Harvesting Maca in Junín, Perú

One of the highlights of my fieldwork among maca producers in Junín, Perú, was witnessing the maca harvest and post-harvest practices. The photos below illustrate much of the process, including picking, cleaning, and sun-drying the maca roots.

After the roots have been thoroughly dried they are ready to be sold to processors who turn the roots into powders, supplements, and other products for national and international markets. Very few growers process the roots into value-added products themselves. There is one processing plant in Junín, but the majority of maca processing and exporting takes place in larger cities such as Huancayo and Lima.

Workers harvest maca using hand tools on hillside above Lake Junín.

Workers harvesting maca high above Lake Junín.

Initial cleaning of maca roots takes place by swinging the roots in nets.

A family of maca growers in Junín, sorting the maca by size and colour.

Freshly picked maca roots showing colour variation.

This man is selecting prime maca roots for replanting to obtain seed. He looks for large size and even shape.

Prime maca specimens showing colour variation.

Christening a new tractor with maca liquor. The tractor will be used to turn over soil prior to planting maca.

Maca dries in the sun against a backdrop of mountains and sheep grazing.

Maca are covered in plastic to protect from rain overnight. In the morning these growers unwrap and spread out the roots to facilitate sun-drying.

Maca drying in a plastic tunnel, which concentrates heat from the sun and speeds up the drying process. Here they are sorted into black and white specimens, as black fetches a higher price from Chinese buyers.