Good Living and Indigenous Potatoes 103
genetic heritage cultivated in situ, but is also likely to affect the food security of
small-scale farmers in the Andes (Chevarria Lazo et al., 2004; Lapeña, 2012b).
The latter have only limited access to commercial seeds and mainly grow landraces which they sow again the following year; yet, these practices are restricted
by the UPOV agreements. As such, a whole sector of production is put in danger, in a context where the government does not offer any development policy
addressed specifically at community peasants (Castillo Castañeda, 2013, p. 15;
Eguren, 2013, p. 11).
ANDES considers that action at several levels is necessary to remedy this.
Since options are relatively limited, it is necessary to know how to combine
strategies. At the national level, the main objective of ANDES is to work for
the recognition and the protection of informal systems of seed production and
exchange. To achieve this, it was necessary to first raise the profile of issues
relating to the peasant population and to make the urban population, as well
as political decision-makers, more aware of such matters. Several important
events have enabled ANDES to mark some points, and become well-known.
The most impactful of these was the refusal to allow genetically modified potatoes into the Park in 2007 when, with the help of ANDES, the peasants of the
Potato Park mobilized against a supreme decree authorizing the introduction of
GMO seeds.
25 The movement gained momentum, leading to the adoption of a
ten-year moratorium by the Department of Cusco in 2007,
26 which has since
been renewed. Then, following the mobilization of other regions of Peru, this
moratorium was extended to the whole country. This step was crucial, as Peru
put into action a series of measures concerning potato agrobiodiversity (Filoche,
2009). In particular, a register of indigenous potatoes – an initiative in theory
beneficial to the cultivars concerned – was put in place. Nonetheless, another
event demonstrated that the protective measures relating to indigenous potato
varieties were not effective enough. The National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA in Spanish) submitted around 50 requests for seed certification,
some of which concerned landraces. Once again, mobilization by ANDES and
the population of the Potato Park was fruitful and the requests were withdrawn.
These struggles, which have had successful outcomes, have allowed ANDES
to establish itself as an important actor in negotiations concerning landraces in
Peru. What is more, a network has been built up around these issues, including the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA in Spanish, a Peruvian
NGO) and various actors belonging to universities. Thus in 2016, a workshop was
organized in the Pisac Potato Park to discuss the implementation of regulations
specifically concerning “ancestral seeds” briefly mentioned in an article of the
General Law on seeds of 2012 (supreme decree n° 006–2012-AG), which allows
for the implementation of the UPOV system in Peru. The aim was to organize
a regulatory framework that would allow Andean peasants – such as those of the
Park – to continue to use these seeds, to resow them, to exchange them, and even
to sell them. In this framework, not only would peasant agricultural practices
potentially be made legal, but their seed system would be maintained; at the same
genetic heritage cultivated in situ, but is also likely to affect the food security of
small-scale farmers in the Andes (Chevarria Lazo et al., 2004; Lapeña, 2012b).
The latter have only limited access to commercial seeds and mainly grow landraces which they sow again the following year; yet, these practices are restricted
by the UPOV agreements. As such, a whole sector of production is put in danger, in a context where the government does not offer any development policy
addressed specifically at community peasants (Castillo Castañeda, 2013, p. 15;
Eguren, 2013, p. 11).
ANDES considers that action at several levels is necessary to remedy this.
Since options are relatively limited, it is necessary to know how to combine
strategies. At the national level, the main objective of ANDES is to work for
the recognition and the protection of informal systems of seed production and
exchange. To achieve this, it was necessary to first raise the profile of issues
relating to the peasant population and to make the urban population, as well
as political decision-makers, more aware of such matters. Several important
events have enabled ANDES to mark some points, and become well-known.
The most impactful of these was the refusal to allow genetically modified potatoes into the Park in 2007 when, with the help of ANDES, the peasants of the
Potato Park mobilized against a supreme decree authorizing the introduction of
GMO seeds.
25 The movement gained momentum, leading to the adoption of a
ten-year moratorium by the Department of Cusco in 2007,
26 which has since
been renewed. Then, following the mobilization of other regions of Peru, this
moratorium was extended to the whole country. This step was crucial, as Peru
put into action a series of measures concerning potato agrobiodiversity (Filoche,
2009). In particular, a register of indigenous potatoes – an initiative in theory
beneficial to the cultivars concerned – was put in place. Nonetheless, another
event demonstrated that the protective measures relating to indigenous potato
varieties were not effective enough. The National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA in Spanish) submitted around 50 requests for seed certification,
some of which concerned landraces. Once again, mobilization by ANDES and
the population of the Potato Park was fruitful and the requests were withdrawn.
These struggles, which have had successful outcomes, have allowed ANDES
to establish itself as an important actor in negotiations concerning landraces in
Peru. What is more, a network has been built up around these issues, including the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA in Spanish, a Peruvian
NGO) and various actors belonging to universities. Thus in 2016, a workshop was
organized in the Pisac Potato Park to discuss the implementation of regulations
specifically concerning “ancestral seeds” briefly mentioned in an article of the
General Law on seeds of 2012 (supreme decree n° 006–2012-AG), which allows
for the implementation of the UPOV system in Peru. The aim was to organize
a regulatory framework that would allow Andean peasants – such as those of the
Park – to continue to use these seeds, to resow them, to exchange them, and even
to sell them. In this framework, not only would peasant agricultural practices
potentially be made legal, but their seed system would be maintained; at the same