Specialty Maize Varieties in Mexico: A Case Study in Market-Driven Agro-Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract

¿En qué medida puede la comercialización de los cultivos locales ser una herramienta para combinar el combate de la pobreza con la conservación in situ de los recursos filo-genéticos? Exploramos este tema a través de un estudio de caso de la comercialización del maíz azul y el maíz pozolero en los valles altos de México. El fuente de la material comercializada en ambos mercados son las variedades locales del maíz, en cuyo cultivo predominan los productores de pequeña escala. La cadena de valor del maíz pozolero se basa en una producción localizada, emparejada con una inversión en infraestructura que contribuye a actividades de valor-agregado, tales como la producción de pozole pre-cocido. Mientras tanto, el maíz azul es cultivado en una escala más amplia, y aunque existen menos oportunidades a través de los cuales el productor pueda agregar valor al grano, este producto abastece muchas empresas de pequeña escala, mayormente dirigidas por mujeres. En ambos mercados, existe la potencial de impactos positivos tanto en la conservación de la diversidad de maíz como en el bienestar de los participantes; sin embargo, cualquier política que buscara extender estos mercados sin reducir sus beneficios debería de ser sujeto a un diseño cuidadoso.

Assessing the vulnerability of traditional maize seed systems in Mexico to climate change

“…This strong local adaptation, coupled with shifts in climate (14), suggests that highland landraces are more vulnerable to climate change and merit special attention to assure conservation of genetic resources. Furthermore, ecological adaptation is not enough to guarantee successful adoption and adaptation by farmers: Germplasm also must have the necessary traits to make maize populations competitive for specific uses in these environments, such as consumption preferences and suitability for the niche markets for maize landraces that are important for farmers' livelihood security (25,26).…”

Agronomic and Kernel Compositional Traits of Blue Maize Landraces from the Southwestern United States

“…Regrettably, the surviving landraces of Borderland maize germplasm have been understudied and underutilized by the plant genetic resources community. In addition to their dietary significance, these landraces may provide a rich source of genetic diversity for utilization in modern breeding programs seeking to develop specialty products (Keleman and Hellin, 2009;Warburton et al, 2008), or for gene discovery using modern techniques including "allele mining" (Bhullar et al, 2009;Jaradat, 2013;Sood et al, 2014). Southwestern maize germplasm may provide alleles for kernel compositional traits of benefit for human health and nutrition (Dickerson, 1991;Kang et al, 2013) and for adaptation to abiotic stresses such as heat, drought, and salinity (Day et al, 1972).…”

Toward the Integrated Framework Analysis of Linkages among Agrobiodiversity, Livelihood Diversification, Ecological Systems, and Sustainability amid Global Change

“…The past 25 years have witnessed a significant evolution from the view of smallholder or peasant livelihoods and their environments as significantly separate from global systems, such as the once common concept of disarticulated economies ( [220]; pp. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. Currently, concepts and conditions highlight the relevance of smallholder connectedness with national and global systems including so-called planetary urbanism.…”

“…The wide-ranging interactions of agrobiodiversity amid global change encompass: (a) the management, quality, and access to livelihood-related resource inputs (e.g., skills, knowledge, and labor engaged directly with agrobiodiversity and supporting resources, such as soils and water) amid the livelihood diversification of food-growers [12][13][14]; (b) ecosystem services and specifically interactions within agrobiodiversity-supporting ecological systems (plant-soil interactions) [10,15]; (c) crop and food-growing strategies using agrobiodiversity for combined economic, environmental, and cultural rationales [16][17][18][19][20][21] including agrodiversity, which refers to management of environmental variation in agriculture [5,22]; (d) adaptation, resilience, and mitigation in response to climate change [23][24][25][26][27]; (e) biodiversity use and conservation [9,[28][29][30][31][32]; (f) market opportunities [33,34]; and (g) food security and sovereignty together with nutrition and dietary diversity and human well-being [35][36][37][38][39]. Each of the above linkages is receiving increased research and policy interest that includes synthesis treatments of multiple linkage types [40,41].…”