Peri-urban cultivation systems and biodiversity: study case in the Texcoco river basin

Authors

  • Diego Flores-Sánchez
  • Hermilio Navarro-Garza
  • Aquiles Carballo-Carballo
  • Ma. Antonia Pérez-Olvera

Abstract

The population in Valle de México has historically created a
great diversity of agricultural and livestock production systems,
among them chinampas and rainfed agriculture in terraces;
these are sustained in traditional knowledge, domestication and
recreation of an important biological diversity. However, during
recent decades, extreme urban transformations have impacted
agricultural territories, generating changes and adaptations in
the existing cultivation systems. With the objective of evaluating
the biodiversity managed in cultivation systems and their interparcel
spaces, as well as its use, research was carried out in
three communities of the Texcoco River Basin, taking into
consideration their location with regards to the urban zone
(Texcoco). A survey was applied to 33 farmers, who jointly
manage 47 cultivation systems. Single crops and polyculture
were identified; the latter show associations and intercalation,
combining maize, squash and grain pulses. The Shannon
diversity index in Ixayoc was 3.65, in Tequexquinahuac 3.57
and in Nativitas 3.25; the greatest diversity was found in
territories that are farthest from the urban zone. In parcels,
50% of biodiversity was weeds; the rest was annual crops, fruit
trees, trees, shrub and ornamental plants. Biodiversity and
polyculture management tends towards valuation of the dietary
use of products and weeds, based on productive logics sustained
in certain peasant agro-ecological principles

Published

2012-10-04

How to Cite

Flores-Sánchez, D., Navarro-Garza, H., Carballo-Carballo, A., & Pérez-Olvera, M. A. (2012). Peri-urban cultivation systems and biodiversity: study case in the Texcoco river basin. Agricultura, Sociedad Y Desarrollo, 9(2), 209–223. Retrieved from https://revista-asyd.org/index.php/asyd/article/view/1130

Most read articles by the same author(s)