refreshment, for work and for socializing. Children usually collaborate in the household

activities from five or six years old (Rojas 1994, Fabian and Espinosa 1997). When the

children become older they get more involved in these duties, as defined by gender.

 Rojas (1994) has defined the male in the Ashininka culture as the peripheral part of

their society, because they are hunters, travelers, traders and warriors. On the other hand,

the same author defined the female as the internal part of the society, because she is in

charge of the crops and livestock, and the making of clothes and handicrafts. In addition,

the household economy is based on women, who are tied to the land, the daughters and

the house (Varese, 1973; Rojas, 1994; Fabian and Espinoza, 1997). Furthermore, women

are more related to tradition, while men are more linked with cultural changes (Rojas

1994).

 Currently, Ashaninka agricultural plots fluctuate in size from one to five hectares

(Varese 1973, Rojas 1994). Two hectares or less are dedicated to household subsistence.

The bigger plots are mostly dedicated to commercialized crops. Ashaninka consider that

a one hectare plot is enough to feed a four-to six-member family for one year (Holhouser

1975).

 Currently, in the Ashaninka communities in the middle of the Ene Valley the most

common food crops for subsistence are cassava, maize, banana and papaya. The most

common commercialized crops are sesame (Sesamun indicum), cacao (Theobroma

cocoa), rice (Oryza sativa), coffee (Coffea arabica) and achiote (Bixa orellana). Cassava

or kaniri (Manihot esculenta) is their most important food crop (Cardenas 2000, Peralta

and Huaman 2001, Carhuas 2002). This crop is present every day, almost in every meal,

boiled or baked and in the cassava beer piarentsi, and Rojas (1994) reported 30 different