Participatory start-up workshop: Forage and Fallows Phase III

A collaborative Research project between three institutions Colorado State University, Grupo Yanapai and World Neighbors started in  2014 in Junín Ayacucho and Huancavelica has been granted a phase III named: Forage and Fallows Phase III: Assessing Options for Sustainable Soil and Landscape Management with Participatory Experimentation and Land Use Assessment

A “Start-up Workshop” was carried out in the city of Huancayo and the communities of Quilcas and Rangra from January 12 to 14, 2020. The objectives of the workshop were to analyze the results of the previous project, develop a Theory of Change (activities, achievements and impacts for the new project) and develop the work plan for the new project. On January 13, a visit was made, to Quilcas community where the collaborating farmers showed results of growing mixed grasses and legumes instead of having fallow fields. Afterward, everyone gathered at the community center of Layampata of Rangra where the researchers explained that planned activities.  

The project continues with three key objectives of i) researching forage-based fallows, study ii) land use and ecosystem services, which is carried out anticipatively on farmers plots,  and iii)  contribute to a virtual platform to strengthen research in the high Andes.

Participants were Claire Nicklin of the McKnight Foundation and researchers from Grupo Yanapai, World Neighbors, the University of Colorado State, and two visitors from the  Mountain Institute,  farmers from communities of Ayacucho (Urubamba, Jacaspampa and Cruzccasa), Huancavelica (Paccho Molinos, Santa Cruz de Paccho) and Junín (Quilcas, Colpar, Rangra, Tiso).

We thank Claire Nicklin for the facilitation of the event as well as: Cecilia Turin, Doris Chavez of the Mountain Institute. Also to Steven Fonte, Steven Vanek of CSU, World Neighbors, and especially to the farmers of Huancavelica, Junín and Ayacucho for contributing to the success of this event by sharing their knowledge.