Custodians of common bean diversity in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil: revealing their socioeconomic and environmental profile

ABSTRACT

This study revealed the profile of common bean farmers in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One hundred and thirty-eight farmers from 24 municipalities were interviewed. We observed that common beans are a key component of agricultural systems in this state, with the number of varieties managed by family varying widely (from one to 11). This variation was influenced by socioeconomic, ecogeographic, and cultural factors. An impressive number of common bean varieties were being managed by farmers who resided at mid-altitude zones and combine subsistence crops with market-oriented cultivation. In three of five mesoregions visited, the traditional agriculture has been affected by climate changes. The majority of farmers who managed low diversity of common beans, and all farmers who stopped growing this crop in recent years resided in these regions. Facing the risk of genetic erosion, farmers, researchers and extension workers involved in this research are building strategies to strengthen the conservation of this local germplasm. Actions are underway with public agencies to enhance the importance of self-consumption cultures for food security, local development and conservation of cultural traditions. Among these, we highlight the publication of Catálogo da Diversidade Feijão-comum do estado do Rio de Janeiro. In addition, an ex-situ conservation agreement was established for the varieties, with a strong participation of custodians, to provide greater security to the local common bean germplasm.

KEYWORDS:

• Phaseolus vulgaris L.
• landraces
• on farm conservation
• smallholder farmers
• agricultural diversity

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the farmers for participating in the study, and for sharing information with the research team; to the Agriculture Secretary, to Empresa de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural do Rio de Janeiro (EMATER-Rio) for their active participation; to Dr. Valeria Negri from the Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali at the Università degli Studi di Perugia, Italy, for her comments on the manuscript; to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) for financial support. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee. This study was registered. The permission of the communities was obtained at a meeting with farmers in each community involved. The farmers who agreed to participate signed a Consent Deal, which explained the project and clarified that they could withdraw from this study at any time.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [307569/2017-9]; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [001]; Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro [202.985/2017]; UENF - Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro [001/Agenda 2030]; Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro [001/2016-2018].