Rimisp – Latin American Center for Rural Development, in the framework of the Networks for Agrifood Transformation project, organized the webinar “Indigenous agro-food systems in transition” to mark the closing of the initiative, which ran from 2022 to 2025. With the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, the project aimed to support the sustainable transformation of agrifood systems in three rural territories in Latin America.

During the event, results of the project were shared and the relationship between agroecology and indigenous peoples was the relationship between agroecology and indigenous peoples was discussed in depth.. Rimisp developed the project together with three local partner organizations: CESDER-PRODES in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, Mexico (with Nahuatl communities); APROBA-SANK in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala (with Q’eqchi’ Mayan communities); and PROSUCO in the Municipality of Torotoro, Bolivia (with Quechua communities).

REFLECTIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE PROJECT

Rodrigo Yáñez, director of Rimisp in Chile, was in charge of opening the webinar highlighting that one of the main learnings of the project is that indigenous knowledge and production systems are highly integrated. Unlike the western view, these systems are not subdivided into separate dimensions, but rather production, food, culture and health are closely connected.

In this context, agroecology is presented as an appropriate way to transition to more sustainable systems. The director of Rimisp in Chile underlined that agroecology is not dogmatic, and that actions such as the occasional use of agrochemicals or the consumption of processed beverages do not stop the transition process. Yáñez concluded that agroecology is, in essence, “another way of talking about social justice”.