The seeds are meticulously selected for their importance in the cultivation process and consequently in the food culture and the economy of the community. Each seed has the ability not only to become a plant but contains history, knowledge and age-old experience of the communities that protect and develop. There is a great variety of conservation practices, from traditional techniques already almost lost, until more recent strategies, driven by the arrival of new pests.
As part of the project which is coordinating the Seeds of Life in Tlacotepec Plumas, a workshop was organized with unxs 20 campesinxs about the various techniques of selection and storage of seeds that exist or existed before in the community. Among the strategies that were once very common is “la troje”, constructed of wood or quiote (the trunk that goes to the maguey) and sacks or bags backpack and ixtle. We were told that after the introduction of agrochemicals at the national level came new pests in crops, which led to the need to find new techniques for saving the seeds.
In addition, some of the materials that were once very common because they were more expensive and scarce, as the mat. Today, many of the practices of seed storage including bins made from industrial materials that were introduced more recently in the village and sacks, plastic, cans of 20 liters, tupperware, plastic bags, bottles of water, metal silos, soda bottles or glass jars. The most important criterion must be the possibility of closing the containers hermetically to prevent them from getting the plague. With the same objective is added lime, ash, wormseed (especially the beans) or a plant known as chicalote to the seeds, and in some cases it is also used fungicides.
We seek to strengthen these ancient practices and combine them with new strategies of seed storage to ensure that you can continue to the cultivation and improvement of a wide variety of plants, year after year, based on the needs biophysical and socio-cultural of the local context. To continue growing, improving and saving seeds is essential for the development of an agri-food system more just social and environmentally contribute to the livelihoods of human communities as Tlacotepec Feathers and the ecosystems on which we depend.
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