IICA’s latest “Leader of Rurality” – Trigidia Jiménez, the Bolivian woman who reclaimed an ancestral crop that is strategic to food security

San Jose, 25 April 2022 (IICA). Bolivian agricultural engineer, Trigidia Jiménez, who fused scientific and ancestral knowledge in Bolivia to improve the cañahua crop, was recognized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) as one of its “Leaders of Rurality”.

Jiménez is a Quechuan woman who set out to reclaim the highly nutritious grain that was first cultivated by indigenous people during the pre-Hispanic era but was later displaced by food introduced into Bolivia. When she began to produce cañahua, it was only for personal consumption, but today it is produced and sold by more than 1,500 families.

The “Soul of Rurality” award, as it is called, is part of an initiative by the specialist agency for agricultural and rural development to pay tribute to men and women who are making their mark in the rural areas of the Americas – a region that is key to food and nutritional security and to the planet’s environmental sustainability.

Trigidia was raised in the countryside and inherited her passion for agriculture from her father. Defying gender stereotypes, she attended university and worked for years in the city. However, at 45, now married and with four children, she decided to return to the country to rediscover her roots.

She is one of the driving forces behind the cañahua knowledge network, “Red Nacional de Saberes y Conocimientos en Cañahua, an organization that seeks to raise the visibility of this crop, given its importance for food security and its resilience to climate change.

The network has been endorsed by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and enjoys widespread participation by various stakeholders.

The IICA Leaders of Rurality award pays tribute to individuals who are playing a critical dual role, namely as guarantors of food and nutritional security and as custodians of the planet’s biodiversity, producing under all kinds of conditions.

The recognition also highlights these individuals’ capacity to serve as positive examples for the rural areas of the region.

Trigidia Jiménez, the woman who agriculture taught to be resilient  

Trigidia Jiménez was born into a Bolivian farming family that was forced to abandon the countryside when she was still a child, due to factors that restricted its ability to sell the wheat that it produced.

Thus, the family left the Chaupi Molino community, a district of Chuquisaca, and her father began to work as a miner in the San José Mine in Oruro. However, he never abandoned his love of nature and farming and every weekend, at the foot of the San José hills, he would teach his young daughter to cultivate potatoes and to appreciate the nutritional and medicinal properties of native plants.

Jiménez inherited his passion for the countryside and at 18 years she dared to embark on an adventure that seemed inaccessible to most women in Bolivia: attending university and studying agricultural engineering.

This was the beginning of a long road that led her to where she is today. She is now considered as the country’s leading advocate for and producer of cañahua – an Andean grain with extraordinary nutritional properties that is organically grown, using the ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples.

Cañahua is unknown to many people, because although it has been cultivated for thousands of years, the crop was largely forgotten during colonial times. In fact, when Trigidia began to grow it, cañahua was only grown for personal consumption in Bolivia. After ten years, a virtuous economic cycle has been set in motion, with 1,500 families now producing and selling the crop.

“I am a Quechuan woman from Bolivia, who takes pride in my roots, having discovered my own capacity by doing away with male chauvinist stereotypes. The common belief in rural Bolivia is that a women cannot head a company or business, but I have shown that a woman can be happy and accomplished”, insists Trigida, founder of the Samiri Farm in the Andean municipality of Tridigida, where, starting off with only one hectare of land, she now cultivates more than 80 hectares.

Jiménez, who in 2017 was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the national knowledge network—“Red Nacional de Saberes y Conocimientos en Cañahua”—enthusiastically remarks that, “I want cañahua  to be included in the Bolivian food basket, because it is a superfood, although many are unaware of this”.

The organization, which has been endorsed by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and enjoys widespread support from a variety of stakeholders, is seeking to raise the visibility of this crop, given its importance for food security and its resilience to climate change.

Return to the countryside

Trigidia met her husband—also the child of farmers—while attending university in the city of Oruro. They both graduated as agricultural engineers, later marrying, producing four children and undertaking various public sector and consultancy jobs.

During vacations they would travel to the country to assist Trigidia’s parents-in-law with their farming, with each visit making her feel even happier. She said that, “I realized that I wanted to be in contact with the land. I no longer wanted to work at a desk. I began to feel a connection with nature and to ask myself if I was happy in the city”.

It was then that her father-in-law told Trigidia about the cultivation and nutritional value of cañahua – a grain about which he had amassed a vast amount of ancestral knowledge.

Trigidia decided to return to the country with her entire family, where they began the laborious task of building the Samiri Farm. Having returned to the rural environment at the age of 45, Trigidia once again began to wear her “polleras”, the traditional skirts that are symbolic of Bolivia’s rural women, and to experience the satisfaction of rediscovering her roots.

“We set out to become the first commercial producers of cañahua in Bolivia. I assessed all the crop’s strengths and weaknesses and established goals for the next ten years. During the first five years we only invested in the business and built the farm little by little”, she told us.

Trigidia recalls that it was immediately clear that more than simply relying on her technical knowledge as an agricultural engineer, she would need to preserve ancestral knowledge, while also respecting the environment.

“Cañahua was forgotten for many reasons. Before the conquest, it was a staple food, but it was replaced by other foods that were introduced to the region and was only cultivated in secret. Until the 1960s and 1970s, it had no commercial value. When we started, farmers only grew cañahua for personal consumption, but I told my father-in-law that one day we would be able to export”.

Work at the Samiri Farm led to the identification of four varieties of the crop, two of which have already been certified and authorized for trading. The farm was also able to improve crop yields, which previously amounted to between 7 to 8 quintals per hectare. Today, thanks to the fusion of ancestral and scientific knowledge, this has increased to 22. Therefore, cañahua is now sold as pito (flour with sugar and spices), flour, pipoca (similar to popcorn), energy bars, api (a hot beverage), instant soups, cookies and cupcakes.

Trigidia explains that, “The Samiri Farm is the product of the many organizations that have supported us. We have overcome many obstacles. We realized that we would have to develop products to suit the tastes of the end consumer. We also knew that our production would have to ensure sustainable soil use, and therefore we produce for three years and then leave the soil to rest. Moreover, at Samiri, killing of any animal is prohibited, because we understand that all living creatures have a purpose in nature”.

 “We monitored and assessed the crop and discovered that it was extremely climate resilient, given that rainfall 20 years ago was more than it is today. I consider it to be a smart crop, because it is resilient to frost and has been able to adapt to climate change”.

When asked if she considers herself a businesswoman, Trigidia—who suffered a tremendous blow during the pandemic with the loss of her husband due to COVID-19—simply answers by saying that she is a dreamer.

“I left an unfulfilling job and took the risk of starting from scratch”, she recalls. “It was not easy, as we already had four children. In Bolivia, particularly in rural areas, there is still a great deal of machismo. A woman’s duty is to cook, wash and to be a good daughter. I had no confidence in myself; I needed my husband’s support, for everything. I was afraid that my marriage would fail, if I neglected my home”.

“Cañahua made me a strong woman, a fighter. Seeing this tiny crop and its ability to withstand the most adverse weather conditions, never giving up, but pressing forward, this taught me to summon my own strength and to understand that I had the ability to do anything in life that I set out to achieve”.

More information:

Institutional Communication Division.

comunicacion.institucional@iica.int