The invisible importance of home gardens

• Ano de defesa: 2017
• Autor(a) principal: Pesántez Valdivieso, Eduardo Javier
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
• Palavras-chave em Português: Agricultura familiar; Ecologia agrícola; Agrobiodiversidade; Fitotecnia
• Link de acesso: http://www.locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/14146

Home gardens exist throughout the world and have been present since the beginning of human society. They are located near houses and are fundamentally dependent on female labor. One of their main characteristics is that they maintain high rates of agro-biodiversity and provide a constant and wide variety of products for the consumption of the families and for the generation of additional income: these products include food, medicine, wood, and forage. From a socio- ecological perspective the diversity of home gardens contributes to the conservation of endangered species, traditional varieties, and traditional farming practices. Despite being of great importance, these home gardens or yards do not always receive proper attention; and in order to value them accurately, it will be necessary to understand the contribution they make both to family farmers and to the environment. The aim of this study, divided into two parts, was to understand the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural importance of rural home gardens. The first part consisted in the analysis of secondary information containing production values generated on 30 farms located in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais. The methodology used is called “Agro-ecological Booklet,” in which women collect the production data from the yards, their destination (consumption, sale, donation, and exchange) and their conversion into monetary values based on the prices of the local markets for each product. The second part consisted in actually visiting four home gardens in the Zona da Mata to estimate their agro- biodiversity through the identification and the uses of the species and families; and consequently to calculate the indexes of alfa-biodiversity (Index of Richness) and beta- biodiversity (Whittaker Index, Coefficient of Jaccard (CJ) and Coefficient of Sorensen (CS)). Finally, a scanning of one of the properties was performed using terrestrial laser scanner equipment that measured (average of three measurements) the height of random trees and shrubs in order to observe both the distribution and the vertical structure of the home garden. The results showed that the Agro-ecological Booklet methodology was able to record the production of the home gardens and their location, as well as an estimate of their monetary value. The production of home gardens was diverse (140 products were recorded by the women), permanent throughout the year but variable every month. Monetarily, they represented an average percentage equivalent to 29% of the minimum wage in Brazil. The visited home gardens varied in area from 1,990 square meters to 8,830 square meters, with an age range between five and twenty years. With the participatory work it was known that the home gardens are spaces where the activities and decisions are led and made by women, albeit with the co- operation of the other members of the family. Neither pesticides nor chemical fertilizers were used in any of the home gardens, thus limiting the use of agricultural lime as a soil amendment to just one single property. The soil was fertilized with animal manure, crop residues, and organic garbage from the houses; and the control of spontaneous weeds was done by mowing and weeding, contributing with the coverage of the soil. It was found that 246 plant species were distributed in 81 families, and six animal species were distributed in an equal number of families. Most plant species are used for food (147 species), followed by medicinal (69 species), ornamental (56 species), fodder (four species), and others (13 species). The animal species are used for food (four species) and companionship (two species). Alfa-biodiversity showed a high diversity in each home garden; however, beta-biodiversity indicated that there is no similarity between the four properties. Finally, the laser scanner allowed calculating the height of the selected plants, obtaining a maximum coefficient of variation of 6,24%, with the observation that the majority of the highest individuals are in the orchard while the individuals of medium and smaller height are located around the house.