Fruitful exchanges: social networks and food resources amidst change
Abstract Background The Amazon region of Brazil is known both for its significant biological and cultural diversity. It is also a region, like many parts of the country, marked by food insecurity, even amongst its rural agricultural populations. In a novel approach, this paper addresses the networks...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2022-02-01
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| Series: | Agriculture & Food Security |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-021-00342-5 |
| _version_ | 1811317590288498688 |
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| author | Sam Schramski Ana Carolina Barbosa de Lima |
| author_facet | Sam Schramski Ana Carolina Barbosa de Lima |
| author_sort | Sam Schramski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The Amazon region of Brazil is known both for its significant biological and cultural diversity. It is also a region, like many parts of the country, marked by food insecurity, even amongst its rural agricultural populations. In a novel approach, this paper addresses the networks of exchanges of local food and their relationship to the agrobiodiversity of traditional riverine peoples’ (ribeirinho) households in the Central Amazon. Methodologically, it involves mapping the social networks and affinities between households, inventories of known species, and, finally, statistical tests of the relationships between network and subsequent agrobiodiversity. Results The diversity per area of each land type where food cultivation or management takes place shows how home gardens, fields and orchards are areas of higher diversity and intense cultivation compared to fallow areas. Our findings, however, indicate that a household’s income does appear to be strongly associated with the total agrobiodiversity across cultivation areas. In addition, a household’s agrobiodiversity is significantly associated with the frequency and intensity of food exchanges between households. Conclusions Agrobiodiversity cannot be considered separate from the breadth of activities focused on sustenance and yields from the cash economy, which riverine people engage in daily. It seems to be connected to quotidian social interactions and exchanges in both predictable and occasionally subtler ways. Those brokers who serve as prominent actors in rural communities may not always be the most productive or in possession of the largest landholdings, although in some cases they are. Their proclivity for cultivating and harvesting a wide diversity of produce may be equally important if not more so. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:10:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a0ca98ff83cb4647b3e561846e831dcd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2048-7010 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:10:59Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agriculture & Food Security |
| spelling | doaj.art-a0ca98ff83cb4647b3e561846e831dcd2022-12-22T02:47:29ZengBMCAgriculture & Food Security2048-70102022-02-0111111610.1186/s40066-021-00342-5Fruitful exchanges: social networks and food resources amidst changeSam Schramski0Ana Carolina Barbosa de Lima1Center for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes, Indiana UniversityCenter for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Landscapes, Indiana UniversityAbstract Background The Amazon region of Brazil is known both for its significant biological and cultural diversity. It is also a region, like many parts of the country, marked by food insecurity, even amongst its rural agricultural populations. In a novel approach, this paper addresses the networks of exchanges of local food and their relationship to the agrobiodiversity of traditional riverine peoples’ (ribeirinho) households in the Central Amazon. Methodologically, it involves mapping the social networks and affinities between households, inventories of known species, and, finally, statistical tests of the relationships between network and subsequent agrobiodiversity. Results The diversity per area of each land type where food cultivation or management takes place shows how home gardens, fields and orchards are areas of higher diversity and intense cultivation compared to fallow areas. Our findings, however, indicate that a household’s income does appear to be strongly associated with the total agrobiodiversity across cultivation areas. In addition, a household’s agrobiodiversity is significantly associated with the frequency and intensity of food exchanges between households. Conclusions Agrobiodiversity cannot be considered separate from the breadth of activities focused on sustenance and yields from the cash economy, which riverine people engage in daily. It seems to be connected to quotidian social interactions and exchanges in both predictable and occasionally subtler ways. Those brokers who serve as prominent actors in rural communities may not always be the most productive or in possession of the largest landholdings, although in some cases they are. Their proclivity for cultivating and harvesting a wide diversity of produce may be equally important if not more so.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-021-00342-5AgrobiodiversitySocial network analysisFood exchangesAmazoniaRiverine peoplesSustainable development |
| spellingShingle | Sam Schramski Ana Carolina Barbosa de Lima Fruitful exchanges: social networks and food resources amidst change Agriculture & Food Security Agrobiodiversity Social network analysis Food exchanges Amazonia Riverine peoples Sustainable development |
| title | Fruitful exchanges: social networks and food resources amidst change |
| title_full | Fruitful exchanges: social networks and food resources amidst change |
| title_fullStr | Fruitful exchanges: social networks and food resources amidst change |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fruitful exchanges: social networks and food resources amidst change |
| title_short | Fruitful exchanges: social networks and food resources amidst change |
| title_sort | fruitful exchanges social networks and food resources amidst change |
| topic | Agrobiodiversity Social network analysis Food exchanges Amazonia Riverine peoples Sustainable development |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40066-021-00342-5 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT samschramski fruitfulexchangessocialnetworksandfoodresourcesamidstchange AT anacarolinabarbosadelima fruitfulexchangessocialnetworksandfoodresourcesamidstchange |