Photo: Tim Mossholder | Pexels
Shifting rain patterns and severe water shortages have spurred native farmers in the Bolivian Andes to adopt the farming methods of their Aztec and Mayan ancestors. The drip irrigation methods and hydroponic practices used by these civilizations used a fraction of the water expended by modern cultivation methods. World Neighbors is an international nonprofit that has helped the people of Sikimira to develop a system of embedded traditional cisterns in the hillsides which collect and supply rain water to the community's greenhouses. Availability of clean water for cultivation and drinking, combined with traditional, sustainable methods of growing, have contributed not only to earnings but to a substantial reduction in malnutrition in the community as well. These pre-industrial techniques were tested for hundreds and thousands of years for them to be sustainable, says Robert M. Rosenswig, professor of anthropology at Albany University. These were very stable and long-lasting forms of agriculture, and they did allow higher population density.
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