Huamani Cardenas lives in Lima, but is originally from Conayca, a rural town of roughly 1 300 people in the central highlands of Peru. When he received a delivery of fresh food from his hometown, he was thrilled. “I sincerely thank the authorities of Conayca for thinking of us,” he wrote in a social media group for young Conaycans living in Lima.

In times of crisis, it is typically rural areas that are most vulnerable to adversity. During the 2008 food crisis, 73 percent of the hardest-hit Peruvians were living in the rural Sierra and Amazon regions. In these cases, it is often big cities that send humanitarian aid to the countryside. With the COVID-19 crisis, however, the situation has reversed. The pandemic’s mobility restrictions are disrupting food supply chains and hindering access to traditional and nutritious food in urban areas.

Family farmers, belonging to several indigenous communities in rural parts of Peru, are sending help to their relatives in the cities, reviving the tradition of Apachicuy.