Currently, México witnesses increased anthropogenic pressure on its remaining tropical landscapes. The study area is an anthropogenic landscape in the region of Misantla, central Veracruz, México. The main research question, established in close cooperation with CITRO, was “to what extent does the ligneous plant diversity of agroforestry systems in “Ejido Los Ídolos” contribute to the cultural identity, economical and subsistence security of local farmers?”
Results/Conclusions
Five different agroforestry systems (Forest gardens (FG), Home gardens (HG), Plantation crop combination with perennial cultivates (PCCPC), Plantation crop combinations with annual cultivates (PCCAC) and Trees on Pastures (TP)) were identified and their relative proportions in hectares were calculated and displayed on a practical map. FG systems appeared to have the highest floristic diversity, followed by the HG, TP, PCCPC and PCCPA systems. Farmer interviews showed that FG, HG PCCPC and PCCAC systems were especially important for maintaining cultural identity and secure subsistence needs, while PCCPC and especially TP systems were important for improving the economic situation of farmers. Additionally, TP and PCCPC systems were perceived to contain the most useful ligneous plant species for economic and subsistence needs. FG and HG were perceived to be used less, despite the fact that these systems contained a higher diversity of potentially useable species. The floristic diversity of exotic plants was the highest in in the PCCPC system, followed by the HG, PCCAC, TP systems. The FG systems contained only native species, while the proportion of used exotic plants differed among the other systems. The most useful exotic plants were found in the HG system and the least in the FG system. The study demonstrated that agroforestry systems such as FG are not exploited to their full potential, despite their high floristic diversity of useful plants. Systems with a lower floristic diversity such as the PCCAC, PCCPC and TP systems were actually used more intensively for subsistence needs. In addition, this study also indicates that more intensively managed HG systems, despite their higher amount of exotic species, replaced the FG system as being the more species rich system for subsistence needs.
It was also demonstrated that the diversity in each different agroforestry system corresponded well with the diversity of needed goods for specific cultural-ecological-economical and subsistence purposes. Furthermore, results indicated that the maintenance of a high (indigenous) species diversity in the different agroforestry systems serve as an important safety-net for the security of energy, construction and food supplies.