The Pankar-huyu

Noel Velasco tested small greenhouses, called Pankar-huyus, which allow year-round cultivation of vegetables on the Bolivian Altiplano

Nutritious vegetables are scarce on the Bolivian Altiplano, and the Benson Institute has long sought solutions to the resultant malnutrition. Some projects have worked while others have been merely short-term fixes. The pankar-huyu, a small semi-underground greenhouse, is the latest innovative solution. It has many features that increase its long-term viability for providing healthful vegetables in the Altiplano.

View of a Pankar-huyu

Bolivia ranks among the poorest countries in South America; its Altiplano (high plains), besides being the economically poorest region, is also a place of precarious roads, limited communication, harsh climate, and high rates of malnutrition.

The Altiplano lies more than 3800 meters (12,000 ft) above sea level; the huge plateau is surrounded by the Andes mountains. Even during the warmest months of the year, though the daytime highs may reach 25ºC (80ºF), the nighttime temperature drops nearly to freezing. These temperature fluctuations, thin air, and harsh sunlight result in a treeless country inferior for farming. The Aymara people have lived in the Altiplano under these conditions for thousands of years, but many of the younger generation are moving to urban areas hoping to find a friendly environment and a better life than what subsistence farming offers.

Noel Velasco, a native of La Paz, Bolivia, has been working with the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute since 1996 in some of the poorest rural areas of the Altiplano. He explains, “Life for the people of the Altiplano is difficult. They eat only what they can produce and they have to work hard just to have food. The means of communication and transportation are pretty precarious.”

The Benson Institute in Bolivia

The Benson Institute started its work in Bolivia by establishing an office in La Paz in 1983. Following its normal pattern when entering a new country, the Institute developed ties with a local university, the University of San Andrés in La Paz. The Institute then began to sponsor research by Bolivian students on the problems there and to support programs to implement the solutions found through this research. This method of work benefits both the villagers and the students. In the past the villagers had often been studied without being helped, and the students had often conducted research of little value because of a lack of support and funding. The Institute’s method addressed both of these problems by basing work on surveys of the most important needs and by integrating practical solutions with the theoretical work. The students, who will be the future leaders of Bolivia, become aware of the problems faced by others in their country and become more willing and prepared to help.

The Institute has recently refocused its efforts in Bolivia by supporting a study of urgent needs in the Altiplano. A sample area was selected and in 1997 the Institute asked Bolivian native Carmen Murillo of ONAMFA, an independent consulting firm specializing in population evaluations, to conduct the study. This study found that the problem of malnutrition is worse than expected. In the urban area of Viacha, over 50 percent of the children are malnourished; in the surrounding rural areas, this number rises above 80 percent. Despite the presence of other problems such as the scarcity of good water, waste disposal, and disease, Murillo found that malnutrition demands the most urgent attention.

Since then, the Benson Institute has worked through a variety of avenues to improve the nutritional situation for these people. Past programs in Bolivia have often been “quick fixes”; they are short-term solutions that disappear with those who initiate them. The Institute takes a different approach to the problems in the Altiplano. Dr. N. Paul Johnston, director of the Benson Institute, has said, “The village is a dynamic living laboratory. In order to proceed we must collect enough information for our programs to be effective and helpful in the long run.”

The development of the Pankar-huyu

Among the solutions especially designed to fit the problems of the Altiplano is the pankar-huyu, a semi-subterranean mini-greenhouse. Pankar-huyu is an Aymara word meaning “garden bed.” The Benson Institute has backed other greenhouse projects in the past; building on this experience, Luis V. Espinoza, the Institute’s South America Coordinator, and Dr. Larry Jeffery of BYU Department of Agronomy and Horticulture developed and elaborated the idea for the pankar-huyu. César Altamirano, a student at the University of San Andrés in La Paz, Bolivia, then performed preliminary testing and research on pankar-huyus at the Institute’s experimental station in Letanías. Most recently, Noel Velasco has continued testing improved designs of the pankar-huyu and has studied the yields of different vegetables. Velasco worked in Contorno Arriba and Contorno Centro, west of Viacha.

Noel Velasco brings a unique background and substantial experience to his work on the pankar-huyu. As a Bolivian, Velasco has a special interest in helping to solve the problems of his countrymen. He studied at the University of San Andrés in La Paz, Bolivia, graduating with a degree in agronomy. Besides his work at the university, Velasco has worked with the Benson Institute for the past three years. Recently, he received the Gilbert Award, a Benson Institute recognition given to a foreign student who develops exceptional ideas for improving food production and nutrition.

Velasco was involved in another Benson Institute greenhouse project, the walipini. A walipini (an Aymara word meaning “all is well”), like the pankar-huyu, is a subterranean greenhouse, but is much larger and deeper. Walipinis work well, but according to Velasco they have some of the same limitations that other greenhouses introduced in the Altiplano over the past 20 years have had. The first of these is that the families for which the greenhouses are intended are very poor and cannot afford to build them. Even if money were supplied, logistical assistance would be necessary because of the difficulty and time involved in construction. Once built, maintenance costs would prevent continued use. Families often cannot afford the time required to grow crops in the walipinis because they are busy all day with their normal crops. Moreover, the people are not sure what to do with the vegetables grown in the greenhouse, so they soon stop using it. These economic, temporal, and educational limitations have prevented the walipini and other greenhouses from being used to improve the diet in the Altiplano.

Velasco said, “Many times the rural residents accept the greenhouse but they stop using it. This has happened because the important first step was not taken. The first step is, and should always be, to teach the people why they need to eat vegetables. When the people realize they need vegetables to be healthy, they will ask for the technology. It is only after this first step that the technology should be taken to them.”

Velasco submitted a thesis with the results of his findings to the Benson Institute. He also prepared a manual with simple instructions for building a pankar-huyu. This manual is to be used to teach people how to build and use a pankar-huyu. An excerpt from it is included on pages 24–25.

While still in Bolivia, Velasco worked with Adelina Alvarez, a graduate of the University of San Andrés in nutrition and dietetics, to take the “first step” of educating the people. Alvarez taught the importance of nutrition to the Altiplano residents, including ways to modify their diet with foods grown in the pankar-huyus; Velasco then taught about the construction and maintenance of pankar-huyus. Alvarez focused her educational program on the women, who are usually in charge of food preparation, and the children, who are most affected by the problem of malnutrition.

This concerted program is an ideal illustration of the Benson Institute method: research is conducted, and the results are used to help people. The research must be done, but it is only through education that the people are benefited.

The Pankar-huyu

The pankar-huyu allows the year-round cultivation of nutritious vegetables that are otherwise difficult to grow on the Altiplano. The diet of the Altiplano natives is potato-based, and vegetables are rare. Velasco cites the conclusion of one study on the paucity of vegetable intake there: among other deficiencies, 44 percent less carrots are eaten than necessary for an appropriate intake of carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. This vitamin is crucial for proper immune system function, and diets low in this nutrient can lead to night blindness or even total blindness. Vegetables from pankar-huyus could supply the people with this and other essential nutrients such as folic acid and vitamin C. Velasco said, “The rate of malnutrition in the Altiplano is very high. People don’t grow vegetables rich in vitamins, and because of the lack of vitamins there is more sickness and death, especially among the children. The main idea of the pankar-huyu is to have a small vegetable greenhouse that is easy to use.”

One of the strongest points of the pankar-huyu is its simplicity and versatility. The construction materials vary depending on available resources, and the design can be modified to fit individual situations. The people themselves can construct the pankar-huyu; in fact, the women and children do as much as the men during the building process.

The pankar-huyu requires excavation of a hole about 1.3 meters wide, 3.0 meters long and 0.8 meters deep. The bottom is covered with gravel for good drainage, and then a mixture of soil and manure. Wooden boards, polyethylene plastic, and nails are used to construct a cover (Table 1 shows a complete list of the materials needed and their approximate cost). The pankar-huyu is small enough that the people can excavate and construct it themselves, but it is large enough to feed a family. For more complete instructions on pankar-huyu construction and usage, see the accompanying article.

The cover of the pankar-huyu allows the sun’s rays to enter and then maintains the heat that is produced. In this way, the pankar-huyu, like other greenhouses, acts as an accumulator of thermal energy. The bright, harsh sunlight which can otherwise be distressing at this high altitude benefits the pankar-huyu. Because the pankar-huyu’s walls are actually the subterranean ground, they are good insulators, trapping much more heat than thin walls. Even when the outside temperatures are very low in the winter, the temperature inside remains above freezing and can rise to 38ºC (100ºF) during the day. The pankar-huyu is so effective at accumulating heat that the cover must be opened in the daytime to prevent the temperature inside from rising too high. The humidity inside the pankar-huyu also remains elevated because of the cover. Knowing firsthand the water problems of the Altiplano, Velasco said, “The pankar-huyu is very water efficient; it needs very little water to produce plants. In part this is because when the water inside evaporates, it accumulates on the cover and drips back down to the soil.”

Because of improved growing conditions in the pankar-huyu, the crop cycle is shortened. Families can plant and harvest vegetables more than once a year. This allows them to consume healthful vegetables year round. In fact, more than enough vegetables can be grown to feed a family, and the surplus can be sold or traded to financially help the family.

Velasco used 16 pankar-huyus to study the yields of six vegetables. He was able to build and maintain them with minimal help from others. The vegetables studied were chard, carrots, lettuce, onions, celery, and parsley. Velasco harvested some of the vegetables within a month of planting and was able to continually plant and harvest over time. Part of his research focused on the optimal growing conditions for chard; in six months, he produced over 100 pounds. Various users of the pankar-huyu have had success growing broccoli, radishes, cabbage, and tomatoes as well.

Currently, other students are conducting further research on the pankar-huyu. They are studying the effect of different amounts of water, planting densities, and aperture of the cover to find the factors that contribute to a maximum yield.

According to Velasco, the pankar-huyu has found great success everywhere it has been introduced. “The reception was excellent,” he said. “It was important to work with Adelina because the people came to be confident in her and in what she taught, and that opened the door for me to teach them how to build the pankar-huyus.” Velasco told of one family that got so excited about the pankar-huyu that they built two more pankar-huyus after he helped them build one. The family experimented by planting new vegetables, including a tomato plant.

In the future, Velasco hopes to see pankar-huyus used more widely in the Altiplano as part of a comprehensive plan to fight malnutrition. He said, “One of the aims of the Benson Institute is to implement the pankar-huyu in various communities in the Altiplano. It is a process that is well planned, and although it may take a long time we want to do it right.” Through the continued dedicated work of students such as Velasco, there is no doubt that it will be done right.