This paper explores social arrangements associated with seed transactions among small-scale maize farmers in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico, where no formal seed supply system exists. We test the hypothesis that individual farmers have strong incentives to participate in some form of collective action to ensure their access to seed. Six communities were studied, three of them in detail, using in-depth, semistructured interviews with key informants; focus group discussions; and a tracer study that followed seed flows among farmers. Farmers mostly saved seed and only occasionally acquired seed from outside sources. We found no evidence of a specialized social organization based on collective action to mediate seed flows. Seed transactions are infrequent, bilateral, and ad hoc, although trust is an important component, as it ensures reliable information about the seed is provided. Implications of these findings are discussed, especially for genetic diversity if the current supply system breaks down.
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Notes
It should be noted that on-farm conservation of crop genetic resources, particularly of open-pollinated crops, is a dynamic process in which the germplasm continues to evolve over time, influenced by management practices as well as by naturally occurring pollen flow (Louette et al., 1997; Berthaud et al., 2001).
Farmer varieties (referred to here as “varieties”) are the crop populations that a group of farmers recognize as distinct units. They may not have specific names beyond the color of the kernel; i.e., a farmer may plant two varieties of white maize. A farmer variety is not a variety in the sense of commercial agriculture, where a variety should be distinct, uniform, and stable.
This is reasonable because this is rainfed agriculture, with common occurrences of severe drought. For example, during the period of the study, 1997–2002, there were two years with major droughts (1997 and 2001). Furthermore, drought and storage losses were identified as very important concerns by these farmers (Smale et al., 1999).
Téquio refers to a form of communal work in which one has to provide a service to the community. It can refer to communal work in the interest of a certain group (for example, the local school), or it can be in the interest of the community in general (for example, construction and maintenance of roads, drinking water, infrastructure, or sewerage).
Guelaguetza is a Zapotec institution of mutual aid between households. It can take place in many different situations and between different people and includes agricultural tasks, the roofing of houses, weddings, funerals, and religious festivals (Montes Vasquez, 1985).
For this reason, and because the subsequent rounds of interviews were not independent, we did not carry out any statistical analyses on the data, and we used them only in a descriptive fashion.
From the word compadrazgo, referring to a ritual kinship, somewhat similar to the relation known elsewhere as godparents, through which close relations of loyalty, mutual help, reciprocity, and confidence are established and formalized. Often there is a certain degree of prestige associated with being asked to become someone's compadre or comadre, and in some ways compadrazgo can signify social capital (Cordero Avendaño de Durand, 1997).
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was carried out with a grant from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Systemwide Initiative on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi). We thank Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Monica Di Gregorio, Amanda King, and three anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper, as well as the farmers who participated in this research for the information they provided and for their kindness and patience. We also want to thank Kelly Cassaday for much-appreciated editorial assistance
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Badstue, L.B., Bellon, M.R., Berthaud, J. et al. Examining the Role of Collective Action in an Informal Seed System: A Case Study from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. Hum Ecol 34, 249–273 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9016-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9016-2