Conservation of maize diversity in two communities of San Felipe del Progreso, Estado de México

Abstract

This article is about the study of the cultivation and conservation of maize by peasant communities, and its objective is to identify and describe the peasant management of local maize cultivars in two cultivation environments, each one with its particularities, one rainfed and one with irrigation. The research was carried out in two ejidos of the municipality of San Felipe del Progreso, Estado de México: San Pedro el Alto (irrigation) and San Pablo Tlalchichilpa (rainfed). In the study, anthropological methods such as ethnography, direct observation and mainly interviews were used, with 200 peasants, 100 in each ejido, during 2012. The peasants cultivate local maize varieties, which they have improved empirically themselves, among which there are those of white grain (long cycle), yellow and black (intermediate cycle), pink and red (short or violent cycles) that belong to the conical group. The field data show that the continuity of maize varieties is product of the traditional peasant knowledge about the type of soil, irrigation, time of sowing, early maize, late maize, rain, uses, cultural management, associated crops, and activities of the cultivation cycle. The varieties cultivated are product of the collective work of the peasants, who adapted and domesticated through cultivation the varieties that are the basis and sustenance of the diet in this type of rural communities. In this sense, peasant knowledge, uses and management face the pressures of the environment and the market.