwood (COM)

Co-reader Dr. Todd Crane (TAD)

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© Eggen, Jerôme G.J.H. (2012)

The lottery of the crazy ones - Agricultural production and management under insecure climate conditions: The case of the small-scale farmer in Carchi, Ecuador

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MY GREATEST APPRECIATION...

Before anything, I would like to start this paper with expressing my gratitude towards some people who helped me along the road of research and writing to guide me to where I am at this moment. Without them this thesis wouldn’t have been the same as it is, or probably be nonexistent.

My supervisor Stephen Sherwood has been a great help since the day I started to ponder upon a proposal and what that should imply. His advice and comments helped me to see things in a different perspective and though I did not always agree with these differences and what they meant for me or the world in general, when I reach the end of this research now I understand that all these changing opportunities and constraints we’ve come up with during our meetings and brainstorm sessions constituted in a way my understanding and belief. These insights have proven to be valuable over again while working on this thesis. I enjoyed my stay at Steve’s and Myriam’s farm in Ecuador where I could escape the busy cities and the hectic fieldwork days at times and wander around in the lush surrounding mountains with their dogs to get a little break and recap the muddle in my head and its progress.

In line with this I would also like to thank Myriam Paredes for kindly welcoming me in her house. I greatly valued her advice on my work and the fact that she always found a moment to provide me with it although her very busy schedule. Myriam’s research data proved to contain vital information for my thesis and without this, it would have been much harder to select people with the precise characteristics for my sample.

Todd Crane, second reader of this thesis has always been an available source of information and advice during my career as a Wageningen University student. I am aware of the fact that I am not the ideal student and I would like to thank him for (still) being patient with me and his willingness to read my thesis. Todd’s work on climate change and adaptation has given me valuable insights and it is this that enabled me to start sort out ideas inside the chaotic pool in my mind to start form a decent proposal.

Very special thanks to my Ecuadorian accomplice Euler Fueltala who has been a real friend to me. I am very glad that Euler and his family where the first people I started to work with in Ecuador and I am very glad this resulted in a friendship that lasted the rest of my stay. Next to ‘official’ thesis work Euler and I travelled around together for various reasons, either visiting other farmer communities, giving field schools, exploring the environment or singing karaoke and testing different aguardiente brews. Euler has been a continuous source of information, inspiration and motivation and I am very grateful for that. When thinking of Ecuador one of the first things that pop to mind are the long, cold walks at night we took together to visit neighboring villages and the interesting and vivid discussions we had on those walks.

The staff from EkoRural warmly welcomed me amongst them and I am very happy I was able to work with them and exchange my thoughts along. Their knowledge provided me with the valuable in-depth information that is not written down in our common scientific literature but is only gained by years of experience. Ross Mary Borja offered me a place to work in one of EkoRurals local offices and her visits gave me a better understanding of what it means to work on international projects and how to manage your resources around you. If anything, she sure helped me to become more systematic in my work. Pedro Oyarzun was a valuable companion during my stay in Ecuador. His extensive knowledge of research in the Latin countries and the vast amount of data he supplied me with substantially helped me develop this thesis. His Dutch roots were a welcome addition in the foreign context I found myself in. Patricia Chiriboga has been a dear colleague who helped me with a hundred little things that I probably couldn’t have managed to do on my own. I very much cherished her interest and

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commitment and the way she managed to make me feel confident again when I felt down and lost.

In the EkoRurals’ Ibarra office I was welcomed by César Andrade and Máximo Ochoa. I’d like to thank César for being my colleague and the nice atmosphere we were able to work in together. Next to that I highly appreciated our friendship outside the office. The lunches at his parents place, the empanadas at Casa Blanca, soccer matches and nightly parties were very welcome distractions. To Máximo I am thankful for his friendship and hospitality. The MACRENA library and equipment that Máximo allowed me to use has helped me in significant ways.

I’d like to express my appreciation to Jovanny Suquillo from INIAP who, without knowing exactly what I was doing, unselfishly helped me to track down farmers to work with and got me in touch with a big part of my research partners.

Concepción ‘Conchita’ Villareal has always been there for me in Ibarra and Colombia and she made me feel at home at her houses there. Her advice, helping hands and listening ears were a support that I could always rely on after returning to the city after fieldwork.

I am greatly indebted by the marvelous families who where so kind to let me stay with them. I owe a great deal to the families of Euler Fueltala, Antonio España and Bolívar Taramuel who without any consent took me into their homes, gave me shelter, fed me and became my guides, teachers and friends. Their open and affectionate attitude towards me has had a great influence on not only this thesis, but also upon my views of hospitality and how to treat equivalent human beings. Their open mindsets and readiness to come to aid without any compromises is one of the things that I treasure most of my stay in Ecuador and hope to bear with me the rest of my life.

All the farmers and their respective families I was able to work with during my research deserve my deepest respect and gratitude. It is these people that are the core of this paper and almost everything concerned with it. Their ungrudging willingly given aid and interest of working with me and trying to help with my research, in their own specific manners has struck my with great admiration. It is because of these people I was able to do what I wanted to do. I can only hope that one day I am able to give them back a little of all the efforts they made by helping me. It meant a lot to me and I hope someday I can return the favor, if not directly to these specific persons, then to similar groups of individuals around the world.

In the Netherlands I would like to thank my parents and brother who, without being completely aware of what I was and am doing and only vaguely know what is going on, still supported me in their own fashion.

My housemates of De Verzameling throughout all the years have constituted a new home for me and I’d like to thank them for that, specifically the ones that where present when writing up this thesis, Kenny and Melissa. Thanks to Paolo for being my friend at distance and to facilitate my thesis writing at his home in Italy when I needed a break from everything. A special thank you to Dick and Jorien, the ones that stayed and have always been present.

As last I would like to thank Luis Zuleta, who helped me when all hope faded for a moment and I needed help most above all. I don’t even dare to think what I would have done without you.

...And since the tides have been shifting lately I now add a last expression of gratitude for Allison. Thank you so much for the many welcome distractions. They got me through the last bits.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

My greatest appreciation…! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ivFigures! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! viiiTables! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ixAcronyms! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ixGlossary of Spanish and Quechua terminology! ! ! ! ! xAdagium ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! xii

Chapter I ! Introduction ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1! ! An introduction to the journey that lies ahead! ! ! A thesis in Ecuador! ! ! ! ! ! 1! ! ! Motivation! ! ! ! ! ! ! 2! ! ! Questions and concepts, it’s all in a framework! ! ! 3! ! ! Plugging in! ! ! ! ! ! ! 9! ! ! Research phases! ! ! ! ! ! 10! ! ! Data collection and it’s methods!! ! ! ! 10! ! ! Sample selection! ! ! ! ! ! 13! ! ! Analyzing data! ! ! ! ! ! ! 13! ! ! Logistics! ! ! ! ! ! ! 15! ! ! Summary! ! ! ! ! ! ! 16

Chapter II! Going deeper into Carchi! ! ! ! ! ! 17

! ! A closer look at the research area and its specifics! ! ! The province of Carchi! ! ! ! ! ! 17! ! ! Farming in Carchi - Potatoes! ! ! ! ! 18! ! ! Climate in Carchi - Inherently variable! ! ! ! 21! ! ! People from Carchi - “The horses”! ! ! ! 23! ! ! Summary! ! ! ! ! ! ! 23

Chapter III! Farmers’ narratives! ! ! ! ! ! ! 25

! ! The tales of three farming families! ! ! Hernando Colimba - Farming at high level! ! ! 25! ! ! Esgardo Sarmiento - Gambling with potatoes! ! ! 30! ! ! Ignacio Murillo - A diverse farming family! ! ! 34! ! ! Summary! ! ! ! ! ! ! 39

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Chapter IV ! Clarifications! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 40! ! In which I answer questions but simultaneously create new ones! ! ! State of the weather! ! ! ! ! ! 40! ! ! Variability?! ! ! ! ! ! ! 43! ! ! Farmers’ experience! ! ! ! ! ! 45! ! ! Water management practices! ! ! ! ! 48! ! ! Summary! ! ! ! ! ! ! 51

Chapter V! Conclusions and recommendations! ! ! ! ! 53

! ! Where I try to find meaning in action and advocate on future development! ! ! Implications for farmers, an overview! ! ! ! 53! ! ! Conclusions! ! ! ! ! ! ! 56! ! ! Summa summarum! ! ! ! ! ! 59! ! ! Potato panarchy! ! ! ! ! ! 64! ! ! Recommendations for future action, a denouement! ! 65

Appendix ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! I: The potato plant! ! ! ! ! ! ! xiii! ! II: Meteorological data for El Angel, range 2000-2008! ! ! xiv! ! III: Meteorological data for San Gabriel, range 2000-2008! ! xvii! ! IV: Reflection on the thesis project! ! ! ! ! xx

Bibliography! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! xxiiSummary! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! xxv

!

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FIGURES

Cover photo! A Carchi potato farmer in his field in the highlands applying pesticides ! i! ! to his plants! ! ! ! ! ! !Figure 1.1! Hollings’ lazy eight! ! ! ! ! ! ! 7

Figure 1.2! Literature pilling up! ! ! ! ! ! ! 10

Figure 2.1! Map of the Carchi province and an area close up with the research ! 17! ! locations indicated

Figure 2.2! Two frailejóns! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 18

Figure 2.3! Main potato production areas in Carchi! ! ! ! ! 19

Figure 2.4! Summary of the research design and its central themes! ! ! 24

Figure 3.1! One of the many springs in the páramo ! ! ! ! ! 28

Figure 3.2! The result of lancha! ! ! ! ! ! ! 29

Figure 3.3! The result of minador! ! ! ! ! ! ! 29

Figure 3.4! The result of a heavy hail storm! ! ! ! ! ! 33

Figure 3.5! Potato plants in wachu rozado before working the land! ! ! 36

Figure 3.6! Potato plants in wachu rozado after working the land! ! ! 36

Figure 4.1! Average monthly temperature in El Angel and San Gabriel! ! 41

Figure 4.2! Total monthly precipitation in El Angel! ! ! ! ! 42

Figure 4.3! Total monthly precipitation in San Gabriel! ! ! ! 42

Figure 4.4! Average yearly temperatures in El Angel and San Gabriel! ! 43

Figure 4.5! Total yearly precipitation in El Angel and San Gabriel! ! ! 44

Figure 4.6! Average yearly precipitation in El Angel and San Gabriel!! ! 44

Figure 5.1! Lazy eight applicable to potato farming! ! ! ! ! 61

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TABLES

Table 1.1! Four different farming styles! ! ! ! ! ! 4

Table 1.2! The sampled families! ! ! ! ! ! ! 13

Table 1.3! Overview of the research! ! ! ! ! ! 16

Table 2.1! Meteorological data for Carchi! ! ! ! ! ! 22

Table 3.1! Super Chola vs. Unica! ! ! ! ! ! ! 38

Table 3.2! Weather intervals at San Pedro bajo Piartal! ! ! ! 38

Table 3.3! Overview of three potato farming families! ! ! ! 39

Table 4.1 ! Summary of research question 1 and research question 2 !! ! 52

Table 5.1! Consequences that current weather has for farmers! ! ! 55

ACRONYMS

IIED ! ! International Institute for Environment and Development

INAMHI! Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología; National Institute of ! ! Meteorology and Hydrology

INIAP! ! Instituto Nacional Autónomo de Investigaciones Agropecuarias; National ! ! Autonomous Institute of Agricultural Research

IPC! ! International Potato Center

IPCC! ! Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

MACRENA! Red para el manejo comunitario de recursos naturales; Network of ! ! Community Based Natural Resource Management

Masl! ! Meters above sea level

N.a. ! ! Not available

NGO! ! Non Governmental Organization

UNFCCC! United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

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GLOSSARY OF SPANISH AND QUECHUA TERMINOLOGY

Abono Fertilizers (mostly being organic)Agropecuaria A combination of an agriculture and aquaculture study or

professionAguardiente Alcoholic beverage made from fermented sugarcaneArriesgado Risk taker, a certain type of farming styleAzadon Typical tool used to work with potatoes, see palaBomba A pump, usually functioning with combustiblesCaballo Literally horse, but here used to indicate an inhabitant from

Carchi due to their strength and hard work

Calle Literally street, here referred to as a potato streetCarchense Inhabitant of the Carchi provinceCarchi Most Northern province of Ecuador, bordering Colombia. The

three villages where research was conducted all reside in this province

Chola A potato varietyConquistadores The Spanish conquerersCooperación 23 de Julio

The local farmers organization in San Fransisco de La Libertad

Cooperación Santa Martha de Cuba

The local farmers organization in Santa Martha de Cuba

Creciente Growing, here referred to as the phase of a growing moonDiamante A potato varietyDon Title, used to adress people who you respectExperimentador Experimenter, a certain type of farming styleFrailejón Plant native to the Ecuadorian páramos Gabriela A potato varietyGranizo HailGusano blanco Andean weevil (Premnotropes vorax)Haba Bell bean (Vicia faba)Hacienda Large farms owned by a wealthy family owning lots of land and

usually cattleHelada FrostHierba Literally weed, but also used to refere to grasslands for cattleIngeniero Someone holding a bachelor degreeLancha Late blight or potato blight (Phytophthora infestans)Llena Full, here referred to as a state of the moon, full moonLluvia RainMata Plant, specifically a potato plant. The part of the plant that grows

above groundMelloco Ulluco, also known as papa lisa (Ullucus tuberosus)Menguante Decline, here referred to as a phase of the moon, third quarterMinador Leaf miner, general term used for a variety of insects (moths

and flies) which live in and eat leaf tissue of (potato) plants

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Monte Hill, hillsideMosques y culebras Mosquitos en cobras Nueva New, here referred to as a state of the moon, new moonPala Typical tool used to work with potatoes, see azadonPapero A potato farmerPapa Potato (Solanum tuberosum)Páramo Wet montane and alpine environment endemic to the Andean

highlandsPeones Work man hired by a farmer to work on his potato fieldPicar calles para retapar Cutting out earth in between potato embankments in order to use

this earth to higher the embankmentsPlano Flat. Used to indicate the shape of a fieldPolilla Guatemalteca A moth that digs holes in potato plants in order to live in and lay

eggs in them. This specific variety got introduced in Ecuador when importing potatoes from Guatemala (Lepidoptera Heterocera)

Pudre Rot, rotting. Potatoes rotted away are called pudresQuebrado Fragmented, hilly. Used to indicate the shape of a field. Opposite

of planoQuintal Former Spanish mass unit still used in Ecuador. The Spanish

quintal which is used in most Latin American countries is defined as 100 libras (pound based) equals 46,04 kilogram

Quinua Quinoa, goosefoot (Chenopodium)San Francisco de La Libertad

Village in Carchi, where research for this thesis was conducted

San Pedro bajo Piartal Village in Carchi, where research for this thesis was conductedSanta Martha de Cuba Village in Carchi, where research for this thesis was conductedSeguro Safe player, a certain type of farming styleSembrar To seed (potatoes)Sol fuerte A strong sunSuper Chola A potato varietyTomate de árbol Tamarillo, literally tree tomato (Solanum betaceum)Tradicional Traditional, a certain type of farming styleUnica A potato varietyWachar Ensuring that the potatoes have enough room to grow by adding

extra ground to the embankments of the plantsWachu Quechua name to indicate potato embankments, see calleWachu rozado Pre-Colombian cropping system used for potato productionZanahoria Carrot (Daucus carota)

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“ Not only does a journey transport us over enormous distances, it also causes us to move a few degrees up or down in the social scale. It displaces us physically and also — for better or for worse — takes us out of our class context, so that the colour and flavour of certain places cannot be dissociated from the always unexpected social level on which we find ourselves in experiencing them.

Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques

- Chapter 9: Guanabara, p.86

”

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Chapter I An introduction to the journey that lies ahead

A thesis in EcuadorIn Ecuador, one of South-Americas smallest countries lies the province of Carchi. Bordering Colombia, Carchi is Ecuador's most Northern province. In the higher regions of the province extensive farming is practiced. Next to cattle, in most cases cows used for milk production, Carchi's fertile soils provide a well equipped offspring for agriculture, specially potato production.

Although the conditions in Carchi are ideal for agriculture there are some hassles related to this. Specially in the highlands (3500-4000 masl) climatic variations are altered under (what seems to be) the threat of climate change. It is not certain whether current changes in climate in Carchi are due to anthropogenic actions or are a deviation from the normal trend happening for other reasons1. Fact is that climate becomes more unpredictable and farmers have difficulties adapting to this. Where first the earth should be made arable in August (because September would be a rainy month), this general knowledge is no longer valid. Nobody knows precise if there will be sufficient rain in September. There might even be too much rain.

The general trend is that due to (increasing) climatic variability dry periods will be dryer then usual and wet periods will be wetter. This makes it harder to cultivate potatoes. Climate variability also alters the availability of water. An example is the disappearance of glacier water that once was used for agriculture (Vuille, Francou et al. 2008). Water is slowly becoming scarce and a hot topic nowadays in Carchi.

Next to climate problems, there is a certain level of agricultural modernization going on. Due to it’s excellent agricultural conditions, Carchi was well equipped for modernization, which arrived in the beginning of the 1970’s. It can be argued whether this modernization was a success or not, it is a fact that with this modernization (more) environmental and health problems came to be (Sherwood 2009). The high use of pesticides was (and in some cases still is) a big risk factor for a farmers’ health (Antle, Cole et al. 1998; Crissman, Antle et al. 1998; Yanggen, Crissman et al. 2003; Sherwood 2009; Paredes 2010) and leads to soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and outwash of chemicals into ground and surface water. According to the agricultural modernization scenario ‘green revolution’ technologies are standard to increase production. The level of technology applied corresponds to the level of development. However, “studies in Carchi show that there is no standard way or single model that peasant farmers follow in their application of modern technologies in potato production” (Paredes 2010). Introduction of new technologies does not always stimulate development and might even have negative consequences.

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1 Because of this uncertainty, I prefer to use the term climate variability instead of climate change. In Carchi’s highland Andes climate variability is a mere fact and can be demonstrated. Long term climate change is not (yet) proven in this specific area.

Rethinking Carchi's potato industry we might ask ourselves how sustainable this production system is and what it’s ultimate returns are. It might be true that there are two to three times more potatoes produced then the average as is stated by many farmers, but for what price and under which and who’s conditions?

This notion leads us to the problem statement of this research:

‘ Changes in local climate appear to alter water availability and other environmental variables needed by Andean highland potato farmers in Carchi, thereby creating a ‘driver’ of change. How are farmers adapting to this and what implications does this have for the future of potato farming? ’

MotivationAs a previous Bachelor student of environmental sciences the topic of climate change was always a hot one and the issue has been stirring my interest ever since. During my Bachelor study I tried to come round climate obstacles by looking for technical solutions. I came to believe the beta-side of science could solve all these problems, as science and technology keep on advancing.

After doing an internship and graduation project in Central America (Honduras and Guatemala) my thoughts on the subject changed. I got kicked in the head by another reality and came to realize that the ‘technology can solve the problem’ point of view was not correct, at least not anymore, and not to be true for a developing country.

To actually solve problems, even by implementing a technical solution, peoples’ commitment and participation is needed. Local people experiencing (environmental) difficulties should be involved with your plans in order to make things work. Without their support it will be very difficult to make a positive change. Many people I visited as part of my internship were smallholders and farmers, with a little subsidize from a University or NGO. With sufficient dedication these people were able to maintain their business and provide an income for their family. I am convinced, as were those people, that without this dedication, their efforts and willingness to work and learn they would’ve not been able to do so.

So after my graduation I decided to maintain my studies by now choosing for a social science Master. I came to see that to really solve a problem, instead of ‘top-down’ throwing technology at them, people dealing with the problem should be the first ones involved. People who are experiencing climate variability or other environmental problems and are trying to overcome this or are adapting to this are the ones who can make the difference. Active anticipation on current and future problems is probably the only way to solve them, no matter what solution you prefer (technological, political, etc.).

Through this my interest is triggered. How do people who are experiencing climate change or other environmental problems react on these? How is this affecting their lives and how do they notice this? If they adapt, in what way will they do so? Are they innovating their practices, or maybe moving to an other area where the problem doesn’t exist? How are people enabled (or constraint) to adapt, are they dependent on their neighborhood, knowledge, religion or other resources? What will in the end turn out to be the solution for their problems?

I am interested in the influence that climate variability will have on agriculture and water resources and in turn, the effect that it will have on farmers. How do farmers themselves think about climate variability and its effects? What are the expected effects on their production

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processes and how does this confront farmers? What new challenges are they facing and how are their decisions influenced by actual and expected threats?

Questions and concepts, it’s all in a frameworkAccording to the problem statement and my personal interest, this research is performed around one main question which is divided into three sub questions. The main research questions is as follows:

How do potato farmers in Carchi, Ecuador adapt to climate irregularities and what implications does this have for farming and water management practices under increasing uncertainties?

The three sub research questions:

1. What are traditional weather patterns is the potato producing highlands of Carchi and what are present trends?

2. How do potato farmers experience weather and how do they manage water resources as means of compensating for weather?

3. What consequences do present weather trends signify for farmers’ water management and potato cultivation practices?

Based upon the problem statement and research’ questions, concepts are defined and operationalized to get a clearer definition on what I am dealing with. This also enables everyone interested to interpret abstractions and theories the same way.

Farming heterogeneity, endogenous development and deviance

Farming in Carchi is based on a market-oriented potato-pasture system and “[..] combines diverse forms of commoditized and non-commoditized relations of production” (Paredes 2010). Agriculture in Carchi is a process intentionally (socially) constructed to reproduce and regulate potatoes. Reasons to do so may vary, but the most applicable is to maintain livelihoods through the different opportunities agriculture generates for the families (financial income, food supply).

I adapt the view of Paredes (2010) that “agricultural modernization is a negotiated process that is continuously transformed through peasant farming practices and social networking.” We can argue that agriculture (in this case potato production in Carchi) is a practice depended on social life and social institutions. This allows us to look at farmers as actors that apply and adjust strategies and practices in response to socio-economic conditions.

This is in line with the view of Richards (1989; 1993) who argues that agriculture is social action. According to this view strategies and practices of farmers are not a design, but a result. An outcome of decisions made influenced by your social environment. Agriculture is a performance, part of a wider performance in social life. Viewing agriculture as performance enables the researcher to analyze adaptation in agriculture because is treats farmers as individuals with their own set of norms and values and not people who act on specific and intentional behavior (Crane, Roncoli 2011).

T0 recognize, farming the process of production and reproduction through labour should be identified. The primary source of farm labour is the farm family who organizes farm activities.

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When talking about a potato farmer, this should not be interpreted as one single man, but as a farmer family. In my point of view the whole family contributes to the farming process. Not only relations through kinship allows one to be member of the farmer family, also other farmers, neighbors or sharecrop partners can belong to this. This comes close to the notion of a guild, great families consisting of professionals formed on the model of society (Durkheim 1957).

Not only cultivating (working in the field) is a farming performance, to buy seeds, negotiate prices, visit markets and all other activities involved to ensure a good harvest are part of farming. Realize that if you come across just one person in the field, does not mean he is a lone farmer, there is probably a whole team behind him, all with different tasks but all committed to the same goal. As Van der Ploeg (1994) puts it: “farming always involves the mobilization and reproduction of resources.” The word ‘resources’ should be thought out of it’s general context here, even religion, specific lunar activity, marriage and local festivities can be considered a resource.

The way farmers mobilize resources differs for each situation and individual judgement of his current situation. Farmers are not a homogeneous group and each farmer employs a different farming strategy to mobilize and reproduce resources according to his own situation. We speak thus of farmer heterogeneity. This brings us to the notion of farming styles. Paredes (2010) identifies four distinct styles in Carchi, tradicionales, seguros, arriesgados and experimentadores (respectively traditional, safe players, risk takers, experimenters). Each style has his particular characteristics of potato farming. Table 1.1 outlines farming styles in Carchi (adopted from Paredes (2010)).

Criteria Tradicionales Seguros Arriesgados ExperimentadoresIdentity markers

- Proud to keep traditions

- ‘Independent’ from markets- Not taking risks

- Being ‘true’ potato producers- Taking all the risks needed

- Experimenting for a better life

Rational of production

- High investment, high return- Conserving resources for high yields

- Low investment, low return- Having enough without being too ambitious

- High investment, highly variable return- Playing the lottery

- Low investment, high return-Non-commoditized labour as main capital

Driving model of production

- Combination of traditional and modern technologies

- Against the ‘old’ hacienda way of production- Tries to avoid owner-employee relationships

- The ‘modern’ hacienda way of production- Tries to limit labour demand

- Technology replacement for less costly options through experimentation

Viewing farming as social action leans on the idea that farming (considered as a technology) consist of a material and social component as opposed by Mauss (2001). Farming styles and strategies are experimented with and being approved or turned down by the farming society. It can even be said that the notion of farming strategies, or the innovation amongst these is

Table 1.1: Four different farming styles (Paredes 2010)

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socially constructed. I realize a statement like this sound vague but I hope to clarify it more in the fifth chapter of this thesis.

The social and material elements of farming constitute its heterogeneity and style. Farming styles are the result of complex inter-relational networks, involving both human and non-human components (van der Ploeg 1994).

Farming styles won’t be researched for this research, as we draw upon the work of Paredes (2010): ‘Peasants, Potatoes and Pesticides: heterogeneity in the context of agricultural modernization in the highland Andes of Ecuador’. In her PhD thesis Paredes distinguishes and investigates the above mentioned farming styles and how they relate to production and pesticide use.

Van der Ploeg and Saccomandi (1995) describe two types of agricultural development that are applicable to farming and thus to the Carchi case. These are endogenous and exogenous development. The tradicionales and seguros styles are endogenous, a self-oriented, dynamic process of growth based local resource management. Values that are generated are reallocated in the same local context they’re coming from. Endogenous development revitalizes resources and positively affects local interests. Therefor it can generate better responses to ecological changes. Success depends for a big part on local capacities and management. This form of development was the primary form to be practiced in agriculture (van der Ploeg and Saccomandi 1995).

At a certain moment agricultural development created disconnections between farming practices and local resources. The best example of this is agricultural modernization. Because of this new styles of farming emerged that were not so much dependent on localities, but on markets, technologies and other external resources. In Carchi arriesgados and experimentadores represent this exogenous type of agricultural development. Responses to ecological changes are weaker but responses to the dynamics of markets are enhanced (van der Ploeg and Saccomandi 1995).

One more thing to consider when talking about farming is deviance. Deviance focusses on different (individual) behavior related to a common norm and how this behavior may threaten livelihoods or support mall practices. In most literature the emphasis is on this negative type of deviance. But in their work on deviance, Spreitzer ans Sonenshein (2004) argue that instead of focussing on negative deviance, the opposite is possible as well and perhaps more valuable to consider. They promote a focus on positive deviance, what they define as “intentional behaviors that depart from the norms of a reference group in honorable ways.”

A group of contributors to the British Medical Journal define positive deviance as “the observation that in most settings a few at risk individuals follow uncommon, beneficial practices and consequently experience better outcomes than their neighbours who share similar risks” (Marsh, Schroeder et al. 2004).

These definitions have a few things in common. First they both acknowledge the role that the individual has in positive deviance, ‘intentional behavior’ or ‘individuals who follow practices’. These then are compared to another case subject to the same conditions, ‘norms of a referent group’, ‘neighbours with similar risks’. Last to identify positive deviance is the notion of good results, ‘honorable ways’ or ‘beneficial practices with better outcomes’.

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Spreitzer and Sonenshein (2004) operationalize positive deviance according to their definition through which this they aim to measure a specific set of behaviors that are part of the concept of positive deviance. They also stress that any measure of positive deviance must incorporate the three parts were the definition builds on and argue that if anyone wants to demonstrate positive deviance, the should not analyze the positive case, but a comparable case without deviance. The notion of deviance is important when analyzing and apprehending results and conclusions of this thesis.

Climate and weather

Climate are specific but general weather conditions prevailing in an area or over a longer period of time. It is the result of cumulative averages (such as temperature, precipitation, wind strength, hours of sunlight, etc.) which are being referred to as ‘normal’. It is a weather trend established over time for a specific area.

Weather thus is the current state of the climate and the accumulated results of weather make up the reference point for climate. This is what establishes the norm. “Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get” (Crane 2009). With basic technological equipment weather can be measured. If you do this over a period of time, you can establish a climate.

The same goes for climate variability, an irregularity from the established ‘normal’. Variability indicates the differences in weather over a certain period and occurs despite of climate change, but climate change can alter existing variability. We can speak of climate variability when there are many variations within the norm over an extensive period.

I will not determine weather and establish climate for the Carchi region myself, this is not possible because of the lack of the needed technologies and because of the timeframe of this research. Instead I will draw upon documented data available. Also, through general observation I identify general characteristics of weather. When analyzing and discussing weather in this thesis, I focus upon temperature and precipitation. I recognize the significance of other variables such as wind and hours of sunlight, but temperature and rainfall are the two variables considered most important by farmers, and weather data available to me contains sufficient details on these.

When saying the word climate nowadays, one immediately thinks of a second word that follows up: change. According to the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) (2009) “climate change refers to short-, medium-, and long-term changes in weather patterns and temperature that are predicted to happen, or are already happening as a result of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.” The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) definition: “a change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g. using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. It refers to any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity.” The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (1992), refers to climate change as “a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.”

In all of these definitions we can identify four reoccurring elements: a change, that can be observed or identified for or over a certain amount time due to result of a to be identified cause

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human (or natural) activity. When trying to measure or operationalize climate change these four features of the concept will prove to be the key in doing so. To put this in one sentence: A notable system change over time with a recognizable cause.

It is a fact that climate change is occurring world wide and it is gnarly agreed upon that it is influencing some of the biological and ecological processes on our planet. I will not be able to ‘scientifically’ prove climate change is happening in Carchi, but change in general can be identified by comparing data on weather over a certain timeframe. Farmers are able to recollect memories of how weather used to be years ago. As said before, though measurable in a certain way, the cause is (for me) indeterminable. Anthropogenic (change) or a natural flux of the trend (variability), I cannot and will not comment on the causes.

Change and variability can also be notified by taking into account that it is impressing itself upon other elements around. Water levels, water availability, soil fertility, seed incubation time, harvest periods etcetera could all be affected by climate change since this are all factors that mutual exist with climate. Through general observation and reconstruction of the past by farmers (through memory) this can be achieved.

Resilience, vulnerability and adaptation

Folke (2006) states resilience is the ability of a system to absorb and recover from shocks such that it maintains an acceptable level of structure and function. This idea can be explained by ‘the lazy eight’ as developed by Holling. The lazy eight is based on four (eco)system functions and the flow of events among them.

In fact, the lazy eight represents an adaptive cycle that lets us see how adaptive capacities function in theory. “Resilience, as achieved by adaptive capacity, determines how vulnerable the system is to unexpected disturbances and surprises that can exceed or break control [over the systems’ destiny]” (Holling 2001). It is a measure of systems’ ability to absorb change and still persist (Holling 1973)

“The trajectory alternates between long periods of slow accumulation and transformation of resources (from exploitation to conservation, or r to K), with shorter periods that create opportunities for innovation (from release to reorganization, or Ω to α). During the slow sequence from exploitation to conservation, connectedness and stability increase and capital is accumulated.The phase from omega to alpha is a period of rapid reorganization during which novel recombinations can unexpectedly seed experiments that lead to innovations in the next cycle” (Holling 2001). The exit from the circle, x, suggest the stage where potential can leak away. This can result into a less productive or organized system (Holling 1985). This x will prove to be important in our case, but we will turn to that in the last chapter.

Figure 1.1: Hollings’ lazy eight (Gunderson and Holling, 2002)

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As the adaptive cycle proceeds, the systems resilience expands and contracts. In the context of climate change, “a resilience approach is one that allows undesirable socioeconomic states to be transformed into more desirable ones without threatening the integrity of the ecological systems on which humans depend” (Boyd, Osbahr et al. 2008). This is what the eight stands for.

The cycles of the lazy eight occur at a number of levels and there is the possibility of multiple states present that are pressing upon other levels. These levels exist as panarchies, the interaction of adaptive cycles. It is worth noting that “systems consist of nested dynamics operating at particular organizational scales - sub-systems, as it were” (Walker, Holling et al. 2004). This notion will be explained in regard to potato farming in chapter five.

For this research the panarchies of potato farming will be touched. Panarchy entails that because of system’s interaction with other systems, resilience depends on influences of these interactions. Subsystems for potato farming that can influence farming are for example local and national politics, the availability of resources, markets, knowledge, organizational structures, climate change, water availability etcetera. It is these subsystems that can trigger local action and change in the farming system.

To identify resilience in potato farming, it has to be clear which and how external factors are influencing. How does the farming system buffer and react to these and generates adaptive capacity by doing so? These are important question when talking resilience. If the definition of resilience is applied to the research, we can ask ourselves how a potato production system deals with change in climate and water distribution and availability and alteration of other resources and how it adapts to continue to develop?

Closely related to systems’ resilience, adaption “refers to a process, action or outcome in a system in order for the system to better cope with, manage or adjust to some changing condition, stress, hazard, risk or opportunity” (Smit and Wandel 2006). In the case of climate variability adaptions are considered to assess the degree to which they can moderate or reduce negative impacts of climate change, or realize positive effects, to avoid danger (Smit and Wandel 2006).

Adaption can involve both building adaptive capacity and implementing adaption decisions. Both these dimensions could be implemented for or in response to climate variability effects and can either be simultaneously or separately applied. Therefor, adaptation is a continuous stream of activities on the broad spectrum of (social) life “that informs and reflects existing social norms and processes” (Adger, Arnell et al. 2005).

Adaptability depends on the capacity of actors in a system to influence resilience. Thus it relates to the capacity of humans to manage resilience (Walker, Holling et al. 2004). In this context we can ask ourselves what an individual farmer (family) is of doing, what are the capable of, what not and why? Examples could be applying (more) pesticides, change planting dates, cultivating more varieties, change the potato-pasture rotation, making arrangements with other farmers, hiring paid laborers etcetera.

To know whether adaptation strategies are successful or not, their effects should be considered. If adaption measures have been taken, their impact could be analyzed, though it can be difficult to separate climate variability adaption decisions or actions from actions triggered by other social or economic events (Adger, Arnell et al. 2005).

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Adaption and a systems’ adaptive capacity are intimately associated with the concept of vulnerability. Throughout the literature is the notion that “the vulnerability of any system (at any scale) is reflective of (or a function of) the exposure and sensitivity of that system to hazardous conditions and the ability or capacity or resilience of the system to cope, adapt or recover from the effects of these conditions” (Smit and Wandel 2006). In other words, what is the capacity to adapt when exposed to change? What is adaptive capacity inside an panarchy system?

The IPCC (2007) makes the perfect link between vulnerability and climate change: “Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity.” According to this conclusion not only change, but also climate variability is also a contributing factor to systems’ vulnerability.

To underline the human dimension of vulnerability Kelly and Adger (1999) use the term “social vulnerability.” The understanding of social vulnerability to climate is based on the human use of resources. According to Sen (1991) (quoted in Kelly and Adger (2000)), “the extend to which individuals, groups or communities are ‘entitled’ to make use of resources determines the ability of that particular population to cope and adapt to stress.”

To do so, socio-economic and socio-ecologic well being of society should be at the centre of analysis, focussing on the constraints which limit the capacity to respond to change (Kelly and Adger 1999). From this perspective, vulnerability of an individual or group is determined by resource availability and by the capacity of the individuals and groups to call on these resources.

Plugging inThis research will be established in cooperation with EkoRural, a newly formed NGO in Ecuador, which took over task and activities from Vecinos Mundiales (World Neighbors). It’s headquarter is located in Quito. “EkoRural is a non-profit NGO that seeks to support the capacity of rural communities to address their priority concerns” (Sherwood). The principle of Ekorural is “helping people help themselves” (Sherwood). Together with local communities the NGO analyses the core of acknowledged problems and tries to find solutions for them. Through local offices in Ibarra, Mira and Rio Bamba EkoRural manages on spot activities.

The NGO’s staff is experienced with farmer field schools, participatory monitoring, grassroots research and environmental management. EkoRural works together with the McKnight Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the International Potato Center and Universities around the world to alleviating the effects of hunger, disease and poverty. All of its activities have been implemented in collaboration with public agriculture and health agencies as well (local) governments.

Because of their extensive knowledge of my research area, research participants and research themes I was quickly able to understand and grasp a broad part of the picture. Specially in the beginning of research I will draw upon EkoRurals knowledge base and resources which should get me more acquainted with Carchi and its communities.

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Research phasesThe research was conducted in two phases, first an exploratory phase of two months during which I visited field sites to orientate towards my new environment to get familiar with it and in which I started to look for possible participants. Getting in touch and familiar with relevant stakeholders and participants proved valuable when I started working in the Carchi area. I found that by first introducing myself and having chats with people made them more comfortable with my presence and open to participate in my proposed research. I participated with different farm groups to analyze an implemented water management project, mostly done through field schools. Also NGO’s and other institutions that might be relevant to the research were visited in order to get to know local experts in my research themes and to introduce myself in hope of a basis for future collaboration. Literature research has also been conducted upon my arrival in Ecuador, mainly in EkoRurals local office in Ibarra. With all my newly obtained visions in this exploratory phase the initial research proposal was revised in order to make it better suitable to the local context and to strengthen the research design.

The second phase (5 months) was focussed on data collection through the case study, which involved participation observation and the recording of field notes. Next paragraph explains data collection more detailed.

Data collection and it’s methodsBased on applicable concepts and the research questions, I’ve chosen the following methods to collect research data:

Literature researchBefore starting field work I conducted a literature research in order to inform myself about the local situation (as far as possible from readings) and to get more insight in the different topics and concepts related to this thesis. I red literature on climate, water and potatoes, which was easily found. EkoRurals and MACRENA’s libraries are filled with sufficient literature to study on for some years. Also I gathered articles and research publications of NGO’s active in the area and local governments which provided detailed information about what was going on and about the current environmental and political state of the province.

General and participant observationWhen first visiting my research area everything was green. Not just one green, but a whole spectrum of green colors fluttering the surrounding mountains. One of the first notes I took was about my new environment and its aspects. I made general notes about the mountains, roads, animals, the village and its inhabitants. When starting to work in the field with farmers the notes became more specific and dealt about the climb to the field, what we talked about along the way and finally the field itself.

Not only these ‘general’ observations were jotted down, what people did in the field (and outside it, when back home) was described. I remember (as being new to this type of research) thinking, ‘How difficult can it be, I just write down what they do?’ As I found out along the way this proved to be quite an understatement.

Figure 1.2: Literature pilling up

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Actually writing down what someone does is not the trick, that can mostly be done in a single sentence. Focussing on details, how and when someone does something is the delicate issue here. How do farmers use they’re tools? How and why do they move their body this specific manner when swinging their tools through the air (keep a straight back and bend the knees, not the other way round)? From which angle do they struck the ground, why do they only move a little bit of ground at a time?

Again, this type of participant observation may seem an easy task, but at a certain point you start realizing that you’re missing out on a lot of what is actually (mostly indirect but equally as important) going on and you start to look at things at a whole new way. Aim is to grasp the complete spectrum of social life, which is indeed complicated.

Field notes and photographsThe information retrieved from observations and interviews was jotted down on a little recycled paper self-made notebook. I only wrote down key words and phrases since it was not possible to stop working and start writing for half an our. Therefor when done for the day, after a cold shower and hot meal I started to work with the most recent notes. I took all my findings from the notebook and wrote them down in a more detailed manner on my laptop. In the beginning this did not bother me but after couple days of hard work the last thing you want to do is start working again when done for the day. At times it was hard to find the discipline to start writing again, specially when you know it’ll take you a while to get it in the desired form.

The field notes are supplemented by photographs taken. I always carried my digital camera with me and took photos of the more general stuff around but also tried to capture more specific things. Apart from being pleasant reminders of my time in Ecuador these photos will prove to be very valuable for the research. They registered things that I did not wrote down immediately. Also things that I might forget can be easily re-obtained by the information hidden in pictures.

Semi-structured and unstructured interviewsWhen starting to work I had many questions in my mind and most of them already written down. I knew I had to interview people but again thought this might not prove that difficult either since I thought I could answer most of my questions from my observations. I was wrong once again. Instead of providing answers, the things I observed even caused me more hassle to understand what was going on.

Semi-structured, informal interviews were conducted. Sometimes this would happen in the field during work time while having conversations. I knew what I wanted to ask and memorized the questions the night before so I did not need to bring a bunch of paperwork to the field. I could do this only the night before because everyday I observed and learned new things, so I had to iterate and adapt my questions to this constantly. New riddles would pop up every moment of the day.

Other times these interviews took place at the participants home at the dining table, sometimes even while having diner, in the living room or at some random point during the day. Sometimes I had to ask and specify clearly whether I could interview, which made some farmers feel that this was the more ‘official’ part of my thesis, especially since I recorded most of these interviews with one of those fancy journalist voice recording gadgets (I was about to use the word ‘artifact’ here). Despite this, I still tried to keep things informal which in the end suited the situation best and made participants (and myself) feel at ease. Since some

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interviews lasted for more then two ours the informal atmosphere gave us a more relax feeling and was a better intent to keep on talking.

Though started more or less structured specially while talking for a long time, at some point the interviews became unstructured, depending on the variety of stuff we talked about and how in-depth we were talking about certain subjects. It is not just possible for me to ask all my questions right away, participants respond with their own questions for me as well and after a long day we ended up discussing the differences between Dutch and Ecuadorian beers and girls. These discussions, interesting as they were, proved a welcome distraction but at a certain point it might be tricky to get back on topic.

Becoming a ‘papero’Another way of participant observation and retrieving data is to live among farmers in their community. When living in a community among farmers there is only one way forward and that is to adapt to the customs and habits of the local people, live the way they live. Washing clothes on a piece of rock with the female family members, catching and rodeo riding cows with the younger ones and dancing and drinking at the annual village festivities with everyone becomes your new reality.

Through this ‘substituted’ new real you can grasp so much more information then when just working in the fields. It enables you to talk with almost everyone, not just family members but their relatives, friends, neighbors and others around. This way of living and working definitely gave me a better understanding about what was going on and why. Though intense at times, to understand the potato farmer, one should become one of them and in my opinion living with them and participating in all their activities is a superb way to achieve this.

I will not argue that I became an Ecuadorian potato farmer because frankly, I am not. You would need a lot more time then a couple of months in the field (and probably you have to be born a potato farmer in the Andes) but at least I felt like I succeeded a bit. This truly became clear to me when some people started to address me with the title Don, thus calling me Don Jerôme which, to be honest, made me a little uncomfortable.

When you choose for this type of data collection this you are constantly observing and interviewing and although it is not possible to write everything down, many things become ‘normal’ at a certain point. This way of retrieving data is an extended case study. As said before, usually it does not feel like a study but as a way of living. And though I knew I was there for different purposes, it was still a living I could enjoy.

The extended case study methods enables one to observe how meanings are constructed in practice and how social relations are shaped or confirmed in the process. This approach is very suitable for my research because it allows me to observe a recount social situations and local actors’ interactions in the desired area over a period of time. This case study enables to connect peoples’ experiences and researchers’ observation. The extended case study can be a detailed way to document and explore series of connected social events and makes it possible to understand these events.

Although the research is focussed on understanding difficulties potato farmers face regarding climate variabilities there is participatory strategy involved. “Ethnography’s goal is to understand and represent the perspective of local people whereas participatory research seeks to change rather than to study social behavior” (Roncoli 2006). I am aware of the fact that I haven't able to create change in the amount of time given to me but with my results I hope to

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provide a theoretical background on which future participatory methods can be set out to enable positive change through climate change adaptation research. And for the time being, I am glad I could create understanding (through this thesis, I hope).

Sample selectionTo select farmers I used non-random sampling, because to make a solid conclusion on how different farmers adapt and manage water and what this implies, different farmers from different villages should be present. I am not looking for similarities, but to richness of difference.

By selecting farmers I figured there should be strategic attention to heterogenous practice, so in my mind I selected farmers according to their farming style. When writing the proposal this sounded like the best way to move forward, but when arriving in Carchi this proved not the be a valid technique. Some farmers that I wanted to interact with moved to other villages, some were not growing potatoes anymore, some did not want to participate and one of them even got a car accident making it impossible for him to work. So although difficult, I tried to get a variety of participants representing a qualified sample to draw conclusions upon. Table 1.2 represents my selected sample with some of their characteristics.

Analyzing data

Rigor!When back from the field it is time to analyze field notes in to create understanding and discover meaning in that chaotic pool. To add credibility to analysis Green and Thorogood (2004) developed some criteria and ‘good practice’ guidelines to improve overall rigor. These are as follows:

1. Be transparentProvide an open and clear account of the research and methods used;

2. Add validity

Family Farming style Production Irrigation VillageHernando Colimba Arriesgado Full tillage Yes La Libertad

Mateo Torres Experimentador Full tillage Yes La Libertad

Juan Chamorro Tradicional Full tillage / WR* Yes La Libertad

Esgardo Sarmiento Arriesgado Full tillage No Cuba

Carlos Ayala Seguro Full tillage No Cuba

Victor Coral Unknown** Full tillage No Cuba

Ignacio Murillo Arriesgado Full tillage / WR Yes San Pedro

Luiz Rosero Seguro Full tillage / WR Yes San Pedro

José Cuaspa Seguro Full tillage / WR Yes San Pedro

Table 1.2: The sampled families

* Wachu rozado** No previous data known of this farmer

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! Provide evidence for interpretation and statement and make sure the reader has ! sufficient information to make his own judgements;3. Maximize reliability ! Be accurate in note taking and analyzing notes and demonstrate how data is linked to ! conclusions;4. Compare your work! Compare your conclusions to similar research, also compare your data between and ! within other cases in your dataset to look for similarities and differences; 5. Be reflexive! Be aware of the bigger picture surrounding your research and be aware of the bias ! that may cause, also account for your own role of researcher and what that implies.

Taking these guidelines into account will help to produce credible analysis and conclusions. Also, Green and Thorogood (2004) stress that to produce a satisfying account of ‘what is going on’ through data, connections within and between data should be identified, but more important, “the connections between data and the world outside.”

Grounded theoryA way to analyze data is through the approach developed by sociologists Glaser and Strauss (1967) called grounded theory. Their aim was to unravel qualitative data analysis and to provide ‘rules of thumb’ to help develop theory that is grounded in empirical data. The approach describes how to develop theory from data, by analyzing this data through coding.

Grounded theory is an iterative approach of data collection, data analysis, coding and theory development until the point of saturation is reached. If saturation is reached “you have a rich, dense theoretical account - but one that is completely grounded in empirical data” (Glaser, Strauss 1967). According to Glaser and Strauss (1967) he ‘rules of thumb’ of the grounded theory approach are as follows:

1. Open codingCoding of early data, an intense line by line analyses that attempts to ‘fracture’ data. Codes should not be general descriptions, but concepts. Categorize these concepts to relate to similar phenomena;

2. Axial coding! Look for relations between the different categorized concepts. This is done by asking ! a series of questions regarding the category: ‘Subject to which conditions is the ! category?’, ‘What is the context of the category?’;3. Selective coding! By this concepts should become more theoretical. This is to reveal the ‘core’ of the ! concepts’ category. “These are essential in that they are !related to most other ! categories, and explain most of what is going on” (Corbin and Strauss 1990).

Since it is to complex and time consuming to apply these steps of coding to all the individual data, a coding scheme can be developed after the first round of coding. This makes it easier to identify and categorize concepts. During axial coding a coding paradigm can be established which contains questions about each category (Green and Thorogood 2004).

Grounded theory is not a linear method, is requires researcher to keep going back and forth between his data, his codes and concepts and theories in the making. This way of iteration between inductive and deductive methods and between data and theories, Glaser and Strauss

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(1967) call ‘theoretical sampling’. Through theoretical sampling the researcher can test the emerging theory in deviant cases and come up with explanations for them.

Respondent validationBy applying respondent or member validation findings are taken back to the participants to ensure that they agree with your interpretation of their explanations. This method is an extra validity check in analyzing research data. This is useful to ensure confidentiality between researcher and participant, and the participant can make corrections. Depending on the feedback follow-up research based on revised questions could be carried out. In this case both researcher and participant enjoyed this. It gave more clarification for both and a feeling that ‘good research’ was conducted.

LogisticsResearch has been conducted in three different villages in the Carchi province. Within each of these villages three families were sampled. When traveling to the field to work, I would travel together with my host family or other participants. Depending on the participant and distance to the field we walked, drove, hitched a ride or even took a horse to work.

In La Libertad we went on foot, mostly everyday. To reach the potatoes a muddy, slippery and steep mountain road had to be taken, a walk of at least 45 minutes. When working with Juan Chamorro we sometimes took his horse since his field is at the beginning of the páramo, the walk would be to long and one would be exhausted (for the air also being thinner at higher altitude) before even starting to work.

In Cuba I walked with Esgardo Sarmiento different roads to the same fields. On the way he would point out flowers, other crops and old haciendas. When being late, which happened couple of times he would call some friends with a car or try to hitch a ride. This was not that difficult since the whole village knows each other and most people are traveling in the same direction anyway. With Carlos Ayala we took his motorbike, me being behind him carrying all our equipment on my lap and on my back.

The San Pedro area is the most vast area of the three and solely walking to the field would be at least a two hour trip. Unfortunately not many people own cars here so the alternative for not walking was hitching a ride from the milk truck passing through town each morning. The truck would drop us of at his last stop from which it was a little 45 minutes walk to reach our destination. After a week they started repairing an old road so in the rare case we had a direct ride to the field had to take some detours to get there.

When traveling from my host family to another family working with I always went by foot. The villages are not big (for Ecuadorian concerns) but are spread out over a large area. I did not mind this walking since it gave me time to prepare for the days work and think about the questions I wanted to ask. Also I could make some notes regarding the area’s flora and fauna. Another pleasant thing was that when taking the same route for a couple of days, people tend to get to know you. The first so shy little kids started waving and after a while even trying to engage me in a water fight and random neighbors started talking with me when joining me for the walk.

A travel from the villages to my apartment in Ibarra had to be done by bus. Regarding the company or driver comfortability depended and was highly variable. Traveling to Quito was also done by bus. Some times it was possible to get one of EkoRural’s cars which made

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traveling easier and more fun. Cruising the incredible landscapes on the Ecuadorian Pan-American highway in 4x4 Toyota pickup truck can be recommended.

SummaryTable 1.3 displays a summary of the research’ questions and options I applied to answer them.

Research question Concepts Data source Method 1. What is the current state of weather, is this state being altered?

- Climate, climate variability, weather, weather events, extreme weather events

- Primary: key informants

- Secondary: key informants, literature

- Observation- Interviews- Group

discussions- Literature review

2. How do farmers experience weather, how do they manage correlated resources?

- Agriculture, farming styles, resource management, climate variability, weather, adaptation

- Primary: key informants

- Observation- Interviews

3. What consequences does weather have for potato cultivation practices?

- Agriculture, farmers, climate variability, weather, adaptation, vulnerability, resilience, deviance

- Primary: key informants

- Secondary: literature- Combination of data

and analysis obtained through previous questions

- Observation- Interviews- Integral analysis- Group

discussions- Literature review

In Chapter Two a more in depth description of Carchi province, it’s inhabitants and their habits, their farming practices, and the province’s climate will be given.

Chapter Three tells the stories of three farming families through their narratives. Through this a more in-depth understanding of what it means to be a potato farmer in Carchi will be created. This should also comprehend an insight in introduced concepts, ideas and practices.

Chapter Four is used to start answering research questions. Through analyzation of farmers’ narratives presented in chapter Three research question 1 and research question 2 are looked after.

In the last chapter, Chapter Five, the third research question is answered. Finally the main research question is answered here as well. This question will be analyzed to grasp what these answers mean and indicate. Recommendations upon future action are given too.

Table 1.3: Overview of the research

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Chapter IIA closer look at the research area and its specifics

The province of CarchiIn the north of Ecuador, bordering Colombia lies the province of Carchi. The province is located in the Andes mountain range and is an area with high altitudes ranging from 2500 masl up to more than 4000 masl. The province is a typical Northern Andes humid páramo flora and fauna and its hillsides are mainly dominated by potato fields and cows. Scattered in these mountains are small farming villages where its inhabitants thrive and practice an intense farming system.

Agriculture is one of the main practices for the people of Carchi. Carchi is Ecuador’s most productive province, producing about 40% of the country’s potato harvest on only 25% of the land dedicated to the crop (Sherwood 2009). Carchi enables a thriving agriculture through its organic and fertile soils, sufficient sunlight and rainfall, an educated population, good infrastructure and access to (inter)national markets (Sherwood 2009). Ecological conditions are enabled because Carchi is located close to the equator, where climatic conditions are basically the same all year long. There is no seasonality present as we know it. In this case this allows an all year long ideal environment for agricultural production.

Figure 2.1: Map of the Carchi province and an area close up with the research locations indicated

1. San Francisco de la Libertad (3000-3500 masl)

2. Santa Martha de Cuba (2500-3000 masl)

3. San Pedro bajo Piartal (2500-3000 masl)

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3

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This research has been conducted in the Eastern part of the Carchi province in the villages of San Francisco de la Libertad, Santa Martha de Cuba and San Pedro bajo Piartal. Figure 2.1 depicts a map of the area with the locations of the three villages. These sites has been topic of agricultural research before: Crissman, Antle, et al. (1998), Oyarzún, Borja, et al. (2011), Paredes (2010), Sherwood (2009), Stoorvogel, Antle, et al. (2004A) and Yanggen, Crissman, et al. (2003) have been active in the area and I use their findings as reference and point of departure.

Farmers’ field are usually located outside the village where there is a vast amount of land ready to be cultivated. Traditionally farmers’ fields are located at higher altitudes then their homes. Villages lie at the foot of the mountain ranges which allows easier access and a better use of (municipal) facilities like electricity. Throughout this text the names of the villages will be used how they are embedded into the spoken language of the local people. This will also increase reading easiness. Respectively the villages are La Libertad, Cuba and San Pedro.

The páramo landscape that is present at higher altitudes (>3500 masl) is a ‘tropical’ alpine grassland environment where numerous wells spring and little rivers flow around. Although described as a tropical montane grassland ecosystem (Crissman, Antle et al. 1998; Sherwood 2009), the term humid alpine tundra ecosystem is used as well and sounds more true to its nature in my opinion. Páramo is native to the Northern Andes and only occurs above the forest line yet still below the permanent snow line. Great lakes can be found hidden between the high mountain peaks completely surrounded by frailejón vegetation or wide open grasslands. The frailejóns hairy leaves are used by farmers to make hats that will keep their head (and especially ears) warm. This surrealistic landscape breaths a lone yet comforting attitude, though because of its vastness paranoia might creep in when visited too long. Alas páramo is endangered due to destruction for agricultural purposes, especially clearing land to cultivate potato on it.

Because of the high intensive agriculture and all the advantages and disadvantages that come with it, conflicting agricultural, environmental and development policies are present in Carchi. National and local policies towards agriculture and natural resources lack consistency or are only developed to have short term results mainly aimed at financial benefits. The few environmental policies that are at hand are hard to maintain and execute since there is an absence of monitoring and enforcement capacity and because it is hard to target particular areas or situations (Stoorvogel, Antle, et al. (2004A).

Farming in Carchi - Potatoes“The highland Andes contains the greatest genetic diversity among cultivated and wild potatoes” (Harris 1992). Also in Carchi, potato production is the most applied agricultural cropping system. An intensive potato production system is applied that produces more about 2 to 3 times more than the national average (Crissman, Antle et al. 1998; Yanggen, Crissman et al. 2003).

The applied system in Carchi is usually a potato-pasture system. The rotation is a potato-potato-pasture cycle that takes about two years according to Antle, Cole et al. (1998), or

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Figure 2.2: Two frailejóns

according to Sherwood (2009) it is a system based on a three to five year rotation were two cycles of potato are followed by secondary crops and a rest for cattle. Note that the most potato production is applied in the highlands (3500-4000 masl). Due to environmental limitations (or in this case these might be called opportunities) of the highlands it is not possible to grow a wide variety of crops. Potatoes though thrive excellent and are farmers’ main choice.

Image 2.3 depicts the Eastern part of the Carchi province and indicates in black the main potato production areas 2. When compared to the map of image 2.1 it becomes clear that the three sampled villages are in the middle of these production areas.

Since potato farming is a risky business, many farmers build a buffer which will provide an extra profit (though less then potatoes). This buffer is cattle, mainly cows. Milk can always be sold and vaccines for cows are relatively cheap. Food, in form of pasture is always available. A disadvantage is that since almost all farmers use cattle as a secondary livelihood driver, the price of milk is low. It is very rare that milk shortages occur. Selling milk is a stable income, but one barely sufficient to make a living. If you want to support your family by being a cattle farmer, you need to be a big cattle farmer. This rule is not valid for potatoes, even a small patch of land will provide a money flow to come round, taking into account that a farmer makes the right decisions and external conditions are prevailing, which is in most cases highly doubtable. The conditions for potato farming are slowly changing.

Why potato is potato farming a risky business one might ask? There are a number of reasons as we will see in the chapters to come but one of the most important ones is the fact that there are many external factors involved in this type of agriculture. The context for this thesis is climate and water availability. Though sufficient examples of this will be given, for now I would like to mention that, already an unstable profession as it was, farming is now becoming more difficult because of changing and unpredictable weather conditions, water shortages, unfavorable environmental policies, there are more expensive external inputs needed, local knowledge is failing and a lack of interest for farming by youth. These variables amongst others and their effects will be discussed ahead in this report.

The classic idea that most people have when talking about farmers and farming is one single individual, mostly the male head of a household, who works the lands and takes care of the cattle alone, thus providing an income with which he can take care of the rest of the family. This (over-romanticized) idea stands far from farming reality. Farming is family business and the farm is not just a home, it can relate to an enterprise.

Figure 2.3: Main potato production areas in Carchi

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2 This image is taken from Crissman, Antle, et al. (1998), chapter 5, p89.

Though mostly the male family member(s) work the land, it is the female members who prepare their lunch. Also in most cases it are the female relatives who milk the cattle and take care of selling the milk. Children help their parents when they have an off day at school by accompanying to markets, carrying a variety of farm items back and forth, help repair equipment, cooking and other small farm activities. Also it is not rare that parents, siblings and sometimes even cousins live (and thus farm) together. The chores and workload are divided by gender and age.

There are many potato varieties present in the Andes, approximately around 500 (Sherwood 2009). In the three visited villages I roughly calculate that about 100 different varieties are at hand and in Ecuador in total around 400 varieties (Sherwood 2009). This is not strange when you know that the origin of the potato springs from the Andes (it is believed the first potatoes where harvested in the Lake Titicaca area of Bolivia, though some scientist claim this first happened in the South of Peru around the Cuzco area). Nowadays, worldwide there are about 5000 varieties present (Sherwood 2009). Potatoes gained their fame as being the main food for the mighty Inca’s and later for the Spanish conquistadores, who took the tuber over the ocean into Europe.

Though there is an extensive amount of varieties there are some that are highly favored. Each country has it’s own specific preferences for potatoes. In the Southern highlands of Colombia there is intensive potato agriculture as well, but with different potatoes. A complaint heard by some farmers is that they would like the buy the cheaper potato seeds in Colombia, but that they are afraid they aren’t able to sell its offspring in Ecuador. Also, some Peruvian varieties tend to produce five times as much then the ones cultivated in Ecuador. Unfortunately these varieties are not wanted in Ecuador. It is difficult to export potato harvest because of national, and even local preferences towards the potato variety to be eaten. The main bulk of potatoes harvested in Carchi are destined for Ecuadorian markets. Consumers can practice a determinant role for the farmer on which variety to cultivate, because it will be harder to sell a different one then the one desired.

The varieties favored in Ecuador are Chola, Super Chola, Unica, Diamante and Gabriela. These are the best varieties to grow according to the farmers spoken to. Next to that some native varieties are still favored: Chauca, Yema de huevo, Violeta and Uvilla (Monteros, Cuesta, et al. 2005).The most popular variety nowadays is the Super Chola which is eaten by approximately 80% of the country according to farmers. Super Chola is an updated variety based on Chola and is more resistant against pests, more resistant to surpluses of water and is a bigger and rounder potato with a yellower color inside.

There is a lot of cross breeding and experimenting going on with potatoes nowadays, mainly done by INIAP (Instituto Nacional Autónomo de Investigaciones Agropecuarias). Aim is the develop a pest resistant and less climate vulnerable potato species. “Drought-tolerant varieties may be important in some regions, but in the Andes, traditional crops and potato varieties are already adapted to a much wider range of altitudes than previously suspected” (de Haan 2009; quoted in Sherwood, Bentley 2009). So maintaining varieties that farmers already have may be as important as breeding new ones.

Another thing to mention when talking potato farming are methods of cropping. Everyone is probably familiar with the Western full tillage type of system which uses mechanizations like tractors to work the land. Before this was an option available people from Carchi would use a different way to grow their beloved potatoes. This was then done by a pre-Colombian cropping system developed by the Inca’s called wachu rozado.

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In Quechua, the original Andean language, wachu means ‘furrow’ and rozar in Spanish means ‘to cut’ (Paredes 2010). This describes the practice, cutting furrows on the fields in order to cultivate potato. Whereas in full tillage cropping, the furrows, rows of potato follow the shape of a hill horizontally, in wachu rozado the rows are lined top to bottom, downwards the slope of the mountain. The ground is cut in such a specific way that the potatoes do not grow inside a wachu but are in fact placed on top of them and then covered with earth from along both sides of the wachu. The idea is that this extra layer of earth surrounding the potatoes gives them extra protection and enables them to grow quicker. Also, irrigation is less needed as water runs along both sides of the wachu from the top of the mountain to the bottom.

It is important to point out some advantages and disadvantages of wachu rozado. One of the main reasons the choose wachu rozado over full tillage is the fact that it keeps pests away. Every farmer spoken to acknowledges that wachu rozado cropping is more resistant to gusano blanco (Andean weevil) and plant infections. Parades (2010) mentions that though this might be true, the system is also more beneficial to lancha (late blight) which then requires a higher amount of foliar pesticides applications.

It is not possible to plant full time in wachu rozado unless the weather conditions are sufficiently wet. During dry season wachu rozado is not advised, or irrigation has to be applied. In the rainy season though, when there is a surplus of rain potatoes are better protected inside the wachu keeping them from rotting. Farmers acknowledges this but usually do not favor wachu rozado. They admit wachu rozado produces a better potato, they also mention that the system needs more and harder work to produce this potato. Whether this is true I don’t dare to say, other farmers state this is untrue since when using wachu rozado less pesticides have to be applied, water management is taken care of and less weeding is needed.

This practice of wachu rozado is explained more in chapter III whereas well some photographs for clarification are included.

Climate in Carchi - Inherently variableAs said before, in Carchi one can encounter optimal conditions for agricultural production. Because of the geographical location close to the equator there is “virtually no change in average monthly temperature ranging from 9 to 12 °C. Average rainfall varies between 950 and 1300 mm/yr with significant year-to-year variation” (Stoorvogel, Antle, et al. 2004B).

This does not mean that climate in Carchi is a stable. Although temperature conditions are more or less the same when compared year to year, these conditions are not allocated equally. There are spatial differences and there is a day to day climatic variability. The region has, in contrast to other temperate regions of high latitude, almost no change in average monthly temperatures. What is happening instead, and this is very much noticeable, specially when not used to this, is a swing of over 10ºC in daily temperature (Crissman, Antle, et al. 1998).

Neither precipitation is allocated equally. Average precipitation can vary substantially across short distances. This is explained by the fact that “most rainfall occurs from local convective conditions, not from large weather fronts” (Crissman, Antle, et al. 1998). One day it might be hot and sunny, the other it might rain and hail and if you’re unlucky, it all happens on the same

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day in a couple of hours. Overall, climate is ideal for agricultural production but the area knows climate instability which occurs at times as a deviation from the normal trend (as far as this trend can be referred to as ‘normal’). This tends to happen more often lately according to Carchi’s farmers.

I remember a very odd day in La Libertad. When I woke up it was so cold I didn’t dare to leave my bed. It happened to be a frosty night and that cold was still surrounding us for most of the morning. Then, when approaching midday, the sun arrived. We sat outside in our shirts as it was quite hot, sunbathed and did some chores around the house for a while. At dusk it started raining a lot, more then I was used to. Then when night set in it stopped raining and it become cold again, but not as cold as the previous night.

Table 2.1 (adapted from Crissman, Antle, et al. (1998)) indicates rainfall and temperature in Carchi. This data was obtained by three weather stations. Although these stations are located near cities, thus not in the highlands where potatoes are cultivated, it is a good demonstrator to give an idea on the overall Western provincial values. What is specially interesting in this table is the standard deviation. This relatively high value (specially in the case of rainfall) implies that the data points used to determine the mean are spread out over a large range of values. In this case this indicates variability in rainfall, which does appear as a wet and a dry periods.

Do not let the term ‘dry’ fool you, even during this period almost no days without rain appear. It rains less, that is for sure, but it will still rain. The table also shows us that average rainfall increases with altitude and that for temperature this works opposite, it decreases within a higher altitude range.

As one could imagine this climatic variability has an impact on farmers’ practices. It leaves farmers with many uncertainties concerning planting and harvesting dates, which and how much fertilizer to use and how much potatoes will in fact grow instead of rotting away. These are all variables depended on optimal climate conditions. All of this of course effects the amount and quality of potatoes at the markets and in turn farmers’ (financial) profit.

Along with climate variability there is the fact of climate change happening worldwide. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) the expected climate change in Latin America will be a warming up of 0,4 ºC to 1,8 ºC for 2020, and 1,0 ºC to 7,5 ºC for 2080. At the end of the twenty-first century the expected change is a heating of 1 ºC to 4 ºC or 2 ºC to 6 ºC, depending on the scenario.

In its fourth Assessment Report on global climate change the IPPC presents a worrisome future for the Andes. It predicts melting of Andean glaciers in 15 years. Droughts as well

Station / Altitude Rain (mm)Rain (mm) Temperature (ºC)Temperature (ºC)

Mean Std. dev. Mean Std. dev.

San Gabriel (2860) 950,18 848,06 12,13 10,11

El Angel (3065) 984,02 605,02 11,64 13,69

El Voladero (3380) 1313,62 678,79 9,26 n.a.

Table 2.1: Meteorological data for Carchi (Crissman, Antle, et al. 1998)

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floods will become more common, as will heavier winds, pests and diseases, losses of soil organic matter and erosion (Margin, Garcia, et al. 2007).

Due to its geographic position, close to the equator and at high altitude, climate change should be particularly notable in northern Ecuador and thus in Carchi (McKnight Foundation 2008; Sherwood 2009). Though it is not proven that global climate change is happening or inflicting itself upon this specific area, due to its global character this could be possible. “Climate change is likely to aggravate greatly this already precarious situation” (Sherwood, Bentley, 2009). The already precarious situation of local climate variability could be altered by global climate change.

People from Carchi - “The horses”In Ecuador, Carchi’s inhabitants - the Carchenses - are commonly referred to by the nickname los caballos, meaning ‘the horses’. They are given this name because they work as hard as horses. When a local explained me this, he added proudly smiling that perhaps they work a bit harder then horses. This seems an overstatement but believe me, it might be true. I’ve seen farmers carrying 50 kg bags of potatoes down and up steep hills for hours, cutting trough rock hard solid earth, catching cows on the loose with a lasso by chasing them on foot, walking miles through pouring rain and mud flows to the next field and so on. Yes, some admiration and respect would be in place here.

Apart from being though, they are also very friendly and have a great sense of humor (very dry humor). What pleased me much was peoples open mindset and interest. They showed this by firing many questions at me, most of the related to the state of agriculture in my country (but almost every possible subject ranging from God or Not, flying airplanes, China taking over the world was touched upon). When talking to them about thesis subjects, they had their own feeling of commitment and it looked like they were dedicated to ensuring I would pass my education with a decent thesis. They went quite in depth with their answers sometime but could also be very clarifying when I couldn't pick up the matter that quickly.

When working in the field together, and I couldn't keep up (this happened the first weeks occasionally), they generously helped me with my tasks making sure I wouldn't linger back to much. At lunch they’d try to share their lunch with me and always give me an extra portion cause they thought I needed the energy (they were probably right).

Although there is much to complain about, the Carchenses are not the complaining kind. Their attitude is a more pro-active one. They know farming can be difficult and it can suck at times, specially when the weather (one of the few things they like to complain about) is not doing what they want. Instead of mocking about it, they work harder, doing everything they’re capable of to ensure the job gets done, and done correctly. A commitment I’d rarely seen before.

SummaryFigure 2.4 gives an overview of the research.The three main areas of interest are indicated and with them their most significant variables which will be touched upon are arranged.

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A more characteristic presentation of three families will follow in chapter III where through narrative their tales are told in detail.

Figure 2.4: Summary of the research design and its central themes

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Chapter III The tales of three farming families

In this chapter I describe the three families3 lived with during the research. I consider these families as a core around which other stories and data evolves since living with them gave me lots of insights on Carchi livelihoods and the dependence on potato farming. Data gathered from these families has an extra supplementary dimension as it is richer in detail and there is a higher level of personal involvement.

In San Francisco the Colimba family, arriesgados, were kind enough the teach me the basics of potato farming and the importance of good water management. The Sarmiento family, also arriesgados, thought me the importance of markets and timing in Cuba. And in San Pedro I started working with the wachu rozado system and began to understand the importance of cattle next to potatoes, thanks to the Murillo family, seguros.

Hernando Colimba - Farming at high level

“Cultivating potatoes isn’t difficult, it is difficult to sell them at a good rate.”

Family and historyIn San Francisco, one of the last houses before entering the surrounding páramo landscape is the one of Hernando and Fidelia Colimba and their kin. Together with their two sons Estavan and Lope, their daughter Célia and Estavans spouse Leonor and their three children they life on the mountain slope road leading to the villages potato fields, and ultimately into thick páramo. Together as a family they live the life of potato and cattle farmers.

As the man of the household, Hernando and his sons work on the potato fields while Fidelia and Leonor take care of the cattle. Célia works at the local kindergarten down in the village and the children all go to school, the oldest attains high school in El Angel. During my stay with the Colimba family Hernando would help Fidelia milking the cows and bringing the milk down from the field to the house, while Leonor would prepare breakfast and lunch for her children who had to leave for school and for the four of us, leaving to the field.

As many people in Carchi, the Colimba’s gained access to land during the agrarian reform and land distribution policies in the 1970’s (see Sherwood (2009)). They joined the Coopercíon 23 de Julio, a local farmers organization who started claiming the land from the big haciendas4 and over time accumulated about 25-30 hectares. Most of the land is bordering páramo or is inside the páramo. To utilize the land for production páramo vegetation was cleared. The

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3 The surnames of families and the names of individuals have been modified to ensure their anonymity.

4 Haciendas are large farms owned by a wealthy family owning lots of land and usually cattle. Hacienda owners accumulated much profit with their lands and hired laborers to work on their fields. During the land reform period the haciendas’ land was redistributed to the laborers who took the chance of owning their own plot. Since then many haciendas disappeared but some persist.

Colimba’s fields rise up to 3200 masl and some neighbors are cultivating even higher, literally in the páramo between the surrealistic frailejóns. Nowadays all the Colimba’s land is cleared of páramo vegetation.

The day of the Colimba’s starts early, usually around 05.30 hours when we get up and have breakfast. After breakfast, very sweet coffee with sweet tortillas to give you an energy boost to start the day, we take off and leave to the fields. The reason we have to leave so early is that because in the morning is will rain less then during the day. At this altitude and in winter time rain is a prevalent factor and the only way not to get wet is to start working before the rain does. And as Estavan explains smiling: “An if we get up early, we have more spare time during the day.” This is not entirely true as we hit our beds at around 20.00 hours, quite exhausted.

Steep roads before we beginThe climb to the fields has some pretty steep and muddy paths and since I am not yet fully awake turns out to be a little challenge on its own, especially since everything is wet and slippery. The 45 minutes climb is a good warming up exercise and serves as a meeting point with other farmers who are also going to their fields, coming back with milk from their cows or are already working. To get to know what your neighbors are up to and get the latest news on the village chit chat the road turns out the best option. The road has an other function for us as well. To know where the granizo (hail) has fallen last night, who got a high price for his potatoes at the market and what the weather prediction is for the coming days is also discussed on the way up. The road thus is more then just a path up the mountain, it serves as a social artifact on which farmers (unknowingly) influence each other and decisions are taken or changed.

When we reach the field we gather our equipment, which is stored in a little hut on the plot, climb a little more and finally reach our potatoes. The field and its surroundings are quite impressive. From above the páramo watches us as an always present guard and from below the tiny village glances at us. A little bit further out at the horizon we see the white topped peaks of Cotopaxi and its fellow giants. A very calm and almost mysterious atmosphere lingers over the fields.

Working the land with the Colimba’sThe potatoes of the Colimba’s have been planted end of September, now almost two months ago. Estavan tells my they will be harvested around February. The exact date depends a bit on how big the potatoes have grown and on some external conditions such as climate. The work in between planting and harvesting consist out of several practices in order to keep the mata (the plant) healthy and to ensure that the potatoes grow sufficiently.

This first day our job consist of wachar. This means ensuring that the potatoes have enough room to grow by adding extra ground to the embankments of the plants. This way there is more space around for the potato to grow in, which results in more and bigger potatoes.

It takes you a while to get used to the azadon (also called pala) (spade), the traditional tool to work in the potato field. The azadon is a very simple piece of equipment but is applicable in almost every situation and is thus the only tool (apart from pesticide sprayers and the occasional oxen plough) that farmers use to work the land. Handle and stalk are attached under a ninety degree angle resulting in a perfect tool to swing through the air and cut the ground.

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While working Lope tells me that when they work with a group of people for a foreman (most likely a hacienda owner) the workers compete with each other in order to finish first. The foreman sets a target for the day, for example twelve wachus (rows of potatoes) per person. The one who finishes first is the winner and can go home first, or since they get paid per quintal5, can harvest an extra wachu and thus earn more. For the land owner this ensures quick labour and for the worker a chance for extra cash.

Apart from our own voices and the birds’ songs it is remarkably silent. The absence of sound seems a luxury to me since I’ve been living in the hectic centrum of Ibarra for quite a while now. There is only one sound always present: the sound of water. But apart from sound I do not actually notice the water until we take a coffee break and I discover a little stream running at the boundary of the field. When taking a closer look at the exact location and surroundings of the field I notice these little streams are present everywhere and are bordering every patch of land.

The water is coming from páramo lakes higher in the mountains. The members of Cooperacíon 23 de Julio dug out little canals allowing water to stream from the lake to the fields below. When they reach the field each farmer manages his own streams for his own fields. Farmers can then use the water in the way they prefer. Estavan uses it in summertime for irrigation with a sprinkler. During wintertime he does not need the páramo water since there is sufficient rain, the water flows down the mountain until it coincides with a little river below.

This way of managing water allows the farmers a constant water supply and Estavan tells me he never had water shortages, he even mentions water abundance. He also admits this is only because he is one of the first farmers who has access to the water since their fields border the páramo. In summertime when all the farmers higher up use the water, people lower in the mountain do not have sufficient. This sometimes leads to conflict, at night people secretly adjust the route of the canals so the water will reach their fields instead. Estavan calls this ‘stealing’ of his water, since his family belongs to those who initiated digging the canals. From the other side he admits that everyone needs water to cultivate and that resources should be more equally divided. There is sufficient water for everyone he admits, but there are no rules who gets the water, nobody controls this flow resulting in people stealing as much as they can get for themselves, leaving others unnecessary without.

The páramo water is also used as drinking water for the households in the nearby city El Angel. The municipality is now aiming at developing new policies to ensure there is always sufficient water in their basins. Farmers like Estavan are afraid that this might affect them since they do not believe there is sufficient for the whole town and their fields. The city aims at building a cemented canal all the way down to the city. For the people living in the highlands it is not possible to tap water from this and they are afraid their canals will dry out in summertime when everyone needs more water. Also, they are not sure how long the páramo can provide sufficient water for everyone, in the future they might be left without any.

One day when Hernando, Estavan and Lope are applying pesticides to the plants I decide to follow the little canals upward to see the source of where it is coming from for myself. The little stream soon becomes bigger and when I reach the páramo border it is flowing like a

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5 The quintal is a former Spanish mass unit. It is defined as 100 base units of a pound or kilogram. The Spanish quintal which is used in most Latin American countries is defined as 100 libras (pound based), equals 46,04 kilogram.

waterfall down into a big canal. I continue and soon find that this was quite a naive thought since the páramo wont let me pass trough and the stream becomes separated into a hundred little ones flowing without control where ever they please. When I reach an open spot between two mountains I locate a little offspring with a canal but the great lakes are not to be seen. I follow the water downhills to find my way back through the impenetrable bushes and when I finally reach the fields Estavan tells me the lakes are at least half a days horse ride away and I can be lucky I didn’t get lost. Since my little exploring adventure didn’t turn out the way I wanted, I decide to get back on observing the Colimba’s pesticide management, though not that reluctant since the big bags with warning signs and the brown foaming water did not really invite me to dive into this ambiguity.

First of all I should mention that what I called and thought were pesticides in fact aren't, according to Estavan they are fungicides. They are not as dangerous as pesticides but they still ‘do’ something as Estavan puts it. He admits that they are not a 100 percent safe for the environment or the human body. He shows me the bags they mix with the water from the canals into a big blue barrel. Two of them have a green ‘organic’ label and one is blue. Other farmers use the red label, a strong and toxic poison as Estavan puts it. How reassuring this may sound my real worries with start when I see Estavan peeing in between shifts without having washed his hands before and Hernando applying the mixture without protective pants. Estavan and Lope wear a thick rain jacket and rain protection pants, Hernando only the jacket. Since they have to spray the fungicide down onto the plant I would consider protective pants more important then the jacket. Neither one of them covers their face.

When Hernando comes to refill his spraying equipment, a job I’ve taken since I cannot help with applying and I do not want to look completely useless, he shows me why they have to apply the fungicides. He shows me brown spots on the leaves of the plant caused by lancha (late blight), a fungus who travels through the air and when it starts raining comes down with the rain and settles on the plant where it starts growing after the rain when sunny. Lancha fritters out the leaves of the plant who demise into a brown color. The result is that the leaves cannot absorb sunlight needed for photosynthesis and the potatoes do not get enough energy to grow. Another treat is the minador (leaf miner) a moth who lives in the plant and eats its leaves. The moth is hard to control since the plant offers protection against pesticide spraying. This has led to the belief that more and stronger pesticides are needed to control this insect.

The next day we return to the same spot to apply the last bit of fungicides. Eduardo, Estavans older son who has a day of from school joins us to the field. To my surprise he gets handed over one of the sprayers which he receives gladly and starts spraying without any protection at all. Hernando could not join us today since he felt weary and has been coughing loudly the whole night and morning.

The coldWhatever the reason for Hernando’s malady, the weather is certainty not helping him to overcome it. It rains a lot during the day, mostly between 11.00 and 17.00 hours and an

Figure 3.1: One of the many springs in the páramo

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enduring cold wind blows, temperature lies around 5 degrees Celsius and drops below 0 degrees Celsius at night. The coldest and hardest moment of the day is the climb to the fields. Just out of a bed covered with six thick sheets my body has to get used to the new cold bought by wind and drizzle and the damp clothes from yesterday. Determined not to complain to my fellow workers who seem unassailable to the cold I decide to take this subject to a more lay family member.

When I accompany Célia on a gray December morning to the kindergarten I ask her if she is not feeling cold. Smiling she assures me that she is feeling cold whilst crossing her arms round her chest warming her hands under her armpits. But she is used to it and she can’t be bothered by it. According to Célia it used to be colder in the past. Sometimes it would rain a lot during the day and temperatures would drop way below freezing point at night resulting in ice on the roads in which you feet would effortlessly freeze.

When Célia was younger it would rain a lot more in the winter. She is not sure what to think of this. It is weird that the season changed and the reason this happened probably isn't a good one. From the other side, it rains less which is also pleasant occasionally.

There is not much reason to complain about the weather she tells me. Imagine you would live in the Amazon6. It would be hot all day and night and you would be surrounded with mosques y culebras (mosquitos and cobra’s). That wouldn't be an alternative. Some people from the area did move though because of the climate, most of them to Guayaquil (a lowland coastal city with a tropical savanna climate) where they’d also hope to find a new job7. Most of them didn’t last there very long. Not being used to the tropical climate they got sick, one of the most common symptoms heavy headaches. After six months they returned to their homes in the Andes where after a couple of days they felt better then before.

Two days later on a Sunday the weather gods hand over a little bonus for our work of the past couple days. When I get up I immediately realize it is not as cold and dark as before. The

Figure 3.2 and figure 3.3: The result of lancha and minador

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6 Ecuador can roughly be divided in three areas. From east to west these are the coastal area, the Andes and the Amazon.

7 An ongoing trend is people moving away from their homes and farming jobs in the highlands because they believe there is more profitable work to be found then harvesting potatoes. According to some these persons are not ‘real’ potato farmers but just some guys trying to make money with potatoes (in which they usually fail since they’re not committed to their duties).

whole day is sunny and pretty hot compered to the last week. The howling winds left us as well and I dare to go out in a shirt and join the rest of the family sitting in the sun on the pavement in front of the house. Climate variability at last.

A perfect day to work chores around the house. We repair some tools, pave the path to the pigs house, clean the fireplace, train the rooster for his upcoming fights and train ourselves in the gym Lope exhibits in the house. When we head inside for supper Hernando mumbles something about lancha and granizo.

Curious what he meant by that since we just enjoyed a sunny day I speak to him after we’ve eaten. He explains that after a day with sol fuerte (a strong sun) it will inevitably rain a lot. With so much rain more lancha will come which is a big hassle since we applied the remedies against this last week (the fungicides sprayed). Since the sun has been so strong today another risk is that it might hail tomorrow. Hail, apart from some radical measurements which include a lot of diesel, is not controllable like insects and funguses and is considered a big treat since it can destroy a plant completely, leaving the potatoes to rot and wither away in the ground. When we walk the to field the next day we can still see where the hail has fallen in the night, at some other fields lower in the valley. Other farmers along the road point this out as well, pleased as can be since their fields got spared this time. We where to high for the hail clouds this time.

Esgardo Sarmiento - Gambling with potatoes

“I can only do the best I can, after that it is in the hands of God.”

Family and historyIn the center of Santa Martha de Cuba lives Esgardo Sarmiento with his wife Adela and their youngest son Raúl. Their oldest daughter Jimena lives in Guayaquil with her husband and infant, Iñez their younger daughter and middle child studies in Quito and usually visits her parents during weekends.

As his father before him, Esgardo decided to become a potato farmer after serving his time in the military and working as a construction worker at the coast where he builded houses for a living. With the money he earned building houses he bought land and constructed his own house in Cuba. Today Esgardo, a true risk taker, owns around 10-12 hectares of land which he uses for potato production and cattle. Some of this land he acquired during the land reform as a member of the cooperative Santa Martha de Cuba, a local famers’ organization claiming land from the big haciendas.

In their house Adela runs a clothing and school supply shop and keeps cuy (guinea pig), a local delicatesse, to sell. Next to that she takes care of all the chores around the household. Raúl attends college in San Gabriel, a city nearby and is not much to be found at home. The house of the Sarmiento family is the biggest one I’ve seen since my stay. It has two floors which is uncommon in little towns like this and lots of (empty) rooms. In the back there is a wealthy garden with different fruits along with some chickens and pigs.

Esgardo’s day starts early by milking his cows. All the cows have names which brings good luck according to Esgardo and to my surprise the cows (more or less) listen to their names and come towards us for being milked when Esgardo calls them. Esgardos theory is that if one is good and gentle for his animals, they will return the favor by -in this case- giving more milk.

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After milking it is time for breakfast and around 07.30 we head out to the fields. The arable land in this area of Carchi lies between 2000-2500 masl and to get there does not take as long as in San Fransisco. Sometimes we walk, sometimes we hitch a ride and one time we even go by motor cycle. It all depends on “the opportunities of the day” as Esgardo puts it.

Seeding potatoes In San Francisco we were in between seeding and harvesting and had to take care of the earth and the plants, in Cuba Esgardo starts a new potato cycle which means we have to dig new wachus and plant the seed. As I find out some days later, Esgardo is one of the few farmers seeding at this time of year.

Sembrar (seeding) potatoes is by comparison a lot easier than harvesting them and taking care of the wachus. The only thing you have to do is to dig the wachu with your all-time friend the azadon. This is not that hard on Esgardos field since it is totally plano (flat). After digging all the wachus it is time to put the potato seeds in and close them up again. You carry the seeds around your waist in a plastic bag which is tight together as a shoulder bag. Depending on the variety the seed is placed with approximately one and a half foot of space between them.

Another thing that makes the work easier is that it goes fast. Esgardo hired 11 peones (work man) to work for him on the land. While nine of them are preparing the land the four others (including me) start seeding. In two days we seeded almost two hectares. After that we move on to another field opposite to the one yesterday and the process starts again.

The variety we are seeding is called Unica. Esgardo prefers this variety above the Super Chola because it has a more stable price at the markets and tastes better. At another patch of the field we seed some Diamante (25% of total 2 hectares). The reason for this is that Diamante is a ‘tougher’ potato which can grow under a lot of circumstances. If the Unica harvest fails for whatever reason, Esgardo still has a little back up. Diamante doesn’t need pesticides or fertilizer when being seeded opposite to Unica.

Pesticide management is something that I should mention in the case of Esgardo Sarmiento. Being classified as an arriesgado, Esgardo believes that a farmer should do everything possible to ensure a good harvest with good, thick and round potatoes which get a high price at the markets. The main method to do so is pesticide use. Before we can close up the wachus, the seeds (who are already in them) are treated with a variety of pesticides, fertilizers and nutrients. Some to extinguish insects, some to control funguses, some to add nutrients to the soil, to protect the seed from any unfavorable condition thinkable. Nine (9!) kinds of abonos (pesticides or fertilizers) are mixed together in big blue barrel, some liquid, some powdered and some granulated, all with the most diverse colors and sizes. When they are all in the mixture is being stirred with a wooden pole. A bomba (a motorized pump) is connected to the barrel and pumps the mixture to spraying sticks with long hoses. While two people run along the wachus (since the pressure in the pump is high), two others manage the hoses so they don't get tangled up and the runners won’t trip over them.

While spraying the pesticide we are visited by an ingeniero (an engineer, usually Bachelor level) from a pesticide company. The goal of his visit is not really clear to me. He takes a look at the left over bags and bottles of the pesticides we used and then presents us a new bag with a new and ‘better’ kind. Esgardo seems a bit uninterested and is too busy anyway to talk with him so I decide to have a little chat. He is very eager to talk to me and tell me all about his work and his products. He makes sure to emphasize more then once that he is an ingeniero with a

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degree in agriculture. He even asks me if I’d like to visit other villages and fields with him and tell people about all the benefits pesticides bring to farmers. I politely refuse. Before I get back to work we exchange email addresses and phone numbers so he can send me information regarding the composition of the pesticides and I can contact him when I change my mind. Both never happened.

Pesticides are not the only strategy Esgardo applies to ensure a good harvest. I was surprised to learn that this modern farmer employs a traditional method as well: the moon. “Some people do not respect this [the moon]. They sometimes have bad luck.” The idea is that you should seed when the moon is growing in order for the potatoes to grow alongside, giving them a good start. And more, when the moon is menguante, nueva y llena (declines (third quarter), new and full) a farmer should not work on his land. Instead, in the first quarter when the moon is creciente (growing) you should work extra hard. We had this conversation on the 18 of January 2011 a couple of days after we seeded. When Esgardo shows me the moon calendar present in his kitchen I see that the moon started growing on the fifth and will be full on the twentieth, in two days. Before we head to bed Esgardo stresses once more: “Respect the moon!”

Pesticides and moon stances are strategies to establish fine potatoes but there is yet another one to ensure financial yields. As mentioned before, Esgardo is one of the few farmers who is seeding at this time of year. This means when harvest time comes, he is also one of a few harvesting and thus selling. The idea behind this is that when supply is low, price is higher. When everyone sells at the same time, prices fall because of the big surplus of potatoes. When you sell a couple months later there is a higher demand and Esgardo can ask a better price. This is also the reason Esgardo is seeding Unica, Diamante and Gabriela. Everyone sells the Super Chola variety, the most favorable potato in Ecuador. The demand for this potato is high ensuring that you will sell your harvest quickly but at a low rate. Although not cared for as much as Super Chola, prices are generally a bit higher for other varieties. This way of fine tuning and specializing has proven to be valuable in the past and is practiced by more farmers.

Just like most farmers, wachu rozado is not one of Esgardos strategies. The main reason is that the pre-Colombian cropping system is too heavy to work. “I am a strong man but I am not a mountain” Esgardo smiles. And this way of producing does not give you better quality potatoes per se, though is does supply more. This because wachu rozado allows less external threats to affect the crop and it ‘takes care’ of the soil allowing more potatoes to grow. According to some other farmers the Cuba area is to dry nowadays for wachu rozado.

The rain-godEsgardo and I have been quite close for the last couple of days and talked about hundred different things. His daughter and her family from Guayaquil visited for a long weekend and his son in law Héctor helps us to sort out potato seeds on a Sunday, who have been stored from last harvest in the shed of Adela’s mother. While we are working quietly I finally get a chance to talk with Esgardo and Héctor on a matter that hasn’t been touched yet.

I mention the weather has been pretty nice here the last week especially compared to San Francisco. It’s comparable to the first weeks of a Dutch spring. Héctor asks about the climate in the Netherlands and I tell him that around one meter of snow has fallen, even harsh for Dutch winters. He admits it is impressive and can’t imagine something like that, he has been living in and around tropical Guayaquil for his whole live.

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Esgardo confirms that it is hot for the time of the year, a trend that has been going on for some years already. Reason for the higher temperatures is that there is less rain. It would always rain a lot in November and December and halfway January there could be heladas (frost). We are in the middle of January and it hasn’t been raining that often, usually at night or in the early mornings a bit.

There used to be dry and wet years before but now there are too many dry years. This is fatal for farmers. “Con la lluvia hay produccíon” (With the rain comes production) as Esgardo puts it. In the near past it happened that farmers could not produce sufficient to feed their families because of deficient rainfall.

During summertime the undersupply of rain is felt hardest. When I ask Esgardo how he anticipates on this he gives a remarkable answer: “In summertime I depend on God.” Esgardo employs strategies to ensure a good harvest as discussed before but when it comes to weather and water there is not that much he can do. Cuba is located at around 2000 masl and its fields a bit higher around 2400 masl. This is not even close to where the páramo begins as happens to be the case in San Francisco, so using páramo water for irrigation is not an option. The rivers that run closest are at the village’s altitude or even lower so neither river water can be used. Other alternatives like springs, aquifers, effluent seepage or mountain water are not around.

The only option which is employed by some richer farmers is to place a bomba in the rivers closest to the fields and run the water up with long hoses (sometimes up to 6 kilometers long). This is a very expensive alternative and there is the risk the equipments gets stolen at night. When I try to inquire discreetly why Esgardo doesn’t do this since he is without doubt one of the richest farmers I’ve come along since my stay in Ecuador, I get a perturbing reply.

Within now and a year Esgardo has to undergo surgery in Quito to remove a tumor in his head. It is already the second time he is getting an operation like this and the estimated cost reside 4000,-USD. So although he might be able to buy an aggregate and the rest of the equipment he assures me that he is not prepared to take any risks on this one. Smiling a bit sadly he tells me potato farming always comes with a high price. The only way to keep up with it is to ser necio (to be crazy).

Esgardos judgementDespite all the difficulties Esgardo does not want to change his profession. “This is dogs work. When it rains we get wet and a flu, when sun shines we burn and get heatstrokes but we have no choice but to work the land, and that is what we do.” When I ask him why he doesn't sell all his land and lives the easy live for the time that rests him Esgardo laughs. He states it is not the way people do things around here, it is not their tradition. Potatoes are.

Neither does he want to consider the option of selling part of his land and to invest that money into cattle expansion (cattle is easier work compared to potatoes). Another problem is that more cattle actually needs more land, for food. “I would run out of hierba [weed]”, he tells

Figure 3.4: The result of a heavy hail storm; Scattered leaves of the plant cover the ground

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laughing. The idea of planting other crops next to potatoes for more stability and alternation8 is frowned upon as well. “Those things you mention, are not potatoes, so what should I do with them?”.

Although Esgardo is determined to stick with his beloved potatoes he admits that it will become more difficult in the future, especially for the next generation. Kids growing up right now do not want to work in agriculture anymore. Instead they want to work in Quito in front of a computer. The few that do want to stay and are committed will get a hard time. There are less people to work and compete with and less knowledge available. Tractors won’t be available, the lands here are not made for tractors and everything is already eroding. Those who choose to linger on in the potato business have to do this alone, something that will be very demanding Esgardo reckons.

There are many external factors that you cannot control but who have great influences on your job as a farmer, weather just being one of them. The only thing you can do is the best you can and hope it will turn out all right. If you don’t give everything you got, you will probably fail as a potato farmer. The adventure of potato farming only has two outcomes: “You become rich, or you stay poor.” Esgardo compared his business many times to a lottery game. Every time he starts seeding he starts a gamble with only two outcomes. And just like any gamble he can never be certain of the results “tu ganas o tu pierdes” (you win or you loose).

Ignacio Murillo - A diverse farming family

“We need to spend more money to grow high quality potatoes but get paid less when we want to sell at the markets.”

The familyThe last family where I stayed is the Murillo family in San Pedro bajo Piartal. Ignacio and Maria Murillo and their seven children live in a small house near the entrance road to the village. All of their children still live at home except for Max the youngest one (23 years old) who studies agropecuaria (agriculture and fisheries) at the Catholic University in Ibarra. Max visits his family each weekend and together with his dad and older brother Jaime he is in charge of the families main business: potatoes. Ignacio, as being their dad and the person owning the land, has the last word regarding potato production but leaves much of the decision making and planning to his sons, especially to Jaime.

Of Ignacio’s five daughters one works at the municipality in San Gabriel and one works in a creche in Ibarra. The other three are in charge of the household chores, the cattle and other animals and the tomate de árbol (tamarillo)9 plantation. The youngest daughter Mabel has a Bachelor degree in food production processes but is currently without a job. Usually the girls do not work in the potato field alongside their father and brother but help with some lighter

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8 Because of altitude and temperature few crops thrive well in the Carchi highlands. Some farmers grow a mixture of these next to potatoes to spread the risk might a harvest fail or market prices are to low to sustain a living. The most cultivated ones are carrot, ulluco, goosefoot and bell beans (zanahoria, melloco, quinua, haba).

9 The tamarillo is a tomato shaped sourish fruit and popular ingredient for (hot) fruit drinks. Because of its shape and being grown in trees it is regarded to as a tree tomato.

tasks of sorting out potatoes seedlings, preparing and delivering the meals for the peones. Maria takes on easier household work and makes sure I eat enough.

The Murillo’s house is the smallest I’ve stayed in so far. There is a very small kitchen which is completely filled when we have diner together, a bigger bedroom where the whole family sleeps and a room where they keep an extra stove and oven and which is used as depository for random stuff that can’t be place anywhere else, including some bags of potatoes and cement. This room becomes ‘my’ room after placing a bed and a chair in it. The yard around the house is big and houses their chickens, pigs and a garden where the family grows vegetables, mainly for own use.

First acquaintance with wachu rozado My first day of work with Ignacio and Jaime is at a patch of land a ten minute walk from the house. It is situated on a hill and next to the field is another piece of land where they used to grow potatoes in the past but which now serves as plantation for the tomate de árbol and as meadow for their cattle. They switched between lands because potatoes always need fertile soils and use many of the soils nutrients. After a couple of years the soil is exhausted and not fit anymore for production. They then moved on to the patch next to this one and started growing here. The other field is now planted with crops that are not as intensive for the soil so the soil can recover and in couple of years is fit again for potato production. It is a comical sight to see all the thin tomate de árbol trees growing in the now with grass covered potato wachus on the mountain. The cattle roams the flat piece of land below the hillside.

Jaime already told me we would be working in wachu rozado today and I’m excited because it will be my first time. I’ve discussed the subject with every farmer I’ve worked with so far so it seems I have an extensive knowledge about the practice but without actually working wachu rozado knowledge is still limited. Everyone told me wachu rozado is harder and more work then the regular way. Although the field looks similar to the ones I’ve seen before there are some differences. The space between the wachus is bigger and the wachus with the potato plants are broader and higher. This is because potatoes grow inside the wachu, not in the ground as with the regular system. Another difference is that the wachus run in a vertical way (top to foot) along the mountain, not horizontal. These differences are key to the functioning of the system and explain its (foregoing) success. This did not yet clarify to me why it should be such a toil.

In the figure 3.5 and figure 3.6 the washu rozado system becomes clearer. In front you see the wachu rozado rising up the hill, in the back the normal tilling system in a horizontal curb following the hill. Both pictures are of the same spot on Ignacios field, figure 3.5 before we started working and figure 3.6t he result. Figure 3.6 clearly depicts the high wachus with the plants growing in the middle of them.

The work is more or less similar to the normal practices. We have to loosen the ground between the washus first, and the we can use that ground to heighten the wachu (picar calles para retapar). In fact you build a little house around the potatoes where they can grow in. This ensures optimal protection for your potatoes as they cannot rot inside the wachu. We also remove the weeds that grow along the potatoes, quite a lot compared to other farmers’ fields.

Though this is comparable to what I’ve done before, it is much harder. One reason for this is that the space between the potato beds is bigger so you have to wachar more. You cannot

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loosen the ground and then put it on the wachu immediately, therefor the expanses are to big. First you loosen all the calles (potato streets) then you start with the first again moving all the ground onto the wachu.

Another reason why the work is harder is that the ground is rock solid. It is difficutl work to swing your azadon with a sufficient amount of force into the ground so that it can cut through. If you do not cut hard enough you have to make another cut, if you cut too hard (which for me seems almost impossible) you loose too much energy. Since the space between the potatoes is bigger you have to swing you azadon two to three times as much as in the regular system. In an eight meter wachu we have to stop at least four times to get at breath, slowing us down even more. Wachu rozado is literally draining my energy.

The reason why the ground is so hard is because it rained a lot in December. Now, in January, sun is appearing again, shining brightly. The rainwater that got sucked into the soil in December now evaporates leaving behind a dried and hard field.

This is also the reason they applied wachu rozado here. Next to the field, only 5 meters away from our potatoes runs a lush river making the ground wetter then other regions. Usually winter time in San Pedro runs between February and July, these are the wet months. But last year it rained for almost eleven months. The had a whole year of winter caused by La Niña10. Result of this was papa pudre (rotting potatoes). Being afraid of another year of rain wachu rozado provided a solution since the potatoes, completely covered with earth inside the big wachu are not exposed to water surpluses. The water instead runs through the broad streets top down the mountain.

So since wachu rozado works well when there are water excesses like the sudden rain in December, figure 3.5 and figure 3.6 show that not the whole hillside is being cultivated this way. Ignacio explains that although he would like to do it this way (he did it before when he was younger) it is nowadays not possible. He and Jaime can never work this whole patch of land in wachu rozado. Therefor the work is to strenuous. Neither are there many peones available willing to work like this unless Ignacio pays them more.

Figure 3.5 and figure 3.6: Potato plants in wachu rozado before and after working the field.

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10 La Niña is an ocean-atmosphere phenomenon part of the El Niño Southern Oscillation pattern. Being opposite to El Niño, La Niña correlates with lower sea temperatures. This change in ocean currents and weather results in more rainfall in the highland Andes areas.

HarvestingWe aren’t done (about 75% is finished) with this field but the next day it is time to harvest at another field. We leave the house at 07.00 hours and hitch a ride with the passing milk truck. For the ride we help the driver lifting the milk barrels onto the truck. The Murillos life in a dale at the lowest point of the village so the truck climbs and climbs the curving road to reach all the families who own cattle, almost half of the village inhabitants. The last house we stop after ascending for approximately forty minutes is also the last house of the village. Miraculously I stare at the surrounding fields, all of them with potatoes, and the little houses scattered around the landscape. Jaime wakes me of daydreaming with the announcement we still have to walk forty-five minutes to get to the field.

We reach the field after being forced to take a detour since the municipality is working on one of the main roads, making it more accessible for motorized vehicles. Ignacio and a team of ten peones are working already. The potatoes are planted on a steep hillside which results in something that looks remarkably like the well-known terraces seen at Machu Picchu. Harvesting the potatoes isn’t that difficult, relatively speaking. When you stand in front of a row of potatoes, dig you azadon in the ground behind the plant and you pull it towards you. When done correctly the plant and its potatoes roll out forward over your boots, ready to be picked up. Then you sort them by size. There are three size varieties and the harvested potatoes are thrown on heaps matching their size.

The plants reach the height between your knees and crotch since you are standing one row below the ones you’re about to harvest. This means you don’t have to swing your tool all the way down, relaxing you back and knees more then usual. I should mention that though this technique is well fit for harvesting, it also enables soil erosion since if you dig the potatoes out, not only potatoes but also the earth around them comes down one wachu.

The workers are separated with some wachus between them. Each worker has his own rows to reap and thus his own amount of harvested potatoes. After finishing a couple of rows we stop to collect our harvested potatoes which we reasonably sort by size. Now it is time to put them in bags that fit one quintal each. At the end of the day Jaime weights the bags and checks if they are full enough. Workers get paid per quintal they harvest so he has to check wether they are not cheating (putting less potatoes in one bag enables them to fill more bags with the same amount resulting in a higher pay). All the bags are roughly correct but Jaime is sure to notify the worker in a loud voice (“Falta! Falta!”) if one of his bags is missing potatoes.

As I appear to be the only one with pen and paper in the field I note the amounts of harvested potatoes for each worker so Ignacio and Jaime now how much to pay them. In total we harvested 100 bags each matching one quintal so that equals 4600 kilogram.

We return to the field next day. The highest part hasn't been harvested yet, approximately 25% of the total field. Ignacio returns with 4 other workers, this should be sufficient to clear the rest of the land. There is not that much competition between the workers today, they know they’ll finish with the same amount more or less since it is easier to split the land between them now. After lunch all the land is harvested.

The ‘end’ of the field, the top of the hill is wooded with forest vegetation. The workers start cutting part of this forest to expand the field. According to Jaime the soil is wealthier up there compared to the soil at the foot of the hill. Nobody really cares about or controls the forest so why shouldn’t he expand his monte (hill) a bit every harvest?

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One size fits allMost of the work is done now and Jaime and another worker start weighting and sewing the bags shut putting them all together in a destined spot where a tractor will pick them up this afternoon. Myself, Ignacios older daughter Nilda and another worker are splitting through the bags of unsorted potatoes, to sort them out by size. There are three classes of a potato variety, based on size. The first class are the biggest ones who are destined to be sold at the markets. These potatoes are the ones the workers sort out themselves when harvesting. The second and third class are put together in the same bags, it is to much work to sort them out while harvesting.

It is our job now to go through these bags and distinct second and third class, third class being the smallest potatoes. Second class potatoes are the ones not big enough to be sold at the market but will be used as seeds for next period. Also bigger potatoes with green spots on them are considered second class. They are not ripe yet and lower the price when being discovered at the markets. Third category are potatoes to small to sell, rotten potatoes and potatoes with strange deviations who look like potato-mutants. This category is being fed to the family’s pigs.

The field harvested contained the Super Chola variety, which is favored by Ignacio and Jaime because of its higher (but also fluctuating) price. Currently the price of one quintal equals 10,-USD (January 2011 at the San Gabriel market). The Unica variety which they have at the field below comes about 7,-USD. Table 3.1 lists the most important differences between these varieties according to Jaime.

Three more months of winterAlthough Jaime acknowledges it is getting wetter in the monte they do not apply wachu rozado here as opposite to the field below. The terrain is simply too large and it is (yet) too dry here. Instead they apply irrigation, similar to what I’ve seen in San Fransisco. There is a canal with water constantly running next to the field. The water has a reputation of being very clean and can be drunk directly from the stream. It is coming from up the mountain from the páramo. The canal provides sufficient water when they need it in summertime.

One of the reasons they have sufficient water is that the weather has changed over. Winter starts earlier and lasts longer resulting in a constant stream of rain water in their canal. This is depicted in table 3.2. August is traditionally the month of the winds. It is neither summer nor winter but there are heavy winds blowing announcing the passaging of winter to summer.

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Super Chola Unica$ 10,- / quintal $ 7,- /quintal6 months to grow 4 months to growNeeds more abono Needs less abonoAttracts lots of pests More pests resistantNot much seed available

Sufficient seed available (INIAP)

Table 3.1: Super Chola vs. Unica

Jan FebFeb March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov DecBeforeNow

SummerSummerWinterWinter

Table 3.2: Weather interval at San Pedro bajo Piartal

Jaime tells me cropping was easier in the past. Climate used to be better for potatoes and was easier to predict. Nowadays they sometimes do not know what to expect, take for example the rain last December. That wasn't custom. Because of changing weather plants are more exposed to external threats. So growing potatoes is also more expensive then before. More money is needed for irrigation, fertilizer and peones.

SummaryTable 3.3 summarizes the households of the three families described in this chapter. It should be noted that this table is a summary of a specific moment. In the future farmers might take other decisions regarding these variables. Some variables have been different in the past, e.g. the choice for wachu rozado as cultivation method.

In the next chapter two of the research’ questions will be answered with the data obtained.

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Colimba Sarmiento MurilloFamily members* 9 4 8

Village San Francisco Cuba San PedroAltitude** 3200 masl 2000 masl 2700 maslFarming style Arriesgado Arriesgado Seguro

Land owner Yes Yes Yes

Hectares 25-30 10-12 7-10

Wachu rozado No No Yes

Irrigation Yes No Yes

Main varieties Super Chola, Unica

Unica, Diamante, Gabriela

Super Chola, Unica

Pesticides Yes Yes No

Fertilizer Yes Yes Yes

Harvest date February, August January, July February, August

Other crops No No Yes

Other income Knitting, other job

Shop, cuy Knitting, selling candy, baskets

Cattle Yes Yes Yes

Sharecropping No Yes No

* Living in the household** Of the potato fields

Table 3.3: Overview of three potato farming families

Chapter IV In which I answer questions but simultaneously create new ones

In this fourth chapter I answer the research questions based on the data collected while working with farmers, observations and literature research. Data from all farmers who participated will be used. This will ensure richness in detail and a stable base to draw conclusions upon. Only question one and two will be presented here, the third one will be tackled in the next chapter. To recap, here are the research questions again as proposed in the first chapter:

1. What are traditional weather patterns is the potato producing highlands of Carchi and what are present trends?

2. How do potato farmers experience weather and how do they manage water resources as means of compensating for weather?

Question one draws on meteorological data, farmers’ and own observations to summarize weather patterns in Northern Ecuador, with special attention to trends over the last decade. The second question draws on qualitative interviews with rural families to explore farmers’ perceptions over weather and the way in which they manage water resources as an available mean of influencing potato cultivation.

State of weatherTo get a better view on the state of the weather in Carchi I consulted the available meteorological data from the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología (INAMHI). The national institute of meteorology and hydrology has been monitoring and studying weather in Ecuador since 1961 and presently operates around 300 meteorological stations. The data provided by INAMHI is rich in detail. Hours of sun, humidity, evaporation, frequency and speed of wind and more variables are included in their reports. Worrisome is that since the stations have been installed not much or no maintenance at all has been carried out and that some data is missing or doubtful (Oyarzún, Borja, et al. 2011).

The stations of El Angel (located near the La Libertad at 3000 masl) and San Gabriel (located near Cuba at 2860 masl) are the closest ones to the research locations. I worked with data from these stations ranging from the year 2000 until 2008. In appendix II and appendix III the tables containing this data are presented. I focus on monthly averages for temperature and monthly total amounts for precipitation. With this data, conclusions upon the current state of Carchi weather are made.

According to the INAMHI data, during the period of 2000 - 2008, the months with the lowest average temperature in El Angel were January 2000, February 2000 and August 2007, with an average monthly temperature of 11,0 ºC. Warmest was October 2001 with 13,7 ºC. For San Gabriel the numbers are 10,8 ºC in June and August of 2001 and 13,6 ºC in March 2001, November 2003 and November 2005. In figure 4.1 a graph containing average monthly temperatures over the period 2000-2008 is displayed.

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When I look at these two ‘extremes’ of the areas this does not directly appear alarming. It looks like a stable progression of temperature across the year. Overall temperature is secure from day to day, most of the time. That is true, throughout a whole month temperature is quite stable. This differs from what farmers told me. Farmers mention extreme extremes and keep commenting that the weather loco. They mention rising variability, such as hot and sunny days suddenly arising in between the rainy days, harsh colds and hard winds out of the blue, freezing you (and your crops) to bone and followed by large temperature shifts during the day. I’ve experienced this happening, so I can empathize with their point of view. Why appear INAMHI’s values to be stable when this does not seem to be the case for people on the ground?

This has to do with the aggregation of temperature data as monthly averages. If measured values are turned into mean values, extremes do not show and variation is lost. If values during one day are compared I expect to see big differences popping up from time to time. There are days with much higher temperatures and with much lower temperatures. When INAMHI calculates the monthly average, these days do not show anymore (or at least the standard normalization and standard deviation should be provided). Unfortunately, I did not have access to daily data. My assumption is that desegregating data to hourly and diurnal values shows greater variability. This assumption is backed up by personal observation, farmers’ comments on temperature and research by Crissman, Antle, et al. (1998) and most recently a study conducted by EkoRural (Oyarzún, Borja, et al. 2011).

According to farmers’ statements and my own observations there is a growing evidence to support the claim that variability in temperature (and other weather variables) is going on in Carchi. Temperature is not as variable as rainfall but is variable. Making a bold statement about the current state of the weather according to this temperature data and statistics I have access to is not possible. As mentioned, overall temperature is fixed, but you might never know what to expect. Also, it is much harder to predict temperature then rainfall. When farmers expect a day without rain, this does not automatically mean that it will be a hot day. It could freeze instead.

Lets look at precipitation data. Instead of averages, here the total amount of rainfall a month is given and the sum of these totals computes the total amount of precipitation in a year. To see

Figure 4.1: Average monthly temperature in El Angel and San Gabriel, 2000-2008 (INAMHI 2008)

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11

12

13

14

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Temperature (ºC)

El Angel San Gabriel

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how rainfall patterns develop throughout the year lets take a look at the graphs for El Angel and San Gabriel in figure 4.2 and figure 4.3.

The graphs shows that precipitation is variable in both the areas. Months with much rainfall are followed by less rainfall and visa versa. Almost every month there is a different amount of rainfall in the villages and the only conclusions that can be made according to this data is that the months July, August and September tend to by the driest and that October, November and December seem to be the wettest. The rainfall patterns of the two areas are comparable, more rain in San Gabriel usually means also more rain in El Angel.

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Figure 4.2: Total monthly precipitation in El Angel, 2000-2008 (INAMHI 2008)

020406080

100120140160180200

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

El Angel

Precipitation (mm)

0306090

120150180210240270300

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

San Gabriel

Precipitation (mm)

Figure 4.3: Total monthly precipitation in San Gabriel, 2000-2008 (INAMHI 2008)

As it was hard to indicate variability in temperature with graphics, here this is better possible. It is not easy to discover a trend in this data. Neither seems it to be possible to establish a rule or formula to predict amounts of rainfall each month. It is more or less feasable to estimate which months there will be more rain and which months less according to historical data but it will not be possible to make a long term prediction weather model for precipitation in this case.

This is in line with farmers’ experiences. They know it will rain, what they do not know is exactly when it will rain and it is hard to determine precise where the rain will fall. Neither do they know how much rain will fall and for how long it will rain. Both quantity and exposure to precipitation are highly variable. Weather variability makes it hard to predict these variables.

A way farmers can predict weather is to read the signs that their environment is giving them. This will give them some, but general indications about what is at hand. An example is the presence of certain birds and animals which might indicate less rain to come. Another example is when a flower of a certain plant is growing towards the East, farmers know that in the near future some wet months will come.

Variability?First, lets look at temperatures again. Figure 4.4 shows the temperature graph made from the INAMHI data. It displays the average temperature of each year. The lines in the graph are going up and down quite a bit, but notice the values on the y-axis: the lowest average temperature in El Angel is 11,7 ºC and the highest 12,5 ºC. For San Gabriel these are respectively 12,1 ºC and 12,9 ºC. It is obvious that according to these statistics there can be no mentioning of climate variability.

As explained before, averages do not show extremes. Although it is not visible in the INAMHI data, there is sufficient proof for climate variability in the area.

People told me it is getting warmer. Specially in the months of October until January, usually the winter months it is getting warmer. Reason they give is that it is raining less these months. There always used to be rain and in January there would be frost. Now January does whatever its pleases according to the farmers. When we compare this statement with the meteorological data we see this is true. January is probably the most unpredictable month of the year. Almost no precipitation in El Angel in 2003, 13,5 mm and 209,1 mm in San Gabriel, 2008. Now this is what we can call extremes. Between these two there is no single comparable month of January. Every year this month determines it’s own downpour without any rationale.

Figure 4.5 shows the total precipitation for each year. Next to that, figure 4.6 shows the average precipitation for every year. Reason for the use of averages here is that for some

Figure 4.4: Average yearly temperatures in El Angel and San Gabriel, 2000-2008 (INAMHI 2008)

11.0

11.5

12.0

12.5

13.0

200020012002200320042005200620072008

Temperature (ºC)

El Angel San Gabriel

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months data is missing. Missing data only occurs at the El Angel weather station in the months May 2002, December 2003, June 2008 and November 2008. Here the total amounts are thus not correct! The bars representing those years in the chart should be higher as these months are excluded from the total sum. It is not justifiable to conclude on total precipitation data when sometimes data is missing. We cannot speak of a total sum then. Therefor I calculated averages to include them in an extra graph. The trend we see in both graphs though is comparable.

According to farmers the times of the rain are changing. There is less rain now, especially during the last months of the year. There is still sufficient rain to crop but farmers admit that it is raining less compared to years ago. When we look at the graphs we see to opposite going on. The last months of the year there is more rain compared to previous months and when we look at the 2000 - 2008 range we see that since 2001 there has been more precipitation then the year before (except in 2004).

How can we explain the discrepancy between farmers’ observations and scientific data? People say it is getting hotter and raining less which makes perfect sense, alone it does not show in data. According to the numbers it is not getting warmer but temperature is relatively equal compared month to month and year to year. Neither does it rain less, it rains more.

Reason for this is nothing else but climate variability. We already knew variability is present but what the data is telling is that this variability (for whatever the reason) is being altered. This claim is supported by recent research carried out by Oyarzún, Borja, et al. (2011). This alteration does not manifest in more or less rain or sun in a heterogeneous manner but in more frequent and more drastic extremes. Temperature does not increase a few degrees slowly nor does it start raining a bit more every month. Instead some days experience ‘extreme’ sunshine or ‘extreme’ frost. The same way it could be is raining less widespread, some days it can rain a lot more and longer compared to the other days. There might be less rain every day compared to the past but from the other hand more intense intervals occur.

This type of climatological behavior is very hard to notice for farmers. For sure they notice these days of high variability but for them it is the overall and the results of that what counts. In the end, they too live by averages (“This has been a dry month”). One day of abundance of rain does not guarantee sound growth of potato plants if the other days are too dry. Neither does a couple of hours of stronger sunlight ensure sufficient plant development when the rest of the week will be dark and cold.

0

30

60

90

120

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008

Average precipitation (mm/month)

0

350

700

1050

1400

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008

Total precipitation (mm/year)

El Angel San Gabriel

Figure 4.5 and figure 4.6: Total and average yearly precipitation in El Angel and San Gabriel, 2000-2008 (INAMHI 2008)

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Although for farmers it looks likes it is getting hotter and raining less this is probably not the case when we look at INAMHI’s data available. Again, day to day data would ideally be used to build a stronger argument, also data over longer periods would give a better insight of how weather behaved in the past. Alas, INAMHI is not eager on sharing this information with me.

Farmers’ experiences

La LibertadThere is the consensus that the weather is the weather, as to say, it is as it is. Everyone acknowledges to be used to it and it seems that people have found their peace with it. As Célia Colimba points out: “We have to live with it.” They know it is and will be part of their lives, and that there is nothing they can do about it. There is no alternative for the weather. The few alternatives they have are not solutions, it merely introduces a new set of climate related problems. As Mateo Torres puts it: “I can control a lot in my life, but not the weather.” Although they accept the weather, that does not imply they are always happy with it.

A general concern for the villages woman are the diseases being caused or either aggravated by weather. A part from the general flu and the muscle aches they all have to suffer once in a while, the bad weather enables brucellosis11. When having a discussion with some local woman bringing their infants to class they mention this a couple of times. It is specially a concern for little children since the illness strikes them hardest. When class starts a few minutes later the full proof of this statement enfolds before my eyes as only three out of seventeen children are present, the rest being at home with a flu.

Of course after being a threat to human wellbeing, weather is also a threat to agriculture. Production will be easier with rain but it will also lead to uncertainties since it is hard to predict exactly when it will rain and how much. “Hoy hay lluvia cuando quiere” (Today it will rain whenever it wants to) Juan Chamorro tells me. He can more or less tell that it will rain soon, but not exactly when and how much. Also important, he can’t tell whether it will rain on his potatoes or onto the next field. It is very hard to anticipate between sun versus rain. Afterwards it is always easier to apply some measurements, but in some cases it then might be to late.

Though potato production is easier with rain it can also fool farmers. Much rain makes the plants grow big but not the potatoes of that plant. A field with big green lush matas looks beautiful and definitely very productive, but the opposite might be true. Sometimes the biggest plants carry the smallest potatoes since because of the rain the plant uses all of its energy to grow higher and greener instead of producing big potatoes.

Though the climate has always be variable in these parts, farmers also blame global climate change as a source of the increasing unpredictability. Global climate change is believed to be a driver of many (new) difficulties such as more plant diseases. A strong sun inevitably indicates lots of rain afterwards which will enable lancha to settle down on a plant. Also when there is a stronger sun then usual, the sun emits more UV-radiant beams which will kill off the plants when exposed too long to this.

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11 Brucellosis is an infectious disease that occurs from contact with animals carrying Brucella bacteria. Symptoms are in the order of flu-like symptoms, though brucellosis may be chronic.

This view of uncertainty is supported by all farmers I’ve spoken to. There are things they know and things they can predict, but only at a very basic level. You can never be a hundred percent sure of anything. This is what they learned over the years from experience. This became remarkably clear when farmers, a bit worried, predicted it would hail soon, probably coming night already and on their fields. Two days later they (quite happily) pointed out where the hail had fallen in a lower part of the valley.

Apart from their extensive knowledge base they posses, they admit that there are still many things they do not know yet. They can predict it will rain, but cannot predict exactly when it will rain. This missing link is the one that permits uncertainty to sneak in.

CubaIn Cuba people employ reasonably the same attitude towards the weather as in La Libertad. The weather cannot be controlled by any of them so they’ll have to try and make the best out of it. This can be difficult at times since the farmers here also acknowledge the fact that it is easier to produce with sufficient rain. Whereas in La Libertad rain is always present here this is not the case.

Farmers state that over the last years it became warmer and there is less rain then before. This is especially problematic in this region since there are not many other alternative water sources available. There is no páramo present with sufficient water and irrigation is a very expensive option. As two farmers put it literally, they truly depend on God, especially during summer time.

Though sometimes God is not as merciful as everyone hopes. It happened that some years would be so dry that a families harvest would almost completely fail and the family ended up without any food.

It became harder to predict the weather. There has always been some sense of seasonality, but this can always change (and it has in the past). Usually it would rain from October until December and in January the hail would arrive. Now January will do as it pleases, confronting farmers with the fact they don’t know what they’re up against. Seasons are shifting and the variability in climate has been altered. This is why the people from Cuba talk about clima loca (crazy weather). When habitually rain was a welcome guest for crops, now this also leads to uncertainties. It has become very hard to predict how much it will rain, and sometimes it will rain too much. As declared by many farmers, the most rain will come after a period with strong sun.

Though rain is desirable in Cuba, too much rain isn’t. Too much rain will enable diseases to grow on plants and granizo (hail) will attract gusano blanco (Andean weevil). Farmers admit that the weather is a factor (amongst many) that makes their work difficult. Most of them are afraid that in the future things will become worse and thus it’ll be more expensive to crop potatoes. They all have the life of a potato farmer but some of them think it is better for their children to study and get a ‘normal’ job.

Carlos Ayala recalls that when he was younger his dad would grow more potatoes. Mainly because it was easier then to cultivate. One of the reasons for this was climate was more stable back then. Though they admit an increased uncertainty concerning weather and more dryer periods it does not seem the people from Cuba will be defeated by this. The work has become

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harder but is still their job. They will keep the struggle and harvest potatoes, as Esgardo Sarmiento simply but strongly advocates: “This is what we do.”

PiartalAs in the other two areas in Piartal is the recognition as well that though the weather is changing, it can’t be changed by them. There is acceptance to the fact that the ‘weather does what it wants’ and people try to adapt to this much as possible.

People in Piartal reckon it is getting dryer, there used to be more rain 10-20 years ago. This made it easier to cultivate because there weren’t so many pests threatening the potatoes. Weather is also one of the reasons harvesting potatoes became more expensive. More money nowadays is needed to anticipate on the effects of these climate induced external threats. People started using more pesticides and had to apply more irrigation. Both these techniques are relatively expensive.

Though people complain that it is getting dryer they also admit that if it rains, it rains a lot. Neither do they favor an abundance of rain. Last year there was a whole year of rain caused by the La Niña phenomenon. This led to problems and as a result farmers started to crop more in wachu rozado, afraid of another year of rain.

Still, winter time is more favored then summer. Soils are wetter which will lead to proper potatoes. An abundance can be a threat to potatoes, for example enabling diseases to settle, but it is still favored over no rain at all. Extensive rainfall can be anticipated by a more frequent use of pesticides. No rain at all, which occasionally happens during summertime, is disastrous. Irrigation canals run dry and there are no alternatives to water access. This is the reason farmers tend to crop more potatoes in winter and look for alternatives next to potatoes during summer (during my stay in Piartal Luiz Rosero was, next to planting potatoes, harvesting carrots).

The uncertainty that is experienced in La Libertad and Cuba is also present here. They know that every day can be completely different and it is hard to anticipate on that. As José Cuaspa explains: “This variability that we experience in weather is not too big of a problem for potatoes if the alterations aren’t to vast, it is more a problem for the farmer.” The weather leaves many farmers in doubt, unknowing what to do. They are not sure how much pesticides to apply, when to harvest exactly. If the weather is favorable it is better to let the potatoes be and harvest them a bit later enabling them to grow bigger in the meantime. This is a risk some are willing to take. Some farmers aren’t that eager because if the weather will change too drastically in this short period, you might end up losing your crop.

Farmers underline that the climate used to be better, specially better predictable. As they put it, it used to be more ‘normal’. Seasons are changing and it is getting dryer in summertime, they now have a longer winter with more rain. This rain typically comes down in short and heavy periods, perpetrating decision making for farmers which in turn can have negative effects on their crops.

The breadth of local experiences All farmers spoken to recognize the fact that they cannot control weather. It is present and it acts as it does, and there is nothing they can do about it. So they accept the weather as it is, though not reluctant. There are many things farmers complain about when talking about weather. Most important, it can be (and in lot of cases is) a threat for potato production. Some

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weather conditions can seriously harm the crop, or attract unwanted insects and fungi. Next to being a threat for potatoes, it can also be a threat for human health. It became harder to predict weather lately because of an increased variability. Agriculture would be easier if weather was more stable and better predictable. The current weather state makes it hard to anticipate future action an overall farming is becoming more expensive as farmers need more resources to ensure sound harvest.

Water management practices

There are different ways farmers can cope with climate irregularities. They can alternate planting dates, select different crops, change a tillage regime and so forth. Nevertheless, farmers argue that water management is one of the most important tools they can apply. Also, water is an crucial aspect for plants and besides that is as well, in the from of rainfall, one of the most consequential characteristics of weather and its inherent variability. Water is present at different spectrums of farming, making it a significant factor for farmers.

La LibertadWater management in La Libertad is as important as to any farmer in the world. One advantage some farmers have here is the company of the always present páramo. The páramo functions as a massive organic sponge, sucking in moisture and storing water. Also referred to as a quarra de agua (sponge of water) the páramo is the main stable water source for the El Angel watershed. It’s water is not only used for farming activities, also household water use, including potable water for human consumption. But when there is not sufficient rain over a longer period or when heavenly drained for irrigation, water flow in streams and canals can become scarce and less water can be tapped from this source.

The water most farmers use for irrigation comes from several big lakes high up in the mountains. Canals where dug out from these lakes downwards to the potato fields. Because of the vast amounts of water and the winter rains farmers do not lack any water. In dry periods things can be different as there is less rain and the water available is used first by the farmers closes to the source. Some farmers use sprinklers in summer to ensure all their plants get sufficient water.

As for people lower in the valley this is not an ideal situation since they experience water shortages. This leads to conflict, particularly in ‘stealing’ water by digging extra canals so water will reach other peoples fields first. Also, El Angels municipality is not happy with the situation. Their solution is to build a cemented, closed canal all the way from the páramo to the city, ensuring a sufficient water supply for its inhabitants. Farmers from the neighboring villages are unhappy with this proposed regulation, as they are afraid they can’t obtain sufficient water for potato production.

The canals, most of them made by a local farmers organization, are an intelligent piece of work. Coming from the big lakes they divide in to several smaller streams when they reach the border of the fields. Every farmer has his own entrance point into one of these streams which allows him to run the water down with other smaller canals precisely adapted to his field. By putting rocks or debris inside canals they can be closed or water is guided another way. The canals are made in a way that water easily flows along the way with minimal resistance enabling a more precise fine-tuning of need and supply.

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Though there are some problems during summer with the way people manage water in this region, it is still the best and most practical formula available. Many alternatives are not present. Some farmers are digging out basins to store water, which they then use in dryer periods. Apart from this seems the situation became one in which people with first access get most and the later have to look out for other, sometimes not so amiable options.

Another problem with páramo water is its pureness. While people admit that it is ideal for farming practices, some are not eager to consume and wash themselves with this water. It is argued that some farmers, specially the ones who are close to the source, pollute the water with pesticides and throw detritus materials inside the source, not concerned (or not aware) about the consequences of their actions. This makes the water unsuitable for consumption. Also, fish caught in the lagoons are not favored as they may contain pesticide and are unsafe for human consumption. There appears to be truth in these statements as I saw several times farmers washing their pesticide equipment in the canals after use and several studies confirm the presence of carbofuran (a highly toxic pesticide used to control lancha) in the waterways (Jaramillo, Bowen et al. 2001, Stoorvogel, Antle, et al. 2004A, Stoorvogel, Antle, et al. 2004B) ). Another concern mentioned by some woman are the dead animals and insects decaying inside the lakes and the small pieces of dead animal matter ending up in their drinking water.

CubaWhereas in La Libertad irrigation is a well applied method in farming, in Cuba this is not customary. Cuba’s geographical location is one of the main reasons. Located at around 2500-3000 masl páramo is not present to supply water. Neither are there any rivers or streams of significance nearby. Managing water for potato production is hard here.

The lack of water is especially noticed in summer which has less rain and is dryer then winter. One of the very few alternatives available is costly and not much employed. Few farmers, mostly owners of large haciendas position big diesel generated pumps in rivers and have the river water pumped directly to their fields were it is used to irrigate. They often have to apply several kilometers of piping to achieve this. This alternate technique is too expensive for small-scale farmers, specially when they have to consider the substantial risk of the equipment being stolen at night.

The majority of farmers here rely on a different alternative: faith. All farmers spoken with admit, more or less melancholic at times, that, and especially during summer time, they are depended on God. They all admit farming is more difficult in the hot season since there is a lack of rain. The only thing they can do is either apply more pesticides (which some do to a considerable extent) or to literally pray for rain. It is impossible to control the weather but they can hope for appropriate weather.

Apart from that, one thing farmers carefully pay attention to is when to apply certain practices. Famers have a keen eye to monitor their plants and soils closely. They know if they put more earth around their embankments potatoes will grow a bit faster since the earth contains moisture. This cannot be done every time the plants need water so monitoring and decision making in these parts is more crucial. Second chances do not come round easily here.

Another way of securing as much as water possible for plants is to have specific planting dates. Planting is best done in January (what we did) when the ground is drying up after the winter rains and the plants wont be struck by this months granizo. This almost dry earth is convenient for potato seeds to start offspring.

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Some farmers rely on pesticides to aid them growing potatoes. A regular appliance of pesticides that enable quick kernel growth and that bind ground water are used to ensure the desired potatoes.

The abundance of water mentioned in the La Libertad area is not present here and winter is a very much more favored period then summer. Routinely there is sufficient rain water for every farmer to secure the harvest. People admit that years before when climate was more stable and more predictable, there would also be more rain and they could anticipate more on its effects. It was easier to grow and people would grow more. In this scenario, rainfall and water management lay extremely close to each other and are almost impossible to be seen or discussed separately.

PiartalIn Piartal access to water is not as problematic as in Cuba, but neither is it as plentiful as in La Libertad. A much applied strategy to managing water in these parts is the use of the wachu rozado system. At the lower parts (2400 masl) where grounds are wetter due to rivers that run near, this cropping method is applied. Fields higher in the mountain (at approximately 3000 masl) do not get that amount of moisture so wachu rozado is not applied here. These fields are closer to páramo (though not as close as the fields in La Libertad) and profit from some smaller canals with an average water flow coming from the páramo.

Since there are not as many farmers above 3000 masl in this area the continuous páramo flow is also in summer sufficient most of the time and is thus used for irrigation. The scenario becomes more interesting when we take a closer look at the lower parts of Piartal. Here a river runs along most fields making the grounds overall more wet. This of course is an ideal situation for potatoes.

But in the winter the whole bunch might just become too wet. Most farmers therefor apply wachu rozado, specially to those parts of the fields close to the river. As explained before this pre-Colombian cropping system is better suitable to deal with water extend. Farmers told me that they’d rather have their whole fields in wachu rozado in winter because of the water profusion. Alas this his not possible because of the extra work the system demands.

The river that runs through the fields in the valley is the same one that runs along some of the higher parts of Piartal (though not the one that are high enough to obtain páramo water). In summer all farmers tap water from this river. With long pipes the water is also run down to the fields below. People in the valley prefer water coming from above because of the pressure in the pipes which makes it easier to apply the water and neither do they have to install a pump in the river at the lower part to get that water to the elevated parts of their fields. Both people on top as in the dale tell me that there is nearly always sufficient water for all of them.

It seems that in Piartal everything is turning out quite well when we talk water management. Though sometimes heavy rainfall (sometimes caused by La Niña in these parts) can fill up rivers quickly in winter. Because of the sometimes extreme abundance, resulting in high water levels in rivers in the lower parts, the area may become too wet or even flood at times. This is not desirable either of course.

Although having sufficient access to water most of the time, even in summer, farmers still admit that cultivation is better in winter. Rain still is one of the main suppliers of water and is,

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if modestly, also the best way out for a farmer. Though most farmers use the river in summertime they admit that this is not a ‘real’ solution. This might be explained by the fact that farmers in this area are still of a more traditional kind. They feel it is not completely natural to use all the rivers water, but there is no alternative to proceed with. According to them the dry periods are getting dryer while the wet ones are getting wetter so also in this case it will always be a close call, specially in the future.

SummaryTable 4.1 summarizes the two research questions tackled in this paragraph. In the next chapter the third research question will be answered. This question is concerned with the consequences weather has for farmers and their practices.

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Table 4.1: Summary of research question 1 and research question 2

Variables INAMHI dataINAMHI data Farmers’ observationsFarmers’ observationsRQ 1 - Weather’s current

state- Temperatures equal on

monthly basis- Rainfall highly variable on

monthly basis- Most rain occurs in October,

November and December- Less rain occurs in July,

August and September- January is highly variable

- Temperatures equal on monthly basis

- Rainfall highly variable on monthly basis

- Most rain occurs in October, November and December

- Less rain occurs in July, August and September

- January is highly variable

- Temperature not equal on daily basis, extremes are know and occur unpredicted

- Rainfall highly variable on daily basis, hard to predict what will happen the next day

- Most rain occurs in October, November and December

- Less rain occurs in July, August and September

- January is highly variable and unpredictable

- Temperature not equal on daily basis, extremes are know and occur unpredicted

- Rainfall highly variable on daily basis, hard to predict what will happen the next day

- Most rain occurs in October, November and December

- Less rain occurs in July, August and September

- January is highly variable and unpredictable

- Weather’s variability

- Temperature equal on year to year basis- Rainfall highly variable on

monthly basis- Rainfall increases on year to year basis

- Temperature equal on year to year basis- Rainfall highly variable on

monthly basis- Rainfall increases on year to year basis

- Temperature increases on year to year basis

- Rainfall highly variable on day to day basis

- Rainfall decreases on year to year basis

- Temperature increases on year to year basis

- Rainfall highly variable on day to day basis

- Rainfall decreases on year to year basis

Variables La Libertad Cuba!Cuba! PiartalRQ 2 - Farmer’s weather

experiences- Acceptance- Can be threat for

potatoes- Cause of disease- Global climate

change to blame- Makes it hard to

anticipate future action

- Acceptance- Can be threat for

potatoes- Hard to predict- Weather has no

mercy- Agriculture would

be easier if weather was stable

- Acceptance- Can be threat for

potatoes- Hard to predict- Weather has no

mercy- Agriculture would

be easier if weather was stable

- Acceptance- Can be threat for

potatoes- Makes cropping

more expensive- Unable to control

weather- Makes it hard to

anticipate future action

- Farmer’s water management

- Rain- Páramo- Canals- Irrigation- Basins

- Rain- Pumps- Pesticides- God

- Rain- Pumps- Pesticides- God

- Rain- Páramo- Canals- Irrigation- Wachu rozado

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Chapter V Where I try to find a meaning in action and advocate on future development

As I addressed my first two research questions in the previous chapter, let’s now go on to the final question:

3. What consequences do present weather trends signify for farmers’ water management and potato cultivation practices?

The third question has it’s own chapter because it’s answers are more concluding in nature and more in line with the main question than the other two subquestions. Next to concluding on weathers’ implications for potato farmers I also explain these in a broader agricultural and developmental context and try to make recommendations regarding continuation of farming processes under the specific circumstances as discussed in this thesis.

Consequences for farmers, an overviewFor this research I divided farming into two main components, general potato production practices and water management practices. Weather has specific but also overlapping implications for these components. While analyzing data it became clear to me that to distinctly map out consequences, I needed to add another division.

I discovered many consequences weather has for farming, and although they all relate to potato cultivation in one way or another, they originate in different niches surrounding farming. For clarification purposes I listed each implication with its matching niche. In the process I identified four principal niches, equally tied with weathers’s influence on potato and water management practices.

The first one, perception, refers to farmers’ emotions and the way they think about what is going on in their lives and imagine certain things. It simultaneously is based on and creates individual meaning that (partly) defines peoples norms and values. Farming practices, categorized as performance deals with more practical, visible implications, for example the individual adaptive measures farmers apply. Cultural factors refer to a broader set of ramifications such as collective understanding, tradition, experience and opinion. Lastly socio-political and biophysical elements represent collective action on the border of local societies and comprises the broad scale of political activity and environmental context.

It should be noted that although I made distinctions between implications by grouping them into categories, all of these categories and in turn their implications are related and interacting amongst each other. For example, páramo degradation (headed in the socio-political and biophysical niche) is related to the farming practice pesticide use. Likewise a good harvest is dependent upon effective decision making. There are no solid boundaries between these implications (only imaginary to simplify), boundaries overlap and are mutual inclusive. In some cases it is thus possible to group a certain implication under a different subcategory.

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In continuation I explain each subcategory and its related consequences weather has for potato cultivation practices. A list of the most important consequences is listed in table 5.1.

Perceptual consequencesPerception implies consequences related to peoples’ feeling of being in charge of their own life, specified by their jobs as farmer. It relates to the sense of being in control of your own resources. Faith in general but in this case especially faith in farming is part of this. These ideas and beliefs located in this category help to create a farmers’ meaning that sway on how they organize their life.

The consequences for farmers’ perception are an increased feeling of uncertainty and the decision making process is becoming harder. These two morals are closely related and it is hard to determine which one, if so, precedes the other. It can be argued that climate variability increases the amount of factors and alters the already present ones, to take into account when farming. There are more and more variables pressing upon production processes nowadays. For each of these the farmer has to estimate its effects. As these variables are changing, mostly in an unpredictable way, farmers have to make tougher decisions and because of the uncertain outcome of their decisions, are less secure if they make the right decision. This enables the feeling that farmers are not completely in control of their potatoes and results in a feeling of personal uncertainty, being not at ease.

This feeling of uncertainty has it’s own feedback loop on the decision making processes. When not being confident you’re making the right decisions, you probably will make mistakes when pressured. This vicious circle is a hard reality for farmers who constantly have the feeling of living on the edge. Esgardo Sarmiento referred to this as a lottery game which you can only win or loose, but you’ll never know what the end will be when you start playing. Most farmers are afraid of losing the game, because it happened before and they know the consequences. This stressful feeling, the knowledge that your harvest might fail and the aftermath that encompasses, only based upon a few decisions is reality for Carchi people, substantially conscious when weather becomes a player in their lottery.

Performative consequencesPerformance connects to action-based implications. It is a more practical set of problems that farmers interact with on a different level then perceptive values. In the case of the potato farmer it is no surprise to notice that most of these conditions relate to production processes and its actions, mostly shaped as adaptations that have to be undertaken to ensure sound production. Weather alters farmer’s (agricultural) performance and the most important consequences of this is that there are more threats to cropping and that expenses have risen. Adapting existing practices is a way to react on this.

There are many reasons cropping is becoming more difficult then it used to be. Climate induced water management issues and potato practices malfunctions increase risk for harvest and its owners. Farmers are now facing more, and more complex situations then before and in some cases they end up with less output then before, even if they spend more money on production.

There are more factors farmers have to take into account nowadays: irrigation, varieties, markets, pesticides, sharecropping, etcetera, and all off these have their own repercussions on farming. Also, because of these modified factors farmers have to spend more money to adapt. Another irrigation technique, a better pesticide, acquiring more livestock, selling at another market are all adaptation techniques they have to apply to ensure sanguine results.

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In most cases this is not always possible, money or other necessary resources might just not be available. As there aren’t many alternatives, threats for potato production are increasing and its repercussions will ripple through the production scheme and on its way alter other variables.

Cultural consequences There is also a cultural component visible in this story which is expressed in a collective and common understanding of all day surrounding life. This has to do with ‘the bigger picture’, the context floating around potato farming and the interior collective meaning that is given to this. Implications here relate to general understanding, worries that everyone knows are present when talking potato farming.

An important consequence weather has for farmers deals with water availability. If there is not sufficient water and access to water resources I unequal, this can lead to conflict and a ‘water war’. It happens people ‘steal’ each others’ water resulting in quarrel, sometimes even between villages. Also, there is a general concern for water born diseases (related to pesticide use and fecal matter). Another consequence is that some people believe that potato farming has no future since interest with the current youth is low.

Some examples on how society has its influence on farmers can be found in their narratives: “Nobody wants to work in wachu rozado” (so neither will I because it is not possible with help from sufficient peones). “All my neighbors use this type of pesticide” (they had successful harvests when they used it, so this will also ensure superior harvest for me).

Perceptual Performative Cultural Socio-political and biophysical

Feeling of no control Crop / harvest failure

Concerns for diseases

Increased plant vulnerability

Increased (feeling of) uncertainty

Increased cost for farming

Knowledge failure Water shortages

Harder to anticipate Facing more problems

Insufficient food supply

Increased effects of natural phenomena

Decision making altered

Lesser production with same resources

Future of farming at risk

Paramo degradation

Rely on something unreliable

Specific cropping methods failure

Fluctuation of prices Pesticides in natural environment

Living on the edge Expensive alternatives

Social status amend Increased flooding risk

More and harder work

Water wars

More pesticide use

Table 5.1: Consequences that current weather has for farmers

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“Everyone in this country likes the variety Super Chola” (that is why I grow it because I know I there is a strong demand and I can always sell it).

Socio-political and biophysical consequencesSocio-political and biophysical consequences are present in a more distant, external sphere for farmers. They cannot totally control, grasp or understand them, but they do know these are present and affect them. Some of the implications listed in this category are introduced here by farmers themselves, after being exposed to other implications. Some implications listed here are directly caused by climate variability.These implications are shaped in a way that although farmers may contribute indirectly to them, there is not much they can actively (as farmers) do about it. Action in this section is enabled by external forces. Politicians, environmental activist, social workers and scientist are needed to comprehend and deal with these variables.

Implications listed mostly deal with environmental stress. People are aware of this but aren’t always certain what is causing this stress (though it can be anthropogenic) and are not entirely sure what should be done about it. Neither are they completely sure why these implications are important for them. As with the cultural component, there is a general concern present, but what is lacking is interpretation and explanation.

An important implication listed is pesticide residue wash out into the environment. Pesticides sprayed end up in soil and groundwater and are then being spread throughout the area due to hydrological processes. Empty pesticide packages are usually discarded at the edge of the field or thrown in the streets on the way home. Some farmers dig a hole on a central spot where they collectively dump residua and empty packages into. They believe this measure prevents environmental damage. The problem becomes even graver when you know that not only the environment is aggravated by this but also livestock and human health as the poisons end up in in drinking and household water.

ConclusionsWith the last sub research question answered I am now able to draw up conclusions with which I answer the main question proposed:

How do potato farmers in Carchi, Ecuador adapt to climate irregularities and what implications does this have for farming and water management practices under increasing uncertainties?

This question can be divided into two parts: how farmers adapt to climate variability and what climate variability means for farmers apart from adaptation. When taking a closer look at table 5.1 it is evident that the farmers’ adaptation part is listed under the performative and socio-political and biophysical categories and that the implications of climate variability are listed under the perceptual and cultural part.

When doing my field research I tried to go in depth into the practices farmers apply, the performance part to discover adaptations. But when engaging in dialogue with people, soon the cultural components became visible as an underlying realm interacting with what people did. I do not view culture as a means of adapting to climate variability (at least not as short term adaptation), but I do reckon that culture is being altered (partly) by climate. The effects of this are noticed by farmers and they in turn might modify their actions in its context.

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When asking people about a certain practice, they explain this to me from a cultural point of view and not from a mere technical or agricultural conviction. Farmer action, including their adaptive mechanisms, are not merely the result of individual decisions, they result from a more complex level called culture. In line with this perspective Crane and Roncoli (2011) argue that “adaptive processes are social phenomena whose significance and effects expand well beyond changing climate conditions.”

I shall clarify this with an example from my field research: When asked farmers why they use the azadon and not a European type of spade and rake, the answer was that the azadon is the best tool for the job, which might be true. When asking why the azadon is the best tool, the answer had little to do with the specific shape of the device, the variety of task is can perform or other technical assets. The answer was that the azadon is best because it has been used by generations of potato farmers before them, their fathers and grandfathers. They managed to worked potatoes with it just fine so that indicated the superior quality of the tool. That was why the azadon is preferred over any other tool. It was a cultural choice, made over and over again by farmers over time and eventually becomes part of a farmers’ identity.

Although I’ve come across many ways of adaptation, to conclude I shall sum up the main ones that kept on returning and where mentioned by most farmers. I touched upon these measures in previous chapters but I will explain them in a more straightforward way here so they can serve as a more applicable coda.

Planting and harvesting datesOne way of adapting is by playing with potato planting and harvesting dates. By deviating from the regular planting periods, harvesting is also postponed. Since the bulk of potatoes is sold at the same moment at the markets, prices tend to be low because of the large amounts available. When selling before or after these periods farmers hope to get a higher price since demand is higher and stock lower. Instead of having to go with the flow and accepting the price market merchants offer you they are now more in charge of the price of their potatoes.

Differing with varietiesNext with differing dates farmers also try to vary the kind of potato they cultivate. The most favored and thus most grown potato in Ecuador is the Super Chola. Because of the almost unlimited supply of this variety prices tend to be low when selling at market. There are some other varieties that are still favored (Diamante, Unica). By cropping these varieties farmers try to opt for a higher price. These other varieties are mostly grown in addition to the Super Chola because farmers dare not take the risk to be unable to sell the other varieties at the desired price. Growing other varieties also has a higher chance of failure since the Super Chola is a more resistant kind. Although other varieties are present it is not common to see a farmer cultivating potatoes without Ecuador's number one variety at his field.

Pesticide managementPesticides and fertilizers are favored to adapt to changing conditions. Though the negative aspects present, pesticides are still highly valued to ensure better crops. In a direct way pesticides do help farmers. They will grow higher plants and bigger potatoes. They will exterminate unwanted guest nesting in the plants and in rainy seasons pesticides protect potatoes from rotting. The problem here is that pesticides are only a short term solution. On the longer term the negative aspects of pesticide use overcomes initial benefits. Of course these are hard to capture and understand as it is the short term direct effect that farmers are looking for.

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Cropping systemsThere are two main cropping systems that I could identify. One is a full tillage system, based upon modern Western practices. The other is a pre-Colombian system, wachu rozado. Both systems have some specific properties that have some advantages over the other when regarding water and climate. The full tillage system is easier to work and gives farmers more options regarding planting, management and harvesting. The wachu rozado system is more suitable in wetter environments and in periods with heavy rainfall. Also pesticide are less needed in this system. The choice between either one of the two is determinative for the rest of the cropping circle, its specific practices and results.

Water managementWater management is a specific set of practices a farmer needs to apply to ensure sound harvest. As discussed earlier many options are available to adapt. Irrigation is a highly valued method to overcome absent rainfall, though is not available to everyone. Using water from the surrounding environment, big pumps transporting water, digging canals alongside fields and praying for rain are methods farmers apply to ensure sufficient water for their plants. Water availability is exceedingly depended upon weathers’ status. Since the changeable nature of weather access to sufficient water to cultivate will always be a hot topic for Carchi’s potato farmers.

Livestock and alternative cropsNext to potatoes farmers own an (not so extensive) amount of livestock, mostly cows but also some pigs and cuyes. These are an extra livelihood driver for them and in the case of a failed harvest serve as a backup to ensure income and a food supply. Also other kinds of crops are planted to serve as a reserve next to potatoes. Might prices be to low at the market for potatoes, they can still sell their zanahorias, havas, maiz, tomate de arbol, to provide them with the necessary income.

Now lets turn to the other side. Next to the need to adapt, lets look at other implications climate variability has for farmers. These implications are nested into perceptive aspects on which I will briefly reflect. Since the focus of this thesis has been on the practical side of implications, through farmers’ dialogue I got an insight on the other side of the extent to grasp what it means for them and I’ll summarize what I’ve come to know.

I shall point out three main aspects that in my point of view are the most important implications. These are considered important because they have a strong influence on other variables and activities and they go beyond farming as a mere technical process. It is here that the farmer himself becomes mentally, I dare to say emotionally involved. The three aspects are an increased uncertainty, altered decision making and farming becoming more difficult. These three are in a constant flux with each other but along the way also with other variables.

Increased uncertaintiesBecause farming life is altered by external constraints, in this case climate variability, uncertainties increase due to the fact that there are more options to consider when initiating a new potato cycle. Farmers’ resilience decreases and they become more vulnerable since the chance of failure is more likely in this new and still changing context. The extra set of variables does thus not mean a better fine tuning of farming. Instead it offers more complex situations and outcomes are not fixed anymore as they once might have been. Because of this farmers are unable to select the most appropriate options and grow insecure.

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Altered decision makingA key influence on decision making is the expected (or wanted) outcome of the production process. This output, and so decisions are constraint by resource availability and are taken within the higher-scale context of markets and policies (Stoorvogel, Antle et al. 2004A). On top of this the changing context, climate alters these resources and so indirectly farmers ability to make sound decisions. Uncertain about the implications of their decision, farmers now face a complex process on selecting the best out of an insecure (and limited) set of options. The insecureness of the results of these options enables tougher decision making. As is obvious, being insecure regarding to choose between available courses of action empowers uncertainty another time. The blue print of a vicious circle becomes visible.

Farming becoming harderAll these new and old factors to be taken into account increase farmer uncertainty and alters their decision making process. As a result farming is becoming harder. There are more difficulties along the road and because of this vicious circle going on, these are in turn also modified in the process. To sustain a livelihood as a potato farmer in Carchi an increased effort into uncertainty and doubt is needed. Some farmers are not capable of this type of commitment. For some, it is not worth it. A result is the ongoing outmigration of farmers, looking for other jobs in other places.there are many factors applicable to farmers and they can’t be controlled without making the right efforts. Farmers know this but aren't always capable of making these efforts, even if they want to. Therefor most of them walk the middle way, trying to benefit and control as much possible, but almost never every asset of potato farming.

Summa summarumAlthough the conclusions may seem straightforward I feel they need some explanation, as there is more then meets the eye. I’ll explain the conclusions and it’s implications through an integral analysis based upon Hollings’ lazy eight (Holling 1973; 2001; Gunderson and Holling 2002; Walker, Holling et al. 2004).

After developing and testing several frameworks it struck me that in fact I was playing around with and redressing Hollings framework which, as I found out through a continuous blend of trial and error, is useful to explain the case of Carchi’s potato farmers. The adapted framework is depicted in figure 5.1.

One of the main differences between Hollings original version and my adapted one is that Holling does not necessarily focus on the four states that are present in the lazy eight but he also focusses on the flow, the adaptive processes involved in the transition from one state to another. He describes the opportunities and constraint that come along with these transitions and explains how because of that transition the current state is altered into the new one. I will focus upon the individual states and how they relate to and influence one other as well as how change in one state could lead to change in another.

CultureThe ‘quadrant’ we will take as starting point12 in the framework is the state that Holling indicates as r. For us this state implies Carchi culture. Culture occurs in nature but counterposes that same nature by involving it in human life-cycles (McFeat 1974). It is a

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12 We cannot really speak of starting and endpoints in the case of the lazy eight as it is an ongoing system with its trends continuously transforming itself over time.

collective, internal being that is hard to expose for outsiders. When we examine this with a lens on potato farming there are some variables that indicate Carchi (farming) culture.

There is a general concern for the future of the business. Youngsters are not interested any more in farming and are leaving the villages to study in Quito or Ibarra. Though mostly people understand and respect these choices, they fear for the survival of their trade. Also there is an anxious feeling that to much bad weather might destroy harvests (which happened before) and there might be food shortages. Many families depend on their own crops, not only for income but also for food supply and cannot afford to loose them.

It are these and other similar feelings that constitute the notion of culture in this case. It is the notion of a general feeling, a state of being that is experienced collectively in the community. According to Richards (2009) “culture is what people do” and how people express what they do, direct through action and indirect by meaning.

PerformanceFrom the cultural phase we move on towards the action-oriented phase. This section is concerned with practice, performance, with ‘doing’. In it are individual measures farmers take to adapt to climate variabilities and water shortages. In Hollings model this is called the k paradigm.

For us this phase represents planting and harvesting dates, choice for a specific potato variety, water management, cropping systems and other adaptive measures. These farming actions should not be viewed as lone decisions and practices by a single farmer, but as a result of something behind it: culture. This is why if we want to understand these actions we should adopt the view that “agriculture is performance” (Richards 1989; 1993). As a performance potato farming becomes more then a sole technology, it is now part of social life.

Acknowledging the social component of farming practices, Dant (2005) explains this ‘machine-body’ interface by stating that “the embodied capacity to interact with objects [farming practices] is animal in origin, the complexity of dealing with objects requires a cultural context of acquired techniques in reading and responding to the intentions embedded in them”. So the fact that farmers work with certain techniques (like the example of the azadon given before) and have obtained certain skills to do so and adapt these techniques and skills if necessary, is embedded in and derived from their culture.

According to our eight-figure this statement is true. As can be seen culture is the phase that precedes the action phase. Culture is (one of) the driving forces(s) behind agricultural action. This view leans on the idea that technologies (in this case farming) consist of a material and social component as opposed by Mauss (2001). The material component being farmers’ adaptation measures and the social component farmers’ village, their family, friends, colleagues etcetera. Farming (adaptation) strategies are experimented with and being approved or turned down by the farming society. It might even be said that the notion of farming strategies, or the innovation, experimentation and adaptation of farming strategies is socially constructed.

The term social construction is a bit vague and maybe even misleading but I feel that I should mention it, since it relates to another aspect of the eight, to which we will turn later. For now I’ll remark that as is pointed out first by Hacking and Wagenaar, social construction is not singular but rather a complex “matrix of entities” (Hacking 1999) that “inquires into the way that a complex social setting of ideas, practices, institutions, people, and so forth gradually

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changes in it entirety” (Wagenaar 2011) . The point is that everything about farming changes constantly in an interactive way. This is what I tried to illustrate when coming up with the eight figure: interaction and change. The results of this is what I consider to be deviance, to which I will turn later.

Socio-politics and biophysicsWhen we follow the loop of the eight we now stop at our next phase, socio-political and biophysical (environmental) factors. Politics, economies, social status, environmental and climatological issues belong here. Examples of these are in this case the water wars going on between farmers, páramo degradation, distrust in local politics, impopular political measurements, climate variability, shifting seasons and the ingeneros from pesticide companies enforcing with ‘advice’ upon farmers. This is what Holling explains as the 𝛺 phase of the lazy eight.

For Carchi’s potato farmers this can be translated as the world around them. It is (one of many) the context of potato farming. In a way this context is partly shaped by them, unconsciously. For the individual farmer though this seems as an external reality to which they do not belong. They reckon and acknowledge these factors but it is also something that they cannot completely relate to.

Politics and economy are issues farmers perceive till a certain level and interact with indirectly. There is a concern that local politics do not fully take into account the needs of farmers. At times though there is a, usually confronting, direct contact. This might happen in

Figure 5.1: Lazy eight applicable to potato farming

Perception (α)

- Fear- Emotion- Feeling- Uncertainty

Performance (k)

- Planting / Harvest dates- Potato varieties- Water management- Cropping method

Socio-politics and biophysics(Ω)

- Economy- Politics- Environment- Social status

Culture (r)

- Future of potato farming- Fear for food shortages- Outmigration - Farming becoming harder

Deviance (!)

Individual

Collective

Interior Exterior

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the near future as a recent development is the plan to capture páramo water and transport it to the city below. Farmers fear that because of this they won’t have sufficient water for their potatoes which will result in a minor quality of potato or even in a failed harvest. This of course has it consequences for farmers’ own economy and could influence local and even global economies on the long run.

People do take notion of this and there are some concerns. Because these factors are not so evident directly farmers do not take direct action toward this and maybe underestimate its effects. These concerns do contribute to the overall perception of the world around them and how to react on it. It might be far out there but it can take its own course of action and it does influence what people think and how they will anticipate on future events.

PerceptionLast we end up at the perception phase. This is the 𝛼 phase. For a farmer this represents how they experience and think about what is happening around them. It is here where emotions and intrinsic feelings are located.

As argued earlier, an increased feeling of uncertainty and altered decision making are main aspects of how climate variability influences farmers’ life, and it is exactly here in the 𝛼 phase that they are embedded and meaning (farmers’ meaning!) is given to them.

It should be clear that meanings are not individual objective thoughts but are rather shaped and altered by a reiteration of the phases of the eight. Socio-political and biophysical factors surrounding farmers have an influence on how meaning is created. In this research, the focus is rather on how weather (a biophysical-environmental factor) implies farmers’ action.

This makes the aspect of meaning important specially because of it’s interaction with the performative component. Action, as Von Wright (1971)puts it, needs to have an intention, an inner aspect. It is here in this part of the eight that this inner aspect of action is established. This leads to the notion that farmers’ performance is explained by intention and meaning and is not a result of it (Wagenaar 2011). This again is in line with the argument that farming is part of social life and should thus be analyzed in this regard (Richards 1989; 1993; Mauss 2001).

As we study the lazy eight closer it now also becomes clear that perception, individual inner emotion and feelings shape collective awareness and expectations: culture. As McFeat (1974) puts it “[..] culture develops as a growth process much as human personality matures, one phase coming after the other has set a platform for it.” I could not have wished for a better quote suitable for this explanation.

People find meaning in their lives through culture (which they unconsciously construct themselves) but in their daily lives people connect through more obvious, external factors (like farming, politics, resource access) who alter and after a while, through peoples own perceptions, define culture over again.

DevianceWhen reading the last lines above it seems that our circles of the eight are finally completed. Though this may be the case, there is one aspect that has not yet been discussed. Something that is not inside the loop and it might prove to be the most important phase of our lazy eight.

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On the exact ‘border’ between the meaning phase and culture phase is a little arrow leaving the framework. This systems’ exit, represented by x, indicates that the eight can be changed (for good or bad) and that it is not a locked process with no way out. Change, though, needs to start inside the system.

There is always change going on in the loop initiated by farmers’ which is a “complex social setting of ideas, practices, institutions, people” (Holling 1996), their livelihoods. As argued before ‘change’ is socially constructed. So thus are the results of this change what I view as the deviance of the system. Deviance in this case is the result of the constant interaction of Carchi’s cultural and socio-political and biophysical values with the agricultural performance of it inhabitants and they way they perceive all these. As stated by Wagenaar (2011) a proper term for this interactive change process would be ‘holistically’. “That is world making.”

We discussed the inner aspect of action, intention. Now it is time to look at the outer aspect of action, the results of action. Since we are in a loop, a result of action will be alteration of the four phases inside this loop, but more important the result of action defines deviance, the outer aspect of the loop. If we understand that “the inner and outer aspect of action are welded together” (Wagenaar 2011) it now becomes clear that through inner action leading to change inside the eight, ‘outer action’, deviance, can renew and update the eight from the outside. Deviance is the result of (inter)action of the four phases and will alter the system as a whole.

Deviance is able to take the whole eight, the complex system of potato farming to a whole new level. This (depended on what happens inside) can be either an improvement or a downfall to a lower, less sophisticated system. In respect we speak of positive and negative deviance. Closely related to the state of deviance is the notion of resilience, the way a certain system is able to cope with and adapt to threats.

In the case of positive deviance resilience will increase and the people, their institutions, practices, thoughts, everything that defines them (in relation to the system) improves because these are now able to better cope with and adapt to threats, in this case climate variability. These little improvements might be very small and may even be unnoticed, but if we are able to make positive deviance happen more often, little improvements add up and ultimately can change peoples livelihoods for the better.

Of course there is one question we have to ask ourselves now. What in the case of negative deviance? Holling (1985; 2001; 2002) describes the exit as the stage where potential can leak away. This can result into a less productive and organized system. The loops will continue but at a minor level then before, resulting in more uncertainties, it will become harder to adapt and to manage (water) resources which will lead to more extreme measures, trust in institutions will decline further and culture (for example local knowledge) will be aggravated. Live again becomes harder for the potato farmer.

A bit sad, maybe even melancholic when I write this, I have to conclude that, negative deviance is probably about to happen. Actually, it is already going on at some levels. Examples are the outmigration of farmers, the negative results of modernization policies, augmented health issues and environmental degradation. As pointed out in the beginning of this chapter the main conclusions of the research are that farmers have a hard time making right decisions, uncertainties are increased and it is becoming harder to farm and there aren’t much alternatives left.

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If we take a closer look at figure 5.1 you can see that the conclusions (implications for farming under increasing uncertainties) of this research are all in a way ‘negative’. These conclusions don’t recall the ideal image of a happy farmer that is frolicking around in his green meadow filled with flowers and butterflies. Instead we see insecure individuals who don’t know if they’ll harvest enough to feed their children and have to draft up new solutions to survive every time they go to work.

These conclusions, which are mostly centered in the perception phase of the lazy eight, will in my opinion lead to a negative change for the system as a whole. Again, this won’t happen overnight, but as many positive deviance leads to a general livelihood improvement over time, negative deviance when stretched and repeated will inevitably lead to a decline of the quality of farmers’ lives.

Potato panarchyThere is one thing I should clarify. When you take another look at the lazy eight, figure 5.1, this may look like a simplified metaphor of what is going on. And it is. The adaptive cycle in its most general form is a metaphor, it suggests infinitely creative and complex change processes. It is a simplified model to create common understanding, a window through which we can view certain aspects of the world in a different perspective and try to grasp part of its meaning. When applied and understood in the correct way future measurements could be taken to alter certain phases (peoples behavior) of the eight.

First I should point out that though its looks are simplified, the system in reality is not. The four quadrants, the cultural, performance, socio-political and biophysical and perception phase are not fixed, stable entities. These too function as complex, adaptive processes or lazy eights. And all these eights in turn exist of their own set of subsystems. The insight that potato farming functions as not a straightforward process is gained by my experiences in the field. I noticed many layers of farming present and it was hard to pin all of them down or comprehend them completely. I am not arguing that I have a full understanding of everything that is going on, but the lazy eight theory and the notion of what Gunderson and Holling (2002) call panarchy can certainly help trying to do. I shall try to clarify the panarchy present in potato farming with a small example.

Lets say a potato farmer is working with his potatoes under ‘normal’ circumstances. Suddenly the farmer becomes aware that his surrounding, in this case the context is weather, is changing. After a while he notices that weather variability disables him to farm the way he always did, since this variability starts altering some important cultivation elements. To enable him to cope with these changes (to ensure the same sound harvest as before), the farmer starts to use more pesticides in order to protect plants from water surpluses and fungi that come with an increased rainfall. This works well and the farmers keeps going on this way. After a while he observes dead fish in the nearby lake. Also, a group of environmentalist start to protest against his way of cultivation and they try to engage politicians to ban the pesticides he uses. The farmer starts to grow angry. How do people expect him to grow potatoes if it keeps raining more? His best option are those pesticides. He keeps producing but when time passes he grows uncertain. It has become more difficult to farm. What if he made the wrong decision, what if he is doing something wrong? Next to that he realizes that he is spending much more money to grow potatoes then before. Profit has become minimal and the farmer fears about the future of his family. He knows there are jobs in the big cities that pay more then selling potatoes. Could he do that? Probably not, he is a potato farmer. For some time this vicious lazy eight keeps repeating and degrading itself, and the context (weather variability) keeps changing too. At a certain point the farmer has to face facts, he cannot sustain his livelihood

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by potato farming anymore. He decides to leave Carchi and look for a new opportunities in Guayaquil.

Every variable in the above example is enabled by its own change and adaptive processes. Because they exist and interact with the lazy eight of the potato farmer, this eight (next to an already changing context) is being altered too. This is the case with every element mentioned in our lazy eight. This view of multiple interacting lazy eights is called panarchy. In this case I tried to look at one small subsystem in the massive overall world panarchy, potato farming, and of this I selected very few variables to study. But I found out that the panarchy, all these other little eights surrounding potato farming, are always present. Each element in the hierarchy of panarchies has its own adaptive cycle (Gunderson and Holling 2002).

It may look as if the potato farmers lazy eight is a clear and straightforward one, as the model in figure 5.1 could make you believe. I hope to demonstrate that in fact the opposite is true. Potato farming exist out of many subsystems and is nested by surrounding systems. All of these systems are constantly interacting with each other. It is an always repeating motion in which ongoing iteration and changing externalities ensure process development. The systems in the panarchy are constantly transformed into new entities in order “to create economic or social opportunity, and the success of that endeavor itself generates new classes of surprise and uncertainty” (Holling 1996).

The hierarchies of adaptive cycles and the interaction of its elements with each other reveal the dynamic structure “whose features retain both the creative and the conservative properties that define sustainability” (Gunderson and Holling 2002). To be sustainable positive deviance inside the system should be created by managing the determining elements present. Recommendations concerning potato farming will be made this way.

Recommendations for future action, a denouementLets go back to the basic for a while. We know there is change going on inside farmers’ potato system and we know this change can modify the system in a positive or negative manner. Change is initiated by the iteration and interaction between the four phases and their elements of the system but we should not lose sight of the context in which the lazy eight has been placed: climate variability. The system interaction is suppressed by this variability and it is the result of this variability that makes internal system change detrimental for the system as a whole, enabling negative deviance, a further decline of the structure. “[..] once the system flips into such a state, only explicit management intervention can return its previous self-sustaining state” (Holling 1996).

To combat these negative changes we should ensure a positive deviance as systems outcome. It is not possible for outsiders to directly tap into farmers minds, thoughts or culture and set up new patterns here that will lead towards this (not without a certain degree of socio-environmental decline). Neither is it possible to fight climate variability directly, we cannot change the panarchic context (at least not as immediate as we often want) to resolve farmers’ problems. The way for farmers to manage the existing panarchy is by varying with their crops, plating dates, water management etcetera. In that respect I argue that development policy should look at existing variations in potato and farming management systems, enhances and sustain them to ensure positive deviance.

Individuals and the way they perceive their surroundings and their practices have the highest potential for change according to it’s position in the lazy eight. Deviance depends much on farmers’ feelings and emotions, which is amongst many other factors also (partly) depended

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upon climate variability. By securing these feelings and emotions through interventions at the exterior level, deviance can be steered in a more desirable direction (depended on the result of the intervention).

Because it is hard to change the context or to intervene (with successful results) on the interior side of farming, what we (researchers, agronomists, policy makers, economists, anthropologists, peace workers) can do, is to try to influence on the exterior side of the eight. According to Holling (2001) two central characteristics of the lazy eight and thus adaptive change are its inherent potential for transition and the internal controllability of the system. We should therefor look at the performance and socio-political and biophysical margin of the system, while constantly keeping in mind the context. By being productive here we might be able to let farmers change the interior side and generate, on the long run, positive deviance.

Social scientist and agronomist should be working trying to help and understand farmers with their daily practices. Politicians and environmentalist should try to work at the collective side of the spectrum, practicing their powers to institute positive changes that will benefit the farmer. Though this might be happening already at some levels, these different actors are not completely integrated with each other. The boundary between these actors, each operating at different spectrums but working toward the same result, should be thinner. It is not up to me to tell people how to do this, I am not completely aware myself how it should be done, but I happen to know from experience, especially in the cause of Latin countries (with a high level of bureaucracy as well), that these interactions can and should be more tuned, geared to one another. But that is yet another eight and another thesis.

Having said this, now lets try to make some recommendations related to this research, concerning potato practices and water management. For this I will turn to another aspect of deviance, individual deviance. What makes certain people successful, stand above the crowd, while they are subject to the same conditions as their fellows? One way to answer this question is to look for the already present positive deviance. If we can understand what decisions and practices this farmer applied to create his own positive deviance, we might be able to extend these to other farmers. “The interest here is in how groups of personalities vary with these environments, how one man becomes like “some other men” (but not “all other men”)” (Kluckhohn et al., 1967:35) quoted in McFeat (1974) What will enable positive deviance and what actions would fit individual farmers to improve their practices and through this on the long run sustain these practices and increase resilience?

To create deviance I would recommend to enhance famers’ adaptive capacities. To do so I believe it will be useful to understand agriculture as performance and this view should be applied by interventionist. This way more fit and serviceable research can be done with will enrich us with a better understanding of ‘social’ agriculture. Crane and Roncoli (2011) point out that “the performative aspects of agriculture are central components of adaptive capacity [..]”. Also, understanding farming as performance will enable people to better operate on the external side of the lazy eight, where the performance and practice is located. Instead of focussing on single aspects of agriculture, lets explore the deeper insights that the performative aspects of agriculture will provide us. This way it is easier to strengthen current practices and adaptive capacities.

There are several ways adaptive capacity can be strengthened. I’ll point out three here, based upon my experience in the field, as well upon a personal belief build up over the years. In my humble opinion it comes down to two main principles in the end: awareness creation and education (as a learning processes to create and improve knowledge). When thinking back on

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my period in Carchi this belief got reinsured and I will relate adaptive capacity in the case of the potato farmer with it.

Farmers do have their own set of knowledge that is passed on from generation to generation, obtained through trial and error practices, experimentation. This internal knowledge is disseminated into the community and people share it among fellows and it becomes embodied in farmers’ practices. This open source type of knowledge is available for everyone and in everyday life is translated into a set of practices a that can be viewed as a reference point from where to start. There are certain things a farmer has to know, so he makes sure he knows them before engaging in farming practices. But the context in which this knowledge was developed and is now being applied is changing.

One way to build adaptive capacity is to mobilize local experience as sustainable resource. This is specially the case with knowledge farmers possess. Additional knowledge provided by external sources (such as researchers) could be used to give farmers the change the upgrade their own local knowledge. Local knowledge and practices should be made better fit for the interchanging variables present in farming. The knowledge present is developed over years of trail and error and was perfectly fit for cultivation practices in Carchi. But now that climate is becoming even a more major factor then before, there is no time to experience for longer periods of time. The trail and error process of creating the most applicable practice and method could be speeded up. I do not argue that this should be done by applying Western types of knowledge and technology but by rethinking and reshaping current knowledge and farming practice. This will give farmers a faster and more secure way to react on changing variables in the future.

According to Van den Ban (2002) knowledge dissemination is an important aspect to alleviate farmer poverty since it increases farmers’ potential to use human and social capital. Knowledge should especially be generated amongst poor farmers so they can more effectively compete with the richer ones giving them more chances to profit from their labour. The process of disseminating and sustaining local knowledge could be initiated by (but not steered by) interventionists.

The notion of knowledge mobilization is linked with a second recommendation concerning adaptive capacity I’d like to make, the one of the availability of the alternative. Farmers mentioned that they do what they do, that they use a certain practice (in regard to climate variability) because this is what they’re used to, but when adapting these practices they are limited by how long their reach is. There is not much more in it since there are not much alternatives beforehand. I’ll argue that mobilization of knowledge and resources can create the new opportunities much needed. This is also mentioned in research done by a similar group of farmers in the Chota valley of Ecuador (Oyarzún, Borja, et al. 2011)

If alternatives to practices are provided famers will have more choices and more paths to take. This does not mean all of these paths will lead to better and more desired results, but some might. This in its own fashion will enable its own set of deviance which enables future learning processes and new dissemination of valid knowledge. More alternatives should be developed and existing ones should be made better available for farmers. This will provide more options for farmers to adapt their farming practices and (if successful) decrease their vulnerability to climate variability.

Alternatives could researched and developed. Again, alternatives should be in line with current knowledge and practice and thus not be a top-down application of other types of (Western) science. Scientist though could help to create a broader set of possibilities in

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conjunction with farmers. The potential of multiple futures comes to mind here. With more options to select, more outcomes are possible. This could lead to high potential outputs improving aspects of farmers’ life. A minimum amount of ‘new’ knowledge will enable farmers to identify other and develop existing concepts in their practice. This type of innovation is specially important for smaller farmers and is a favored way of development farmers mention (Oyarzún, Borja, et al. 2011).

The availability of more alternatives will give farmers the feeling that they are in control of their own resources again since they have more opportunities to make sound decisions and it will contribute to an overall feeling of security. This will be my last recommendation. People should be able to trust themselves again, they should be convinced that their decisions and actions leads to positive outcomes. Their should be no doubt in their mind wether the decision they just made or the practice they just performed is the right one and wether the consequences of that will benefit them and their families. Potato farmers should believe in themselves again by giving them back the confidence they had lost in potato cultivation.

Success is depended on much factors and uncertainty is definitely not one of those. Giving trust back to farmers through building adaptive capacity (integration of science and politics, knowledge mobilization, development of alternatives) will decrease uncertainty and increase farmers resilience and ability to make the right decisions, simply because they are now equipped with a better suited and more advance set of measures that they can choose from and apply in specific situations when dealing with climate uncertainties stifling potato cultivation in its broad context.

I tried to make recommendations by following the path of the eight. To fully comprehend what is happening and make new things happen we should try to understand the ongoing circles of the eight and its elements and become part of them as it is only from the inside were change can be constructed. Create change at the external side and pluck the fruits of the labour at the internal side. Strengthening adaptive capacity is an important way forward and in my opinion and it should be explored more deeply to grasp its full potential. Destabilization of the system is important because it enables diversity, resilience and opportunity (Holling 1996), but in my opinion these subvert forces are slowly getting the overhand. Let us therefor apply our skills at the other side of the spectrum and explore and develop opportunities nested here. We are all small entities in an enormous panarchy, but we’re not the only ones. Collaboration here is key and will in the end will lead to more confident farmers which will benefit not the farmer himself but everything and everyone he interacts with, direct and indirect, including us all.

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APPENDIX

Appendix I : The potato plant ! Taken from Crissman, Antle, et al. (1998), chapter 5, p.102

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Appendix II: Meteorological data for El Angel, range 2000-2008

Monthly temperatures are averages, precipitation and days of rain are monthly totals.

El Angel - 2000

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

11.0 159.8 1911.0 156.4 2111.4 120.0 1912.2 97.2 1312.2 172.2 2012.3 53.8 1111.4 35.4 811.1 10.5 711.9 42.8 1012.3 40.8 912.4 34.8 912.5 43.3 1411.8 80.6 13

967.0 173

El Angel - 2001

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

11.5 85.3 1111.8 54.1 1212.1 53.0 712.5 64.3 1112.6 22.0 1111.7 20.1 912.0 21.3 711.1 8.4 512.1 25.6 913.7 1.6 112.8 62.1 1113.1 67.8 1512.3 40.5 9

485.6 118

El Angel - 2003

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.8 13.5 313.0 39.5 1012.4 55.4 1112.8 113.3 1312.9 69.8 1112.2 27.6 911.5 44.8 912.1 0.0 012.4 54.8 812.7 116.3 1312.5 116.4 15

12.5 59.22 9651.4 111

El Angel - 2002

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.7 61.6 1213.3 19.5 713.2 60.3 713.1 75.8 13

11.5 70.0 1512.5 7.1 511.7 26.5 612.4 26.3 312.4 111.9 1312.1 83.3 1312.8 100.6 1312.5 58.4 10

642.9 107

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El Angel - 2006

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

11.8 104.0 2012.6 62.9 1212.4 183.8 1612.4 123.7 1912.7 17.811.8 105.0 1511.5 12.5 911.6 18.8 611.8 18.0 912.8 62.9 1111.9 138.512.0 134.6 2112.1 81.9 14

982.5 138

El Angel - 2004

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.6 66.9 1012.2 29.4 812.9 29.8 612.5 109.1 1512.7 39.8 1211.8 11.5 1011.6 14.8 1011.4 4.2 412.0 22.2 512.8 46.7 1412.3 101.6 1612.4 119.9 1212.3 49.7 10

595.9 132

El Angel - 2005

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.5 68.0 1212.8 89.8 912.3 130.8 1613.1 86.8 2012.8 57.212.4 16.611.8 28.711.7 7.5 312.4 30.9 912.6 106.3 1612.6 92.8 911.6 160.3 2612.4 73.0 13

875.7 120

El Angel - 2007

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.7 50.9 911.6 58.1 1212.2 127.5 1512.5 137.5 2512.6 44.4 1711.4 36.1 1911.6 17.8 811.0 48.0 1911.1 6.211.4 164.1 2011.6 111.4 1811.1 141.8 2011.7 78.7 17

943.8 182

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These data are averages and are represented in the graph below:

El Angel - 2008

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

155.2 1784.7 22

149.9 1990.6 18

109.0 20

15.5 1411.8 14.4 811.9 30.4 811.7 170.2 20

13.3 128.5 2412.2 94.8 17

948.4 170

El Angel 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008Temperature (C)Percipitation (mm)

11.8 12.3 12.5 12.5 12.3 12.4 12.1 11.7 12.280.6 40.5 51.6 59.2 49.7 73.0 81.9 78.7 94.8

11.50

11.75

12.00

12.25

12.50

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 20080

25

50

75

100El Angel

Tem

pera

ture

Year

Perc

ipita

tion

Temperature (C) Average percipitation (mm)

xvi

Appendix III: Meteorological data for San Gabriel, range 2000-2008

Monthly temperatures are averages, precipitation and days of rain are monthly totals.

San Gabriel -

2002

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

13.1 54.0 1412.8 25.1 1313.0 47.1 1313.3 61.7 1513.1 48.0 2512.0 107.7 2612.3 35.6 1511.3 35.7 1811.6 3.7 711.6 138.8 1712.2 132.8 1913.0 89.9 1312.4 65.0 16

780.1 211

San Gabriel -

2001

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.5 76.5 1513.1 92.6 1513.6 60.2 1512.8 59.7 1711.8 32.3 1210.8 54.7 1810.9 44.9 1610.8 21.7 1511.2 16.9 1013.4 4.3 512.1 73.6 1613.2 94.1 2112.2 52.6 15

631.5 190

San Gabriel -

2000

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.9 169.0 2213.1 158.7 2212.7 145.0 2213.4 141.2 1913.0 296.3 2512.7 107.8 2011.8 39.6 1610.9 34.5 2011.9 45.9 1913.0 54.4 913.5 21.7 1112.7 37.6 1712.6 104.3 19

1251.7 241

San Gabriel -

2003

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

13.1 22.3 813.4 54.8 1412.9 93.7 1513.3 59.5 1713.1 51.1 1912.4 48.7 1512.0 88.5 2012.7 16.3 1112.9 41.0 1513.4 102.6 1513.6 106.4 1712.2 73.3 2212.9 63.2 16

758.2 204

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San Gabriel -

2005

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.3 118.3 1713.0 88.9 1312.7 104.9 2412.8 172.2 2613.0 60.6 1712.4 30.7 1111.8 25.5 1612.6 16.3 1112.8 47.6 1213.2 130.9 1913.6 87.1 1313.1 185.0 2712.8 89.0 17

1068.0 223

San Gabriel -

2004

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

13.1 55.8 912.9 24.3 1112.7 40.8 1013.1 131.0 2112.9 91.1 2311.6 33.0 2011.2 56.2 1911.2 11.3 1211.9 61.9 1612.9 63.3 1613.2 94.2 1813.0 81.2 1212.5 62.0 16

744.1 203

San Gabriel -

2006

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.9 110.7 2413.2 90.5 1712.9 211.9 1913.0 124.5 2012.7 43.6 1112.7 107.5 1912.2 42.411.6 36.7 1411.4 50.7 1512.6 72.3 1312.5 146.1 2212.7 133.8 2312.5 97.6 18

1170.7 197

San Gabriel -

2007

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.7 36.0 912.3 90.3 1112.5 89.8 1612.9 163.8 2712.7 113.2 2411.7 73.7 2611.9 52.1 1611.5 102.510.9 39.2 2512.2 198.7 2212.5 137.2 2112.0 188.512.2 107.1 20

1285.0 197

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These data are averages and are represented in the graph below:

San Gabriel -

2008

Temperature

(C)

Precipitation (mm)

Days of rain

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAVERAGE

TOTAL

12.1 209.1 2311.7 151.0 2412.0 162.1 1812.3 101.1 2012.2 129.9 2512.1 62.7 1711.5 42.5 1911.4 37.9 1911.8 45.1 1312.2 211.012.7 93.7 2112.8 134.0 2312.1 115.0 20

1380.1 222

San Gabriel 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008Temperature (C)Precipitation (mm)

12.6 12.2 12.4 12.9 12.5 12.8 12.5 12.2 12.1104.3 52.6 65.0 63.2 62.0 89.0 97.6 107.1 115.0

12.00

12.25

12.50

12.75

13.00

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 20080

30

60

90

120San Gabriel

Tem

pera

ture

Year

Perc

ipita

tion

Temperature (C) Average percipitation (mm)

xix

Appendix IV: Reflection on the thesis project

In this reflection I look back on the process that I went through in order to produce this thesis. I pinpoint certain aspects that weren’t completely satisfying and that I might do different next time. Also aspects that I enjoyed or surprised me are pointed out. I hope this will give the reader a better view on how it was for me to work on this thesis.

One of the things that irritated me in the beginning of field work was that my precisely timed planning did not work at all. At the beginning of the research phase I figured that in order to create the data I wanted I should carefully plan my interventions and interviews. After three days in the field there was nothing left of my agenda. The hectic lifestyle of the potato farmer does usually not include a pre-planned in-depth interview with a foreign student on Thursday morning when cutting furrows in the rain.

It was not that I wasn’t getting what I was looking for, I was getting it in a different way. Instead of planned interviews and planned days of working with a specific person my days became a mixture where all my separated task became blend in. So after a while I did not bother anymore about my planning because I figured it would never worked like I imagined and went along with the flow and tried to be part of it.

When looking back now at this phase I am very pleased that I made the decision to let go of planning. I usually do not plan anything in life because I like stuff to be virgin, original and spontaneous but I thought I should do it this time because I wanted to produce a decent thesis. When it did not work and I started to ‘go with the flow’ after abandoning my schedule the creative processes and spontaneous meetings started to happen again. And in a weird way it worked. The unexpected meetings with people taking me to unexpected places where they explained me things I couldn’t have come up with had I not talked to them proved extremely valuable. I got exactly what I was looking for and even more.

The variety of people I met, talked to, worked with, partied with or interacted with in so many ways was, apart from the sample families which I still kept on a schedule, became partly spontaneous which gave me so much richness in data and provided me with much more knowledge then would be the case if I only interacted with people according to my agenda. So I think I got out of the research phase what I wanted to, though in a different way then I thought. But I’m very glad about that now.

Although I’m glad about the way the research started to take its own course of action there are still some things that I think could have been better. One of them is the exclusion of a fourth village (Mariscal Sucre) to include in the sample. This was my original idea but even after staying an extra month in Ecuador to do more fieldwork did this not prove viable. Because of the chaotic and hectic lifestyle I also started to have I never ended up there and I still think this is a pity. I’m thinking that probably I should’ve stayed two months longer. Maybe I could have made it happen, I am not sure but I know I would have wanted to. From the other side, I spent more time with the farmers that are included in the sample now and I’m happy I did.

Planning would have come in handy when writing up this thesis. It took me longer then I wanted to. One of the reasons is that my laptop with a lot of data got stolen the last week during my stay in Ecuador and I had to recover much of that before I could start writing. One thing I learned from this is to always back up digital data. Which I did after that incident. I would become a bit paranoid when I forgot or for some reason could not back up after I

xx

finished a paragraph. Luckily that feeling faded a bit, but I’m still backing up on three different ways and mediums and will probably keep doing so the rest of my life.

The planning I made for writing soon became outdated. It did not completely work out as I thought it would. As always, there are many reason I could mention as cause. I could have know this would happen because planning usually does not work for me, but I think I could have figured out a way to speed up to process of writing. Maybe I’ll look into that in the future.

Another thing that proved difficult was to focus on certain subjects. When working with and interviewing people it was sometimes hard to stick to a certain topic. The informal way I interacted with people gave me much more details about things farmers are concerned with and it gave me a clear view of what is going on in their lives. Though I like this very much and I am very glad I could do it in this way, that people would open up to me and share their stories with me, it did not necessarily give me all the information I thought would be required for the thesis.

In the end I think it worked out fine but when in the field I sometimes became concerned I was collecting the wrong data. Now I think wrong data does not really exist, just different data belonging to different questions or topics. My focus was on water management practices but farmers ended up talking about many different things. I still focussed on water management but less then I imagined I would. But that gave me a chance to point out different things that I think are important as well (because people mentioned them to me).

Maybe I should have been more concrete and direct when doing interviews to obtain a specific type of data, but I do not regret the way I did it because it gave me a much more richness in data and personal understanding. To really pinpoint a specific problem this might not the best way to go forward but I am very glad with the knowledge it created for me.

What still pisses me of a lot is the INAMHI data. I tried to obtain more data then I presented in this thesis. I made visits to the institute, made phone calls with people sitting in the archive where the data is to be found somewhere, sent emails explaining my case, when that failed sent them in disguise as an EkoRural employee and then as a researcher for Wageningen University (yes, I know this is probably illegal) but alas, I never got my hands on more data then I presented here.

I do not know why I failed to get that data. Maybe they do not want to share it with others (but whats the use of collecting data then I ask myself), maybe they don’t care what happens with the data at INAMHI, maybe they have a ton of people coming in asking for random data and they’re just too busy. Whatever the reason, I am still very irritated by the fact I did not obtain the data I wanted from them and I do not know what I could have done more to get it.

Overall, when I look back at my thesis I am very satisfied with my stay in Ecuador. I could really enjoy hanging out with farmers, talking with them about interesting topics and doing some decent (though at times heavy) work. I liked to play around with my conclusions and especially trying to figure out what they mean. The lazy eight kept me busy for quite a while but solving that puzzle was very satisfactory, specially since I got a better understanding of ‘how things work’. I tried to make this rapport look neat and decent and I think it does. I still think the topics covered are very interesting and they keep intriguing me and I hope this thesis will prove valuable for other people interested in those topics as well.

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SUMMARY

In the north of Ecuador lies the province of Carchi. Located in the Andes mountain range it is an area with high altitudes ranging from 2500 masl up to more than 4000 masl. Much of the province contains humid páramo flora and fauna common to the northern Andes. The hillsides are mainly dominated by potato fields and cattle. Scattered throughout these mountains lay thriving villages of smallholder farming families that practice relatively intensive agriculture.

Especially potato production is highly favored in Carchi. As the most productive farming area in the Ecuadorian highlands, Carchi produces about 40% of the country’s potato harvest. Located close to the equator climatic conditions are basically the same all year long, permitting continual agriculture. Farmers can essentially plant and harvest every day of the year.

This does not mean that climate in Carchi is stable. While average monthly temperatures and rainfall appear evenly distributed across the year, there are significant spatial differences and day-to-day climatic variability. Daily temperatures commonly vary 10ºC. Similarly, seasonal rainfall is highly unpredictable and extreme events - in particular frost and hail - are well known to farmers.

Inherent diurnal climatic variability has an impact on farmers’ practices. It leaves farmers with many uncertainties concerning planting and harvesting dates, which and how much fertilizer to use and how much potatoes will in fact survive through harvest. These amongst many others features make farming in Carchi, as per a popular local expression, not unlike playing one’s luck in the lottery.

Farmers in Carchi widely agree that climate is changing. They experience less rainfall then they are used to, specially in the winter months. A result of this is an increase in temperature. This worries them as water is one of the most important factors contributing to agricultural success. Without sufficient rain or access to other water sources successful farming becomes harder, leaving farmers to search for creative alternatives, either for water supply, for crops or even profession.

Water management is a diverse practice for potato farmers. Though there are many options available, many do not apply to the majority of farmers. The chosen pathway depends not only on personal preference. Opportunities are created and constraint by community relations, resource access, environmental conditions and even local politics.

There is a feeling that farming will become even harder for the next generation. Climate is one of the reasons for this belief. Though there is sufficient reason for pessimism, many Carchense farmers seem to accept the challenges placed before them. They argue that potatoes are part of their culture and potato production makes them into what they are today. Faced with this situation, many choose to view this as a test or opportunity to improve their lives through the potential that potatoes can offer.

According to both farmers and scientific weather data the dry months are July, August and September. Summer is immediately followed by the wet winter months October, November

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and December. January then is the most variable and unpredictable month in which almost everything can happen. Both farmers and data agree on that.

Nevertheless, not all of farmers’ experiences can be captured in meteorological data. According to data temperature is stable and the amount of rainfall is increasing on yearly basis. A reason for this is that the data is commonly aggregated in averages that hide extreme daily events. That the increasing precipitation seems to be unnoticed by farmers can be justified by the fact that the increase is due to these extremes. In the end it is not these singular events that count and are being remembered but the overall state of weather and most important the opportunities and constrains affiliated with that state.

Most important implications for farming this alteration of weather variability are surprisingly not to be found in the performative, action based realm of farming. Instead, they are nested in a more inherent and individual space. In line with alteration of climate variability comes alteration of farmers’ own decision making processes. Not knowing what to expect it becomes harder to anticipate weather events and make successful decisions. Related to this is the increased feeling of uncertainty farmers experience. This internal meaning of farming alters the external farming action.

Farming and the adaption of farming practices are becoming harder. Agricultural complexity increases due to the fact of multiple actors, processes, beliefs and societal interactions. These are all in a constant flux surrounding the potato farming family and interacting with his livelihood. All these variables are in turn influenced by climate variability.

For the purposes of this thesis, I organized my observations and analysis using Holling’s ‘lazy eight’ framework for describing adaptive management in complex, socio-environmental systems. An important characteristics of the lazy eight is the presence of deviance which can alter the system as a whole. Positive deviance can be ensured by internal system change, mainly to be established in the performative and socio-political and biophysical phases of the eight.

Positive deviance, which can sustain potato farming, depends much on individual meaning. According to the lazy eight and its underlying theory, meaning has the highest potential for change. To initiate this change the exterior side of the framework should be affected. These action (adaptation) and socio-political elements have to be considered by scientist, environmentalist, politicians, NGO’s and other institutions attempting to improve farmer livelihoods.

Climate variability cannot be overcome, but it can be anticipated and endured better through enhancement of adaptive capacities. Farmers adaptability towards weather can be increased by knowledge mobilization and the search for alternative practices which in turn will decrease uncertainty and will enable farmers to make more advantageous decisions.

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