Peru

The Peru component of the in situ project proposes to investigate landrace conservation in the country’s lowland Amazonian region, relatively neglected by past conservation efforts compared with the Andean zone. Peru’s Amazonian region is the centre of domestication for the globally important crops cassava (Manihot esculenta), peanut (Arachis hypogaea), and chili pepper (Capsicum) and is also a centre of diversity for maize (Zea mays). Project activities will be implemented in Peru’s Ucayali region, a humid tropical area dominated by the annually flooding Ucayali River. Study sites will be chosen from villages within the Shipibo community, one of the twelve native Amerindian ethnic groups of Ucayali. Particular attention will be paid to how current cultural and economic pressures are changing the Shipibo indigenous farming system with respect to landrace genetic diversity and germplasm management practices.