Agro-productive relations in times of Covid-19. The case of the Austro Agroecological Network in Ecuador

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic implied a radical change in the lives of human beings and, therefore, in the processes of the agricultural production chain with its work, sowing and harvesting practices. In this context, the Red Agroecológica del Austro (RAA), as an alternative organisation of peasant origin, supplied the urban conglomerates with products from the chakras at all times. This article explores how RAA members organise themselves in their production and supply processes to urban areas in the context of COVID-19. A qualitative methodology of secondary sources (official communiqués of the RAA, public demonstrations and the participation of representatives in virtual conversations) was used for this purpose. Among the main results, it was found that agroecology manages an integral health approach and social relations with citizens, generating a network of users that continues to be valid in times of crisis, that the RAA is governed by the defence of Andean principles with proposals for sowing zones, the struggle for autonomous spaces and the strengthening of peasant capacities, and that the RAA maintains coherence between preaching and doing, being a reference point for agroecological principles. Finally, in times of pandemic, the rural-urban relationship is maintained thanks to a culture of defence of nature between users and producers, which guarantees an autonomous market and accompaniment from the rural world in the urban world.