Resiliencia y crisis: el nexo agrobiodiversidad-alimentación-nutrición en la pandemia del covid-19 entre comunidades campesinas del Perú y los Andes

Abstract

Biodiversity in agri-food systems (agrobiodiversity) can provide accessible food with high nutritional value for the well-being of rural populations. Our study analyzes the links among agrobiodiversity, nutrition, and livelihoods in responses during and after the main phase of the covid-19 pandemic and policies in Peasant Communities of Quecha indigenous people in three areas of Huánuco, Peru. We conducted interviews and focus groups between 2021 and 2023 that generate four main results. First, high levels of local agrobiodiversity use for food and nutrition were demonstrated in the survival responses at the levels of individuals, households and communities. Secondly, the responses to the intense shocks of the pandemic and Peruvian government policies through the use of agrobiodiversity shows evidence of the impacts of local knowledge, the dynamics of environment-development interactions, livelihood diversification, including migration and the phenomenon of “return migrants,” relations of gender, the changing roles of the Peruvian state, and agrarian histories and dynamics. Third, study results highlight numerous serious impacts that have prevailed during and after the pandemic at the intersection of related agrarian crises, such as climate change and the intensified “double reproduction squeeze.” Fourth, our results illustrate the spatial differences related to urbanization and livelihood diversification among the three study areas: a peri-urban space, a relatively isolated rural area, and an area of the concentrated commodification of agricultural products for national and international markets. In conclusion, Peasant Communities benefited from notable agrobiodiversity and nutrition advantages that offered significant resilience to intense pandemic shocks