Conocimiento tradicional, agrobiodiversidad y prácticas agroecológicas en los liipakan (huertos familiares) de Olintla, Puebla

Abstract

Home gardens are very old agroecosystems that show cultural identity and knowledge, so the present work aims to analyze the traditional ecological knowledge possessed by the peasant and indigenous families of Olintla, Puebla, in relation to the management of the home garden. The methodology implemented was through a case study that allowed us to apply a mixed methodology. Qualitative techniques were applied, such as the semi-structured interview, which was conducted with 15 key informants; and as a quantitative technique, the survey, in which a sample size of 76 families was calculated, obtained from a previous list of families that have home gardens (N=380) in order to collect primary information in a more complete way. With the data obtained, a database was created in Microsoft Excel ®, where the information obtained was recorded in a coded manner and processed with the SPSS program version 27.0. It was found that the farming families of Olintla name the family garden as liipakan in their native language, Totonac, and it was also found that the agrobiodiversity of the liipakan is reflected in the high number of species registered, which was 239, of which 130 are native; in addition, 142 are named in Totonac. A classification of 18 categories was also made according to their use; 10 agroecological practices used in the orchards were recorded as part of the traditional knowledge and a scale of knowledge possessed by the families was made, obtaining that 58 owners have a high to very high level of knowledge, which evidences the conservation of biodiversity and the preservation of the biocultural heritage. It is concluded that the liipakan are important because they are mainly used to produce food (49.8% of cultivated species) contributing to the food sovereignty of Olintla families; in addition, medicinal plants (24.7%) and ornamental species (23.4%) are cultivated there.