**2. Horizontal and vertical agricultural and rural spaces in the tropical Andes**

For a long time, agriculture has been the backbone of the rural economy and employment and has been the basis for ancient civilizations in the tropical Andes. Andean agriculture is characterized by a great variety of production systems, land-use forms, types of cultivated plants and domestic animals and forms of pastoralism. Due to the constraints of altitude, slope, climate, soil, forest cover in humid parts and barriers of difficult accessibility, only a limited part of the Andean realm is suitable for agriculture. The agricultural core areas are situated in the larger longitudinal and transverse valleys (e.g. the valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers in Colombia; the Patate-Pastaza rivers in Ecuador; the Marañon, Santa Marta and Mantaro rivers in Peru; the Rio Grande in Bolivia; the Central Valley in Chile; as well as the river oases of the semiarid and arid of the Pacific realm in Peru and northern Chile). Other favored agricultural regions are the highland basins (e.g. in the Sabana of Bogotá), the *cuencas* or *hoyas* in Ecuador and the wide *Altiplano* in southern Peru and Bolivia, especially the shores of Lake Titicaca with their favorable microclimate. In addition, the inner flanks of the *Cordilleras* in the climatic zones of the *tierra templada* and *tierra fría* are intensively used agrarian regions. In contrast to the old settled and agriculturally used Andean realm, newer agrarian colonization zones and rural pioneer spaces have emerged at the eastern Cordilleran

**169**

**Figure 2.**

*Chimborazo region, Ecuador (Photo credit: Stadel).*

*Horizontal and Vertical Archipelagoes of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Andean…*

flanks and valleys in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Nonagriculturally oriented core areas are the urban–rural continuum regions of the major cities and metropolises, as well as the larger mining zones and manufacturing districts. Furthermore, population concentrations have developed along major transporta-

Andean agriculture is characterized by a pronounced altitudinal zonation, a result of thermic, hygric and edaphic differentiation. Following the classical altitudinal ecological "belts" from the warm lowlands to the cold highest parts of the ecumene, the *tierra caliente*, *tierra templada*, *tierra fría* and *tierra helada*, Borsdorf

1.Tropical lowland rain-fed farming (*Campo de Lluvia*) in the *tierra caliente*

2.Tropical lowland irrigation farming (*Campo de Riego*) in the *tierra caliente* in

3.Extratropical agrarian foothill zones (foremost the Chilean longitudinal valley

tion corridors and around principal ports and airports (**Figure 2**).

and Stadel [21] distinguish the following major agrarian zones:

(from sea level to about 1000 m in the humid Andes)

and the foothill regions in northwestern Argentina)

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86841*

the semiarid and arid realm

*Horizontal and Vertical Archipelagoes of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Andean… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86841*

flanks and valleys in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Nonagriculturally oriented core areas are the urban–rural continuum regions of the major cities and metropolises, as well as the larger mining zones and manufacturing districts. Furthermore, population concentrations have developed along major transportation corridors and around principal ports and airports (**Figure 2**).

Andean agriculture is characterized by a pronounced altitudinal zonation, a result of thermic, hygric and edaphic differentiation. Following the classical altitudinal ecological "belts" from the warm lowlands to the cold highest parts of the ecumene, the *tierra caliente*, *tierra templada*, *tierra fría* and *tierra helada*, Borsdorf and Stadel [21] distinguish the following major agrarian zones:


**Figure 2.** *Chimborazo region, Ecuador (Photo credit: Stadel).*

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

• Age and nature of settlement process.

• Access to and distribution of water: precipitation regimes, water rights and irri-

• Population parameters: age and gender structures and mobility and migration.

• Access to acceptance of innovation, modernization and new technologies.

• Cultural and spiritual traditions and local perceptions and practices.

• Land tenure, land ownership, water rights and land reforms.

• "Conscientization" levels, education and training.

• Access to capital and investment opportunities.

• Local leadership and community initiatives.

• Local, regional, national and global market conditions.

• Alternative economic activities and employment opportunities.

• Transportation and communication and social infrastructures.

• Exogenous impact of business ventures, governmental programmes, nongovernmental intervention and influences of "expatriates" (e.g. remittances,

**2. Horizontal and vertical agricultural and rural spaces in the tropical** 

For a long time, agriculture has been the backbone of the rural economy and employment and has been the basis for ancient civilizations in the tropical Andes. Andean agriculture is characterized by a great variety of production systems, land-use forms, types of cultivated plants and domestic animals and forms of pastoralism. Due to the constraints of altitude, slope, climate, soil, forest cover in humid parts and barriers of difficult accessibility, only a limited part of the Andean realm is suitable for agriculture. The agricultural core areas are situated in the larger longitudinal and transverse valleys (e.g. the valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca rivers in Colombia; the Patate-Pastaza rivers in Ecuador; the Marañon, Santa Marta and Mantaro rivers in Peru; the Rio Grande in Bolivia; the Central Valley in Chile; as well as the river oases of the semiarid and arid of the Pacific realm in Peru and northern Chile). Other favored agricultural regions are the highland basins (e.g. in the Sabana of Bogotá), the *cuencas* or *hoyas* in Ecuador and the wide *Altiplano* in southern Peru and Bolivia, especially the shores of Lake Titicaca with their favorable microclimate. In addition, the inner flanks of the *Cordilleras* in the climatic zones of the *tierra templada* and *tierra fría* are intensively used agrarian regions. In contrast to the old settled and agriculturally used Andean realm, newer agrarian colonization zones and rural pioneer spaces have emerged at the eastern Cordilleran

• Conservation measures.

gation schemes.

investments).

**Andes**

**168**


It is evident that water supply, water rights, water use and the management of the water resources are crucial for agriculture and rural sustainable livelihoods. Permanent, periodic or seasonal water scarcity and the high demand and diverse use of Andean water resources by a variety of decision-makers and often conflicting interest groups make water a critical ecological, cultural, economic, social and political issue and challenge. For instance, the excessive water consumption of the irrigated plantations of export-oriented river oases of coastal Peru threatens the water supplies for small-scale farming and rural communities in the upper watersheds. A voracious consumer of water is the powerful mining sector with its dramatic impact on the natural environment, the ensuing critical shortage and the contamination of water in the surrounding rural areas and the landscape degradation. More recently, the water demands in major tourist destinations (e.g. the Cordillera Blanca region, Cuzco and the *Valle Sagrado* in Peru) may conflict with the interests of farmers and rural residents in these areas. Conflicts may also arise in the use of water between the upper and lower parts of watersheds, between *indígenas* and non-native regions, between *latifundistas* and *minifundistas* and between urban and rural areas.

In a detailed study of a landscape profile of the Ecuadorian Sierra, Stadel [17, 18] investigated the complex ecological, agricultural and rural mosaic from the upper limit of agricultural activities and settlement at the foot of Chimborazo (about 4200 m) through the high mountain basin (*Cuenca*) of the city of Ambato and the Patate and Pastaza valleys to the foothills of the Eastern Cordillera (about 900 m). Along this altitudinal profile, the following land-use zones can be identified (**Figure 3**):

1.The sparsely settled pasture regions of the cool humid *páramo* at the upper limit of sporadic settlement and patchy niche field cultivation 3200 to 4200 m). The mostly indigenous population suffers from climatic stress and poor access to the market centres of Ambato and Guaranda; however, the *indígenas* control a large part of the regional water resources.

**171**

*Horizontal and Vertical Archipelagoes of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Andean…*

2.The upper zone of intensive arable farming (2800 to 3200 m). A vast array of crops is cultivated, mostly in seasonal or annual rotation. In the lower parts, precipitations tend to be insufficient and unreliable, and irrigation becomes

3.The high mountain basin (*Cuenca*) of Ambato, including the adjoining inner Cordilleran slopes (2500 to 2800 m), a mixed urban–rural space. Rural population clusters are located around the dynamic regional market centre of Ambato and are specializing in productive fruit and vegetable growing and also rely on job opportunities in the city. The climate is semiarid, and agriculture depends on irrigation. In the southeastern part, the small enclave of the Salasaca native

4.The agricultural core region along the Patate valley and a major highway corridor to the *Oriente*, the gateway to the Amazon lowlands (2000 to 2800 m). In the deeply entrenched valley floor, a highly productive irrigation-based *hacienda*—and *minifundio*—agriculture contrasts with a mixture of irrigated and nonirrigated small fields. Here, a mixture of vegetables, cereals and fodder crops is grown in a variety of traditional rotation cycles on steep slopes. Above about 2600 m, the irrigation-based agriculture gives way to a mostly seasonal and rain-fed agriculture. The urban centre of Pelileo, located on the major highway to Ambato and the *Oriente*, is the principal market centre of the region and a new centre of textile manufacturing, especially a production of

5.The temperate humid part of the Pastaza valley (1200 to 2000 m). This section is located in the ecological zone of the *tierra templada* and benefits from the rains which reach this valley from the Amazon lowlands. In the narrow valley floor and lower slopes, a variety of subtropical and tropical fruits and vegetables are grown. In the higher reaches, a mixture of different cops of a temperature, cooler climate. As one proceeds further downstream, the steep slopes are increasingly covered with a dense humid montane forest. The centre of this section is Baños, a regional service centre, a popular site for Ecuadorians and also foreign visitors, as a pilgrimage site and a recreational destination because

6.The lowest part of the landscape profile, located in the t*ierra templada* and higher parts of the *tierra caliente* (900 to 1200 m). This is a permanently warm and very humid zone, characterized by recent colonization agriculture, and a dispersed linear pioneer settlement stretching along the highway. Here, a wide selection of tropical crops is grown in the valley and on patchy forest clearings on the mountain slopes. At the exit of the Pastaza from the Cordillera, the city

Zimmerer [22] has pointed out that "overlapping patchworks of farm special units are characteristic of the mountain landscapes of Andean regions of Peru and Bolivia. Patchiness and overlap…are shaped by the broad tolerances of major crops, high variability/low predictability of habitat factors, multifaceted cropping rationales of cultivators including their linkages to extraregional influences, and, to varying extents, the sociospatial coordination of crop choice among farmers". Zimmerer arrived at this conclusion from detailed field studies within the two communities of Pampa Churigua (farmland range 2800 to 3450 m) in the Department

of Puyo is the booming regional multifunctional centre.

community gives the cultural landscape a distinct identity.

jeans for national and international markets.

of its mild climate and thermal waters.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86841*

necessary.

**Figure 3.** *Study region Chimborazo – Puyo, Ecuador (Stadel 1989).*

*Horizontal and Vertical Archipelagoes of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Andean… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86841*


Zimmerer [22] has pointed out that "overlapping patchworks of farm special units are characteristic of the mountain landscapes of Andean regions of Peru and Bolivia. Patchiness and overlap…are shaped by the broad tolerances of major crops, high variability/low predictability of habitat factors, multifaceted cropping rationales of cultivators including their linkages to extraregional influences, and, to varying extents, the sociospatial coordination of crop choice among farmers". Zimmerer arrived at this conclusion from detailed field studies within the two communities of Pampa Churigua (farmland range 2800 to 3450 m) in the Department

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

mately 4000 to nearly 5000 m)

4.Agrarian areas of the tropical Andes in the altitudinal zones of the *tierra* 

5.Upper zones of field cultivation and pastoralism in the *tierra helada* (approxi-

It is evident that water supply, water rights, water use and the management of the water resources are crucial for agriculture and rural sustainable livelihoods. Permanent, periodic or seasonal water scarcity and the high demand and diverse use of Andean water resources by a variety of decision-makers and often conflicting interest groups make water a critical ecological, cultural, economic, social and political issue and challenge. For instance, the excessive water consumption of the irrigated plantations of export-oriented river oases of coastal Peru threatens the water supplies for small-scale farming and rural communities in the upper watersheds. A voracious consumer of water is the powerful mining sector with its dramatic impact on the natural environment, the ensuing critical shortage and the contamination of water in the surrounding rural areas and the landscape degradation. More recently, the water demands in major tourist destinations (e.g. the Cordillera Blanca region, Cuzco and the *Valle Sagrado* in Peru) may conflict with the interests of farmers and rural residents in these areas. Conflicts may also arise in the use of water between the upper and lower parts of watersheds, between *indígenas* and non-native regions, between

In a detailed study of a landscape profile of the Ecuadorian Sierra, Stadel [17, 18] investigated the complex ecological, agricultural and rural mosaic from the upper limit of agricultural activities and settlement at the foot of Chimborazo (about 4200 m) through the high mountain basin (*Cuenca*) of the city of Ambato and the Patate and Pastaza valleys to the foothills of the Eastern Cordillera (about 900 m). Along this altitudinal profile, the following land-use zones can be identified (**Figure 3**):

1.The sparsely settled pasture regions of the cool humid *páramo* at the upper limit of sporadic settlement and patchy niche field cultivation 3200 to 4200 m). The mostly indigenous population suffers from climatic stress and poor access to the market centres of Ambato and Guaranda; however, the

*indígenas* control a large part of the regional water resources.

*templada* and *tierra fría* (about 1000 to 4000 m)

*latifundistas* and *minifundistas* and between urban and rural areas.

**170**

**Figure 3.**

*Study region Chimborazo – Puyo, Ecuador (Stadel 1989).*

of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and of Mollomarca (farmland range 3100 to 4100 m) in the Cuzco Department of Peru. Although a maize/cereal zone of the lower slopes can be distinguished from an upper potato/tuber zone), a considerable mixing of a variety of crops, a patchiness of land parcels and an elevation-related overlap of crop types can be observed. In another contribution, Zimmerer [23]) states that "integrating the conservation of biodiversity by smallholder farmers with agricultural intensification is increasingly recognized as a leading priority of sustainability and food security amid global environmental and socioeconomic change". This will contribute to an in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity and enhance the smallholders' resilience.

The traditional pattern of agricultural land use has been profoundly altered in some areas by the locational influences of accessibility to highway arteries and regional market centres (**Figure 4**). Where topography, soil quality and irrigation potential exist, a specialized cultivation of vegetables, fruit and flowers serves the urban market, in some cases even international markets (e.g. the plantation of cut flowers for global markets in the *Sabana de Bogotá*) (**Figure 5**). Other agricultural cores of a specialized, export-oriented agriculture have developed because of an early valorization of favorable ecological conditions (e.g. the coffee-growing zones of the *tierra templada* in Colombia), or they have been the result of modernization, new technologies and entrepreneurial initiatives (e.g. the cultivation of special vegetables such as asparagus for world markets in the river oases of coastal Peru). Other important specialized agricultural zones are the wine-growing areas of the Central Valley of Chile and of the Cuyo region of Argentina or the legal or illegal plantation of coca bushes on the humid eastern side of the Andes in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. New consumer demands may also entail a specialization of agricultural strategies. Examples for this are the new

**173**

*Horizontal and Vertical Archipelagoes of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Andean…*

quinoa monocultures in the Lake Titicaca region or expanding alpaca breeding on the Bolivian *Altiplano*. While this specialization may bring enhanced economic benefits to the region, the potentially negative impact on the ecology, regional water resources, land tenure, traditional land use practices and potentially higher

*Greenhouses of commercial flower cultivation, Sabana of Bogotá, Colombia (Photo credit: Stadel).*

Metropolitan centres and other important regional capital centres and economic

In the Andes, these agglomerations of a dynamic and multifunctional urban– rural continuum represent the most important areas of population growth, land use

centres have experienced major population growth rates and areal expansions. This has resulted in a massive planned or uncontrolled urban–rural interface of a wider surrounding region and to the emergence of major peri-urban clusters ([21]: 184-188 and 191-192). While this urbanization may bring to the region new housing, attractive landscape amenity sites for affluent urbanites (so-called *parcelas de agrado* and *ciudades valladas*, **Figure 6**), new employment opportunities or enhanced infrastructures, the negative impacts of this "urban invasion" often prevail ([24]: 239). Land speculation and soaring land prices are threatening the survival of small-scale agriculture and the traditional rural livelihoods by a consumption of often fertile irrigated agricultural land and by diverting the water resources from irrigating the fields to a use for urban households and commercial needs. Driven away by this urbanization process, agricultural smallholders are faced with the options of incorporating themselves into the urban agglomeration, to intensifying land use on their remaining plots or to seeking alternative new agricultural areas. Haller [24] has found that farmers in the Huancayo basin have expanded or intensified field cultivation in the higher *suni* [25] altitudinal belt (3500 to 4000 m), a marginal and poorly accessible agricultural zone with steep and nonirrigated slopes not suitable for year-round cultivation. Using the example of the regional city of Huancayo and the lower Shullcas Valley, Haller and Córdova-Aguilar [26] have demonstrated that urbanization puts pressure on agrarian land use, endangers the environmental integrity of the region and impacts the

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86841*

farming risks cannot be ignored [19].

Huaytapallana Regional Conservation Area.

**3. Peri-urban clusters**

**Figure 5.**

**Figure 4.** *Ambato market centre and agricultural hinterland, Ecuador (Borsdorf and Stadel 2015).*

*Horizontal and Vertical Archipelagoes of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Andean… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86841*

#### **Figure 5.**

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

ers' resilience.

of Cochabamba, Bolivia, and of Mollomarca (farmland range 3100 to 4100 m) in the Cuzco Department of Peru. Although a maize/cereal zone of the lower slopes can be distinguished from an upper potato/tuber zone), a considerable mixing of a variety of crops, a patchiness of land parcels and an elevation-related overlap of crop types can be observed. In another contribution, Zimmerer [23]) states that "integrating the conservation of biodiversity by smallholder farmers with agricultural intensification is increasingly recognized as a leading priority of sustainability and food security amid global environmental and socioeconomic change". This will contribute to an in situ conservation of agrobiodiversity and enhance the smallhold-

The traditional pattern of agricultural land use has been profoundly altered in some areas by the locational influences of accessibility to highway arteries and regional market centres (**Figure 4**). Where topography, soil quality and irrigation potential exist, a specialized cultivation of vegetables, fruit and flowers serves the urban market, in some cases even international markets (e.g. the plantation of cut flowers for global markets in the *Sabana de Bogotá*) (**Figure 5**). Other agricultural cores of a specialized, export-oriented agriculture have developed because of an early valorization of favorable ecological conditions (e.g. the coffee-growing zones of the *tierra templada* in Colombia), or they have been the result of modernization, new technologies and entrepreneurial initiatives (e.g. the cultivation of special vegetables such as asparagus for world markets in the river oases of coastal Peru). Other important specialized agricultural zones are the wine-growing areas of the Central Valley of Chile and of the Cuyo region of Argentina or the legal or illegal plantation of coca bushes on the humid eastern side of the Andes in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. New consumer demands may also entail a specialization of agricultural strategies. Examples for this are the new

**172**

**Figure 4.**

*Ambato market centre and agricultural hinterland, Ecuador (Borsdorf and Stadel 2015).*

*Greenhouses of commercial flower cultivation, Sabana of Bogotá, Colombia (Photo credit: Stadel).*

quinoa monocultures in the Lake Titicaca region or expanding alpaca breeding on the Bolivian *Altiplano*. While this specialization may bring enhanced economic benefits to the region, the potentially negative impact on the ecology, regional water resources, land tenure, traditional land use practices and potentially higher farming risks cannot be ignored [19].
