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Custodian FarmersAttributes, Roles and Responsibilities

H. Gruberg, S. Padulosi and G, Meldrum

a perspective from the Andean Region

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Outline

Introduction Cachilaya case study (Bolivia) Custodian farmers´ attributes Custodian farmers´ roles and

responsabilities Individual vs. Community approach Migration and Knowledge Conclusions

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Introduction

Different names: seed experts, nodal farmers, seed curators, ‘curiouso’, conservationists, innovators, seed keepers , custodians…

De facto conservationist Strategic role in safeguarding both genetic

and cultural diversity

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[…] special people who have chosen to keep alive their culture, their tradition and their knowledge by conserving seed, the personification of their way of life.-Vandana Shiva et al. 1995 p. 39

A custodian farmer is someone who has a vocation to conserve. He/she is the one that brings seeds, plant them and tests them. He /she is the one that uses, likes [to conserve], and shares [the planting material].. .

- Juana Flores 2012, field technician from PROINPA (Bolivia)

Who are custodian farmers?

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Who are custodian farmers?

A poor researched topic

Disperse anecdotal data in grey literature

Ambigous definition on roles and responsibilities

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What are the attributes of a custodian farmer?

What are the socio-economic characteristics of a custodian farmer?

What are their motivations to share?

Bibliographic hyphotesis

What are custodian farmers´roles and responsibilities?

Who are custodian farmers?

Bolivian Andes - Cachilaya

Bolivian Andes - Cachilaya

sellosbolivia.blogspot.com

9Some of Cachilaya´s crops

Quinoa

Beans

Potato

Barley

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Three life stories

Don Ricardo VargasPotato (15)

Oca (6)Quinoa (1)Barley (1)Forage (1)

Doña Viviana HerreraPotato (90)Quinoa (11)Cañahua (2)

Barley (1)Wheat (2)Bean (12)

Don Elias VargasPotato (38)Quinoa (3)

Cañahua (3)Oca (9)

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Custodian farmers´ attributes

Not the ones holding the highest level of agro-biodiversity!

Knowledgeable Vast knowledge about agro-biodiversity and

interested in sharing and expanding it. Legitimated by the community.

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Social responsibility To obtain something in return To perpetuate common heritage and culture To help securing their livelihoods and that of their

community and society at large.

What motivates them to share

InheritanceSale

GiftExchange

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Innovative, experimentative and open to changeEager to experiment with new varieties, practices and technologies.Willing to travel to other locations to collect material.Usually they are key informants.

Custodian farmers´ attributes

Communicative and leadership Not always the case. Shyness, lack of interest and time.

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Wealth Middle to middle-low class families. More land than the poorest but less income to

buy food than the richest diversified diet.

Custodian farmers´ socio-economic characteristics

Prestige and endowment Wealth has become detached from the

field.

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Prestige and endowment

VS

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Not completly lost

Prestige is linked to participating and winning in Agro-biodiversity Fairs.

Prestige and endowment

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Migration & knowledge

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AgeNot the elders (>55 years old) Do not have children with them. Physically incapable to cultivate bigger plots and take. Care of different varieties.

Custodian farmers´ socio-economic characteristics

Not the youth (18-25 years old) Do not have many children and access to varieties. Prefer higher yielding or modern varieties. Most of them do not live in the community. They are no interested in agro-biodiversity..

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AgeYes! Adults (25-55 years old) Already settle a family and have children. They tend to cultivate more varieties to assure a

more diversified and nutritious diet for their family.

Age range of the Farmers Association in Cachilaya.

Custodian farmers´ socio-economic characteristics

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Gender Literature is women

oriented. Gender distribution of

tasks, roles and power over resources.

Shared custodianship.

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Doña Viviana She is part of the farmers´ association board and is treated

differently from men. She owns the second largest collection of varieties in

Cachilaya. She is a single mother.

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Roles and responsibilities1. All farmers are responsible of selecting and

conserving seeds.2. Some farmers conserve agro-biodiversity but

share only inside their kinship boundaries. 3. Few farmers besides of conserving agro-

diversity have a sense of responsibility of keeping and sharing agro-biodiversity, traditional knowledge, heritage and culture towards their families, communities and the society in general.

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Some responsibilities Recuperating seeds and reproducing them. Conserving the gene pools of their

communities in the communal gene banks. Be the link between the community and the

National Genetic System. Knowing the agro-biodiversity of the region. Keeping the ommunal biodiversity registers.

Should not be an obligation!

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Concept of “custodian farmer”

Problem with the concept of “custodian”. In Spanish language “custodian” means

someone that guards, cares and saves. People relate this concept to “watch dog”

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Individual vs. Community Conservation of biodiversity is not an isolated

activity. Shared custodianship. Trade-offs of working only with custodian farmers. Collective action.

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Conclusions & recomendations CF do not necessarily hold highest levels of diversity. Major attribute/responsibility willingness to share Those farmers who do not share seeds should not

be marginalized because often they hold vast GD/IK

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Evident the existence of a “share custodianship” among the members of a household and even among the community as part of a collective phenomenon.

Important to work with households and with the whole community in order to promote collective actions.

Conclusions & recomendations

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General lack of understanding and agreement on the roles and responsibilities of custodian farmers. This is a is limiting factor in promoting on farm conservation..

However, the establishment of the roles and responsibilities and local definition of custodian farmers should rest with the community.

Conclusions & recomendations

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Attributes may vary according to the intrinsic personality of each custodian farmer and to the broader social context.

Re-value agro-biodiversity across generations, social levels and regions.

We advocate greater involvement of younger generation in conservation activities, but in order to achive that we first need to understand their perceptions, needs and demands in relation to agriculture and agricultural knowledge.

Conclusions & recomendations

30http://blog.mrwallpaper.com