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Farmers' use of improved seed selection practices in Mexican maize: Evidence and issues from the Sierra de Santa Marta

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  • Rice, Elizabeth
  • Smale, Melinda
  • Blanco, Jose-Luis

Abstract

The principal advantage of in situ conservation is that it allows adaptive evolutionary processes to continue in the species that are being conserved. For a cultivated crop species, in situ conservation involves farmers' management of their own genetic resources even as the farmers themselves adapt to a changing environment. Improved seed selection practices and other on-farm breeding strategies have been proposed as a means of providing economic incentives for farmers to continue growing traditional varieties or landraces identified as important for conservation. This paper describes a pilot study among a group of indigenous farmers in the Sierra de Santa Marta, Veracruz, Mexico, who have collaborated in such efforts. The findings raise key issues about the potential impact of such an approach, as well as some useful methodological points for applied economists. In the study area, there is a high frequency of experimentation, exchange, loss, and replacement of seed over time -- seed of the same varieties, including both modern and traditional varieties. This poses a challenge for economists' models of varietal choice, which tend to be based on static perceptions of a 'variety' as well as simplistic distinctions between 'modern' and 'traditional' varieties. Seed selection in the study area is not a single event but an iterative, continuous process. Women may be more involved in seed selection than previously thought, which may have implications for the welfare impact of new seed selection practices. Other implications of the study are that (1) the impact of introducing practices to enhance farmers' varieties is likely to be diffuse and difficult to observe, predict, or measure, and (2) in developing analytical models of farmer decision-making as it affects the diversity of genetic resources on the farm, the most appropriate unit of analysis for predicting the effects of some policy interventions is not likely to be the individual farmer or the individual farm house
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  • Rice, Elizabeth & Smale, Melinda & Blanco, Jose-Luis, 1998. "Farmers' use of improved seed selection practices in Mexican maize: Evidence and issues from the Sierra de Santa Marta," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(9), pages 1625-1640, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:26:y:1998:i:9:p:1625-1640
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Melinda Smale & Richard E. Just & Howard D. Leathers, 1994. "Land Allocation in HYV Adoption Models: An Investigation of Alternative Explanations," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(3), pages 535-546.
    2. Garcia-Barrio, Raul & Garcia-Barrios, Luis, 1990. "Environmental and technological degradation in peasant agriculture: A consequence of development in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(11), pages 1569-1585, November.
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    1. Smale, Melinda & Aguirre, Alfonso & Bellon, Mauricio R. & Mendoza, Jorge & Rosas, Irma Manuel, 1999. "Farmer Management of Maize Diversity in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico: CIMMYT/INIFAP 1998 Baseline Socioeconomic Survey," Economics Working Papers 7689, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    2. Morris, Michael L. & Risopoulos, Jean & Beck, David, 1999. "Genetic Change in Farmer-Recycled Maize Seed: A Review of the Evidence," Economics Working Papers 7683, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    3. Soniia David & Louise Sperling, 1999. "Improving technology delivery mechanisms: Lessons from bean seed systems research in eastern and central Africa," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(4), pages 381-388, December.
    4. Mintewab Bezabih, 2008. "Agrobiodiversity conservation under an imperfect seed system:the role of Community Seed Banking schemes," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 38(1), pages 77-87, January.
    5. Van Dusen, M. Eric, 2000. "In Situ Conservation Of Crop Genetic Resources In The Mexican Milpa System," Dissertations 11941, University of California, Davis, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    6. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Nagarajan, Latha & Salau, Sheu & Oyekale, Abayomi, 2010. "Nigerian farmers’ preferences on the timing of the purchase of rice, cowpea, and maize seeds:," NSSP working papers 20, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Bellon, Mauricio R., 2001. "Demand and Supply of Crop Infraspecific Diversity on Farms: Towards a Policy Framework for On-Farm Conservation," Economics Working Papers 7666, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    8. Bellon, Mauricio R., 2004. "Conceptualizing Interventions to Support On-Farm Genetic Resource Conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 159-172, January.
    9. Japhether, W. & De Groote, Hugo & Lawrence, M. & Danda, Milton Kengo & Mohammed, Lutta, 2006. "Recycling Hybrid Maize Varieties: Is It Backward Practice or Innovative Response to Adverse Conditions in Kenya?," 2006 Annual Meeting, August 12-18, 2006, Queensland, Australia 25726, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

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