Nature is the theme of a special marathon that started last weekend...
I chose this one and it gave me a heavy one
Fields near Quito, Sierra region, Ecuador (0°17’ N – 78°41’ W).
Step by step
Located between the Western and Royal Cordilleras, the highlands of the Quito region enjoy the Sierra’s humid and mild climate, which supports the cultivation of grains (corn, wheat, barley) and potatoes.
Although agriculture now accounts for only 9.1% of the GDP of this country of 16 million people, it currently employs 25% of the workforce. It plays a significant role not only in the landscape but also in the country’s history: the agrarian reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, which ended the dominance of the large haciendas owned by Spanish settlers, did not resolve the problem of the unequal distribution of farmland.
The most productive lands—those in the valleys and along the coast, devoted to export crops (bananas, sugarcane, coffee, and cocoa)—remain in the hands of wealthy landowners, while small farmers share the land in the highlands and barely make a living from their crops. However, poverty and inequality are on the decline in this country. Between 2006 and 2016, the poverty rate fell from 37.6% to 22.5% of the population. (source)
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