One Hundred Percent Algodón Nativo

Another project I’m working on in Callanca involves algodón nativo or “native cotton” or “colored cotton.” Although it’s hard for us to imagine, it actually took quite a bit of dogged effort to breed a pure white cotton. Five thousand years ago cotton plants produced fibers of many colors—from beige and cream to rust red and dark brown and even gray-green and mauve. When dyes became prevalent these colors became superfluous and the words “cotton” and “white” became synonomous. The origins of some of the best strains of colored cotton—the cottons with the longest and finest fibers—have been traced to western South America. In other words to exactly where I am.

Up until 40 years ago they were still growing colored cotton here in Callanca. I met an artisan who still has in her house fat pillows of the stuff that her mother grew and used to weave blankets. It was a laborious process. First you had to pick the cotton, then clean the cotton of seeds and impurities, then spin the cotton by hand into hilo, a variety of thin yarn. Only then could you mount it on a loom and weave a paño or an alforja or a blanket. Today the artisans buy hilo in spools for 30 soles a kilogram. However this hilo “industrial” only comes in pure white and a range of gaudy reds, purples, greens, oranges and yellows. The colors of algodón nativo are much subtler and richer.

Marina with a blanket her mother wove from algodón nativo.

They still grow algodón nativo near Callanca in Mórrope, Túcume and Monsefú. So I’m hoping that I can work with these communities and with the district and regional governments to bring algodón nativo back to Callanca. There’s a meeting in the regional capital, Chiclayo, in early April at which many of the producers, consumers and supporters of algodón nativo in the region will be present. In June in Lima the State Department is sponsoring a forum on intellectual-property rights that will include a component on the protection of “indicaciones geográficas”—crops native to and specific to particular regions of Perú. I’ve spoken with a representative at the U.S. Embassy about algodón nativo and he wants one or two farmers or artisans from Lambayeque to attend the forum and to make a case for algodón nativo as a crop specific to our region and therefore deserving of international protections. In a sense Perú and Lambayeque could copyright algodón nativo.

Algodón nativo offers three advantages to Callanca. The farmers here have passed their land down through generations until its division through inheritances has reduced the amount of land owned by most farmers to an hectare (2.4 acres) or less. So the farmers really need a crop that pays better than the carrots, cucumbers, lettuce and sweet potatoes that most of them grow. Algodón nativo sells for a much higher price than any of these crops because of its rarity and also because it’s typically grown organically and for that reason commands a higher price in all markets, including especially the lucrative export market, a market that values the cotton for its utility in the manufacture of clothing that can claim to be produced from organically grown materials. A second advantage would be that if algodón nativo were available locally the artisans of Callanca could use it to weave the paños and alforjas that traditionally have been produced here. Again, the result would be a better price for their products because of the added value of the organic/natural label and the attractiveness of the colors. A third advantage is that the cotton is environmentally friendly and its cultivation would result in fewer toxic chemicals in Callanca’s soil and water.

An alforja woven from industrial cotton in Callanca.

This is a long-term project that involves convincing farmers to experiment with a new crop and artisans to choose a raw material that would mean more work for them if they decided to spin their own yarn or more expense if they decided to purchase industrial yarns produced in Lima from algodón nativo. But the potential for attracting more lucrative markets—exports for the farmers, tourist dollars for the artisans—makes algodón nativo an attractive option, at lease for the gringo Peace Corps volunteer if not for the members of his community as well.