Local Markets: Agrobiodiversity Reservoirs and Access Points for Farmers' Plant Propagation Materials

Abstract

Local markets are access points to local agrobiodiversity and to part of the informal seed systems on which most small-scale farmers worldwide depend. With the urgent need for more sustainable food systems, detailed studies of the food plant diversity in local markets contribute to a better understanding of the role of local markets in a functioning rural food system. In particular, the products that farmers trade and also use for plant propagation are of interest, i.e., seeds and other propagules such as cuttings, pseudostems, rhizomes, or tubers purposes, since they represent our genetic capital for food production. This study aims to show the role of local markets as access points for plant propagation materials and their contribution to regional in situ conservation of local food plant resources. We analyzed the inter- and intra-specific food plant diversity of the products from local merchants in 10 markets in the agrobiodiversity rich region of the Huasteca Potosina, Mexico. We recorded 275 different food plants consisting of 99 plant species, which have a high intraspecific richness of 210 variants. The list includes 58 species that are useful for propagation. The average number of variants suitable for propagation at each market is 58.4. The results show that the different richness parameters vary within and between the inventoried markets. They correlate partially to different factors like market size and origin. We conclude that local markets in the Huasteca Potosina are important components of the rural food system by providing access to a great variety of local food plants, as well as to seeds and other propagation materials for farming. However, diversity may be threatened, because of the high average proportion of unique and rare food plants (63.5%) in the markets. Also, almost half (45.1%) of the total richness is present in <1% of the inventoried stands. Political actions are needed to maintain and promote the use and conservation of this diversity in the future.

Agro-Food Supply Chains in Peri-Urban Agricultural Areas: Do They Contribute to Preserve Local Biodiversity? The Case of Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park

“…Farmers' markets are the food retail stores where there is greater intraspecific diversity, especially of Solanaceae and Fabaceae. These data resemble findings from other studies in the Mediterranean region [46,53] and other areas [25,54]. The ratio between variants and species peaks within farmers' markets (Table 1).…”

“…This suggests that plant diversity thrives more at the intraspecific level rather than at the species taxonomy level. The presence of a wide range of variants in the farmers' markets is an indicator of the richness of agrobiodiversity in the region [25,55]. Driven by consumer demand for natural, local, innovative, and high-quality agricultural products, farmers' markets contribute to the conservation of local agrobiodiversity [19,48,56].…”

“…The study of SFSC and, therefore, hybridization usually has the main focus on the producers [23], and there are still few studies that focus on wholesalers and retailers [22,24]. Retail stores serve as strategic focal points for evaluating society, the economy, and production systems, influencing the interconnected relationship between plants and people [25]. In addition, food retailers occupy a critical point in the food supply chain, which makes them wellpositioned to encourage changes of practice across the entire agro-food system [26][27][28], such as the promotion of local agrobiodiversity [25,29].…”

Diversifying agrifood systems to ensure global food security following the Russia–Ukraine crisis

“…NUS are breeding candidates for advanced food crops with great economic potential (Mabhaudhi et al, 2019;Tirnaz et al, 2022). NUS cover a wide range of crop types, including cereals, roots and tubers, legumes, fruits and vegetables, seeds and spices, and were often traditionally grown by indigenous people and smallholder farmers as food for home consumption or a source of income at local markets (Padulosi et al, 2019;Heindorf et al, 2021). NUS can be found across various agroclimatic regions and landscapes suitable for agriculture.…”

More than Maize, Bananas, and Coffee: The Inter– and Intraspecific Diversity of Edible Plants of the Huastec Mayan Landscape Mosaics in Mexico1

“…Most studies of on-farm crop diversity remain on species level or, when focused on intraspecific diversity, are limited to a few selected food plants (e.g., studies about on-farm maize diversity). We would like to encourage scholars to focus on other important crop groups like, for example, Sechium edule and Cucurbita spp., both of which are less studied but also contribute to the local diet and income of the farming communities and are very common to find on local markets (Heindorf et al 2021).…”