The livelihood of the Awajún and Wampis people is horticulture, through the slash and burn technique, however, food production is especially associated with beliefs and rituals. This makes it a very particular system from the rest of horticulture in the Amazon (Brown, 190).

The Núgkui myth remains a cornerstone of Awajún horticulture and ceramic arts. According to tradition, the goddess Núgkui, who grew all the food plants in abundance, gifted the yucca plant to humans, and demonstrated her power by producing vast quantities of masato served in ceramic pots. Today, she is still believed to inhabit the earth, actively nurturing crops and ensuring their rapid growth.

Today the women are aware that cassava plants can grow without magical rituals; however, they are convinced that these rituals help the plants grow quickly and larger, and remain free of weeds or pests. Indeed, each stage of the horticultural cycle (clearing, soil preparation, planting, weeding, harvesting, and tuber cleaning) has its own characteristic song (Brown & Bolt, 1980).

On the other hand, the Awajún chacras use a mixed cultivation strategy, as it is believed that yucca plantations will only grow when they are planted alongside other crops. This technique is based on the belief that the plantations have social relationships like humans. The plants communicate with the women who cultivate them, being their primary caretakers; they are viewed as the "mothers" of the crops.

"There are ‘mingas’ or collective tasks in many forms. There are mingas to open the ‘chacra’ or small farm of a family, where they prepare masato to share for when they do the minga, and the chacra is opened, for the women who do not have the support of friendship or family, they open their chacra on their own (...) they plant yuca, sweet potato, sachapapa, bananas of different kinds, like silk and green. There are also different kinds of yucas; some are a few months old, some are more than a few months old, some are a year old. The chacra is made in the summer because it has to burn (...) The suri is eaten, it is a balanced food, it is the beloved food. The suris come from the aguaje, pijuayo, and a variety of palm trees. The suri is eaten raw or grilled in salads." ~Luz Milla, Santa Maria de Nieva.

Hunting remains a cornerstone of the Awajún and Wampis subsistence system, traditionally focusing on small to medium-sized game—such as the sajino (collared peccary), huangana (white-lipped peccary), majas (paca), carachupa (armadillo), monkeys, and various birds—rather than larger animals like deer or the sachavaca (tapir). While the blowgun or pucuna and poisoned darts once served as their primary hunting tools, contact with European influences led to the adoption of shotguns and the introduction of livestock, such as pigs and poultry, to supplement their diet.

"When they went hunting, they would go far, for about a week. They would take yuca and their cookers, pots, salt, and matches. When they don't hunt successfully, they cure themselves with ajo sacha, they diet for three days to a week, and from there they go hunting, from there they can easily find the animals." ~Efrain, Achu community, Cenepa river.

"Women and men both go hunting. They go hunting with dogs, that was the custom, because before, there were many animals and many birds, and as there were so many, they would bring one, two or three in one day, but now there are no more (...) the Awajún do not eat sachavaca or deer, the deer they said had someone's soul, as did the sachavaca, and because they did not like to eat it, they chose other preferred meats, there was the sajino, the huangana, monkey, that was their best food. The animals have their own spirit and soul, even the dog, it is called 'huakan’." ~Mariluz, San Antonio community, Cenepa river.

Since 1970, Peruvian state agencies like SINAMOS promoted rice and maize as 'developmental' crops destined for coastal export. Today, the agricultural landscape includes highland coffee, lowland rice, and introduced species like cocoa and soy. Women continue to engage in subsistence agriculture, rarely participating in the commercialisation of their products (CARE Peru, 2009).