Rural urbanisation and home gardening in southern Mexico: agrobiodiversity loss and alternative pathways

Figures & data

Figure 1. Rural urbanisation as a key driver of home garden transformations.

Source: Author’s elaboration based on the literature review presented in this section.

Table 1. Changes in the number of plant species by agrobiodiversity transition.

Agrobiodiversity transition	Mean	Std. Dev.	Min	Max
Low – low	−7.2	9.6	−34	9
Low – high	−9.4	11.5	−37	11
High – high	−5.7	7.4	−21	9
High – low	−11.0	7.4	−28	1

Source: Author’s survey data (December 2016-April 2017); Guerra Mukul (2005); Ortiz Pech (1999).

Figure 2. Changes in home garden agrobiodiversity in Yucatan, Mexico.

Source: Author’s survey data (December 2016-April 2017); Ortiz Pech (1999); Guerra Mukul (2005).

Table 2. Transition matrix of home garden agrobiodiversity, Yucatan, Mexico.

Agrobiodiversity transition	Hocabá (peri-urban, sisal region)	Sahcabá (semi-rural, sisal region)	Yaxcabá (semi-rural, milpa region)
Low – low	26.4%	38.1%	19.2%
Low – high	3.8%	33.3%	38.5%
High – high	18.9%	14.3%	15.4%
High – low	50.9%	14.3%	26.9%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Notes: Hocabá and Sahcabá, 1997-2017; Yaxcabá, 2004-2017. Chi-squared test, p-value =  0.001. Number of observations: Hocabá, 53; Sahcabá, 21 and Yaxcabá, 26.

Source: Author’s survey data (December 2016-April 2017); Guerra Mukul (2005); Ortiz Pech (1999).

Table 3. Transition matrix of home garden diversity and household head’s main occupation in the research sites, Yucatan, Mexico.

Agrobiodiversity transition	Occupational transition (Main occupation of the household head)
	On-farm–on-farm	On-farm–off-farm	Off-farm–off-farm	Off-farm–on-farm
Low – low	15.4%	36.7%	25.6%	40.0%
Low – high	38.5%	10.0%	12.8%	20.0%
High – high	23.1%	16.7%	15.4%	0.0%
High – low	23.1%	36.7%	46.2%	40.0%
Total	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%

Notes: Hocabá and Sahcabá, 1997-2017; Yaxcabá, 2004-2017. Chi-squared test, p-value =  0.135. Number of observations: Hocabá, 53; Sahcabá, 21 and Yaxcabá, 26.

Source: Author’s survey data (December 2016-April 2017); Guerra Mukul (2005); Ortiz Pech (1999).

Table

Agrobiodiversity transition: high–high Occupational transition: on-farm—on-farm	Location: Yaxcabá (semi-rural, milpa region) Home garden size: 600 m^2
This family is formed by four adults. Mr Tutul Xiu, the household head, is over 70 years old, as is his spouse. He speaks both Mayan and Spanish, while his spouse only speaks Mayan. They have seven children. The two children who live with them are in their twenties and speak both Mayan and Spanish. The other five children are already married and have formed their own households.
Mr Tutul Xiu is illiterate. He lost his parents when he was a child and his uncle took care of him, but with some limitations. For example, his uncle did not send him to school, despite sending his own children to school. Mr Xiu has always depended on the milpa as his main livelihood, while his spouse works as a full-time homemaker. His sons learned how to cultivate the milpa, but they do not do it anymore. Recently things have changed at home, as their adult children were hired as workers by a middle-size pig farm. ‘Since they [children] get their fortnightly pay, they tell me that they can buy maize, but I like it [to cultivate the milpa].’
They have chickens, but do not keep pigs. They had to sell them, as required by the pig farm where their children work. ‘They may lose their job, as [keeping pigs at home] is forbidden.’
Mr Tutul Xiu comments:
They [children] are happy because they get money fortnightly. Because in Mérida [the capital city] it is the same, you have to pay rent, electricity and water bills; it is hard [to afford all the bills]. Here it is not. Here is better, because I have my milpa, my maize, they do not have to buy anything. If they earn money, it is for buying their own stuff, their clothes.

Table 4. Household characteristics by occupational transition, Yucatan, Mexico (2016-2017).

Household characteristics	Statistic	On-farm – on-farm	On-farm –off-farm	Off farm –off-farm	Off-farm – on-farm	Anova / Kruskal-Wallis H / Chi-squared (p value)
Average education of the adult members of the household (mean, years)	Mean	4.5	5.9	6.5	4.5	0.095
	Median	4.8	6.3	6.4	4.5	0.092
Average age of household members (mean, years)	Mean	56.9	45.5	48.9	52.1	0.008
	Median	55.4	45.5	47.2	58.3	0.009
Household size (mean, number of members)	Mean	3.9	6.9	5.6	6.6	0.073
	Median	3.0	6.0	5.0	3.0	0.046
Youth dependency ratio (Ratio of the children under 15 years old divided by the number of adults in the household)	Mean	0.1	0.5	0.5	0.2	0.027
	Median	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.131
Household head only speaks Mayan	Proportion	9.5	3.6	0.00	0.00	0.447
Household head speaks Spanish and Mayan	Proportion	85.7	92.9	89.5	100.0	0.447
Household head only speaks Spanish	Proportion	4.8	3.6	10.5	0.00	0.447
Percentage of household members working in urban jobs	Mean	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.043
	Median	0.00	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.060
Wealth index (0-1, 5 assets)	Mean	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.961
	Median	0.2	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.917
Household income, adult scale equivalent, MXN (USD)	Mean	1,426.0	1,545.2	1,546.1	1,879.2	0.864
		(75.9)	(82.3)	(82.3)	(100.1)
	Median	1,232.3	1,493.1	1,431.8	1,501.7	0.761
		(65.1)	(79.5)	(76.2)	(80.0)

Notes: Hocabá and Sahcabá, 1997-2017; Yaxcabá, 2004-2017. Number of observations: Hocabá, 53; Sahcabá, 21 and Yaxcabá, 26.

Source: Author’s survey data (December 2016-April 2017); Guerra Mukul (2005); Ortiz Pech (1999).

Table

Agrobiodiversity transition: high–low Occupational transition: off-farm–on-farm	Location: Hocabá (peri-urban, sisal region) Home garden size: 600m^2
This family is formed by 3 adults. Mrs Itzáes, 45 years old; her husband, 46 years old; and their daughter, 23 years old. All of them speak Mayan and Spanish.
Mrs Itzáes explained that she moved to this plot to live with her husband and parents-in-law when she got married. They used to have more plants and animals in their home garden. ‘We used to plant coriander, radish and beetroot. Now I only have my orange trees. We also used to have more pigs, but the plot got small.’ The plot was evenly divided between the three children (Mr Itzáes, his brother and sister) when they got married. Nonetheless, Mrs Itzáes still plants herbs and vegetables in another plot she has.
Mr Itzáes started working in the milpa with his brother and father at a young age. When he was about 20 years old he began to work in Mérida as a loader in a factory. Then he found a job in a hotel. It was around that time when he met Mrs Itzáes and got married. Now Mr Itzáes works in the milpa, cultivating a non-mechanised hectare for his nuclear family’s consumption. He grows maize, wax beans, black beans, cowpeas, squash, cucumber, and watermelon.
Mrs Itzáes’ daughter completed an undergraduate degree and recently found a job. Mrs Itzáes explained: ‘Since she [daughter] completed her studies, her dad does not think that much on it [working in the city]. We helped her as far as we could.’

Figure 3. Evolution of the home garden of the Itzáes family.

Source: Drawings by Eric Alonso Méndez Salazar.

Table 5. Household characteristics of ‘off-farm–off-farm’ households by home garden agrobiodiversity transition, Yucatan, Mexico (2016-2017).

Household characteristics	Statistic	Low–low	Low–high	High–high	High–low	Anova / Kruskal-Wallis H / Chi-squared (p value)
Average education of the adult members of the household (mean, years)	Mean	6.1	7.2	7.5	6.3	0.787
	Median	6.0	7.5	6.8	6.5	0.653
Average age of household members (mean, years)	Mean	53.7	39.8	45.8	50.1	0.224
	Median	55.0	38.5	41.5	49.3	0.223
Age of the household head (mean, years)	Mean	61.6	63.2	61.8	59.9	0.975
	Median	65.0	63.0	63.0	60.5	0.967
Household size (mean, number of members)	Mean	4.4	9.0	6.3	5.0	0.105
	Median	4.0	8.00	4.0	4.5	0.153
Youth dependency ratio (Ratio of the children under 15 years old divided by the number of adults in the household)	Mean	0.4	0.6	0.3	0.6	0.802
	Median	0.0	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.554
Household head speaks Spanish and Mayan	Proportion	66.7	100.0	100.0	94.4	0.081
Household head only speaks Spanish	Proportion	33.3	0.0	0.0	5.6	0.081
Wealth index (0-1, 5 assets)	Mean	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.578
	Median	0.2	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.457
Household income, adult scale equivalent, MXN (USD)	Mean	1486.9	2152.3	2153.6	1204.9	0.244
		(79.2)	(114.6)	(87.8)	(49.1)
	Median	1052.90	1750.47	1563.52	1388.06	0.142
		(56.1)	(93.2)	(83.3)	(73.9)

Notes: Hocabá and Sahcabá, 1997-2017; Yaxcabá, 2004-2017. Number of observations: Hocabá, 53; Sahcabá, 21 and Yaxcabá, 26.

Source: Author’s survey data (December 2016-April 2017); Guerra Mukul (2005); Ortiz Pech (1999).

Table

Agrobiodiversity transition: high–high Occupational transition: on-farm–off-farm	Location: Hocabá (peri-urban, sisal region) Home garden size: 1,300m^2
This family is formed by three adults and two children. Mrs Cocom, the household head, is over 60 years old and speaks Mayan and Spanish. Her daughter is 40 years old and her son is 37 years old; both are single. Her daughter speaks Mayan and Spanish and her son only speaks Spanish. Her daughter has two sons who live in the house, the oldest being 16 years old and the youngest 4 years old. None of them speak Mayan.
Mrs Cocom’s father worked cultivating sisal. When Mrs Cocom was 14 years old, she started to commute to work in Mérida. She worked as a housekeeper in the same house for 7 years. Then she went back to Hocabá and got married with Mr. Cocom. They moved to this plot 41 years ago. The plot was a present from her mother-in-law.
Mrs Cocom is now a widow; her deceased husband worked in agriculture. After her husband passed away, she became the household head. Regarding her home garden, she remarked: ‘I like having plants, flowers, animals. My grandson also likes it, he started to raise animals again.’
Mrs Cocom comments:
Now is when we have more plants, because before, when I got married, I did not have [plants] because I had children. Now I have more plants because my daughter likes them. We have medicinal plants, such as basil, epazote, mint, peppermint. We have the chickens locked because they eat the plants.
Mrs Cocom and her daughter work selling food at their house. ‘We stay here to make a living.’ About how life has changed she explained:
Now everything is expensive. Before, it was cheap, because the maize was cultivated by the milperos. Everything came from the milpa: wax beans, black beans, squash, watermelon, tannia. There was harvest, there was food. People had tomatoes, radish, coriander in their home gardens. Now there is so much laziness and since you can buy it, people do not grow it anymore. There are people who still grow plants, because they like to eat fresh and better, but there are fewer (…) Now people use too many chemicals for growing the crops faster and that harms us. That is how they feed animals. Before, there were not chemicals. You raised the pig only with things from the milpa, with the squash, the breadnut tree and the maize.
They cut down several trees to build the bicycle repair shop where her grandson works. Her grandson learned the trade from Mr Cocom.

Figure 4. Home garden of the Cocom family, 2017.

Source: Drawing by Eric Alonso Méndez Salazar.

Guerra Mukul, Rogelio. 2005. Factores sociales y económicos que definen el sistema de producción de traspatio en una comunidad rural de Yucatán, México.” Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Unidad Mérida.

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Ortiz Pech, Rafael. 1999. Estudio de la estructura económica del municipio de Hocabá, Yucatán a través de la matriz de contabilidad social base 1997.” Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán.

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