Wapishana People - Economy

Economy

Cassava is an important crop for the Wapishana society. "Wapisiana women grate the cassava, express its juice, sieve it, and then toast it on iron griddles into flour", basically thick flat breads. They also farm sweet potatoes and other roots, squashes, tomatoes, greens, onions, dozens of different kinds of hot peppers, and numerous other crops. Wapishana men are in charge of hunting deer, agouti, wild turkeys, and birds. Everyone in the family goes fishing. For over 200 years now, the Wapishana have been raising cattle, swine, chickens, ducks, and many other animals which are part of their regular diet. The exchange of produce, animals, and homemade food provides smalls amounts of cash for purchases of store-bought food and household goods.

Wapishana men craft wooden stools and baskets, sieves, and squeezers for use in the preparation of cassava and other foods. They also make arrows, fencing wire into points, but these arrows and bows they buy or get hold of from other Indians have been almost entirely replaced by shotguns. Women make clay cooking pots and spin cotton and weave the thread into baby slings and hammocks. Introduced crafts include needlework, dressmaking, and rustic furniture making.

Peddlers sometimes try to trade with the Wapishana, but these transactions are described as exploitative, and they are avoided by all but those who are too isolated to understand.