The Chacra MIL project is an initiative by MATER to get closer to our neighbors in the communities of Mullak’as Misminay and K’acllaraccay in Moray, where MIL is located.

The land of Chacra MIL is a research center for ancestral crops covering 1.39 hectares, located at 3,540 meters above sea level, where experiments are conducted with various cultivable species, maintaining the customs of our ancestors, in collaboration with people who love diversified and regenerative agriculture in Moray.

Weeding of the native potato chacra

In the times of the Incas, water management and agricultural activities were directed by the panakas and organized among the various communities, ayllus established in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. In the ayllus, community and subsistence agricultural work was carried out with methods based on reciprocity, better known as “ayni”.

The Incas who inhabited Moray frequently experimented in the agricultural laboratory assigned fixed dates for planting, hilling, irrigating, and harvesting various crops, according to the “Inca Agricultural Calendar” that is represented in the work “Primera Nueva Crónica y Buen Gobierno” by the chronicler Phelipe Guamán Poma de Ayala.

In the Inca Agricultural Calendar, the new campaign started in August when the plowing of agricultural lands occurred, along with the early planting of corn and potatoes known as “maway”.

Plowing the chacra in the month of August.

Source: Guamán Poma, F. (1615).

Currently, in the chacras with greater humidity and irrigation from the neighboring communities to Moray, the agricultural activity of maway is still practiced. Meanwhile, in Mater, the water flow is limited along with a scarcity of rainfall that hinders maway in August. However, during this month, the airing of Andean grains and selection of seeds for the next planting campaign occurs.

During the Inca period, in November it rains limitedly, so the chacras were irrigated with well water and ditches. In Mater, during October and November, various tubers and Andean grains that are preserved, such as native potatoes, oca, mashua, ulluco, corn, quinoa, kiwicha, kañiwa, tarwi, and fava beans, in their different varieties, begin to be planted.

Likewise, in the ancient times of the Incas, there was a great diversity of cultivated species, including useful plants used for food, such as kuñuka, muña, roqoto, wakatay, mutuy, awaimantu, airampo, sach’a tomato, melon cucumber, corn, among others.

The indicated crops were part of the daily diet of the communities; when working on the chacra, the consumption of haqha, which is part of the culture and customs, is indispensable.

In the agricultural work of the MIL chacra, people from the K´accllaraccay and Mullak´as – Misminay communities participate, from plowing the land to harvesting, organized into specialized agricultural committees, with their respective board of directors led by the president of said committee, and according to need, they rotate in each task during the phenology of the crops established in our chacra. This system functions like Ayni, understood as reciprocity within a community.

Incorporation of a mixture of organic fertilizers during planting in the chacra.

When the plants have reached their physiological maturity, harvesting occurs in the months of May and June. In the case of Andean grains, the stem is first cut along with all the seeds and panicle, known as “kallchay”. The purpose of this activity is to dehydrate the stems, exposing them directly to the rays of the sun to facilitate threshing and obtaining seeds during airing.

Harvest of Andean tubers in June

Source: Guamán Poma, F. (1615).

When harvesting is done, people from the countryside feel blessed and joyful for having healthy products at their disposal.

The results of the harvests are distributed and shared with family members living in towns far from the chacra.

In MIL, we start the harvest times with much enthusiasm, as the products are distributed 50% for us and 50% for both communities. Our 50% is allocated to the gastronomic proposal and to continue building our seedbed, recovering with each campaign which crops were the most prosperous.

Glossary

Chacra: from the Quechua “chaqra”, a surface of agricultural land cultivated and/or cultivable.

Panakas: nobles of blood, descendants of Incas.

Haqha: chicha de Jora