Agrobiodiversity outside the agricultural modernization: an approach to the study of peasant agriculture in Venezuela

Abstract

Agricultural modernization promoted fossil fuel dependence, standardisation and genetic erosion.
Despite this, traditional agricultural systems persisted and are key for agrobiodiversity
conservation. This requires analyze agricultural practices in this systems. Two Venezuelan
community experiences of traditional agriculture are analyzed. It is suggested that droughts,
low temperatures and rainfall seasonality have limited the expansion of agricultural modernization.
Exchange of local varieties varieties, experimentation with commercial varieties, diverse
and simultaneous farming calendars, and management of ecological succession for determining
cultivation sites are key practices that coexist in a complex dynamic with use of chemical
inputs, irrigation among others. It is suggested considering this elements for design strategies
for agrobiodiversity conservation.