Socio-economic drivers of coexistence of landraces and modern crop varieties in agro-biodiversity rich Yunnan rice fields

Tom Dedeurwaerdere (1) , Mourad Hannachi (2)

1 UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain
2 SADAPT - Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement : Activités, Produits, Territoires

This paper investigates a situation of coexistence of landraces and modern crop varieties for market-oriented production in the Yunnan rice fields in China. Through a fieldwork survey of an experiment by the government with the introduction of modern varieties in traditional villages, the paper shows that landraces and modern crop varieties can co-exist. The analysis shows that the major features that play a role in the choices made by the individual farmers between modern crop varieties and landraces are not the agronomic conditions, although they certainly play a role, but economic and social drivers. The results of the analysis allows a better understanding of the distinct socio-economic drivers and impacts of each of the production systems. The latter can provide insights for policy strategies aimed at promoting agrobiodiversity rich landscapes in situations of co-existence of heterogeneous socio-technical production systems.

Mots clés: socio-technical systems; agrobiodiversity; agroecological landscapes; landraces seed exchange networks; UNESCO cultural heritage sites; globally important agricultural heritage systems (GIAHS)

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Sciences de l'Homme et Société

Tom Dedeurwaerdere, Mourad Hannachi. Socio-economic drivers of coexistence of landraces and modern crop varieties in agro-biodiversity rich Yunnan rice fields. Ecological Economics, 2019, 159, pp.177-188. ⟨10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.01.026⟩. ⟨hal-02618760⟩