The Potato Park is a new local conservation model of agrobiodiversity, called the territory of indigenous biocultural heritage, promoted since 1998 by the Andes Association and five Quechua communities: Sacaca, Chawayire, Pampallaqta, Paru Paru and Amaru in Pisaq, Cusco.
The park is a recognized micro genocenter of origin and diversity of the potato, one of the four most important crops in the world, produced and preserved for centuries by the Andean peoples. Currently, the park has more than 1367 cultivars of native potatoes. The native potato, with its hundreds of varieties, as well as the ancestral knowledge and techniques associated with the cultivation and management of the agricultural landscape, are the biggest treasure of the communities and the park is a way to protect them.
In the Potato Park several projects are carried out, such as the processing center of natural medicines and soaps, the communal pharmacies network, the registration of the biodiversity existing in the park, the video communications center, the agreement for The repatriation of native potatoes from the International Potato Center, the use of geographical indications and collective brands to ensure collective rights and access to markets, the agroecotourism project, as well as action research projects, such as adaptation and mitigation against The impacts of climate change, on the native potato and the biocultural system of the park.
All these projects are collectively administered by the five communities under conditions that ensure effective participation and distribution of derived benefits, equitably.
The communities of the Park, have formed the “Association of Communities of the Pope Park”, which is the Park Collective Administration Corps.
The Association is an internal organization of the Park, with work standards and management instruments for the use of its biocultural resources, based on its customary laws where the Andean principles such as Chaninchay (balance), Ayninakuy (reciprocity) are also applied, Ayninakuy (reciprocity), The Yanantin (duality), among others.
These principles guarantee the harmony, balance and well -being of the communities that make it up, as they ensure the collective nature of the relations between their population and the Pachamama, as well as the spirituality in the application of their knowledge about resources.
Potato Park as a territory of indigenous biocultural heritage (TPBCI)
The Pope Park is focused on the protection and preservation of critical role and the interdependence of indigenous biocultural heritage (PBCI) for local rights, sustenance, conservation and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity.
The park is located in an area known as the micro-center of origin and diversity of potatoes, one of the most important food crops in the world that has been protected by centuries, deeply rooted in the local feeding systems of the Quechuas peoples.
The Pope Park, as its name denotes, celebrates the enormous diversity of varieties of native potatoes and other native Andean crops characteristics of Andean feeding systems. The Pope Park is dedicated to protecting and improving these native food and agrobiodiversity systems using the adaptive and holistic methods described by the TPBCI model.
In the case of the Potato Park, the epistemological bridges prescribed by the TBCI model link traditional knowledge with scientific understandings about the multiple functions of agricultural biodiversity – including the close interaction between the diversity of wild and domestic animals – and how they maintain local support. Knowledge, innovations, and the traditional practices of Quechua people are exposed in the park for their essentially modern significance and utility that includes uses in nutraceutical products, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agroecotourism activities, and communal conservation.
In terms of the rights based on rights prescribed by the TPBCI model, the Pope Park has to do with the self-determination of indigenous peoples and with ensuring the rights of Quechua peoples on agricultural biodiversity, local products, knowledge traditional, and goods and services related to ecosystems.
TPBCI describes a conservation model conducted by communities and rights based on local support using knowledge, traditions, and philosophies of indigenous peoples related to the holistic and adaptive management of their landscapes, ecosystems and biological and cultural resources. As TPBCI, the Potato Park has been proposed as a Sui Generis system for the protection of traditional knowledge because it aims to protect traditional knowledge systems within its cultural, temporal and spatial dimensions using a combination of positive and defensive protection tools.
General Pope Park Data
Extension: 9280.7 hectares / Population: 6440 inhabitants (according to data 2024)
Altitude: The park is located in the Andes, between 3200 and 5000 meters above sea level; An ideal height for potato cultivation.
Access: The Potato Park is only three kilometers from the archaeological site of Pisaq and 40 km from the city of Cusco, on an asphalted road almost entirely. In just an approximate average hour you can get from Cusco.
Seasonality: in summer – from November to April – it is the rainy season but also of greater heat, with temperatures ranging between the 24th and 5th degrees Celsius. In winter, the dry season from May to October, the cold is stronger -20º to -5º degrees Celsius -although accompanied by a lot of solar brightness in the day.
Native Popes: 1’367 Cultivars (Qachum Waqachi, Lluthu Runtu, T’ika Pole, Pumaq Maki, Call Ñawi, Cuchi Aqa, etc.)
Other local products: tuberculos (92 cultivars: Olluco, Mashua and Oca), wild herbs (Muña, Uchuqaspa, etc.), quinoa, algae (llullucha), fungi (Inka Kallampa), etc.
Fauna: alpaca, flame, viscacha, deer, fox, guinea pig (guinea pig), “Wallata”, “Siwar Qente, etc.
Flora: Añapanqo, Mutuy, Kantu, Chachacomo, Qewña, Kiswar, Chiri Chiri, etc.
Biocultural products: aromatic mates (muña, sage, peppermine , coca, etc.) lip moisturizers (kalendula and coca), etc. Sale in the community of Sacaca.
Meals and drinks: Pope Sour, Tricolor Cause (Native Potatoes), Occasted in Tarwi foam, Kapchi of Native Popes, Pure of Arracacha (Tuber), Gratin de Olluco, Rolled Alpaca to the Andean Herbs, Lomo of Alpaca Al Aguaymanto , Pachamanca, Watias, etc. Dishes served in the restaurant “Papamanka” – Chawayire community.
Crafts: traditional fabrics (bracelets, bags, scarves, ponchos, etc.), ceramics and jewelry. Sale in the artisanal center (Pampallaqta) and/or other communities in the park
Some festivities:
- Choice of Varayoc (traditional political entities): January
- Chiuchillani T’inkuy: February – Chawayire Community
- Santurumay (Pope T’înkay): February – Pampallaqta community
- Potao Watay (Moorre of the Spirit of Pope): May to June – Park
- Potato Park Day: May 30
The Communities of the Potato Park
…In the past we were somewhat separated, each one concerned about his own community, but now we have united in a single effort, to recover the immense variety of our dear pope, and the union has brought us many new opportunities, such as the development of a project of different projects that have helped us restore the wealth of our people…
The Potato Park, with its diverse landscapes, a rich agrobiodiversity as well as beautiful and revered lagoons, which are maintained with the work and love for Pachamama, Mother Earth, of the communities that make it up. This great biological and scenic diversity make up the tourist attractions offered by the Potato Park. To this are added products and services made locally with quality and innovation for the delight of visitors. Thus, each community presents a certain particularity within the tourist circuit of the Potato Park:
- Community of Sacaca. It is the entrance gate to the park. Here is the Medicinal Plant Processing Center, where you can find soaps, shampoos and medicines, produced in a natural way, with inputs collected in the same area and with the wisdom developed by the communities.
- Community of Chawaytire. In Chawaytire there is the restaurant “Papamanka” (Pot of potatoes, in Quechua) the first and most diverse in preparations, which has the varied potatoes of the area as protagonists of a deliciously Andean gastronomy. On its lands are the chullpas and the old Inkakancha, as well as the mural paintings of the colonial church of Uyucate.
- Community of Pampallaqta. In Pampallaqta, in addition to having a very unique Inca site, and a colonial church in the process of restoration, there is the communal handicraft workshop, where you can find the finest pieces of textiles, made with wool and natural dyes, as in the past.
- Community of Paru Paru. The most beautiful lagoons are located in Paru Paru: Azulqocha, Kinsaqocha and, above all, Pumaqocha, which together make up the wonderful landscape of the Qochas Route.
- Community of Amaru. The most varied crops are located in Amaru viewpoint, beautifully intertwined with the village, giving life to a cultural landscape as Andean as it is beautiful.
For more information please visit:
www.andes.org.pe
www.parquedelapapa.org
http://www.facebook.com /#!/pages/Potato-Park-de-la-Papa/359131567437228
Contacts:
andes@andes.org.pe / cesar@andes.org.pe
ANDES Association
Calle Ciro Alegría H-13
Urbanizacion Santa Monica
Cusco, Peru
Tel. +51 84 245021
For visits to the Potato Park:
pdp@andes.org.pe / jhon@andes.org.pe / jhonedisonccoyo@gmail.com
Jhon Edison Ccoyo Ccana Coordinator and Administrator of the Association of Communities Parque de la Papa.
Calle Ciro Alegría H-13
Urbanization Santa Monica
Cusco, Peru
Cel. +51 937384997
+51901600768
Opening hours:
9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
