Impact of improved maize germplasm on poverty alleviation: the case of Tuxpeño-Derived materials in Mexico

Abstract

This study documents the use of improved maize germplasm by poor small-scale farmers in lowland tropical Mexico and how it contributes to their well-being. To this end, the direct adoption of improved varieties and their “creolization” process were assessed. Farmers produce what they recognize as “creolized” varieties by exposing improved varieties to their conditions and management, continually selecting seed of these varieties for replanting and, in some cases, promoting their hybridization with landraces, either by design or by accident. Our key hypothesis is that improved germplasm benefits poor farmers through creolization, which provides them with new options. In creolization, farmers take an improved technology generated by the formal research system and deliberately modify it to suit their needs. Different methodologies such as participatory methods, ethnographic case studies, household surveys, collection of maize samples, and agronomic evaluation of those samples were applied in this study, which was conducted in two areas: the coast of Oaxaca and La Frailesca, in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, two of the poorest in Mexico. The study areas are contrasting—one subsistence-oriented and the other commercial—but extreme poverty is pervasive in both. Maize continues to play a key role in the livelihoods of the poor in both areas. Results show that different maize germplasm types, such as improved varieties and, particularly, creolized varieties, are planted in both areas. The impacts of different types of improved maize germplasm are defined and analyzed based on how well they supply farmers with traits they consider important, and the trade-offs they entail. Results also show that creolized varieties occupy a niche that shifts according to the availability of improved germplasm and the orientation of farmers’ maize production.