Varietal data from 27 crop species from five continents were drawn together to determine overall trends in crop varietal diversity on farm. Measurements of richness, evenness, and divergence showed that considerable crop genetic diversity continues to be maintained on farm, in the form of traditional crop varieties. Major staples had higher richness and evenness than nonstaples. Variety richness for clonal species was much higher than that of other breeding systems. A close linear relationship between traditional variety richness and evenness (both transformed), empirically derived from data spanning a wide range of crops and countries, was found both at household and community levels. Fitting a neutral “function” to traditional variety diversity relationships, comparable to a species abundance distribution of “neutral ecology,” provided a benchmark to assess the standing diversity on farm. In some cases, high dominance occurred, with much of the variety richness held at low frequencies. This suggested that diversity may be maintained as an insurance to meet future environmental changes or social and economic needs. In other cases, a more even frequency distribution of varieties was found, possibly implying that farmers are selecting varieties to service a diversity of current needs and purposes. Divergence estimates, measured as the proportion of community evenness displayed among farmers, underscore the importance of a large number of small farms adopting distinctly diverse varietal strategies as a major force that maintains crop genetic diversity on farm.
The main objective of this paper is to assess the water crisis in Nepal by conducting a series of case studies in rural watersheds in the mid-hills. This was achieved through the applied qualitative method, especially combinations of desk study/structured searches, consultation, and field observation. The ground survey revealed that most of the rural communities in the mid-hills have an unreliable water supply. According to the local stakeholders, 20–25% of water resources have dried up as compared to 20 years ago. Drying up of water resources disproportionately affects women and girls in rural areas as women are responsible for household chores, including fetching drinking water. The findings also revealed that low-income households bear a disproportionate coping burden as compared to elite groups, as they often engage in coping strategies such as collecting water from distant water sources, which is labor- and time-intensive, and also yields smaller quantities of water. Assuming that unreliable water supplies will continue to exist in rural areas of the mid-hills for the foreseeable future, there is a critical need to consider which, if any, coping strategies will be most effective in ensuring that poor households will have access to safe and sufficient water supply.
There has been very little comparative research on farmers' and scientists' theoretical or conceptual knowledge, sometimes leading to reliance on untested assumptions in plant breeding projects that attempt to work with farmers. We propose an alternative approach that is inductive, based on a very basic biological model of plant-environment relationships, and on a holistic model of knowledge. The method we use was developed in Oaxaca, Mexico, and is based on scenarios involving genotype × environment interactions, heritability, and genetic response to selection. It is being modified and applied in a research project with collaborating scientists and farmers in Syria (barley), Cuba (maize) and Nepal (rice). We are testing the ideas that: (i) farmers' knowledge is complex, and includes conceptual knowledge of genotypes and environments; (ii) farmers' knowledge is both similar to and different from scientists' knowledge; and (iii) a generalizable methodological approach permitting inclusion of farmers' conceptual knowledge in research design and execution can form the basis for enhanced farmer-scientist collaboration for crop conservation and improvement. Results to date suggest that farmers have conceptual knowledge of their genotypes and environments that is congruent with the basic biological model also used by scientists, but that their knowledge is also influenced by the specific, local characteristics of their genotypes and environments, and by their social contexts. Some examples of the practical utility of these research results are given.
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