CENTRAL ROLE OF NODAL FARMERS IN SEED EXCHANGES FOR BIODIVERSITY DYNAMICS EXAMPLE OF « CURADORAS » FOR THE QUINOA CONSERVATION IN MAPUCHE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTH CHILE

N° ISBN - 978-2-7380-1284-5International audienceThis paper presents a part of the results of a study carried out in Mapuche communities of the Araucanía region in the south of Chile regarding Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). The objective of this study was to assess the key elements of the quinoa story in this region and the role of the different actors (farmers and institutions) involved in the biodiversity dynamics of this crop. First of all, after the Spanish conquest this crop quasi disappeared, replaced by rice and wheat in Mapuche diet. Nevertheless, some families have never stopped to grow quinoa and conserved their family varieties. In 1996, a local NGO have begun to develop projects about quinoa, first acquiring landraces collection, following with revival of this crop through seeds distribution and workshops about agricultural practices and uses. In order to gather all the information regarding Quinoa, cropping systems, seed management and exchanges, we used semi-constructed and qualitative interviews with farmers and institutions of 4 villages representing the two main agroecological zones of the region. The first result is the fact that even though several projects are developed it is clear that the farmers themselves are the main actors of the biodiversity conservation. The second result show that there is two types of exchanges wich take place in the communities and represent the main access to seeds. The first type is an “individual” exchange (persons or families) inside the community or between closed ones. The second type is a sort of traditional market which is organized as a big event with opening ceremony and presentation of each participant. In each type of exchanges, we can notice the same names of main participants, those named “Curadoras”. Those farmers seem to be special and can be identified as nodal farmers because they play an essential role in seeds exchanges (high level of diversity, knowledge regarding crops adaptation and seeds management). Finally, these nodal farmers participate to quasi all the Trafkintüs organized in the region, giving dynamics to the exchanges and confidence to the various farmers they provided. The last and third result of this study is the fact that the same NGO also indorse knowledge of seeds and diversity conservation by organizing workshops between special farmers where the “Curadoras”, which means Curators of Biodiversity, participate actively