Support San Pedro Cactus Conservation in Peru

Huachuma Collective is a Peru-based nonprofit association which cares for the bio-cultural sustainability of the San Pedro Cactus. Our leadership is an alliance of curanderos, curanderas, Indigenous leaders, and Andean community members. Together, we empower communities to protect, conserve, and plant Huachuma and explore sustainable practices for growing and working with traditional medicine in Peru. Our projects support and revitalize cultural traditions in Andean and Coastal Peruvian communities.

Our organization was founded in 2020 to unite and provide a platform for the voices of traditional curanderos and curanderas in North and Central Peru. The collective convened to address growing concerns with Huachuma's conservation status and the loss of traditional medicinal knowledge in North Peru. The knowledge and practices of San Pedro were declared Cultural Heritage of Peru in November 2022, an important step towards recognizing the unique cultural world of this medicine and the skill of practitioners. Huachuma Collective takes this a step further by working at the community level to ensure the survival of Huachuma and the healing arts of North Peru.

We are raising funds for our three active projects:

1. NURSERY

In collaboration with Andean communities, we have built a wild seed bank of 500,000 San Pedro seeds from 50+ different wild populations in Peru. Seed-starting is essential to protecting the genetic diversity of these plants.

Our founders have been growing Huachuma onsite at our headquarters in Chaclacayo, Peru since 1999 - a project which has resulted in 6,000+ heads of mature, sustainable Huachuma. Now we have added a new nursery, which exists to germinate seeds from many regions and raise them for three years before returning the seedlings to their Andean communities of origin. Our directors held a blessing ceremony and inaugural pago offering on October 30, 2023.

Read more about the project and see photos from the field here.

2. CULTURAL EVENTS

Since September 2023, Huachuma Collective has hosted monthly events with Andean and Coastal communities of North Peru. These are directed by local healers, and provide opportunities for kids, young adults, and elders to connect around their shared cultural heritage.

Each event includes a community conversation, lunch, an offering to the local pre-hispanic temple, a planting of San Pedro cuttings, and a community Huachuma ceremony.

Learn more about the project in this article and stay tuned for a large public event in Tucume, Peru in February 2025.

3. HUACHUMA CONSERVATION CENTER, MARCAHUASI

In partnership with the community of San Pedro de Casta, Huachuma Collective has opened the first Huachuma Conservation Center in the plant's wild habitat in November 2024. More information to follow!

Explore our website.

Learn more about Huachuma's conservation status and our project in this video: