Record Details

The conservation of agrobiodiversity on-farm: questioning the emerging paradigm

OAR@ICRISAT

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/5097/
Http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1018331800939
 
Title The conservation of agrobiodiversity on-farm: questioning the emerging paradigm
 
Creator Wood, D
Lenné, J M
 
Subject Agriculture-Farming, Production, Technology, Economics
 
Description The genetic diversity of traditional varieties of crops is the most economically valuable part of global
biodiversity and is of paramount importance for future world crop production. The Biodiversity
Convention has given a clear mandate for on-farm conservation. However, very little formal research
has been done and no agreed set of scienti®c principles yet exists for on-farm conservation of
genetic resources. This lack of scienti®c knowledge has not prevented an explosion of recommendations
on how to conserve agrobiodiversity on-farm and it is possible to identify an
emerging paradigm. Through a review of some of the assumptions on which this paradigm is based,
we clearly show that if attempts to conserve agrobiodiversity on-farm are based on these misconceptions,
they are likely to fail. By assessing the present activities of farmers, we propose a
research agenda to increase the diversity available to farmers and to enhance farmers' capacity to
manage this diversity dynamically. Increasing genetic diversi®cation, combined with farmers' experimental
abilities, and underpinned by the formal system, will ensure greater on-farm conservation
of more useful genetic resources.
 
Publisher Springer Netherlands
 
Date 1997
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/5097/1/BiodiverConserv6%281%29109-129.pdf
Wood, D and Lenné, J M (1997) The conservation of agrobiodiversity on-farm: questioning the emerging paradigm. Biodiversity and Conservation, 6 (1). pp. 109-129. ISSN 0960-3115