English - IFAD

“In their own words”: introducing the testimonies
27
Peru
Narrators: Elsa Espinoza Delgado, Williams Serafin Novoa Lizardo,
Eliany Portocarrero Novoa, Doris Consuelo Sánchez Santillán,
José del Carmen Portocarrero Santillán
The Peru interviews come from two locations, Ramos and Cheto, in the Amazonas
region, northern Peru. Some of the narrators are descendants of the Aguarunas
and Chachapoya indigenous groups. Ramos is a remote village of approximately
130 inhabitants, located 30 minutes away on foot from the larger community of
Santa Rosa. Most people are subsistence farmers, and the main source of cash
income is the cultivation and marketing of pineapples. No one in the village owns
a vehicle and so the community is dependent on intermediary buyers coming to
their village to purchase the pineapples. The village has a primary school but
villagers have to walk to Santa Rosa to access the nearest health post. Cheto is larger
in size than Ramos and more accessible, and it has a secondary school and a health
post. Livelihood options are mainly farming and animal husbandry. However,
many travel to the provincial capital Chachapoyas, 125 kilometres away, to improve
their education and to access better health services.
Senegal
Narrators: Abdoulaye Badji, Pascaline Bampoky, Bakary Diédhiou,
Oumar Diédhiou, Abibatou Goudiaby, Safiétou Goudiaby, Bintou Sambou
The seven narrators come from different villages in Senegal’s southern province of
Casamance. For the last 28 years Casamance has been plagued by armed conflict
between the government and Casamance’s movement for independence. Once a
thriving agricultural area, the province has become the poorest in the country.
Thousands of people have been killed by the conflict and many more have been
injured or maimed by land mines. Many young men have fled to the capital, Dakar,
to find work. For those who remain, agriculture is still the main source of livelihood.
Key crops include rice, groundnuts, corn, millet, sorghum and beans.