Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of Colombia

Home gardens are important reservoirs of agricultural diversity essential to support food security in rural communities. In this paper, we describe the richness and composition of species and varieties of plants used for food in home gardens of the municipality of San Pablo in the Middle Magdalena B...

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Main Authors: Diana Villa, Néstor García
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2017-07-01
Series:Caldasia
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Online Access:https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/cal/article/view/63661
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author Diana Villa
Néstor García
author_facet Diana Villa
Néstor García
author_sort Diana Villa
collection DOAJ
description Home gardens are important reservoirs of agricultural diversity essential to support food security in rural communities. In this paper, we describe the richness and composition of species and varieties of plants used for food in home gardens of the municipality of San Pablo in the Middle Magdalena Basin of Colombia, and discuss its possible relations with a set of socio-economic and structural variables. A survey was conducted in 20 home gardens where semi structured questionnaires were administered to the head of each household, and all plants used as food were recorded. The physical characteristics of the home gardens varied widely. Farmers’ ages varied between 28-90 years and the most frequent level of schooling was primary education. In total, 75 species represented by 162 varieties were found. Plantains (Musa x paradisiaca), mangos (Mangifera indica), guavas (Psidium guajava) and cassavas (Manihot esculenta) were the most diverse and frequent crops across gardens. The mean number of species per home garden was 17.5 (SD = 7.1), ranging from 6 to 33. On average 48% of the species recorded were fruits, followed by spices (17%), roots and tubers (12%) and vegetables (9%). Significant correlations were found between food plant richness and farmers’ ages (rs = 0.461, p = 0.04) and food plant richness and number of family members (rs = -0.487, p = 0.03). Home gardens of San Pablo are important regional agrobiodiversity reservoirs that support families’ nutrition.
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spelling doaj-art-0f1ee437461b415ba22333b60ce4d68e2025-08-20T02:33:57ZengUniversidad Nacional de ColombiaCaldasia0366-52322357-37592017-07-0139229230910.15446/caldasia.v39n2.6366146453Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of ColombiaDiana Villa0Néstor García1Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.Home gardens are important reservoirs of agricultural diversity essential to support food security in rural communities. In this paper, we describe the richness and composition of species and varieties of plants used for food in home gardens of the municipality of San Pablo in the Middle Magdalena Basin of Colombia, and discuss its possible relations with a set of socio-economic and structural variables. A survey was conducted in 20 home gardens where semi structured questionnaires were administered to the head of each household, and all plants used as food were recorded. The physical characteristics of the home gardens varied widely. Farmers’ ages varied between 28-90 years and the most frequent level of schooling was primary education. In total, 75 species represented by 162 varieties were found. Plantains (Musa x paradisiaca), mangos (Mangifera indica), guavas (Psidium guajava) and cassavas (Manihot esculenta) were the most diverse and frequent crops across gardens. The mean number of species per home garden was 17.5 (SD = 7.1), ranging from 6 to 33. On average 48% of the species recorded were fruits, followed by spices (17%), roots and tubers (12%) and vegetables (9%). Significant correlations were found between food plant richness and farmers’ ages (rs = 0.461, p = 0.04) and food plant richness and number of family members (rs = -0.487, p = 0.03). Home gardens of San Pablo are important regional agrobiodiversity reservoirs that support families’ nutrition.https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/cal/article/view/63661Agrobiodiversityfamily farmingfood securityethnobotany
spellingShingle Diana Villa
Néstor García
Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of Colombia
Caldasia
Agrobiodiversity
family farming
food security
ethnobotany
title Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of Colombia
title_full Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of Colombia
title_fullStr Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of Colombia
title_full_unstemmed Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of Colombia
title_short Food plants in home gardens of the Middle Magdalena basin of Colombia
title_sort food plants in home gardens of the middle magdalena basin of colombia
topic Agrobiodiversity
family farming
food security
ethnobotany
url https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/cal/article/view/63661
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