The political ecology of 'ethnic' agricultural biodiversity maintenance in Atlantic Nicaragua

Nicholas Williams

doi:10.2458/v23i1.20210

Abstract

Correlations between farmer ethnic identity and the agrobiodiversity they maintain have been identified globally. This has been maintained even as small-scale farmers are increasingly connected to extra-local political economic systems, which are cited as the driver of global agrobiodiversity erosion. Yet, how ethnicity influences the maintenance of biodiverse farming systems is poorly understood. Employing a political ecology framework that integrated qualitative, demographic, and agroecological methods in Caribbean Nicaragua's Pearl Lagoon Basin, this research revealed patterns indicating that farmers who identify with the area's indigenous (Miskito) and afro-descendant (Creole and Garífuna) 'minority' groups tend to maintain more diverse farms than nearby farmers who identify as mestizo, particularly those who are recent migrants to the region. In contrast to previous studies, however, the most connected farmers in the Basin tend to have the highest levels of agrobiodiversity within their farming systems. Qualitative and regression analyses reveal that ethnic patterns in the maintenance of agrobiodiversity are explained in part by the historical farming practices that characterize land use in the Basin and the agroecological knowledge that farmers develop over a lifetime farming in this socio-ecological context. Further, by acknowledging the plastic nature of ethnic identity, this research highlights the importance of ethnic-based land rights in the Nicaragua's South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region as a critical factor that directly and indirectly influences the ethnic identities of farmers in the Pearl Lagoon Basin and their abilities to participate in agricultural development projects whose extension activities promote agrobiodiversity conservation.Key Words: Agrobiodiversity, ethnicity, land use and land use change, development, Nicaragua, Pearl Lagoon Basin

Highlights

Biodiversity in agricultural systems is critical to food security and ecosystem integrity (Brussaard et al 2010, Harvey et al 2008, Thrupp 2000)
While a Pearl Lagoon Basin farmer's ethnic identity strongly correlates with the species richness and Shannon index of their farm, the most robust predictors of a farmer's maintenance of agrobiodiversity were: 1) a farmer's age 2) a farmer's maintenance of a garden 3) a farmer's affiliation with an agricultural development organization 4) a farmer's access to credit, and 5) a farmer's community of residence
Qualitative data highlights the ways in which age, experience, and the position of agriculture in the life history of farmers influence their land use strategies, and in turn, the varying degrees of agrobiodiversity that they maintain in their agricultural systems

Summary

Introduction

Biodiversity in agricultural systems (agrobiodiversity) is critical to food security and ecosystem integrity (Brussaard et al 2010, Harvey et al 2008, Thrupp 2000). Strong relationships have been identified in certain regions between a farmer's ethnicity and the types and degrees of agrobiodiversity they maintain within their farming systems (Baco et al 2007, Brush and Perales 2007, Coomes and Ban 2004, Coomes and Burt 1997, Kirby 2011, Perrault-Archambault and Coomes 2008, Perreault 2005, Trinh et al 2003). Research suggests that members of indigenous or ethnic minority communities are more likely than their nonindigenous neighbors to maintain high levels of agrobiodiversity (Brush and Perales 2007, PerraultArchambault and Coomes 2008, Perreault 2005), echoing a general pattern in land use research in which 'indigenous peoples' are recognized as the global stewards of (agro)biodiversity (Ellen et al 2000, Garí 1999, Godoy et al 2005, Nazarea 2006, Orlove and Brush 1996, Zimmerer 2015)

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Conclusion