Inca Farming

The inca farming was not easy at all, you need to consider the terrain difficulties and the fact that all the work was done by hand, so been an inca farmer require a lot of effort; The incas had tools for preparing the terrain and systems to dry food before will be store in huge containers call Tambos; The tambos were rectangular shape stone constructions, well ventilated, build for the specific purpose of been use as store rooms for dry food.

The inca tools were few, but quite effective, the most important of this tools was the Chacquitaclla, it is a type of food plow, it is made of a strong thick wood stick, hold at the top with the right hand, it has a sharp piece of copper in the bottom end, at 20 cm up from the bottom it has a tie piece of wood to make pressure with your left feed, plus another piece of wood closer to the top to be use as support for the left hand.

The chacquitaclla, could be consider the core of the inca farming development, because it was design to be use anywhere, at any hight or any place, it has such perfect design that as incredible as it sounds, still in use until today; The Peruvian national agricultural census of the 1980, recorded 716,000 chacquitacllas in use, plus it is estimated that in the center of the Peruvian highlands, the 70 percent of the potato production comes from lands worked with chacquitacllas.

The inca farming agriculture method to prepare the ground was as follow: First, the men use the chacquitaclla to cut big pieces of ground, by levering and flipping the soil surface; Second, the inca women use smaller tools to cut this big pieces of ground, into smaller ones, the process was repeated again and again, until the surface was enough soft to start to plant the seeds.

The inca farming cultivation with chacquitaclla protects the soil from erosion, by not changing the texture and structure of the land, because each time that the soil is flip over gives to the land organic substance and therefore improves the stability of the ground; It is not proof that the incas knew this when they design the chacquitaclla, the fact is that with luck or with knowledge, they create the very best and more effective tool for agriculture in the andes, ever been build.

The incas develop an extraordinary variety of procedures to preserve food, most of this procedures were drying, salting or dehydrating pre cooked food, some of this processes are quite complicated; Probably the incas learn this procedures during centuries of try and error, until get the right combination of steps to guarantee the perfect preservation of the food.

The inca farming preservation of food processes are: The Jarwa, this process was use mainly for the Ocas (hybrid of the potato), it start with a lightly cooked, drain it, cut in half lengthwise and place in a special surface in the exterior of the house, to use the effect of frost at night, during 21 nights; During the day the oca have to be protected from the sun; After the 21 nights, it follow another 21 days of drying the food to the sun and protecting them at night.

The second inca farming preservation process is the Mallulloc, this process is quite similar to the Jarwa process but shorter, it is use for all types of tubers; First it is lightly cooked, drain, wash with cold water to peel the skin, wash again to clean the dirt, place in a special surface in the exterior of the house during 3 nights; During the day they have to be protected from the sun and after the first 3 nights, follow another day of drying the food to the sun.

The third inca farming preservation process is the Chochocca, use it for corn; First it is lightly cooked, drain and all the grains of the corn are cut off, then the grains are place in a special area in the exterior of the house during 3 nights, they must be protected during the day, following another 3 days drying them to the sun and protecting them during the night.

The inca food preservation process guarantee for the incas, a food supply for an indefinitely amount of time, plus the inca dry food did not need any special care at all; All the food was treated, right after harvest the fields from May to June, it was place inside of containers and store inside the tambos; Every now and then, the food from the tambos was distributed to the entire kingdom, replacing it with new fresh dry food.

The fourth and final inca farming preservation process is the Charqui, it is use exclusively to dry meat of any kind and fish; First they cut the meat into strips or slices, as thin as possible, remove the fat and remove as much blood as possible, then the strips are hung in a dry site, ventilated and above all, very sunny, until the meat take a texture similar to the cardboard or leather, ones it gets the right texture it is lightly cook in mud ovens, then it is cut in small pieces and store in small containers, that after words will be cover with salt.

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