Fragile Lands of Latin America Strategies for ... - PART - USAID

224 John M. Treacy
der population pressure coupled with a desire to market surplus crops
to buy food and other goods, including elaborately embroidered clothes
(Femenias, n.d.). But finding new sources of water must precede land
restoration since water availability determines the rate at which aban-
doned terraces are restored. In decades past in Coporaque, farmers
rebuilt terraces spontaneously by reconstructing adjacent unused canals
with communal labor. Therefore, an indirect and less expensive ap
proach to restore terrace agriculture in irrigated or irrigable areas may
be to: (I) overhaul or introduce irrigation systems; and (2) provide
markets for new production.
Communities with access to water, or with excess water, may be
good targets for terracing projects. The relative hydraulic efficiency of
terraces may prompt terrace construction in areas with scarce supplies.
Linking terracing with irrigation may also help avoid the misuse of
water resources that often are diverted for cattle pasture instead of for
planned agricultural programs (Wilkenson et al., 1984:E-18).
Recalling that many terraces were built in prehistory for a special
crop suggests that they be built or rebuilt for special crops, especially
marketable ones, to offset the increased costs of terracing. The best,
albeit extreme, demonstration of spontaneous terracing is that of eastern
Peru and Bolivia for coca plants grown illegally. There are more feli-
citous examples. Migrants in the Rimac Valley above Lima build
terraces on barren hillsides to plant flowers sold in the city at good
prices. The terraces of Sabandia and Paucarpata near Arequipa are
renowned for producing alfalfa for the local dairy industry. Terraces
also offer sufficient micro-niches for clever, labor-intensive polycropping.
Well-protected terraces near the Colca River's edge in Coporaque have
become highland agroforestry plots with apple and pear trees planted
over an alfalfa cover on the platforms, and with oregano, flowers, and
prickly pear (Opuntia ficus indica) ensconced in the walls. Close links
with markets could justifjr intensive commercial terrace horticulture.
The geographic factor of distance to markets may help select prime
candidate areas for terrace development, and mapping projects under-
way now in Peru to identifjr terrace sites may be of assistance.
To counter the high labor inputs required by some forms of terracing,
a processual or accretional construction approach may be appropriate,
especially for terracing fields already under cultivation. One method is
termed the controlled erosion terrace system whereby temporary walls
are erected upon slopes; behind the wall, soil is allowed to accumulate
by natural slope processes, until leveling or near leveling occurs and a
new, higher retaining wall is added. The system is admirably described
by Williams (Williams et al., 1986) and Doolittle (1984). The method
will not result in an immediate major reduction in slope, and will not