The compatibility of agricultural intensification in a global hotspot of smallholder agrobiodiversity (Bolivia)

Abstract

Integrating the conservation of biodiversity by smallholder farmers with agricultural intensification is increasingly recognized as a leading priority of sustainability and food security amid global environmental and socioeconomic change. An international research project investigated the smallholder agrobiodiversity of maize (corn) in a global hotspot (Bolivia) undergoing significant intensification. Peach-based intensification was pronounced (300-400%) and prolonged (2000-2010) in study areas. Intensification and maize agrobiodiversity were found to co-occur within smallholder landscapes. Interactions of these field systems did not trigger land-change tipping points leading to landrace extirpation. By 2010 maize landraces in the study areas still demonstrated high levels of taxonomic and ecological biodiversity and contributed significantly to this crop's agrobiodiversity at national (31%) and hemispheric (3%) scales. Social and ecological resilience and in situ conservation of the maize agrobiodiversity by Bolivian smallholders was enabled through robust linkages to off-farm migration; resource access and asset capabilities among both traditional and nontraditional growers; landrace agroecology and food uses; and innovative knowledge and skills. The smallholders' resilience resulting from these linkages was integral to the conditional success of the in situ conservation of maize agrobiodiversity. Environment-development interactions both enabled smallholders' agrobiodiversity resilience and influenced the limits and vulnerability of agrobiodiversity. Scientific policy recommendations regarding land-use planning and sustainability analysis are targeted to specific Río+20 priorities for agrobiodiversity.smallholder agricultural development | social-ecological resilience | food access | sustainability science | livelihood-landscape analysis

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

“…Generally, the process of disintensification is associated with livelihood diversification, although several studies mention it, and a few are able to demonstrate the increase of intensification, while others suggest the occurrence of no change in intensification level. Gender dynamics are critical to these trends, since in many cases women become the main farm managers, and this "feminization" of resource use exerts a major influence on the specifics of agricultural change (e.g., crop choice) and general outcomes (e.g., intensification or disintensification) [14,48,51,89,90,97,[172][173][174][175][176][177][196][197][198]. For example, the decline of chili pepper markets led to disintensification in the southern Yucatán region of Mexico through processes of livelihood diversification based on international migration and the influence of women's role in subsequent resource use [173,196,197].…”

“…Correspondingly, these interactions of smallholder livelihoods are producing emergent qualities in agrobiodiversity and other land, water, and biotic resource systems. This perspective highlighting the potential social-ecological emergence of agrobiodiversity [8,14,52,119] is replacing the earlier blanket assumption of purely traditional resource management and, therefore, the inference of agrobiodiversity as a vestige or relict.…”

“…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].…”

Climate change and crop diversity: farmers’ perceptions and adaptation on the Bolivian Altiplano

“…These changes in crops and varieties reflect farmers' responses to the changing climate, as well as shifting social and economic conditions. The adoption and expansion of commercial crops and varieties contribute to a diversified livelihood portfolio (Zimmerer 2013), but can lead to maladaptation as observed by McDowell and Hess (2012) in another municipality in the Department of La Paz: In Palca, shifts from hillside subsistence farming to commercial vegetable production in irrigated fields increased farmers' sensitivity to climate change by raising dependence on unreliable water sources and hail-sensitive crops, as well as exposing them to market volatility (McDowell and Hess 2012).…”

Global dry forests: a prologue

“…Of all the regions with dry forests, Latin America is by far the best researched (see Grau et al 2005Morton et al 2008;Aide et al 2012;Zimmerer 2013), although there is also some research from Malawi (Fisher and Shively 2006). The value of agricultural intensification for conservation remains contested (Angelsen and Kaimowitz 2001;García-Barrios et al 2009) and more research is needed in all regions.…”