Farmers’ Varietal Identification in a Reference Sample of Local Phaseolus Species in the Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico. Farmer-named varieties are often the basis of in situ diversity assessment, collections for ex situ conservation, and on-farm improvement programs. Such varieties play an important role in sustainable agriculture because of their adaptation to local environmental conditions and consumer tastes. The importance of these varieties has stimulated interest in understanding farmers’ varietal classifications. We investigated the empirical basis of, and agreement among, farmers’ bean variety classification in a community in the Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico. A reference sample of 300 local seeds of three Phaseolus species was sorted by nine farmers into named varieties. Nuclear and chloroplast microsatellite markers and seed morphology data were used to a) establish species identities; and test the hypotheses that b) farmer varieties reflect morphological and genetic structures; and c) there is agreement among farmers in variety classification. Because all farmers sorted the same set of seeds the variation in individual farmers’ classifications could be documented and compared. Our results indicate an empirical basis for farmer varieties, but without stringent classification rules. Varietal names underestimated diversity present at the community level because of the intravarietal variation present in farmer classifications. There was low classification agreement among farmers, although broad morphological and genetic patterns were present. The variation in farmers’ classifications of this Phaseolus diversity resulted in both synonymy and homonymy across classifications. The goal of farmers may not be to maintain the same variety across households, but to form a version of a broad type that best fits their own needs and circumstances at one point in space and time. Thus, in both work with farmers and collections of their Phaseolus varieties for ex situ conservation it should not be assumed that same-named seed lots are redundant units of diversity. Morphological and/or molecular data should, therefore, supplement farmer varietal names in assessments of in situ crop diversity, while ex situ collections would benefit from the inclusion of multiple accessions of the same variety from different farmers, repeated over time.
Identificación campesina de variedades en una muestra de referencia de especies locales de Phaseolus en la Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca, México. Los nombres locales de las variedades ofrecidos por los agricultores son, a menudo, la base para la determinación de diversidad in situ, las colecciones para la conservación ex situ, y para los programas de mejoramiento participativo. Tales variedades juegan un papel importante en la agricultura sostenible debido a su adaptación a las condiciones ambientales locales y los gustos de los consumidores. La importancia de estas variedades ha estimulado el interés en comprender los principios clasificatorios de los agricultores. Nosotros investigamos los principios empíricos y el grado de acuerdo sobre la clasificación de frijoles entre los agricultores de la Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca, México. Una muestra de referencia de 300 semillas locales de tres especies de Phaseolus fue clasificada por nueve agricultores en variedades con nombres locales. Morfología de las semillas y marcadores moleculares del núcleo y de lo cloroplasto fueron utilizados para: a) establecer las identidades de las especies; y para probar las hipótesis: b) que variedades identificadas por los campesinos reflejan estructuras morfológicas y genéticas; y c) que existe concordancia entre los agricultores en cuanto a la identificación de las variedades. Debido a que los agricultores clasificaron el mismo conjunto de semillas, la variación entre las clasificaciones de los agricultores como individuos pudo ser documentada y comparada. Nuestros resultados indican que hay una base empírica de la identificación campesina de las variedades, pero sin reglas clasificatorias estrictas. Los nombres de las variedades subestiman la diversidad existente en la comunidad debido a la inconsistencia presente entre las clasificaciones de los agricultores. Hubo un bajo grado de concordancia entre los agricultores, aunque pautas morfológicas y genéticas generales fueron presentes. La variación entre las clasificaciones campesinas de esta diversidad de Phaseolus resultó tanto en la sinonimia como homonimia entre las clasificaciones. Es posible que la meta de los agricultores no sea mantener la misma variedad de fijol entre granja y granja, sino de un tipo general formar una version que mejor responda a sus propios intereses y circunstancias en el espacio y el tiempo. Así, tanto en el trabajo con los agricultores y en la colección de sus variedades de Phaseolus para conservación ex situ, no debe asumirse que los lotes con el mismo nombre sean unidades redundantes de diversidad. Los datos morfológicos y/o moleculares deben, por consiguiente, complementar los nombres que proporcionan los agricultores en la determinación de la diversidad in situ, mientras que las colecciones ex situ podrían beneficiarse de la inclusión de accesiones múltiples de la misma variedad, pero de distintos agricultores, repetidas a lo largo del tiempo.
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Acknowledgements
We thank farming households and municipal authorities in Santa María Jaltianguis; thanks to Professor Eusebio Jiménez Nicolas for translation and correct notation of Zapotec bean variety names; for research assistance J.S. Muruaga-Martínez, Humberto Castro García, Laurentino Juárez Cruz; for advice and editorial comments S.R. Bowley, J. von Braun, D.A. Cleveland; for assistance in the molecular diversity analyses Estevan Quiroga. The suggestions of three anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript. Financial support was provided by NSF (DEB-0409984) to DS, a University of California Mexico-US program (UC MEXUS) to PG, a UC Davis Jastro-Shields award to MW, and a UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences fellowship to MW.
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Daniela Soleri and Margaret Worthington contributed equally.
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Soleri, D., Worthington, M., Aragón-Cuevas, F. et al. Farmers’ Varietal Identification in a Reference Sample of Local Phaseolus Species in the Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico. Econ Bot 67, 283–298 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-013-9248-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-013-9248-1