Pishku chaqui

It is an irrigation system in which the water from the river or stream is redirected through a main irrigation ditch. Every certain distance, a part of the flow is directed to a secondary irrigation ditch, which is then divided into two by using shovels forming an inverted “Y” shape that resembles a bird’s foot. The water, at the end of its journey through the tertiary irrigation ditches, begins a movement by gravity and covers the surface of the land by flooding, thus facilitating the development of crops. The pishku chaqui, which means bird’s foot, is a special technology for irrigating pastures (paddocks) and also an agroecological technique that makes it possible to fertilize pastures with manure through small channels that help disperse it. The objective of the technology is to moisten all the crop areas to obtain uniform irrigation and a better distribution of water on the plot.