Agricultural Work and Bio-Governance Processes in Indigenous Communities Facing COVID-19

Abstract

In times of the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic, the food supply and pathways to food sovereignty are interwoven in the communities and indigenous peoples of México. Nowadays, agricultural work is a fundamental piece to influence resilience processes within communities and face the shortage that the confinement due to COVID-19 has brought. On the one hand, to guarantee self-consumption and on the other, to generate commercial relationships on a small scale. Despite the adverse conditions of low mobility for the sale of agricultural products, we found that cultivation based on the milpa system is key to achieving food security. Likewise, the reactivation of the economy gains momentum through local commercial exchange. The responses made by the indigenous peoples and communities of Oaxaca in this health contingency allow us to visualize the processes of bio-governance that contribute to the protection of life, as well as the challenges for agriculture and the maintenance of the milpa system in local settings.