The major worry of the inhabitants of the prehistoric Andean sphere was to achieve the greatest agricultural production possible. The configuration of the country was a constant challenge for the population which had to overcome vast coastal deserts, abrupt terrain in the highlands, wide punas covered with the typical high altitude ichu grass and hostile jungles. For each one of those environments so different from each other they had to invent appropriate techniques of cultivation and utilization.

The inhabitants of the Andes managed to overcome the difficulties of the surroundings owing to their ingenuity. On the slopes of ravines they constructed sophisticated terraces, on the coast and in the highlands they built canals and in the desolate punas they used the waru-waru and the cochas to increase moisture. Therefore, despite those hard and difficult environments, the inventiveness of man accomplished making the Andes one of the world centers of major importance for acclimatizing plants useful to man, including edible plants and plants needed to cure illnesses.