Skip to main content

Intraspecific variation, knowledge and local management of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in the semiarid region of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil

Environment, Development and Sustainability volume 22, pages 2881–2903 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Historically, the species Manihot esculenta Crantz (cassava) is an important crop of great livelihood value for most rural farming communities of Brazil. Cassava ethnovarieties are selected for cultivation over generations based on farmers’ interests, leading to the maintenance and a very particular local diversity evolution. Although cassava has become a model species in studies that seek to understand how the knowledge and the strategies of use adopted by human populations influence cassava diversity throughout the world, factors that influence cassava diversity in semiarid regions are not well documented. Accordingly, this study examines the distribution of cassava ethnovarieties and whether socioeconomic characteristics influence the knowledge and use of these cassava ethnovarieties, among seven rural communities located in the semiarid region of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. Social exchange networks play an important role in the maintenance and distribution of cassava diversity. The structure of network depicting farmers and the ethnovarieties they cultivate was investigated. The methodological approach was based on classical methods in ethnobiology, such as semistructured interviews, field visits and discussions with farmers. Through snowball sampling, 50 farmers were identified and interviewed. The results show that socioeconomic factors affect the knowledge and use of cassava ethnovarieties and can be important predictors in studies that aim to evaluate the knowledge and use of food plants. It was clear that farmers use traditional knowledge and their preferences to select and cultivate cassava ethnovarieties, such as high yields, good quality of flour, good quality of cooking, that are important to take decisions to maintain or abandon them. Network analysis indicated that most farmers shared a common ethnodiversity core, while some also cultivated a smaller group of lower occurrence among the communities studied, which may have resulted from individual farmers’ preferences.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

(Source: Cavechia et al. 2014, with adaptations)

Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

References

  • Agre, A. P., Gueye, B., Adjatin, A., Dansi, M., Bathacharjee, R., Rabbi, I. Y., et al. (2016). Folk taxonomy and traditional management of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) diversity in southern and central Benin. International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research,20(2), 500–515.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albuquerque, U. P., de Lucena, R. F. P., & Neto, E. M. D. F. L. (2014a). Selection of research participants. In Methods and techniques in ethnobiology and ethnoecology (pp. 1–13). Berlin: Springer.

  • Albuquerque, U. P., Ramos, M. A., de Lucena, R. F. P., & Alencar, N. L. (2014b). Methods and techniques used to collect ethnobiological data. In U. P. Albuquerque, R. F. P. Lucena, L. V. Cunha & R. R. N. Alves (Eds.), Methods and techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology (pp. 15–37). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alcorn, J. B. (1995). The scope and aims of ethnobotany in a developing world. Ethnobotany: Evolution of a Discipline. Dioscorides Press, Portland, OR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Almeida-Neto, M., Guimaraes, P., Guimaraes, P. R., Jr., Loyola, R. D., & Ulrich, W. (2008). A consistent metric for nestedness analysis in ecological systems: Reconciling concept and measurement. Oikos,117(8), 1227–1239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballé, M., Beauvallet, G., Smalley, A., & Sobek, D. K. (2006). The thinking production system. Reflections,7(2), 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bender, M., Assis, A. L., Tiepo, E., Hanazaki, N., & Peroni, N. (2009). Cultivation of Manihot esculenta Crantz  and landscape dynamics at Santa Catarina Island, Brazil. In U. P. Albuquerque & N. Hanazaki (Eds.), Recent developments and case studies in ethnobotany (pp. 271–287). Recife: Nupeea.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti, S. P. (1996). ANTHROPAC 4.0. Natick, MA: Analytic Technologies.

  • Boster, J. (1983). A comparison of the diversity of Jivaroan gardens with that of the tropical forest. Human Ecology,11(1), 47–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boster, J. S. (1985). Selection for perceptual distinctiveness: Evidence from Aguaruna cultivars of Manihot esculenta. Economic Botany,39(3), 310–325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boster, J. S. (1986). Exchange of varieties and information between Aguaruna manioc cultivators. American Anthropologist,88(2), 428–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmona, A., & Casas, A. (2005). Management, phenotypic patterns and domestication of Polaskia chichipe (Cactaceae) in the Tehuacán Valley, Central Mexico. Journal of Arid Environments,60(1), 115–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavechia, L. A., Cantor, M., Begossi, A., & Peroni, N. (2014). Resource-use patterns in swidden farming communities: implications for the resilience of cassava diversity. Human Ecology,42(4), 605–616.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clement, C. R., de Cristo-Araújo, M., Coppens D’Eeckenbrugge, G., Alves Pereira, A., & Picanço-Rodrigues, D. (2010). Origin and domestication of native Amazonian crops. Diversity,2(1), 72–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coomes, O. T., McGuire, S. J., Garine, E., Caillon, S., McKey, D., & Demeulenaere, E. (2015). Farmer seed networks make a limited contribution to agriculture? Four common misconceptions. Food Policy,56, 41–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cruz, M. P., Peroni, N., & Albuquerque, U. P. (2013). Knowledge, use and management of native wild edible plants from a seasonal dry forest (NE, Brazil). Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine,9(1), 79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delêtre, M., McKey, D. B., & Hodkinson, T. R. (2011). Marriage exchanges, seed exchanges, and the dynamics of manioc diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,108(45), 18249–18254. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1106259108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dormann, C. F., Fruend, J., & Gruber, B. (2017). Visualising bipartite networks and calculating some (ecological) indices, 2nd edn. R packages.

  • Dufour, D. L. (1993). The bitter is sweet: A case study of bitter cassava (Manihot esculenta) use in Amazonia. Carnforth, UK; New York: Parthenon Publishing Group, 575–588.

  • Ellen, R. F., & Soselisa, H. L. (2012). A comparative study of the socio-ecological concomitants of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) diversity, local knowledge and management in Eastern Indonesia. Ethnobotany Research and Applications,10, 15–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emperaire, L., & Eloy, L. (2008). A cidade, um foco de diversidade agrícola no Rio Negro (Amazonas, Brasil)? Boletim Do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Ciências Humanas,3(2), 195–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emperaire, L., Eloy, L., & Seixas, A. C. (2016). Redes e observatórios da agrobiodiversidade, como e para quem? Uma abordagem exploratória na região de Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre. Boletim Do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Humanas, 11(1), 159–192.

  • Emperaire, L., & Peroni, N. (2007). Traditional management of agrobiodiversity in Brazil: a case study of manioc. Human Ecology,35(6), 761–768.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emperaire, L., Pinton, F., & Second, G. (1998). Gestion dynamique de la diversité variétale du manioc en Amazonie du Nord-Ouest. Natures Sciences Sociétés,6(2), 27–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Godoy, R., Brokaw, N., & Wilkie, D. (1995). The effect of income on the extraction of non-timber tropical forest products: model, hypotheses, and preliminary findings from the Sumu Indians of Nicaragua. Human Ecology,23(1), 29–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • González, J. A., Garc\’\ia-Barriuso, M., & Amich, F. (2011). The consumption of wild and semi-domesticated edible plants in the Arribes del Duero (Salamanca-Zamora, Spain): An analysis of traditional knowledge. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution,58(7), 991–1006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guimaraes, P. R., Jr., & Guimaraes, P. (2006). Improving the analyses of nestedness for large sets of matrices. Environmental Modelling and Software,21(10), 1512–1513.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanazaki, N., Berkes, F., Seixas, C. S., & Peroni, N. (2013). Livelihood diversity, food security and resilience among the Caiçara of coastal Brazil. Human Ecology,41(1), 153–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanazaki, N., Zank, S., Pinto, M. C., Kumagai, L., Cavechia, L. A., & Peroni, N. (2012). Etnobotânica nos Areais da Ribanceira de Imbituba: Compreendendo a biodiversidade vegetal manejada para subsidiar a criação de uma reserva de desenvolvimento sustentável. Biodivers Bras,2, 50–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckler, S. L. (2004). Tedium and creativity: the valorization of manioc cultivation and Piaroa women. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,10(2), 241–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kassambara, A., & Mundt, F. (2016). Factoextra: extract and visualize the results of multivariate data analyses. R Package Version, 1(3).

  • Kawa, N. C., McCarty, C., & Clement, C. R. (2013). Manioc varietal diversity, social networks, and distribution constraints in rural Amazonia. Current Anthropology,54(6), 764–770.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lê, S., Josse, J., Husson, F., et al. (2008). FactoMineR: an R package for multivariate analysis. Journal of Statistical Software,25(1), 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lima, D., Steward, A., & Richers, B. T. (2012). Trocas, experimentações e preferências: Um estudo sobre a dinâmica da diversidade da mandioca no médio Solimões, Amazonas. Boletimdo Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi: Ciencias Humanas,7(2), 371–396. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1981-81222012000200005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marchetti, F. F., Massaro, L. R., de Mello Amorozo, M. C., & Butturi-Gomes, D. (2013). Maintenance of manioc diversity by traditional farmers in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil: A 20-year comparison. Economic Botany,67(4), 313–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martins, P. S. (2005). Dinâmica evolutiva em roças de caboclos amazônicos. Estudos Avançados,19(53), 209–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Momsen, J. (2009). Gender and development. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monteiro, J. M., Albuquerque, U. P., Lins Neto, E. M. F., Araújo, E. L., Albuquerque, M. M., & Amorim, E. L. C. (2006). The effects of seasonal climate changes in the Caatinga on tannin levels in Myracrodruon urundeuva (Engl.) Fr. All. and Anadenanthera colubrina (Vell.) Brenan. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia, 16(3), 338–344.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nascimento, V. T., da Silva Vasconcelos, M. A., Maciel, M. I. S., & Albuquerque, U. P. (2012). Famine foods of Brazils’ seasonal dry forests: Ethnobotanical and nutritional aspects. Economic Botany,66(1), 22–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nascimento, V. T., de Lucena, R. F. P., Maciel, M. I. S., & De Albuquerque, U. P. (2013). Knowledge and use of wild food plants in areas of dry seasonal forests in Brazil. Ecology of Food and Nutrition,52(4), 317–343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oksanen, J., Blanchet, F. G., Kindt, R., Legendre, P., Minchin, P. R., O’hara, R. B. (2017). Package ‘vegan.’ Community Ecology Package, Version, 2(9).

  • Pautasso, M., Aistara, G., Barnaud, A., Caillon, S., Clouvel, P., & Coomes, O. T. (2012). Seed exchange networks for agrobiodiversity conservation. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development,33(1), 151–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peroni, N., & Hanazaki, N. (2002). Current and lost diversity of cultivated varieties, especially cassava, under swidden cultivation systems in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment,92(2–3), 171–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peroni, N., Martins, P. S., & Ando, A. (1999). Diversidade inter-e intra-específica e uso de análise multivariada para morfologia da mandioca (Manihot esculenta Crantz): um estudo de caso Inter-and intraspecific diversity and use of multivariate analysis for the morphology of cassava (Manihot esculent). Scientia Agricola,56(3), 587–595.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinton, F., & Emperaire, L. (2001). Le manioc en Amazonie brésilienne: Diversité variétale et marché. Genetics Selection Evolution,33(1), 491–512.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pires, M. M., Guimarães, P. R., Araújo, M. S., Giaretta, A. A., Costa, J. C. L., & Dos Reis, S. F. (2011). The nested assembly of individual-resource networks. Journal of Animal Ecology,80(4), 896–903.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pujol, B., Renoux, F., Elias, M., Rival, L., & Mckey, D. (2007). The unappreciated ecology of landrace populations: Conservation consequences of soil seed banks in Cassava. Biological Conservation,136(4), 541–551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2006.12.025.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rana, R. B., Garforth, C., Sthapit, B., & Jarvis, D. (2007). Influence of socio-economic and cultural factors in rice varietal diversity management on-farm in Nepal. Agriculture and Human Values,24(4), 461–472.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reyes-García, V., Vadez, V., Huanca, T., Leonard, W., & Wilkie, D. (2005). Knowledge and consumption of wild plants: A comparative study in two Tsimane villages in the Bolivian Amazon. Ethnobotany Research and Applications, 3, 201–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sambatti, J. B. M., Martins, P. S., & Ando, A. (2001). Folk taxonomy and evolutionary dynamics of cassava: a case study in Ubatuba, Brazil. Economic Botany,55(1), 93–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sieber, S. S., Medeiros, P. M., & Albuquerque, U. P. (2011). Local perception of environmental change in a semi-arid area of Northeast Brazil: a new approach for the use of participatory methods at the level of family units. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics,24(5), 511–531.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silva, T. C., Medeiros, M. F. T., Peroni, N., & Paulino Albuquerque, U. (2017). Folk classification as evidence of transformed landscapes and adaptative strategies: A case study in the semiarid region of northeastern Brazil. Landscape Research,42(5), 521–532.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sneath, P. H. A., Sokal, R. R., & others. (1973). Numerical taxonomy. The principles and practice of numerical classification.  San Francisco: Freeman and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Team, R. C. (2018). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Austria, 2015. ISBN 3-900051-07-0: URL http://www.R-project.org.

  • Thompson, E. C., & Juan, Z. (2006). Comparative cultural salience: Measures using free-list data. Field Methods,18(4), 398–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulrich, W., & Almeida-Neto, M. (2012). On the meanings of nestedness: Back to the basics. Ecography,35(10), 865–871.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the community leader Alexandre O. Nascimento, the farmers of the communities, for the welcome, trust and kindness to share with us their knowledge and contribute to this study, especially Arlindo Ferreira, Edgar Antônio, José Sebastião, Juvenal Oliveira and Janete Alves. We thank the CNPq for the support with the scholarship of the first author and productivity grant awarded to UPA. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for valuable feedback on this manuscript and also some members of the Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Social-Ecological Systems (LEA) to share their ideas and suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-graduação em Botânica, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Rua Dom Manuel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, Pernambuco, 52171-900, Brazil

    Mirela Natália Santos, Jhonatan Rafael Zárate-Salazar & Reginaldo de Carvalho

  2. Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Social and Ecological Systems (LEA), Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Avenida Professor Moraes Rego, s/n, Cidade Universitária, Recife, Pernambuco, 50670-901, Brazil

    Mirela Natália Santos & Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

Authors
  1. Mirela Natália Santos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jhonatan Rafael Zárate-Salazar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Reginaldo de Carvalho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Santos, M.N., Zárate-Salazar, J.R., de Carvalho, R. et al. Intraspecific variation, knowledge and local management of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in the semiarid region of Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. Environ Dev Sustain 22, 2881–2903 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00323-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-019-00323-6

Keywords

  • Agrobiodiversity
  • Ethnobotany
  • Food plants
  • Traditional agriculture