IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ssefpa/v7y2015i6p1259-1271.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Horticultural practice and germplasm conservation: a case study in a rural population of the Patagonian steppe

Author

Listed:
  • Cecilia Eyssartier
  • Ana Ladio
  • Mariana Lozada

Abstract

Local food production has recently been encouraged and strengthened in order to lessen the adverse effects of global food crises. In the present study we evaluated the current situation with respect to horticultural and gathering practices in a rural, isolated population of Northwest Patagonia, located in an extremely harsh environment, and explored its implications for food security. Cultivation patterns, seed origin, plant use and species diversity were analyzed by means of semi-structured interviews. Inhabitants of this community cultivate vegetable-gardens and a high proportion of dwellers collect seeds from previous harvests, mostly of non-perennial plants. This practice contributes to the preservation of local germplasm, mainly used for food production. Plant richness analysis showed that inhabitants of this population cultivate and gather a total of 166 species. Most cultivated species are of exotic origin, whereas a high proportion of gathered species are native plants mainly used for medicinal purposes. These findings suggest that in isolated populations with low access to markets, such as Pilquiniyeu del Limay in Northwest Patagonia, cultivation and production in vegetable gardens not only contributes to their food supply but also favors plasticity and resilience. The experience of these local dwellers could provide inspiration for coping with global environmental changes and for promotion of the emergence of resilient horticultural processes, which might be beneficial for society as a whole. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and International Society for Plant Pathology 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Cecilia Eyssartier & Ana Ladio & Mariana Lozada, 2015. "Horticultural practice and germplasm conservation: a case study in a rural population of the Patagonian steppe," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 7(6), pages 1259-1271, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:7:y:2015:i:6:p:1259-1271
    DOI: 10.1007/s12571-015-0514-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s12571-015-0514-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12571-015-0514-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bellon, Mauricio R., 2004. "Conceptualizing Interventions to Support On-Farm Genetic Resource Conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 159-172, January.
    2. C. Haque & David Etkin, 2007. "People and community as constituent parts of hazards: the significance of societal dimensions in hazards analysis," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 41(2), pages 271-282, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wen-Ko Hsu & Wei-Ling Chiang & Qiang Xue & Dung-Mou Hung & Pei-Chun Huang & Cheng-Wu Chen & Chung-Hung Tsai, 2013. "A probabilistic approach for earthquake risk assessment based on an engineering insurance portfolio," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 65(3), pages 1559-1571, February.
    2. Silvia Scaramuzzi & Sara Gabellini & Giovanni Belletti & Andrea Marescotti, 2021. "Agrobiodiversity-Oriented Food Systems between Public Policies and Private Action: A Socio-Ecological Model for Sustainable Territorial Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-32, November.
    3. Pascual, Unai & Narloch, Ulf & Nordhagen, Stella & Drucker, Adam G., 2011. "The economics of agrobiodiversity conservation for food security under climate change," Economia Agraria y Recursos Naturales, Spanish Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 11(01), pages 1-30, November.
    4. Ram Rana & Chris Garforth & Bhuwon Sthapit & Devra Jarvis, 2007. "Influence of socio-economic and cultural factors in rice varietal diversity management on-farm in Nepal," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 24(4), pages 461-472, December.
    5. Luz P. Llamas-Guzmán & Elena Lazos Chavero & Hugo R. Perales Rivera & Alejandro Casas, 2022. "Seed Exchange Networks of Native Maize, Beans, and Squash in San Juan Ixtenco and San Luis Huamantla, Tlaxcala, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-34, March.
    6. Karl S. Zimmerer & Steven J. Vanek, 2016. "Toward the Integrated Framework Analysis of Linkages among Agrobiodiversity, Livelihood Diversification, Ecological Systems, and Sustainability amid Global Change," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-28, April.
    7. Chun-Pin Tseng & Cheng-Wu Chen, 2012. "Natural disaster management mechanisms for probabilistic earthquake loss," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 60(3), pages 1055-1063, February.
    8. Brent Doberstein, 2009. "Post-disaster assessment of hazard mitigation for small and medium-magnitude debris flow disasters in Bali, Indonesia and Jimani, Dominican Republic," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 50(2), pages 361-377, August.
    9. Federica Ravera & Victoria Reyes-García & Unai Pascual & Adam G. Drucker & David Tarrasón & Mauricio R. Bellon, 2019. "Gendered agrobiodiversity management and adaptation to climate change: differentiated strategies in two marginal rural areas of India," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(3), pages 455-474, September.
    10. Gaither, Cassandra Johnson & Poudyal, Neelam C. & Goodrick, Scott & Bowker, J.M. & Malone, Sparkle & Gan, Jianbang, 2011. "Wildland fire risk and social vulnerability in the Southeastern United States: An exploratory spatial data analysis approach," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 24-36, January.
    11. Badstue, Lone Bech & Bellon, Mauricio R. & Berthaud, Julien & Ramírez, Alejandro & Flores, Dagoberto & Juárez, Xóchitl & Ramírez, Fabiola, 2005. "Collective action for the conservation of on-farm genetic diversity in a center of crop diversity: an assessment of the role of traditional farmers' networks," CAPRi working papers 38, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    12. Birol, Ekin & Villalba, Eric Rayn & Smale, Melinda, 2009. "Farmer preferences for milpa diversity and genetically modified maize in Mexico: a latent class approach," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 521-540, August.
    13. Dara Nix-Stevenson, 2013. "Human Response to Natural Disasters," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(3), pages 21582440134, July.
    14. Annemarie Ebert & Norman Kerle & Alfred Stein, 2009. "Urban social vulnerability assessment with physical proxies and spatial metrics derived from air- and spaceborne imagery and GIS data," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 48(2), pages 275-294, February.
    15. Asfaw, Solomon & Scognamillo, Antonio & Caprera, Gloria Di & Sitko, Nicholas & Ignaciuk, Adriana, 2019. "Heterogeneous impact of livelihood diversification on household welfare: Cross-country evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 278-295.
    16. Francis Denisse McLean-Rodríguez & Tania Carolina Camacho-Villa & Conny J. M. Almekinders & Mario Enrico Pè & Matteo Dell’Acqua & Denise E. Costich, 2019. "The abandonment of maize landraces over the last 50 years in Morelos, Mexico: a tracing study using a multi-level perspective," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(4), pages 651-668, December.
    17. Yingjie Song & Qiong Fang & Devra Jarvis & Keyu Bai & Dongmei Liu & Jinchao Feng & Chunlin Long, 2019. "Network Analysis of Seed Flow, a Traditional Method for Conserving Tartary Buckwheat ( Fagopyrum tataricum ) Landraces in Liangshan, Southwest China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-14, August.
    18. Wen-Ko Hsu & Chun-Pin Tseng & Wei-Ling Chiang & Cheng-Wu Chen, 2012. "Risk and uncertainty analysis in the planning stages of a risk decision-making process," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 61(3), pages 1355-1365, April.
    19. Lone B. Badstue, 2004. "Identifying the Factors that Influence Small-Scale Farmers' Transaction Costs in Relation to Seed Acquisition," Working Papers 04-16, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    20. Kozicka, Marta & Gotor, Elisabetta & Ocimati, Walter & de Jager, Tamar & Kikulwe, Enoch & Groot, Jeroen C.J., 2020. "Responding to future regime shifts with agrobiodiversity: A multi-level perspective on small-scale farming in Uganda," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ssefpa:v:7:y:2015:i:6:p:1259-1271. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.