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Dynamic conservation of genetic resources: Rematriation of the maize landrace Jala

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Abstract

The conservation of landraces is fundamental to safeguarding crop diversity, food security, and sustainable production. Jala is a special maize landrace from the region in and around the Jala Valley of Mexico that produces the largest ear and tallest plant of all maize landraces in the world. Changing socio-economic and environmental conditions in the Jala Valley could lead to the genetic erosion of the ancestral Jala landrace, which can have global consequences. This study outlines the sequence of events in the history of Jala and describes the evolution of strategies for complementary in situ and ex situ conservation of maize genetic resources that are being developed and tested by the Jala Rematriation Project. The concept of dynamic conservation is discussed and applied to the specific case of Jala. The rematriation approach could be instrumental in creating an environment that enables the dynamic conservation of maize landraces in Mexico, the primary centre of this crop’s origin and diversity, and throughout its ancestral range in the Americas.

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Notes

  1. Jala refers to the landrace that carries that name in scientific and popular literature, but is known as „maíz de húmedo“by the maize farmers in the Jala municipality.

  2. Since the Mexican Revolution in 1917, Mexican agriculture has been characterized by large amounts of land in collective land holdings called ‘ejidos’ (Rice, 2004).

  3. Pepitilla is another maize landrace that has been recognized as having the best quality for making tortillas (Ortega-Paczka, 2003). Nevertheless, it is not competitive in the industrial system of making tortillas.

  4. Mexican research institutions like Colegio de Estudios de Posgrados (COLPOS), Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) and Universidad Autonoma de Nayarit supported by the Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural (SADER) have implemented different projects since 1999.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our CIMMYT colleagues for providing information and sharing their expertise, especially Dagoberto Flores, Cristian Zavala, and Terrence Molnar. We also appreciate information gathered by student interns, Luis Armando Flores and Aaron Waybright, in 2017, the consultancy of Gilberto González and the collaboration with Don Miguel González-Lomelí and Ricardo Cambero of Jala town. We appreciate the discussions with Arahon Hernández-Guzmán from Colegio de Postgraduados (COLPOS) and the access to information by Ellie Rice (Franklin and Marshall College). We thank everyone who participated in our interviews and focus group discussions. Funding for this research was provided by the CGIAR Genebank Platform and the Crop Trust through the 2018 Genebank Impacts Fellowship Program. The Jala Rematriation Project was sponsored by CRP-Maize, through a USAID Linkage Grant with Cornell University, and by the Mexican Government’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación - SAGARPA) via the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) initiative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genebank Impacts Fellow, CGIAR Genebank Platform, Bonn, Germany

    Vanessa Ocampo-Giraldo

  2. Socioeconomics Program, The International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT), Texcoco, Mexico

    Carolina Camacho-Villa

  3. Maize Collection @ The Maize and Wheat Germplasm Bank, The International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT), Texcoco, Mexico

    Denise E. Costich

  4. National Institute of Forestry, Crop and Livestock Research (INIFAP), Santiago Ixcuintla, Nayarit, Mexico

    Victor A. Vidal Martínez

  5. Michigan State University, East Lansing, VA, USA

    Melinda Smale

  6. Global Crop Diversity Trust (Crop Trust), Bonn, Germany

    Nelissa Jamora

Authors
  1. Vanessa Ocampo-Giraldo
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  2. Carolina Camacho-Villa
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  3. Denise E. Costich
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  4. Victor A. Vidal Martínez
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  5. Melinda Smale
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  6. Nelissa Jamora
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Contributions

The first author contributed to the paper conceptualization and design, data gathering, data analysis, and writing. The second, third and fourth authors contributed to research conceptualization and design, data gathering, data provision, writing and editing. The fifth and final authors contributed to paper conceptualization and design, data analysis, writing, and editing.

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Correspondence to Melinda Smale or Nelissa Jamora.

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Conflict of interest

The second author is a sociologist at CIMMYT. The third author is the head of the Maize Collection at the CIMMYT Germplasm Bank. The fourth author works in INIFAP as a maize breeder. The sixth author is an agricultural economist at the Crop Trust. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Ocampo-Giraldo, V., Camacho-Villa, C., Costich, D.E. et al. Dynamic conservation of genetic resources: Rematriation of the maize landrace Jala. Food Sec. 12, 945–958 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01054-7

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