| Grant number: | 08/03822-3 |
| Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
| Start date: | February 01, 2009 |
| End date: | July 31, 2011 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology |
| Principal Investigator: | Elizabeth Ann Veasey |
| Grantee: | Elizabeth Ann Veasey |
| Host Institution: | Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil |
Abstract
The importance of agrobiodiversity in small-scale farming systems to food security, both local and globally, has been widely recognized and proposals for in situ conservation of these resources have been developed. However, these systems are quite dynamic: the number of species and varieties maintained by communities of farmers change over time, due for release / creation of new material and loss of existing material. These changes are influenced by social and economic dynamics experienced by groups of farmers. The current situation is of accelerated changes in the rural life in all regions of the country; in such condition, it is very important to assess the paths that the populations, whose support basis is agriculture, are taking, the options that are set for them and what are the necessary implications in the maintenance of agricultural diversity and the local knowledge associated with it. The tuberous plants are well represented in the gene pool of domesticated plants in the lowlands of Central and South America; within this group of plants, cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is the species who stands out by its great importance to subsistence and by the great variety diversity maintained by the populations of traditional farmers. This project has the following objectives: to make a general ethnobotanical survey of the roots and tubers used as food planted by communities of small farmers in the Baixada Cuiabana in Mato Grosso; in the case of the cassava varieties, the project aims also to address agronomic and genetic aspects; identify and interpret the answers and adjustments to processes of socio-economic change, as what life strategies and action lines the farmer families adopt; and what are the implications of this framework for the management dynamics of the inter and intraspecific diversity of these crops, maintained locally. (AU)
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