TRADITIONAL ANDEAN AGRICULTURE AND CHANGING PROCESSES IN THE ZENTA RIVER BASIN, SALTA, NORTHWESTERN ARGENTINA

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the altitudinal use of the environment in the traditional agricultural practices of an Andean rural community of Salta Province, Argentina. At present, families that used to move periodically among different settlements are gradually turning to be sedentary. This process has resulted in the weakening of the vertical use of the environment, the concentration of agricultural activities into a sole altitudinal level, the loss of some cultigens proper of abandoned areas and in the
increase in the pressure of use in permanent locations. Even though ancestral agricultural practices are still in use in the community under study, changes are negatively influencing their preservation.