Zenón Gomel Apaza - 2006 Associate Laureate

Gomel Apaza is reviving the agricultural heritage of his native land, the Altiplano of southern Peru, where ancestral practices have been overshadowed by modern farming technology. Gomel Apaza in a now desolate area that had been farmed in terraces from pre-Inca times. Since 1995, he has been documenting local, traditional agricultural skills and know-how. Gomel Apaza is leading a campaign to promote traditional farming practices and agrobiodiversity in more than 500 rural communities of the southern Peruvian Altiplano. A woman selling dried potatoes, the Andean staple food. Gomel Apaza (left) is helping to organize seed fairs in order to encourage the cultivation of a wider diversity of native plants. The Peruvian Andes at the birthplace of the potato and count about 5,000 natives tubers, such as these izaños which can be found in 20 varieties in Gomel Apaza’s homeland in southern Peru. The Peruvian Andes at the birthplace of the potato and count about 5,000 natives tubers, such as these izaños which can be found in 20 varieties in Gomel Apaza’s homeland in southern Peru. Andean farmers harvesting a local variety of tuber, ollucos. To ensure food security, they relied for centuries on a diversity of edible plants adapted to their inhospitable environment. For Gomez Apaza, ancestral practices such as the harvesting of barley by hand are ecologically and culturally better adapted to the lives of Andean farmers than modern, mechanised agriculture. Farmers perform a ritual to ensure the fertility of a field. Gomel Apaza’s project returns tradition and rituals to their place in Andean agriculture.
Gomel Apaza is reviving the agricultural heritage of his native land, the Altiplano of southern Peru, where ancestral practices have been overshadowed by modern farming technology.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Pucará, Peru, 2006
Gomel Apaza is reviving the agricultural heritage of his native land, the Altiplano of southern Peru, where ancestral practices have been overshadowed by modern farming technology.

Gomel Apaza in a now desolate area that had been farmed in terraces from pre-Inca times. Since 1995, he has been documenting local, traditional agricultural skills and know-how.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Pucará, Peru, 2006
Gomel Apaza in a now desolate area that had been farmed in terraces from pre-Inca times. Since 1995, he has been documenting local, traditional agricultural skills and know-how.

Gomel Apaza is leading a campaign to promote traditional farming practices and agrobiodiversity in more than 500 rural communities of the southern Peruvian Altiplano.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Pucará, Peru, 2006
Gomel Apaza is leading a campaign to promote traditional farming practices and agrobiodiversity in more than 500 rural communities of the southern Peruvian Altiplano.

A woman selling dried potatoes, the Andean staple food. Gomel Apaza (left) is helping to organize seed fairs in order to encourage the cultivation of a wider diversity of native plants.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Orurillo, Peru, 2006
A woman selling dried potatoes, the Andean staple food. Gomel Apaza (left) is helping to organize seed fairs in order to encourage the cultivation of a wider diversity of native plants.

The Peruvian Andes at the birthplace of the potato and count about 5,000 natives tubers, such as these izaños which can be found in 20 varieties in Gomel Apaza’s homeland in southern Peru.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Peruvian Altiplano, Peru, 2006
The Peruvian Andes at the birthplace of the potato and count about 5,000 natives tubers, such as these izaños which can be found in 20 varieties in Gomel Apaza’s homeland in southern Peru.

The Peruvian Andes at the birthplace of the potato and count about 5,000 natives tubers, such as these izaños which can be found in 20 varieties in Gomel Apaza’s homeland in southern Peru.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Peruvian Altiplano, Peru, 2006
The Peruvian Andes at the birthplace of the potato and count about 5,000 natives tubers, such as these izaños which can be found in 20 varieties in Gomel Apaza’s homeland in southern Peru.

Andean farmers harvesting a local variety of tuber, ollucos. To ensure food security, they relied for centuries on a diversity of edible plants adapted to their inhospitable environment.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Orurillo, Peru, 2006
Andean farmers harvesting a local variety of tuber, ollucos. To ensure food security, they relied for centuries on a diversity of edible plants adapted to their inhospitable environment.

For Gomez Apaza, ancestral practices such as the harvesting of barley by hand are ecologically and culturally better adapted to the lives of Andean farmers than modern, mechanised agriculture.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Orurillo, Peru, 2006
For Gomez Apaza, ancestral practices such as the harvesting of barley by hand are ecologically and culturally better adapted to the lives of Andean farmers than modern, mechanised agriculture.

Farmers perform a ritual to ensure the fertility of a field. Gomel Apaza’s project returns tradition and rituals to their place in Andean agriculture.

©Rolex Awards/Xavier Lecoultre

Orurillo, Peru, 2006
Farmers perform a ritual to ensure the fertility of a field. Gomel Apaza’s project returns tradition and rituals to their place in Andean agriculture.