FAO Digital Media Hub - ECUADOR, 2025. Local farmer Magdalena at work with her daughter

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ECUADOR, 2025. Cooking fava beans

ECUADOR, 2025. Magdalena is a Kichwa farmer

ECUADOR, 2025. Cooking with fava beans

ECUADOR, 2025. Preparing fava beans

ECUADOR, 2025. Local farmer Magdalena at work with her daughter

ECUADOR, 2025. Magdalena is a Kichwa farmer

ECUADOR, 2025. María is the coordinator of the Chakras Andinas SIPAM project

ECUADOR, 2025. Kichwa farmer cutting maize stalks

ECUADOR, 2025. María is the coordinator of the Chakras Andinas SIPAM project

ECUADOR, 2025. Magdalena's farmhouse

ECUADOR, 2025. José María runs a small farm with his wife, Magdalena

ECUADOR, 2025. Kichwa farmer cutting maize stalks

ECUADOR, 2025. María is the coordinator of the Chakras Andinas SIPAM project

ECUADOR, 2025. Kichwa farmer cutting maize stalks

ECUADOR, 2025. Grinding tool with Pepa de zambo

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ECUADOR, 2025. Local farmer Magdalena at work with her daughter

07 July 2025. Cumbas, Ecuador. Ecuadorian Kichwa farmer Magdalena Laine and María Piñan, coordinator of Chakras Andinas SIPAM, cook lunch at Magdalena’s home. She is an Indigenous woman who preserves a wide variety of native seeds from the Ecuadorian Andes.

07/07/2025

Country or Territory Ecuador

Related URL Related FAO Feature Story: https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/secrets-of-the-andean-chakras/en

File size 10.71 MB

Unique ID UF1ADMO

Editorial use only. Photo credit must be given. For further information contact: Photo-Library@fao.org

Background Information Kichwa women and their ancestral agricultural knowledge have sustained food security in Ecuador’s highlands for centuries. Their farms, known as chakra, were recognized in 2023 by FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). Indigenous women like Magdalena are seed guardians, preserving native maize varieties and passing this knowledge to her daughter Verónica.

Climate change-related droughts, floods and pests threaten this system, but with FAO’s support, organizations like UNORCAC work with Kichwa communities to strengthen resilience through the use and exchange of native seeds.