Just small potatoes (and ulluco)? The use of seed-size variation in “native commercialized” agriculture and agrobiodiversity conservation among Peruvian farmers
2003
Zimmerer, Karl S.
Farmers of the Peruvian Andes make use of seed-size variation as a source of flexibility in the production of "native commercial" farmer varieties of An dean potatoes and ulluco. In a case study of eastern Cuzco, the use of varied sizes of seed tubers is found to under pin versatile farm strategies suited to partial commercialization (combined with on-farm consumption and the next season's seed). Use of seed-size variation also provide sad aptation to diverse soil-moisture environments. The importance and widespread use of seed-size variation among farmers is demonstrated in the emphasis and consistency of linguistic expressions about this trait. Small and small-medium seed is typically sown in the community''s "Hill"' unit of sub-humid, upper-elevation agriculture. Seed tubers of medium-size and larger are needed fordrought-stressed locales in lower-elevationlandscape units. Farm-level preferences for the seed-size of tubers also suggest potential relations to resource endowments of farm households and gender-related management, although these tendencies were not statistically significant in the study. Anintra-varietal, landscape-environmentalperspective on seed-size management, which includes an emphasis on within-field versatility, helps to strengthen the research support of local seed production in policies and programs aiming for in situagrobiodiversity conservation, marketing capacity, and food security.
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