IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/cimmew/7667.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Farmers' Seed Selection Practices and Maize Variety Characteristics in a Traditionally-Based Mexican Community

Author

Listed:
  • Louette, Dominique
  • Smale, Melinda

Abstract

Experimental results and farmer surveys in a Mexican community indicate that farmers' seed selection practices protect the phenological integrity of their maize varieties as they define them, despite numerous factors contributing to genetic instability. Analysis of morphological and genetic data suggests that when subjected to significant gene flow through cross-pollination, ear characteristics are maintained through farmers' selection even though other characteristics may continue to evolve genetically. Because the effects of farmers' selection practices are confined largely to ear characteristics and plant characteristics that are linked to them, their practices appear to offer only limited scope for improving varieties. Farmers' expectations of what they can achieve through seed selection are similarly modest. These findings indicate potentially complementary roles for professional breeders and Mexican farmers in developing methods to improve maize landraces on farms - if farmers themselves perceive benefits from the collaboration.

Suggested Citation

  • Louette, Dominique & Smale, Melinda, 1998. "Farmers' Seed Selection Practices and Maize Variety Characteristics in a Traditionally-Based Mexican Community," Economics Working Papers 7667, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:cimmew:7667
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7667
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/7667/files/66187.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.7667?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. International Monetary Fund, 1998. "Output Decline in Transition: The Case of Kazakhstan," IMF Working Papers 1998/045, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Jarvis, Lovell S, 1974. "Cattle as Capital Goods and Ranchers as Portfolio Managers: An Application to the Argentine Cattle Sector," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(3), pages 489-520, May/June.
    3. Antonio Estache, 1994. "World Development Report: Infrastructure for Development," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/44144, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Mr. Peter Doyle & Mr. Peter F. Christoffersen, 1998. "From Inflation to Growth: Eight Years of Transition," IMF Working Papers 1998/100, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Peter G. Warr, 1994. "Comparative and Competitive Advantage," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 8(2), pages 1-14, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Risopoulos, Jean, 2001. "Small-Scale Farmers Expand the Benefits of Improved Maize Germplasm: A Case Study from Chiapas, Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 799-811, May.
    2. Morris, Michael L. & Risopoulos, Jean & Beck, David, 1999. "Genetic Change in Farmer-Recycled Maize Seed: A Review of the Evidence," Economics Working Papers 7683, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    3. Smale, Melinda & Aguirre, Alfonso & Bellon, Mauricio R. & Mendoza, Jorge & Rosas, Irma Manuel, 1999. "Farmer Management of Maize Diversity in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico: CIMMYT/INIFAP 1998 Baseline Socioeconomic Survey," Economics Working Papers 7689, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    4. Nagarajan, Latha & Smale, Melinda, 2005. "Local seed systems and village-level determinants of millet crop diversity in marginal environments of India:," EPTD discussion papers 135, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Bellon, Mauricio R. & Smale, Melinda & Aguirre, Alfonso & Taba, Suketoshi & Aragon, Flavio & Diaz, Jaime & Castro, Humberto, 2000. "Identifying Appropriate Germplasm For Participatory Breeding: An Example From The Central Valleys Of Oaxaca, Mexico," Economics Working Papers 46524, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Longmire, James L. & Moldashev, Altynbeck, 1999. "Changing Competitiveness of the Wheat Sector of Kazakhstan and Sources of Future Productivity Growth," Economics Working Papers 7686, CIMMYT: International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.
    2. Nauro F. Campos & Abrizio Coricelli, 2002. "Growth in Transition: What We Know, What We Don't, and What We Should," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 793-836, September.
    3. Michael Toman, 1998. "Research Frontiers in the Economics of Climate Change," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(3), pages 603-621, April.
    4. Tsionas, Efthymios G. & Christopoulos, Dimitris K., 2003. "Maastricht convergence and real convergence: European evidence from threshold and smooth transition regression models," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 43-52, January.
    5. Richard Pomfret, 2003. "Trade and Exchange Rate Policies in Formerly Centrally Planned Economies," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 585-612, April.
    6. Richard Pomfret, 2009. "Central Asia after Two Decades of Independence," School of Economics and Public Policy Working Papers 2009-32, University of Adelaide, School of Economics and Public Policy.
    7. Adhikari, Murali & Houston, Jack E. & Bandyopadhyay, Dipankar & Paudel, Laxmi & Devkota, Nirmala & Paudel, Biswo Nath, 2003. "Water Demand Forecasting For Poultry Production: Structural, Time Series, And Deterministic Assessment," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 22127, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. David Pottebaum & Ravi Kanbur, 2004. "Civil war, public goods and the social wealth of nations," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 459-484.
    9. Istvan Feher & Andrew Fieldsend, 2019. "The potential for expanding wheat production and exports in Kazakhstan," JRC Research Reports JRC113009, Joint Research Centre.
    10. Aadland, David, 2004. "Cattle cycles, heterogeneous expectations and the age distribution of capital," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 28(10), pages 1977-2002, September.
    11. D. Vines, 1994. "Australian Trade Liberalisation, APEC, and the GATT," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 94-11, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    12. Ashraf J. Zaied & Hatim M. E. Geli & Andres F. Cibils & Mohammed N. Sawalhah & Jerry L. Holechek & Charlotte C. Gard & Saleh A. Idhirij & Melakeneh G. Gedefaw & Greg L. Torell, 2021. "Beef Cattle Price and Production Patterns in Relation to Drought in New Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-20, September.
    13. Prabir De, 2010. "Governance, Institutions, and Regional Infrastructure in Asia," Governance Working Papers 22878, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    14. Zhao, Zishun & Wahl, Thomas I. & Marsh, Thomas L., 2006. "Invasive Species Management: Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the U.S. Beef Industry," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(1), pages 98-115, April.
    15. Kannapiran, Chinna A. & Fleming, Euan M., 1999. "Competitiveness And Comparative Advantage Of Tree Crop Smallholdings In Papua New Guinea," Working Papers 12911, University of New England, School of Economics.
    16. Saunders, Caroline M. & Wreford, Anita, 2003. "Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production," 2003 Conference (47th), February 12-14, 2003, Fremantle, Australia 58273, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    17. Webber, C. A. & Graham, J. D. & MacGregor, R. J., 1988. "A Regional Analysis of Direct Government Assistance Programs in Canada and their Impacts on the Beef and Hogs Sectors," Working Papers 244071, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
    18. Sayed H Saghaian & Gokhan Ozertan & Hasan Tekguc, 2013. "Beef and milk price links in Turkey," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(4), pages 2607-2616.
    19. Rausser, Gordon C., 1985. "Macroeconomic environment for U.S. agricultural policy," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt2561m38d, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    20. Swaroop, Vinaya, 1996. "The public sector in the Caribbean : issues and reform options," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1609, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crop Production/Industries;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:cimmew:7667. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cimmymx.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.