Photo: Creative Vix | Pexels
When Peruvian farmer Mario Quispe Hermoza built a food storage silo known as a qolca, it was the first new one built in the Cusco Valley in 500 years. Once a key part of Peru's agricultural technologies, the stone and mud qolcas conserved tubers and grains for communal use during bad harvests. More than 2.2 million small family farmers in Peru still use traditional technologies -- such as qolcas, mountain terracing, irrigation canals and seed selection -- and given climate change, experts hope the ancient practices can be widely restored. Once built, Hemoza's qolca was filled with sacks of woven llama fiber containing dehydrated potatoes, oca tubers and corn, as well as quinoa stored in a clay pot.
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