Abstract
For
centuries, small-scale farmers in Jamaica have managed and cultivated a
variety of plants for use as subsistence and market crops, fodder,
construction materials, and medicine. Free-listing, casual
conversations, guided visits to 35 farm plots and 16 homegardens,
semi-structured interviews with 16 farmers, and quantitative analysis
were used to identify the factors that most correlate with useful plant
richness on these lands. Jamaican farmers reported on average 87
different useful plant ethnotaxa (ethnovarieties, including
single-variety species as one ethnotaxon) of cultivated and wild plants
growing on all their land holdings, across an average of 62 biologically
distinct species. The cumulative acreage controlled by a farmer (total
land size), consisting of their homegarden (“yard”) and all their farm
plots, explained 61% of the variation in useful plant richness recorded
for each farmer (r = 0.78; p < 0.001). In contrast, there was no
effect from the farmers’ age, their level of farming experience, or
household size. Overall, mean ethnotaxa richness was higher on farm
plots than homegardens (p = 0.012) because of their larger size.
However, on a per-unit area basis (0.1 acres), homegardens contained
more useful plants than farm plots (p = 0.005). While homegardens were
important repositories of wild plants that are commonly used as
medicines and as regular teas for consumption in the morning, farm plots
were important repositories of timber trees. This nuanced understanding
of factors that contribute to useful plant richness may help to direct
efforts to support local farmers and better utilize the capacity of
those farmers who most promote useful plants. These results underscore
the complexity of agrobiodiversity conservation in rural Jamaica.
