Ivanoff thesis- LITY OF JESUS DE OTORO

Political Ecology of Food Security and Nutrition
in the Municipality of Jesus De Otoro, Honduras
By
Rebecca F. Ivanoff
A thesis
presented to
The University of Guelph
In partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of
Master of Arts
in
Public Issues Anthropology
and
International Development
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
© Rebecca F. Ivanoff, May, 2012
ABSTRACT
POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN THE
DEPARTMENT OF JESUS DE OTORO, HONDURAS
Rebecca Ivanoff
University of Guelph, 2012
Advisors: Professor Sally Humphries
Professor Elizabeth Finnis
This study addresses food security in three communities in rural, central Honduras by
looking at the interrelationships among nutritious food, environmental and political forces, and
cultural behaviours through the collection and analysis of local knowledge and laboratory data.
Evaluation of ethnographic research were combined with analysis of policy documents and the
nutritional analysis of ninety local varieties of corn. Research showed how households in three
rural communities in the mountains of Honduras, struggle to access sufficient, safe and nutritious
food while respecting cultural and agricultural diversity. Policies to address food security need to
not only address the diversity of environmental niches, and a history of disenfranchisement of
most rural farmers from the political process, but also the cultural ideals that impact definitions of
hunger and nutrition. Analysis of 90 varieties of local landraces show that coloured varieties of
maize have higher nutritional value for protein, anthocyanin, and vitamin A content.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank my committee, Sally, Beth and Steve, for their encouragement and
continual support in the field and much appreciated direction and editing during the thesis
writing process. Thank you to Sally for sharing your love of Honduras, for inspiring me in
moments of doubt, and for helping me to secure funding for this research. Thank you to my
external reader Renee for your helpful comments. I’d like to also thank my research assistant and
friend, Angela, for walking for hours to the communities, for interpreting my poor Spanish, and
enthusiastically gathering data for this project. This project would not have been possible without
the support from Omar and Kati, mi familia de Rincon, as well as to Fredy from FIPAH, who
taught me valuable Honduran slang. Thank you to all the FIPAH staff, including Jimenez, Hugo,
Vero, Osea, Domingo, et al. Of great help throughout the process, but in particular in all the
work gathering varieties for the nutritional analysis, I have to thank Marvin. Your endless work
to improve the lives of your fellow citizens is of great inspiration to me.
A very special thanks to all those people who helped make Otoro my home away from
home. In particular my roommate, Marianne, and our neighbours Doña Denia, Jeny, Yajaida,
Teco, Jorge, and la familia de Castillo: (Wilson, Ada, Vivian, Valeria, Seidy). I must thank the
family of Dona Isi, Don Claros, Luisa, and mis hermanitos: Chepe, Franklin, Pedrito, y Wendy. I
thank the hillside community members who found the time to make me feel comfortable in their
homes, teach me about their lives, and share their personal information with me. In particular,
Carmen, Jacinto, Doña Ramona, and la familia Santos: Don Roberto, Doña Chila, Rosi,
Yesenia, Rita, Omar, Juanito, y nuestra mini-guía: Iris.
Thank you to Mario Ardon Mejía for your tremendous help finding obscure information
and answering interview questions from afar. Thank you also to Natalia Palacios with help with
nutritional information, and Bruce Manion for teaching me how to use SPSS.
Without the tireless dedication of my friends and family, whose years of encouragement
and understanding have gotten me this far, I would not have been able to make this journey.
Special thanks to mum, dad, Hannah, Ben, Katrina, Bethany, Becky and Kaitlin. Thank you for
putting up with me. Thank you to Ravi for the support, getting packages to Honduras, and tea.
Thank you to Drew, for your encouragement and care when I had a grumpy-face on, and for
editing with me right up until the last moment.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: ................................................................................................................................... III LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................... VI LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................................................ IX INTRODUCTION: .................................................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................................ 6 INTRODUCTION: .................................................................................................................................................................... 6 POLITICAL ECOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................................... 6 FOOD SECURITY AND FOOD SECURITY STRATEGIES: ......................................................................................... 12 FOOD SOVEREIGNTY ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH CONTEXT ............................................................................................................... 19 GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION, PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, AND SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS OF
THE OTORO VALLEY ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 MALNUTRITION AND “HIDDEN HUNGER” .............................................................................................................. 28 LOCAL NGO: FUNDACION DE INVESTIGACION PARTICIPATIVA DE HONDURAS (FOUNDATION FOR
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH WITH HONDURAN FARMERS, OR FIPAH) ....................................................... 30 LARGER RESEARCH PROJECT: ...................................................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 32 RESEARCH ASSISTANCE: .................................................................................................................................................. 34 PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT: ....................................................................................................................................... 36 DATA COLLECTION METHODS AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: ................................................................ 36 Participant-Observation: .......................................................................................................................................................... 36 Semi-structured Interviews: ...................................................................................................................................................... 38 Group Interview: ....................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Nutrient Analysis: ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER 4: FOOD SECURITY AND RESOURCES: DIVERSITY AND INEQUALITY ........................... 44 ENVIRONMENTAL DIVERSITY WITHIN THE REGION: .......................................................................................... 44 TRANSITORY AND SEASONAL FOOD INSECURITY: ............................................................................................... 50 INEQUALITY OF ACCESS TO MARKETS AND TO GOOD QUALITY LAND: .................................................... 54 INEQUALITY OF LAND OWNERSHIP: ........................................................................................................................... 60 ADDRESSING INEQUALITY: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LAND REFORM POLICIES AND CURRENT
POLICIES THAT AFFECT FOOD SECURITY ............................................................................................................... 65 CONCLUSIONS: .................................................................................................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER 5: CULTURAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING AVAILABILITY, ACCESS AND USE OF FOOD ............................................................................................................................................. 73 SUPERFOODS AND A CULTURAL DEFINITION OF HUNGER: .............................................................................. 74 CULTURAL PREFERENCES AND FOOD CONSUMPTION ......................................................................................... 79 PURCHASING POWER AND STATUS: ............................................................................................................................ 85 iv
FOOD PREFERENCES AND IDENTITY: ......................................................................................................................... 87 THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF LOCAL FOOD SOURCES: MAIZE NUTRITION ............................................ 92 STRUCTURE OF THE MAIZE KERNEL ......................................................................................................................... 93 Typical Nutritional Composition of Maize: .......................................................................................................................... 94 Changes during the Grain Harvest, Drying and Processing into Foods: ............................................................................. 96 Results from Nutritional Analysis: ......................................................................................................................................... 98 Discussion of results: .............................................................................................................................................................. 107 CONCLUSIONS: ................................................................................................................................................. 112 KEY FINDINGS: .................................................................................................................................................................. 112 THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS: ............................................................................................................................ 116 LIMITATIONS OF THIS RESEARCH ............................................................................................................................. 117 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH .............................................................................................................................. 118 BIBLIOGRAPHY: .............................................................................................................................................. 140 v
List Of Tables
TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF THREE COMMUNITIES ........................................................................................................................................... 35 TABLE 2: TESTED NUTRIENTS AND HUMAN NUTRITION (FROM WHITNEY ET AL. 1990) ................................................................ 43 TABLE 3: CONVERSION CHART OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES .................................................................................................................. 56 TABLE 4: LAND AND SELF-­‐SUFFICIENCY ...................................................................................................................................................... 61 TABLE 5: RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCE OF VITAMIN A, IRON, ZINC AND PROTEIN AT DIFFERENT LIFE STAGES,
COMPILED FROM HEALTH CANADA (2010) ............................................................................................................................ 110 vi
List of Figures
FIGURE 1: FOOD SOVEREIGNTY SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM QUAYE ET AL. 2009. ..................................................................................... 16 FIGURE 2: MAP OF JESUS DE OTORO AND SURROUNDING AREA, INCLUDING BARRIO NUEVO, CRUCITA ORIENTE, AND EL ÁGUILA (SKETCH BY THE AUTHOR, 2010) ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 FIGURE 3: PERCEIVED DIETARY DIVERSITY: NUMBER OF INTERVIEWEES WHO PERCEIVED DIETARY DIVERSITY TO BE HIGH DURING THE MONTH. CIRCLED AREAS SHOW MONTHS THAT INTERVIEWEES THOUGHT OF AS HAVING HIGH DIETARY DIVERSITY. .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 78 FIGURE 4: “FLAVOUR” OF YELLOW VS. WHITE MAIZE ............................................................................................................................... 83 FIGURE 5: STRUCTURE OF THE MAIZE KERNEL ........................................................................................................................................... 93 FIGURE 6: MEAN PROTEIN CONTENT OF WHITE, YELLOW, RED AND BLACK MAIZE LANDRACES ....................................................... 98 FIGURE 7: PERCENT PROTEIN CONTENT OF ALL VARIETIES ACCORDING TO ALTITUDE OF PLOT ......................................................... 99 FIGURE 8: MEAN PROVITAMIN A CONTENT OF MAIZE COLOUR CATEGORIES, WITH THE AVERAGE PROVITAMIN CONTENT FOR YELLOW MAIZE (GIVEN BY CIMMYT) SHOWN TO GIVE CONTEXT. ............................................................................................ 100 FIGURE 9: GRAPH OF THE SHOWING THE VALUES OF PROVITAMIN A CONTENT OF WHITE, YELLOW, RED AND BLACK MAIZE LANDRACES, SHOWING THE NAMES FOR SOME VARIETIES ............................................................................................................ 100 FIGURE 10: VALUES OF ANTHOCYANINS SHOWING THE OUTLIER IN THE WHITE COLOUR CATEGORY. ............................................. 101 FIGURE 11: MEAN ANTHOCYANIN CONTENT OF WHITE, YELLOW, RED AND BLACK MAIZE LANDRACES WITHOUT OUTLIER ........ 102 FIGURE 12: MEAN STARCH CONTENT OF WHITE, YELLOW, RED AND BLACK MAIZE LANDRACES ...................................................... 103 FIGURE 13: MEAN CRUDE FAT (ETHER EXTRACT) CONTENT OF WHITE, YELLOW, RED AND BLACK MAIZE LANDRACES ............... 103 FIGURE 14: MEAN IRON CONTENT OF MAIZE LANDRACES FROM DIFFERENT REGIONS ....................................................................... 104 FIGURE 15: MEAN ZINC CONTENT OF MAIZE LANDRACES FROM DIFFERENT REGIONS ........................................................................ 105 FIGURE 16: LINEAR REGRESSION OF ZINC CONTENT VALUES PLOTTED AGAINST ALTITUDE .............................................................. 105 FIGURE 17: CULTURAL AND AGRONOMIC VALUES OF FOURTEEN VARIETIES OF LANDRACES ............................................................. 106 vii
List Of Appendices
APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: ................................................................................................... 119 APPENDIX 2: FREE-­‐LISTING QUESTIONS ................................................................................................ 121 APPENDIX 3: NUTRITIONAL DATA ........................................................................................................... 122 APPENDIX 4: LIST OF FOODS EATEN IN THE OTORO VALLEY ......................................................... 127 APPENDIX 5: STATISTICAL OUTPUT ........................................................................................................ 133 viii
List Of Acronyms
ASOCIADRO
Asociación de CIALs para el Desarrollo de la Región de Otoro/Asociation of CIALs
for the Development of the Otoro Region
ASOCIAL
Asociación de Comités de Investigación Agrícola Local/ Association of Local
Agricultural Research Committees
ASOCODE
Asociación de Organizaciones Campesinas Centroamericanas para la Cooperación y el
Desarrollo/ Central American Association of Peasant Organizations for
Cooperation and Development
BANADESA
Banco National de Desarrollo Aricola/ National Agriculture Development
Bank (Honduras)
CCLF
CGIAR-Canada Linkage Fund
CENTA
Centro Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (Mexico)
CIAL
Comités de Investigación Agrícola Local/ Local Agricultural Research
Committees
CIAT
Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical/ International Center for Tropical
Agriculture
CIDA
Canadian International Development Agency
CIMMYT
Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo/ International Maize and
Wheat Improvement Center
CNA
Censo Nacional Agropecuario/ National Agricultural Census
COCOCH
Consejo Coordinador de Organizaciones Campesinas de Honduras/ Honduran
Coordinating Council of Peasant Organizations
COHDEFOR
Corporacion Hondurena De Desarrollo Forestal/ Honduran Corporation for
Forest Development
DDT
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a synthetic insecticide
DICTA
Dirección De Ciencia y Tegnología Agropecuaria/ Directorate of Agricultural
Science and Technology
DR-CAFTA
Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement.
FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FHIA
Fundación Hondureña de Investigación Agrícola/ Honduran Agricultural
Research Foundation
FHIS
El Fondo Hondureño de Inversión Social/ The Honduran Social Investment
Fund
FIPAH
Fundacion para la Investigacion Participativa con Agrucultores de Hondoras/
Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers
ix
FTA
Free Trade Agreement
GMO
Genetically Modified Organism
HDDS
Household Dietary Diversity Score
IAASTD
International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and
Technology for Development
IADB
Inter-American Development Bank
IDRC
International Development Research Centre
IHCAFE
Instituto Hondureños del Café/ Honduran Coffee Institute
IHSS
Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social/ Honduran Social Security Institute
IMF
International Monitary Fund
INA
Instiuto National Agraria/ National Agrarian Institute
LMDSA
Ley para la Modernizacion y Desarrollo del Sector Agricola/ Agricultural
Modernization Law
NGO
Non-Governmental Organization
PAHO
Pan American Health Organization
PPB
Participatory Plant Breeding
PROHECO
El Proyecto Hondureno de Educacion Comunitaria/ The Honduran Community
Education Project
QPM
Quality Protein Maize
SAG
Secretaría de Agricultura y Ganadería/ Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock
SANAA
Servicio Autónomo Nacional de Acueductos y Alcantarillados/ National
Autonomous Service Water Supply and Sewers
SRN
Secretaria de Recursos Naturales/ Ministry of Natural Resources
SS
Secretaría de Salud/ Ministry of Health
UPOV-91
The 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New
Varieties of Plants
USAID
United States Agency for International Development
USC-Canada
Unitarian Service Committee of Canada- Non-profit international
development organizations, establishing programs in food security/
biodiversity, desertification, climate change and poverty alleviation.
VAD
Vitamin A Deficiency
WB
World Bank
WTO
World Trade Organization
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Introduction:
The ability of people throughout the world to access sufficient, safe, and healthy food is
defined by multiple factors. All humans have an intimate relationship with food. Not only does
food sustain us but our relationship to food is mediated by factors outside of our body. We have
political and historically rooted connections with food. Our food partially determines our
interactions with the natural environment. Our activities around food are embedded in our
cultures.
In recent years, the importance in addressing issues of availability, access and the
appropriate use of food has become of great interest to many people. On the international
agenda since the 1970’s, this issue was once again brought to the fore of public debate during the
‘world food crisis’ when prices for food rose to the point that people from Haiti to Indonesia
began riots in the streets. These protests brought to the world’s attention some of the economic
and political aspects of food. Having food security as a key theme during large international
conferences, such as the Copenhagen Climate Change talks, has shown the world the importance
of the environment and climate change to issues of food. As well, international food movements,
for example, the slow food movement and the local food movement, have brought to the fore the
ideas of regionally and culturally important foods. Yet, despite food becoming such a talked
about issue, many people worldwide do not have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food.
Indeed, there are still nearly 1 billion people worldwide who are undernourished, 98% of whom
are in developing countries (FAO 2010). This thesis addresses food security in three communities
in rural, central Honduras. Through the collection and analysis of local knowledge and
1
laboratory data, I describe the interrelationships among concepts of nutrition and hunger,
cultural behaviours, and political and environmental factors.
Honduras, a country situated in the middle of the Central American peninsula, is one of
the poorest nations in the Americas (Humphries et al. 2005:1). It remains by and large an
agrarian country, where rural people constitute half of the total population (PAHO 2007:443).
Of these rural people, seventy-five percent live in extreme poverty (PAHO 2007:443). High rates
of malnutrition and poverty among rural households are fuelled by inequality in access to land
and resources, isolation from markets and extension programs. As well, Honduras has as a
political system that effectively disenfranchises the most vulnerable, and where traditionally rural
women are marginalized from participating in public life (Classen et al. 2008:2407).
Though small in size, Honduras is a diverse country. Climate and geography change
quickly as one travels through this mountainous state, making homogeneous livelihood strategies
impractical. Poverty is aggravated by frequent natural disasters, such as hurricanes, droughts,
and seismic events (PAHO 2007), as well as a deteriorating environment and a changing climate.
It is within this environmental and political climate that households strive to achieve food
security, many of whom rely on the culturally appropriate basic grains of maize and beans. In
Honduras, 80 percent of farmers farm on less than 5 hectares, using less than 15 percent of the
total agricultural land, while 1 percent of farmers farm on more than 50 hectares each, owning
more than 30 percent of the total arable land (United Nations World Food Program 2005:11).
On average, this eighty percent has only a little more than one hectare of land to grow enough
2
maize and beans to feed a family with an average of six children for a year1, and to generate a
surplus to feed to the urban population and for trade (FAO 1994; also see Tucker, Eakin and
Castellanos 2010). Rural hillside farmers cultivate landrace varieties using basic hand tools to
prepare, plant, and harvest the land. At the time of harvest, some farming households sell off part
of their harvest so that they can buy necessities and repay outstanding debts, and then, during the
annual period of scarcity, these same famers are forced to buy grains that are now at a higher
price than when they originally sold their own harvest (FAO 1994).
Non-governmental and civil organizations have recently been struggling to address food
security and nutrition in a way that addresses the myriad of challenges that households live with
on a daily basis. Peasant, indigenous, and agroecological organizations are promoting locally
based methods of focussing on environmental, economic and cultural aspects of food availability,
access and use. Many of these organizations are redefining what it means to be food secure and
are linking other struggles with those surrounding food.
My project draws on local and scientific knowledge bases2, in order to improve the
nutritional status of smallholder farmers, particularly of the most vulnerable family members
(women and children). This study identified, developed and evaluated, in partnership with mixed
gender farmer research teams, factors that impact food security as well as identifying and
evaluating maize varieties.
The average household size in the municipality of La Campa in western Honduras was 6.4 (with a standard
deviation of 2.77) (Tucker, Eakin and Castellanos 2010: 24).
2 This thesis not intended to privilege scientific knowledge over local knowledge but to use both to come up with a
better understanding of nutrition in its localized context.
1
3
The aim of this project is to examine the factors that influence the livelihood strategies
employed by marginal, highland farming households in Honduras to attain food security.
Specifically, I ask the questions: 1) In what ways do dietary values and food security strategies
intersect with issues arising from the specific environmental locale, as well as by national and
international policies? 2) How are cultural and social factors both hindering and enabling in
regards to household food security strategies? 3) What are the perceived nutritional and culinary
values that farmers attribute to their different crop varieties? What is the relationship between
farmers' perceptions of nutritional values of landraces 3 and the laboratory-tested nutrient
content?
The goals of this project are:
1. To gain an ethnographic understanding of the perceptions of local crop varieties
(particularly those of maize), culinary practices, and the locally preferred nutritional and
culinary qualities of maize, and how these intersect with agricultural decision-making.
2. To take samples of key maize varieties and assess nutrient content.
3. To generate qualitative data of the nutritional and culinary characteristics of crops that
will inform further research by local farmers and participatory research4 with national
and international scientists.
4. To provide data on the opportunities and constraints for improving nutrition within the
broader context of community livelihoods.
5. To consider local perceptions about health, nutrition and dietary changes.
Landraces refer to locally grown maize populations that have resulted from selection and management by farmers
over many generations (Bellon et al, 2006).
4 For Cornwall and Jewkes (1995:1667) participatory research is focused on gaining “knowledge through action” and
using a bottom-up approach which focused on “locally defined priorities and perspectives”.
3
4
6. To explore how these perceptions affect farmers’ desire to conserve local germplasm.
7. To consider how the findings can be linked theoretically to the growing data on the
political ecology of dietary change.
My thesis begins with a chapter on the relevant literature around the key concepts used in
my analysis, including political ecology, food security and food sovereignty. Chapter 2 gives
context to the research site and this project, while Chapter 3 discusses methodology. Chapter 4
addresses the environmental and climatic heterogeneity of Honduras, specifically looking at the
municipality of Jesus de Otoro, and how this, as well as unpredictable weather, impacts
household food security strategies. This chapter then focuses on policies that have sought to
address agrarian reform and how the marginal, hillside farmers to whom I spoke, and the
experiences they possess, have been ignored by these policies. Chapter 5 addresses the cultural
and social factors affecting food availability, access, and use by households in the Otoro Valley,
and concludes by giving background information on the nutritional qualities of maize and the
results from an analysis of 90 varieties of local maize and how these results relate to the factors
described above. In the last chapter I conclude my findings and suggest options for further
research.
5
CHAPTER 1: Literature Review
Introduction:
Three theoretical frameworks have influenced my research: political ecology, food
security and food sovereignty. The political ecology perspective approaches the complex
relationship between communities and the environment from a global-local perspective, while
food security allows for the exploration of access to healthy and nutritious foods. A food
sovereignty perspective helps to illustrate the decision-making abilities of these communities. I
use these frameworks to describe people’s food security strategies because they collectively
provide a perspective on nutritional intake that ranges from the individual level to the wider level
of international policy, while seeing the individual as part of a cultural and ecological
environment.
Political Ecology
Political ecology is a theoretical perspective that attempts to integrate human and physical
approaches to environmental change though an analysis of: politically, ecologically and
economically marginal people; the social and cultural pressures of production on local resources;
and, the interaction of local-global politics (Zimmerer and Basset 2003; Robbins 2004; Peet and
Watts 2004). The most frequently cited definition of this concept was stated by Blaikie and
Brookfield (1987). They maintain that political ecology merges “the concerns of ecology and a
broadly defined political economy. Together this encompasses the constantly shifting dialectic
between society and land-based resources, and also within classes and groups within society
itself” (Blaikie and Brookfield 1987:17). Various authors have remarked that political ecology
comprises less of a theoretically consistent field of study and more of a loosely connected area of
6
research that has similar methodologies and interests (e.g. Peet and Watts 2004). These interests
include: (1) nature/culture interactions; (2) analyses of the capabilities and agency of local actors;
(3) how the interactions, from the local to the global, are determined by social, cultural,
environmental and economic elements; and (4), how historic activities determine and continue to
create the range of inequalities that exist today (Walker 1998; Biersack and Greenberg 2006).
The connection between human culture and the physical environment is one that has
been studied by anthropologists since the beginnings of the discipline. Ecological approaches to
cultural and social concepts have waxed or waned in influence on anthropological research over
time. In the 1940s, Julian Steward inspired by the earlier works of geographer Carl Sauer,
developed the first explicit melding of ecology and anthropology under the banner of cultural
ecology. Though the works of Steward and other cultural ecologists have been criticized for
being apolitical and deterministic, their work created a place for ecology and the environment as
a subfield within anthropology. Forty year later, the environment and human culture again grew
in prominence as researchers fused ecological anthropology with the study of political economy.
These researchers called their framework political ecology. The early works relied on neoMarxist theories and focused on issues of class and production (Bryant 1997, Zimmerer and
Bassett 2003, Robbins 2004). In the following decades, political ecology researchers were
influenced by many other theoretical perspectives, including peasant studies (Stonich 1993), postmodernism (Escobar 1996), liberation theology (Peet and Watts 2004), and feminist perspectives
(Rocheleau et al 1996). During this time, anthropologists and many other academics used what
they called a political ecology theoretical framework for their studies, though it was still an
emerging theoretical framework; as Peet and Watts wrote in 2004, “the theoretical work has just
only begun” (36).
7
By merging political economy with issues of ecology, political ecology endeavours to
remedy the flaws in both frameworks (Biersack and Greenberg 2006). Political ecology addresses
the “structures of inequality that mediated human-nature articulations” and places power and
the environment at the centre of analysis (Biersack and Greenberg 2006:3). This framework
values social action (see Bryant & Bailey 1997), as can be seen in works such as Mehta (1996) and
Kalipeni and Oppong (1998) who fashion the idea of political ecology through a policy
perspective, as well as political ecologists such as Stonich (1993), who worked from a standpoint
of social justice. Much research in political ecology has been focused on the ways that
marginalized people deal with deteriorating and shifting environments (Finnis 2007), including
analyses of agricultural resource issues (Stonich 1993; Jansen 1998; Grossman 1998), biodiversity
(Escobar 1998), deforestation (Vasquez-Leon and Liverman 2004), health issues (Turshen 1984;
Stonich 1993; Kalipeni and Oppong 1998), land use and control (Turshen 1984; Moffat and
Finnis 2005), as well as soil loss and degradation (Blaikie and Brookfield 1987; Zimmerer 1996).
Food is a uniquely important link between humans and the environment and thus a
political ecology of food and nutrition is a natural step in understanding how the interactions of
both biological and social factors influence the nutritional condition of individuals and
populations. Despite this, there has been limited work on the political ecology of diet, nutrition,
and agriculture (Finnis 2007). Political ecology provides a way to approach food security and
nutrition by considering the myriad of factors that can mediate access to healthy and culturally
preferred foodstuffs. Understanding perceptions of nutrition and a healthy diet at the local level is
crucial to understanding and addressing food insecurity. Giving voice to local understandings of
nutrition and preferred qualities of food allows for a process of active involvement by local
players in the formation and development of policies, strategies and programs to combat food
8
insecurity and malnutrition. Nutrition and household food security are affected by the
perceptions of household members, which may vary according to gender, age, education, labour
divisions within the family, occupation, socio-economic status, and experience (Callens and
Seiffert 2003). Another reason political ecology is an important perspective to use while studying
food security and food sovereignty is its emphasis on analyzing the myriad acts of power present
in any food system. Hvalkof and Escobar (1998:426) define political ecology as “the study of
manifold constructions of nature in contexts of power”. Nature in my research is chiefly the
ecological context where food is produced but also the varieties of food that can be grown.
Studying power means acknowledging unequal relations within our global food system, as well as
the complexities and uncertainties of what determines nutritional status and health. Working
within the emerging political ecology research agenda of dietary transitions (Finnis 2007), the
investigation of how broader changes in crop variety availability create changes of nutritional
preferences at the household level will have implications for future community development
projects. My research works towards filling the political ecology research gap through an
examination of the relationships between food, cultural preference and nutritional perceptions,
and agricultural decision-making. Political ecology, specifically local political ecology, provides a
particularly useful context in which to look at nutritional preferences and improving livelihoods.
Thus by considering the multiple factors that constrain households and the decision-making
capabilities of individuals, I will be able to better understand the food security status of
communities in Honduras. Perhaps because of Honduras’ agrarian features and its tumultuous
political history, many political ecologists have worked in this Central American country.
Political ecology research that touches on health, nutrition and food security, does so in reference
to other main topics, usually that of agriculture. Political ecology studies within Honduras have
concentrated on how marginalized farmers are dealing with changes in the local environment,
9
the economy, and political conditions both locally and globally (Stonich 1993; DeWalt 1998;
Jansen 1998).
Beginning in 1981, anthropologists such as Billie DeWalt, Kathleen DeWalt, and Susan
Stonich worked as part of the International Sorghum/Millet Collaborative Research Support
Program (INTSORMIL), studying the relationship between farming systems and nutrition
systems in southern Honduras (see DeWalt and DeWalt 1982, DeWalt 1983; DeWalt and
DeWalt 1984; DeWalt and DeWalt 1987; Stonich 1993; DeWalt and Stonich 1996; DeWalt
1998). The main objective of INTORMIL was to study the socio-economic limitations on the
production, distribution, and consumption of sorghum (DeWalt and DeWalt 1987). As extensive
agricultural research was to focus on improving sorghum in the department, the researchers
wanted to establish “the most appropriate means by which such improvement might occur, as
well as to attempt to predict what the socio-economic and nutritional consequences of such a
change might be” (DeWalt and DeWalt 1987: n.p.). Out of this collaborative effort came further
research looking at the relationship between farming systems, consumption and nutrition in
southern Honduras. By using what they later called a political ecology approach, researchers
documented the impacts of the large-scale shift to cotton, beef, and melon production, and the
environmental and socio-cultural shifts that went along with it. They found that the development
efforts of the World Bank, USAID and the Honduran government to promote commercialization
and export agriculture were harmful to the majority of the population of this southern region,
and they did not address the root causes of deforestation and land degradation (DeWalt 1998:
311). Reflecting on his work in Honduras over ten years later, Billie DeWalt wrote that he and
his fellow researchers attempted to utilize a political ecology approach, which he defines as a
blending of political-economy and human ecology perspectives to determine the dynamic
10
interaction and potential contradictions among social, political and economic process of human
health, nutrition and demography, and the use and abuse of natural resources (DeWalt 1998:
295, see also Stonich 1993; Stonich and DeWalt 1996).
A graduate student with the DeWalts, Susan Stonich worked alongside the other
researchers in southern Honduras in the 1980s. Following Blaikie and Brookfield (1987), Stonich
(1993) was one of the first authors to call her style political ecology. Stonich looked at the
connections between environmental, social, cultural, and policy characteristics of development in
southern Honduras at different levels spanning from the individual to the global. Using the
earlier works of Blaikie (1985) in which he showed how colonial practices were leading to soil
degradation of the fields of African farmers, Stonich proposed a “chain of explanation” to
demonstrate the link between the environmental deterioration and social processes in southern
Honduras (Stonich 1993:148). Stonich (1993) raises the question of human agency by studying
how external forces negotiate the behaviours of local actors. In her work, the concept of human
agency is employed to demonstrate individual responses to external forces and the ability of
individuals to make decisions.
Another important ethnographer and political ecologist in the Honduran context is Kees
Jansen. Jansen (1998) writes about agriculture and environmental deterioration in a village in the
municipality of Santa Bárbara, in western Honduras. Jansen believes that the agricultural
practices that he observed, which were destroying the land, were not the result of the commonly
cited causes such as poverty, ignorance, population pressures, or the imposition of external
capitalist development, but in fact are part of the larger environmental, social and political
context of the region (Jansen 1998). His main theoretical argument is that humans are subjects
who have the capacity to reproduce social structures that are constantly negotiated and
11
heterogeneous (Jansen 1998). He is particularly interested in the diversity of farmer responses to
environmental degradation. Like Billie DeWalt and Susan Stonich, Jansen realizes that the
diversity of individual responses means that some contradictions are present. Though he does not
particularly address nutrition or food security, his emphasis on rural households that produce
much of their own food, means that availability, access and utilization of basic grains is a theme
throughout his work.
Food Security and Food Security Strategies:
The most recent definition of food security by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) describes this concept as “a situation that exists when all people, at all times,
have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO 2002). This description
alludes to an idea of food security as not being solely the embodied experience of malnutrition by
an individual, but is instead about individuals being fully social and active beings. In fact, food
security contains biological, social and cultural components. And just as the world holds a
diversity of ways of living, individuals and households throughout the world create unique and
diverse strategies to try and achieve food security. My work looks at those strategies of attaining
food security employed by the farming households with whom I worked. In looking at food security
strategies, I take elements of the livelihoods perspective found in the local political ecology
framework and apply them to the decisions about food related issues made by rural highland
farmers in Honduras. Following from the above sub-section, political ecologists such as Warren,
Batterbury and Osbahr (2001) promote a local political ecology approach, which emphasises the
importance of local decision-making and local context. They build their framework on the work
of Chambers’ (1997) that shows that natural resources are only a part of what makes up
12
livelihoods. They also agree with Ellis (1999) and Rocheleau et al. (1996) in saying that forms of
power inherent in gender, class, ethnicity, and political status influence rights that affect
livelihoods and decision-making. When addressing food security strategies, it is important to
interpret these strategies in the context of the overall decisions that aim to meet a diversity of
needs. Food is only one of a variety of interdependent needs that effect household decisionmaking (FAO 2005:6). Households are always balancing conflicting interests and risks in order to
survive in both the short and longer terms (FAO 2005:6), and food strategies are an important
aspect of the whole.
What the term food security means and how food security can be improved is an idea
that has been “widely debated and much-confused” (von Braun et al 1992: 5). Indeed, since its
conception in the 1970s, the term has evolved and expanded to reflect how complex the role of
food is within society. The concept of food security was originally launched during the initial
World Food Conference in 1974, and was defined in terms of a global supply problem that could
be resolved by having a constant supply of basic foods at stable prices (Maxwell and Smith 1992).
Originally, the term food security was used to describe whether a country was self-sufficient, but
without addressing the meaning of sufficient. Maxwell and Smith (1992) discuss how ‘enough’
food meant having resources to meet dietary energy requirements of individuals, in other words
that there was sufficient caloric intake to supply all dietary energy needed by individuals. In the
early 1980s, Indian economist Amartya Sen wrote a book called Poverty and Famines: An Essay on
Entitlement and Deprivation (1981) which became very important in food security studies as in it he
demonstrated that famines do not only occur from lack of food, but from inherent inequalities
within society. The stressing of the individuals’ ability to access food, led to a new way of defining
the concept of food security (Pottier 1999:12). Works, such as Sen’s, showed that food insecurity
was not due to an absence of food in a region, but rather, that food insecurity was greatly affected
13
by the social roles and social status inherent in food access and production (Carr 2006:16).
According to Carr (2006:16), cultural perceptions and local knowledge were shown to have a
much more important role in food outcomes than had previously been envisioned. By focusing
on access to food, there was a shift in the idea of food security as a fulfillment of a fundamental
need to seeing food as one aspect of a diverse livelihood. In order to further understand the
multifaceted character of food, studies on food began to focus at a local level. Placing household
food security within a local environmental, political, and social context makes it an appropriate
concept to study from a political ecology perspective. Food security is both an area of study and a
perspective that has a decades’ old basis of investigating the constraints and capabilities of people
in their daily struggle to access food. Since my research focuses on food and nutrition, using food
security to analyze my data was the logical choice.
Achieving a world in which everyone has access to safe, sufficient, healthy, and culturally
appropriate food is a well-meaning goal, however, the definitions of food security promote the
notion that everyone should have food without specifying where it will come from, or who will
produce it. Because of this, it is worthy of critique. A food security that aims to build
transnational market mechanisms that ship commodities from one place to another, has been
criticized as the epitome of a neoliberal approach to development (Schanbacher 2010), one
which “may contribute to creating more dependency, poverty and marginalization” (IAASTD
2009:20). This can occur when concepts of food security become intertwined with ideas of
neoliberal development formulated by industrialized nations of the northern hemisphere, and
promoted heavily by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), and the UN’s
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The model of food security that they promoted was
characterized by trade liberalization, privatization, deregulation and open markets, with an
14
emphasis on industrialized, corporate-driven agriculture, a model that is distinctly different than
many unique and contextualized food security strategies throughout the world. This model of
food security also removes access to food from other elements of livelihoods and healthy living.
Because the notion of food security does not state in which manner safe, sufficient, healthy and
culturally appropriate food should be achieved, this ambiguity has allowed the term has been
coopted by a wide range of actors. Others have moved away from the concept of food security
and formulated a new term called food sovereignty.
Food Sovereignty
While the notion of food security draws attention to access to food, the notion of food
sovereignty incorporates "the right of peoples and sovereign states to democratically determine
their own agricultural and food policies" (IAASTD Global Report 2009:113). The difference
between food security and food sovereignty is that the former sets a goal while the latter defines
the way to realize this goal. In 1996, the members of La Vía Campesina created the concept of
the food sovereignty framework to mean:
“The right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced
through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define
their own food and agriculture systems. It puts those who produce, distribute
and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the
demands of markets and corporations. It defends the interests and inclusion of
the next generation...Food sovereignty prioritizes local and national economies
and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture...and
food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social
and economic sustainability” (La Vía Campesina 2007).
Quaye et al. (2009) describe food sovereignty as having four rights: (a) the right to nutritious, safe,
15
sufficient, and ethnically suitable food, (b) the right to access land, water, seeds, and biodiversity,
(c) the right to produce food sustainably and in an ecologically acceptable manner, and (d) the
right to access trade and local markets (see also Quaye 2007). Figure 1 presents a conceptual
framework of food sovereignty.
Figure 1: Food Sovereignty Source: Adapted from Quaye et al. 2009.
To understand the history of the term food sovereignty, one must understand the history of the
global farmers’ organization called La Via Campesina5 . La Via Campesina (or simply Via
Campesina as they say in Honduras) is an international movement comprising organizations
made up of landless peasants, small-scale farmers, migrants and farm workers, rural women, and
indigenous and agrarian communities throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. This
organization grants opportunities for farmers to express a set of demands in the international
arena (Desmarais 2008:138). Over 150 agricultural organizations, representing millions of rural
households from over 56 countries are a part of La Via Campesina (Desmarais 2008:138). The
movement has strong links to Honduras. The early 1990s were a time of increasing liberalization
in Honduras (see Chapter 4 for further discussion), and the Honduras leaders struggling for
agrarian reform encountered many hardships. The remaining farmer unions during these
5
“The Peasant’s Way”
16
hardships of reduced capital to fund local organizations constituted Coordinador de Organizaciones
Campesinas de Honduras (Honduran Coordinating Council of Peasant Organizations, COCOCH).
The lack of funds prohibited the organization from performing any significant action within their
own country. Thus, national leaders had to explore beyond their borders to find opportunities for
political and civil society engagement. In 1991, the Honduran leaders met with farmer union
leaders from six other countries to found the Association of Central American Peasant
Organizations for Cooperation and Development (ASOCODE). At the 1992 ASOCODE
meeting in Managua, COCOCH leader Rafael Alegría attended along with delegates from
North America, the Caribbean, and Europe. During this meeting they passed the Managua
Declaration in which they called on “sister farm organizations” globally to unite with them in
constructing an “alternative development model” (Edelman 2003:194). In 1993, in another
global assembly of peasant and farmer organization organizers in Mons, Belgium, La Via
Campesina was formally established. Honduras is further linked with this global movement
because from 1996–2004 this association was headquartered along with COCOCH in the
Honduran capital with Alegría as its general coordinator (Desmarais 2007:8).
In 1996, La Via Campesina initiated its campaign around the notion of food
sovereignty during the World Food Summit mentioned above. There, the peasant network
publicised food sovereignty as “the right of each nation to maintain and develop its own capacity
to produce its basic foods, respecting cultural and productive diversity”, and also “the right to
produce our own food in our own territory” (Desmarais 2007:34). In 2000, La Via Campesina
added “the right of peoples to define their agriculture and food policy” (Desmarais 2007:34).
Food sovereignty was seen as a viable alternative to formal food security policy, specifically its
dismissal of the importance of local food production. For many in the movement, the phrase
17
“food security” was fashioned within a climate of mistrust of American and neoliberal strategies
that aimed to feed the world with surpluses grown in the western world (McMichael, 2008:42).
I have used the concept of food sovereignty because of the ideas rooted in Honduran
agrarian movements, its focus on local and democratic participation, but more importantly,
because it reveals the complex and heterogeneous makeup of small-scale agricultural
communities. The idea of food sovereignty helps increase understanding of the heterogeneity,
complexity, and agency of these communities alongside the diversity of the cultural values,
traditions, and customs they embrace. Indeed, along with recognizing the diversity of local
communities, this concept allows for the recognition of the importance of the agency of local
actors. Food sovereignty allows us to "avoid conceiving of these communities as passive subjects
of the globalization process" (Schanbacher 2010:55). In order to situate the food strategies of the
households in rural Honduras with whom I worked, the next chapter describes the context of the
research.
18
CHAPTER 2: Research Context
Geographic location, physical environment, and social and demographic
factors of the Otoro Valley
Travelling from San Pedro Sula, the largest city in Honduras, to the Otoro valley and the
town of Jesus de Otoro in the department of Intibucá, one passes along a smooth new highway
that connects the Caribbean Sea on the northern side and the Pacific Ocean in the south.
Vehicles pass through plantations of bananas, sugar cane, and oil palms, flat, uniform cornfields,
and large expanses of rocky soil with cattle grazing. Evidence of mechanization, such as tractors
and large irrigation systems, can be seen in the plantations and fields, and some communities
where the farm workers live are tucked in amongst the large blocks of mono-cropped land. As
one climbs out of the Sula Valley and into the highlands, the view changes. The steep slopes of
the mountains are a mosaic of small fields of maize, coffee, and pasture, fruit trees and
pineapples, fallow fields, and the small plots of cleared land around homes, all tucked in between
stretches of secondary forest. Vendors selling fruit, candy, pottery, and woven baskets sit in small
shelters at the side of the highway, though with the improvements of the highway paid for with
funds from the United State’s Millennium Challenge Corporation, many vendors have been
moved to small concrete block stalls. The highway passes Lago de Yojoa, the largest lake in
Honduras, where small restaurants and individuals selling strings of tilapia and black bass line the
sides of the highway. Midway between San Pedro Sula and the capital city is the town of
Siguatepeque. At the town of Siguatepeque, one has to leave the large highway and head south
towards the indigenous town of La Esperanza. South of this turn-off, a paved highway passes
through the mountains and down into one of Honduras’ interior valleys, the Otoro Valley,
19
before snaking its way back up into the mountains. As you head out of the mountains and into
the Otoro Valley, you get vast views of the large pastures and rice fields that fill the valley
bottom, with smaller plots tucked
into irregular or poorer locations
and high mountains surrounding
the valley. It is in this region that I
conducted my research within
three communities at different
altitudes: 1) Barrio Nuevo, 2)
Crucita Oriente, and 3) El Águila.
See Figure 2 for a map of the area
showing the location of these
communities in relation to Jesus
de Otoro.
Jesus de Otoro is the
county seat for a municipality by
the same name, which consists of
this large town, five villages and
approximately 150 smaller
Figure 2: Map of Jesus de Otoro and surrounding
area, including Barrio Nuevo, Crucita Oriente, and
El Águila (sketch by the author, 2010)
communities, housing a total
population of around 25,000 inhabitants (Martinez 2009). In pre-Colombian times, the valley
was home to many Lenca agricultural communities, who cultivated maize, yucca, beans, sugar
cane, sweet potatoes, cocoa, and many fruits (Ienstroza M 2007:37). The valley changed
20
drastically with the arrival of Spanish settlers in the 16th century, who brought with them horses,
pigs and cows (Ienstroza M 2007:37). By the 19th century, much of the valley land had been
appropriated by a landowning oligarchy to grow sugar cane, coffee, tobacco, and intensive cattle
ranching, using the indigenous and mestizo population to work the farms (Ienstroza M 2007:37).
Today, the communities at higher altitudes around the valley are predominantly of Lenca ethnic
origin. Over the last few decades there has been some in-migration from the poorer areas of
southern and western Honduras. At the same time there has been much out-migration by family
members who work in the larger cities, such as San Pedro Sula or Tegucigalpa. Many families
also have members who live in the United States, most being “mojados” (illegal immigrants).
Though the fertility rate in Honduras fell from six children per woman in 1980 to 3.3 in the
present (Bermúdez-Madriz et al., 2010:S211), families with whom I spoke tended to be large,
with many members. Some families had up to 14 children, and families in the more remote areas
were apt to have larger families. Often siblings will live nearby and it was not uncommon to see
many young cousins playing together at the homes I visited.
Infrastructure, such as roads, homes and schools, differ depending on location within the
valley. Most areas are served only by gravel or sand roads, which become difficult to traverse
during the rainy season (from May to November).
During this time the roads become
increasingly washed out and fixing them would mean that all the work might wash away in the
next afternoon rainstorm. One important organization that fixes and improves rural roads is the
Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE), which was established in 1970 (Tucker 2008). IHCAFE is
a not-for-profit private body that supports coffee improvements, development and marketing,
and promotion of Honduran coffee. During the late 1980s, the Honduran government passed a
decree that instituted an annual payment for the improvements of roads in departments where
21
coffee was produced that was to be proportional to production (Tucker 2008). This means that
roads are improved until the point where coffee is grown, but that communities living at higher
altitudes do not have roads that are accessible by the trucks that pick up the freshly cut coffee.
Moreover, all roads lead down into the valley’s large coffee cooperatives, and thus, to drive from
one highland community to another might mean having to drive all the way down into the valley
before heading up a different mountain road. However, many foot trails lead from one
community to the other, and even when roads are used to travel by foot, many shortcuts
(derechura) cut straight through the forests and fields, instead of following the hairpin curves of the
road.6 In the highland communities, most people get around on foot or on horseback.
The homes in the villages are built predominantly of adobe or cinder block, plastered and
whitewashed using local calcium, or painted in colours. Within communities it is easy to spot the
households that receive remittances, as they have often been newly built and are painted bright
colours and have high cinderblock walls around the yards. Within the smaller communities, most
of the houses have dirt floors and are made of adobe or bahareque (plaited wood or cornstalk
and mud walls). All the houses I visited that had dirt floors were swept spotless, as were the patios
around the home. Houses have either sheet metal or tile roofs. In the past, houses had thatch,
however, I was told that there had been a program to replace thatch roofs because of the illnesses
caused by insects that lived in them.7 The majority of the houses have no screens on the
People mention that it can be dangerous walking down the mountain paths, especially by yourself. They mention
danger from wild animals, robbers, and ‘bolos’ (drunks).
7 Chinches are insects measuring about two to three centimetres long which such blood. During the day they hide in
the cracks of adobe walls and thatch roofs, and at night they come out looking for human blood. They transmit the
parasite Trypanosomoa cruzi, which leads to Chagas disease. Chagas disease causes high fever and swelling of the eyelids at first, but years later it reapears and attacks internal organs (CIDA 2011).
6
22
windows or doors, and wooden shutters are closed only when the family is not home.8 This is a
worry to some, as flies, mosquitoes, gnats and other disease vectors fly easily throughout the
home.
Basic education in Honduras goes up until sixth grade. In rural communities, often there
are only one or two teachers for the six grades, and rarely do classes go beyond that. For further
education, youth must rent, billet, or stay with family in the town of Jesus de Otoro in order to
attend colegio for three more years. For most of the population, grade six is the terminal grade. In
the early 1990s, the Secretary of Education and USAID created the Educatodos program which
gave youth and adults the opportunity to finish grades one through six in three years. The
program was expanded in 2000 to include grades seven through nine. Educatodos offers an
alternative way of education that centres around rural and marginal urban populations who have
limited access to formal schooling. The program is coordinated through local volunteer
facilitators (facilitadores) who teach in the evenings or on weekends using audiotapes and
textbooks. Educatodos had a strong program in one of my research communities, while in another
community they had a community-organized school that had been built by FHIS (Fondo
Hondureno de Inversion Social). In the latter village, the local community looked after the school, the
school grounds and prepared the school lunch, and organized the pay of the teacher through a
program run by the ministry of education called El Proyecto Hondureno de Educacion Comunitaria
(PROHECO).
Income in these communities is primarily earned through agricultural activities. Most
While parcitipating in an information and funding drive with local youth in a small village, I observed that the
youth knew if someone was away from home from afar by seeing if the shutters were closed and if there was no
smoke coming from the kitchen.
8
23
crops require temporary labour, and therefore, many people work as day labourers while also
engaging in household subsistence activities. During the summer (January to April) coffee picking
provides alternative forms of income, especially important to women and children. Public schools
are closed during this time to allow children to participate in income generation for the
household. Women and older children also bake bread and tamales to sell within the community.
Some individuals work selling second-hand clothing or plastic kitchenware door-to-door, while
others work in the town of Jesus de Otoro. Most land is privately owned, although there are also
lands that are communal, national, or occupied (meaning used by those who do not have title to
the land) (Martínez 2009).
Increasingly, the younger generation is migrating to major cities of the country or abroad
to work and remittances are sent back to their families in Honduras. Honduras receives a large
amount of income remittances, estimated at $2 billion by the World Bank in 2004 (Boland and
Brautigam 2010), from migrants working in the United States. The Honduran government
anticipates that remittances from the maquila sector and from the United States will help produce
non-farm activities in rural areas and lead to lower levels of rural poverty (Humphries et al.
2012). Approximately 11 percent of Honduran families have a relative abroad, representing
nearly 1 million Hondurans (of 7 million living in the country) who have left in search of better
livelihoods (IDRC 2007). Many in Honduras, however, see remittances as having a negative
impact on agriculture and also on nutrition. While driving with a FIPAH agronomist, for
example, we passed through a town with nice new buildings, but no men to be seen. I was told
that most of the males above the age of 16 had left and were sending money home. This had
implications for more than just community demographics. For example, I was also told that the
local NGO with whom I was associated used to work in this village, but that the program failed
24
because of the lack of interest. There was no longer a farmer research group here as it was the
men who would normally work the fields, and the women did not want to work. This was
because they did not have to work thanks to the dollars coming back from their husbands or
other male relatives.9 DeWalt (1998) explains that, “because the poor have increasingly come to
depend on the remittances from those members of their family who engage in temporary or
permanent migration, they are unwilling to invest time and resources in attempting to intensify
their agricultural operations” (308). I was told that this has led to an increase in consumption of
processed foods and a decrease in the ability of families to eat nutritious foods.
As discussed in the Introduction, Honduras has a high prevalence of malnutrition, which
is shaped not only by food availability and access, but also by disease, sanitation, and the
availability of preventative health care services (FAO 2010: 33). The health system in Honduras
is composed of public and private sectors. Two institutions provide public health care: the
Secretarías de Salud (SS), and the Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social (IHSS). There is a large health
centre in the town of Jesus de Otoro, which is always very busy, and a small centre in Crucita
Oriente, but the nurse and doctors are there very infrequently. The leading causes of death in
Honduras are deaths during the perinatal period, followed by diabetes, strokes, and respiratory
diseases, such as influenza and pneumonia (Bermúdez-Madriz et al 2010:S211). Most
communities in the valley have a midwife, though not necessarily with formal training (also see
During a meeting with youth CIALs in the Marcala area, two young men spoke about how programs such as the
CIALs run by FIPAH are very important to the youth in these small communities. For the youth here it is hard to
stay when there is not anything to do there, so they migrate to the large cities such as Tegucigalpa or San Pedro Sula
in search of work. Others try and hop on the train that brings them to the US. However, programs such as the
CIALs are giving youth a reason to stay, skills to start their own businesses within their communities, skills to
improve their livelihoods, a reason to stay together with family, a reason to be proud of who they are. Thanks to my
friend Warren Dodd for bringing this issue originally to my attention. Warren mentioned this after his stay in
Vallecillo, which is another area where FIPAH works, and where this is an ongoing problem issue. He had questions
about what FIPAH´s role was in addressing the issue of the “villages without men”.
9
25
Rowlands 1997:67). Despite advances in the control of pre-transitional conditions, vector-borne
diseases like dengue, malaria and Chagas disease, still pose a serious threat, especially to the
poorest households (Bermúdez-Madriz et al 2010:S211). Diarrhoea related to intestinal
infections affects many children under 5 living in poverty, which is linked to lack of access to
clean drinking water (Bermúdez-Madriz et al 2010:S211). I was told that the leading causes of
death among both adults and children in the hillside communities of Jesus de Otoro are
complications from gastrointestinal and respiratory infections. During my time in the Valley, it
became evident from interactions in many of the communities that households lack the financial
resources and education to know when to seek medical attention, leading to worse infections that
are more difficult and costly to treat.
Drinking water in the countryside is taken from small streams, springs or groundwater.
The amount of water is not necessarily enough, and the water may not be clean since many of
the water sources are adversely affected by untreated wastewater and sedimentation arising from
deforestation. In rural communities in Honduras, many national and international organizations
have facilitated the building of wells and gravity-fed water systems, in particular after Hurricane
Mitch in 1998. However, many of these international organizations and NGOs seldom return to
see if the water systems are working or to provide funding for maintenance and operation.
Maintenance is left as the responsibility of the communities, where organizations have educated
community members to be plumbers and created water boards (Juntas de Agua) to collect water. In
some communities the Juntas de Agua can be very powerful, such as was the case in one of the
communities I visited during my work with the local NGO. In rural areas, the Servicio Autónomo
Nacional de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (SANAA) or National Autonomous Water and Sewerage
Service, has worked in small communities to provide one tap and latrine to each house and
sanitary education to the communities. Many houses I visited had latrines and pilas (above
26
ground water holding tanks used for bathing, washing dishes, and doing laundry), and PLAN
International had built the majority of them. However, I also visited houses that did not have
latrines with a septic tank, but instead just holes in the ground that in turn contaminated the
surrounding water sources.
I was informed that many of the waterways are unfit for human consumption due to
bacteria and/or pesticide contamination from farmers’ fields (such as DDT). Especially in the
valley, people mentioned that the water was not good for drinking, and that children were
susceptible to diarrhoea and parasites. People are very aware of the importance of clean water. In
2011, the local NGO began a community project to evaluate the water quality in Maye, a
community within the valley, in response to concerns about contamination and its effect on
malnutrition and wellbeing. While I was in Barrio Nuevo, women invited me to a demonstration
in Siguatepeque to protest the illegal cutting of the forest around the headwaters of the streams
that provided water to their community and those above them. As I will discuss in Chapter 4, El
Águila and its neighbouring communities also have a history with water protection.
The town of Jesus de Otoro has a garbage collection. However, the waste is brought to a
location along the highway above some of the lower valley communities and alongside a stream,
where the waste is picked over and then burnt. From most locations in the valley it was possible
to see the smoke from the dump. The mountainside at this location was growing with the
constant dumping of garbage. Some members of the highland communities brought their waste
to the dump themselves, but usually solid waste was dumped beside the house and burnt in small
fires. The smell of burning plastic was not uncommon while visiting these communities.
27
Only a few communities, usually those close to the highway, have electricity. Of the
communities I worked in, only a few houses at the upper end of Barrio Nuevo had electricity
because of their proximity to Coclan, a community along the highway. Nearly all of the
households in the Otoro Valley use firewood for cooking, which puts great pressure on the
surrounding forests. Though most households I visited had stoves that vented outdoors,
historically many of these homes would have had stoves that kept the smoke inside. Even with
chimneys leading outside, smoke does enter the house from the open windows. Most families
desired roble (Quercus segoviensis), for their firewood as they say it burns hot with little smoke and
ocote (Pinus oocarpa) to start the fire as it has resin that easily ignites.
Malnutrition and “Hidden Hunger”
The most recent estimates by the United Nations agency the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) are that 925 million people globally do not get enough food to meet their
needs for an active life (FAO 2010). The percentage is higher than the level of 800 million at the
occasion of the second World Food Summit in 1996 as well as greater than it was previous to the
2008 food crises (Wegner and Zwart 2011). As mentioned, in Honduras 75 percent of the
population of rural areas live in extreme poverty, and a third of all Honduran children under the
age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition (PAHO 2007), which means that they do not eat
enough energy and protein over a long period resulting in stunted growth. However, energyprotein malnutrition is not the only concern. Taken together, micronutrient deficiencies affect a
larger number of people globally than does protein-energy malnutrition (Bouis et al. 1999). This
“hidden hunger” caused by vitamin A-deficiency (VAD) disorders, iron deficiency and anaemia,
and iodine-deficiency disorders, is estimated to affect over 2 billion people worldwide (Kennedy
et al. 2003). Pregnant women and young children are considered to be the most vulnerable to
28
these deficiencies (Dickinson et al. 2009). Although the country was certified as virtually free of
iodine-deficiency disorders in 2002, one third of Honduran children suffer from iron deficiency,
and anaemia continues to be prevalent among women, especially pregnant women (PAHO
2007). VAD in Honduras affects approximately 16-19 percent of people in rural areas according
to a national survey in 1996 (Nestel et al. 1999:36). Deficiencies in essential micronutrients
diminish children’s motivation and development as well as damaging mental and cognitive
abilities and leading to lower intellectual and physical abilities when these children become adults
(Graham and Welch 2000: 1629-1630). Micronutrient malnutrition not only leads to poor
health, but lowers worker productivity, causes increases in “rates of mortality, chronic diseases,
and permanent cognitive impairment of infants born to mothers with micronutrient deficiencies”
lessening many prospects for secure, comfortable lives (Dickinson et al. 2009).
Policymakers, economists and plant breeders typically see malnutrition as an issue of low
agricultural productivity. This means that only certain agricultural policies are put forward,
which leads to an emphasis by commercial breeders on yield and yield stability, while other
agronomic traits such as resistance to pests, plant height, and likelihood of lodging are also taken
into account (Duvick and Cassman 1999). Yield is important for increasing quantity of food, but
indicates little about the availability of nutrients for consumption. The dedication over the last
half-century to increasing yields has created a “blind spot where incremental erosion in the
nutritional quality of our food has occurred” (Halweil 2007:5). There has recently been a call to
realize that attention merely to production yields and not nutritional value is unsound and
negligent policy (Welsh and Graham 2002; Ruel and Bouis 1998; Dickenson et al. 2009).
29
Local NGO: Fundacion de Investigacion Participativa de Honduras
(Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers, or FIPAH)
Beginning in 1996, a program was developed in Honduras using the method of CIALs
(Comité de Investigación Agrícola Local) established by the International Center for Tropical
Agriculture (CIAT) (Classen et al. 2008). This methodology instructs groups of farmers to
investigate new farming practices and local crop varieties along with modern agricultural
practices and improved varieties of crops. The majority of CIAL programs in Honduras are
supported by a non-governmental organization called Fundacion de Investigacion Participativa de
Honduras (Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers or FIPAH) which is in
turn funded through a partnership with USC-Canada, a Canadian NGO committed to
supporting small-holder farmers and to protecting their seed systems, along with the
Development Fund (Utviklingsfondet), a Norwegian non-governmental organization. Today FIPAH
works with more than 800 smallholder farmers in 66 CIALs located in different regions of
Honduras. This includes communities in the municipalities of Yorito, Victoria, and Sulaco in the
department of Yoro, Vallecillo in the department of Francisco Morazán, Jesús de Otoro,
Masaguara, and San Francisco de Opalaca in the department de Intibucá, as well as La Iguala
and Gracias in the department of Lempira. Women make up approximately 50 per cent of CIAL
members and are increasingly playing leadership positions in the CIALs (Classen et al. 2008).
Many CIALs no longer work solely on crop improvement projects, though this continues to be
their main aim, but they also provide support to members through the creation of seed banks,
grain storage, credit programs, sewing and cooking classes, biodiversity and seed fairs, and
workshops on topics such as health and nutrition (Classen et al 2008:13).
30
Larger Research Project:
My project took place alongside the implementation of a Participatory Plant Breeding
(PPB) program in association with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT), Honduran farmer researchers, and Honduran agronomists working with the
Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers (FIPAH). Honduran farmerresearchers, FIPAH agronomists, as well as Dr. Gary Atlin, director of the Maize Program at
CIMMYT, and Dr. Sally Humphries, director of International Development Studies, University
of Guelph, developed this research program in response to the high prevalence of malnutrition in
Central America, and in particular within Honduras. The PPB program was supported by a
research grant (Canada-CGIAR Linkage Fund) through the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA). The scientifically rigorous methods of PPB are complemented by
my anthropological methods. These methods will be discussed in the following chapter.
31
CHAPTER 3: Research Methodology
My interest in doing graduate work in Honduras started while I was working on a small
island off the north coast of Honduras between seasonal contract jobs for Ontario Parks in
Canada. During my stay in Honduras in May 2009, having applied to the Public Issues
Anthropology program and International Development for the following September, I was able
to attend a meeting of FIPAH staff with Dr. Sally Humphries, a professor with whom I had done
an independent project during the last year of my undergraduate degree. During the meeting, I
was introduced to many of the FIPAH agronomists and other staff and learnt about work that
they do, as well as past projects done by university students. It was here that we decided that
staying for a month with FIPAH members would allow me to practice my Spanish, and
familiarize myself with the interior of Honduras as well as the work that FIPAH does.
My advisor Sally Humphries, FIPAH staff, and I selected the municipality of Jesus de
Otoro as the site for my research primarily because of its institutional links with FIPAH, and with
the larger project on maize with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT). It was also a location where FIPAH works, but no students from the University of
Guelph had yet worked. During June 2009, I had the opportunity to live with FIPAH agronomist
Omar Gallardo and his family just outside of Jesus de Otoro. Omar Gallardo is one of the
regional FIPAH agronomists who are responsible for implementation of maize experiments set
up through CIMMYT. During this month I accompanied Omar, other FIPAH agronomists, and
farmer facilitators to many different communities with whom FIPAH works in the departments
of Intibucá, La Paz, and Lempira. While working with FIPAH I met the second annual team of
students from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who were working with FIPAH
32
through Nourish International. Over the summers of 2008, 2009 and 2010, Nourish
International volunteers worked with FIPAH on climate change surveys within the communities,
assisted in the building of greenhouses, taught classes in English and self-esteem with the youth
farmer committees, and made a documentary on food security in Honduras. While I was in
Otoro, I was able to travel with the two students who were working on this documentary while
they interviewed farmers, rural movement leaders (including Rafael Alegria), NGO workers,
professors of anthropology, professors at the Pan-American School of Agriculture (Zamorano),
and government officials. This provided me with an invaluable opportunity to learn about some
of the prominent issues surrounding agriculture, food, and food security in Honduras.
I conducted my primary fieldwork for four months between May 19th, 2010 and August
26th, 2010. I arrived in Honduras in time for a meeting with FIPAH agronomists and the new
leader of the CIMMYT-CCLF maize project, Felix San Vicente, at the FIPAH offices in Yorito,
Yoro. During this meeting I learned about how the CIMMYT project was proceeding and
briefly explained my plans for my thesis project. After this meeting I returned to the region of
Jesus de Otoro where I was to conduct my research. Here I sat down with Omar Gallardo and
together we looked over my proposal. He gave me suggestions, particularly about questions to
ask during interviews, and in which communities around Jesus de Otoro to do my research.
Further comments and suggestions were gathered during a meeting with local farmer facilitators
and CIAL leaders at the FIPAH offices in Otoro during my first week there. At this meeting I
presented myself, explained my research project and then listened to their ideas about what I
should ask during my interviews in order to elicit information on factors affecting food security.
This gave me a basic understanding of perceptions of nutrition and culinary values within the
communities, and allowed me to ask appropriate questions. However, perhaps because of my
33
involvement in the wider maize project, many of the suggestions and comments were directed
towards maize consumption, cultivation and nutrition, and not more broadly at nutrition and
food security. Other reasons for this became clearer as I progressed through my research (see
Chapter 5).
Research Assistance:
After the first week, I was able to arrange to work with a young woman from one of the
communities. Angela Gomez10 was free to help me with my work, as her job with the local coffee
cooperative was only part time during the months of May to August. Her mother and sisters
work with FIPAH as farmer facilitators and as radio hosts and Angela has helped out in the past
with projects in most of the communities where FIPAH Otoro works. Angela’s background
growing up in a mid-altitude community in the Otoro valley, as well as her knowledge of farming
systems (especially coffee), the local varieties of crops, foods, and customs made her an ideal
person to help me with this project. Her patience and kindness were invaluable in helping
translate between my Spanish and the local dialect during field visits and interviews.
Community Selection:
While choosing communities in which to work, I was reminded of the words of Stonich
(1993), who, while writing a political ecology ethnography of southern Honduras, used an
integrated perspective to show the linkages between social processes and the environment
(Stonich 1993). In so doing, she was cognisant of the variability and heterogeneity of the social
and environmental setting she was describing, and aware that her sampling strategies needed to
be chosen “so as to be capable of collecting data that are representative of that heterogeneity”
10
Her name is used with consent.
34
(Stonich 1993: 27). With this in mind, during my first weeks in Jesus de Otoro, I was able to sit
down with FIPAH staff and decide in which communities to work. We chose three communities
in the municipality of Jesus de Otoro. Communities were selected based on whether there is a
current and well-established CIAL working within the communities, and also with altitude in
mind. The altitude at which the communities are located means differences in climate, which
crops are grown, different abilities to access markets and to land, and also “influence from the
cities” as one agronomist referred to the influence of western cultures and the loss of traditional
Lenca practices. We choose the community of El Águila that was “de arriba” (at the top), Crucitas
Oriente as the community “de medio” (in the middle), and Barrio Nuevo was the community “de
abajo” (at the bottom) (see Table 1).
Table 1: Summary of Three Communities
Community
Name:
Meters
above sea
level
Distance
to Otoro
(on foot
towards
town)
45 minutes
Population
School
Health
Centre
Land Title
Intervie
wees
(Male +
Female)
Barrio Nuevo
Around 750
65 houses
No
Majority rent
land, some with
private land
7+5=12
Around
1,165
1.5 hour
85 houses
Yes
Over 2
hours
25 houses
About half own
a small amount
of land of their
own, while the
others only rent.
Communal title,
plus some
private title
5+7=12
Above 1,730
To grade 6,
with easy
commute to
Colegió in
Otoro
To grade 6,
with
Educatodos
available
until grade 9
To grade 6
with one
teacher
Crucita
Oriente
El Águila
No
6+6=12
I concentrated on the heterogeneity of the environmental context, rather than the social
heterogeneity. However, due to the character of the CIALs, which involves an “ethic of
inclusiveness” (Classen et al 2008: 12), I feel that I had the opportunity to interact with both
leaders within the community and those considered the most marginalized.
35
Participant recruitment:
Through the FIPAH staff, I met key members of CIALs, who then introduced me to other
members of the community. While attending ClAL meetings/activities in the three communities,
I had the opportunity to introduce myself to the community members, explain briefly my
research project, and ask their permission to conduct research in their villages. My research was
also explained briefly over the radio during the weekly farm radio program. Afterwards members
of the communities would ask me further questions about my research during informal
conversations.
Data Collection Methods and Ethical Considerations:
During my initial fieldtrip I carried out participant observation, semi-structured interviews,
a group interview, and arranged for the laboratory nutrient analysis of 90 varieties of maize. In
May 2011, I returned to Honduras to give an update on my work, to attend a meeting with
CIMMYT officials and FIPAH staff, as well as to informally interview a few farmers to clarify
and elucidate some questions that had come up during the initial writing process.
Participant-Observation:
Participant-observation occurred both in the fields with the farmers, at CIAL and
community meetings, at documentary screenings, and within homes, especially at mealtimes,
during trips to market, and during planting and harvesting. By participating in the work that
FIPAH does, I was able to work in the fields, doing such work as hoeing the soil in preparation
for planting, sowing and weeding, as well as harvesting beans, vegetables, fruits, and herbs. My
undergraduate background in ecology, and experience working on farms and gardens in Canada,
allowed me to be a participant in these undertakings, with a perspective of someone who was not
36
completely new to these activities. Work in the fields also allowed time for observation on crop
selection and casual conversation about preferred crop varieties (particularly maize varieties),
health, and changes in available maize varieties. I performed participant observation in early
morning tortilla making11 and other chores, lunch and merienda (small snack) during community
activities and preparation. During this time I was able to make a list of foods eaten by members
of local households (see Appendix 4). Participant observation also allowed for observation of
culinary practices and casual conversation around the local crop varieties, food preparation, the
locally preferred nutritional and culinary qualities of maize, and any changes in preferences. The
method of participant observation provided a context for the statements and data generated
through my other methods, as well as adding a depth of understanding to culinary practices, the
characteristics of preferred local maize varieties, and perceptions of health, nutrition and dietary
change. This method also gave me a hands-on understanding of the labour requirements
throughout a day by all members of the community.
In order to be able to participate and observe the activities within the households, and
interview farmers who were working in far off fields during the day, Angela and I arranged to
stay overnight in each community. In Crucita Oriente, one of the CIAL members arranged for
us to stay in the local school. We were given mattresses to sleep on, and were able to purchase
food for a late dinner from a family, which we ate after two lengthy interviews with farmers who
were eager to chat by candlelight in the school. At 5:45 AM we rose and walked over to a home
of a wonderful woman whom we had interviewed the day before and had arranged to meet that
morning at 6 AM. She was eager to show me how to make tortillas and laugh with me at my
I had the opportunity to learn how to degrain maize, how to grind it, and how to make tortillas during my
fieldwork, with sore thumbs, sore arms, and burnt fingertips that go along with that!
11
37
childish, small, and thick tortillas. In both Barrio Nuevo and El Águila, Angela and I were
welcomed into the homes of community members twice during my time in Otoro, and I was able
to observe and participate in the late evening and morning activities surrounding food
preparation and chores.
Semi-structured Interviews:
Preliminary interview guides were developed prior to arriving in Honduras, and
reworked after talking to NGO members and local community members (See Appendix 1 for my
key interview questions). Questions were open-ended and designed to offer interviewees the
opportunity to elaborate on the issues and topics that were of concern or interest to them. The
semi-structured nature of the interviews allowed for flexibility to explore for details or discuss
issues not brought up in the questions, while allowing for a more relaxed atmosphere and
conversation. Semi-structured interviews are valuable for defining patterns of knowledge and
belief because the same questions are asked of several informants. This method develops a
qualitative base for the construction of ethnographic research (Hahn and Inhorn 2010). Semistructured interviews were conducted so as to allow for freedom within the interview. The
interviews took place with individuals in the three research communities. I interviewed three
non-CIAL family groups (including husband, wife, children, grandparents) and three CIAL
family groups within each of the three communities. This was done to account for differences in
perceptions held by the CIAL members that might differ from the wider communities. As I
hoped to gain an understanding of culinary practices, the characteristics of preferred local crop
varieties, and perceptions of health, nutrition and dietary change, which are concepts that may
vary between genders and generations, I aimed to speak to both male and female community
members, and individuals of different ages. Interviewees were over 18 year old, though I had
38
interactions with people of all ages over the course of my research. 12 Individuals directly
involved with food preparation, farmers (male and female), and elders within the community
were key informants. Elders were of particular interest when documenting dietary change. I
recognized that workloads are demanding, especially for women, and making time for an
interview may have been difficult for farmers. I did not want to put any community member in a
position where he or she might feel coerced into participation. I began by interviewing members
of the CIALs within these communities, but widened the search for possible interviewees by
asking CIAL members if they could introduce me to other members of the community. This
produced a snowball sampling method. A snowball sampling method was appropriate as this
qualitative sudy was not meant to be generalized to a wider population. After consultation with
FIPAH staff and CIAL members, it was decided that three households of CIAL members and
three with non-CIAL members would be interviewed in each community. CIAL members
seemed eager to speak to me and be interviewed. I had previously met a few of them in 2009, as
well as during visits to the communities with FIPAH staff, and during workshops in the FIPAH
office. Non-CIAL members tended to be more wary; especially those in the highland community
of El Águila. It was in this community that I found that not everyone in each family wanted to be
interviewed.
Group Interview:
As part of my interview process I used three techniques commonly used within nutritional
anthropology and participatory research (see Blum et al 1997) in a group setting. It was decided
that my group interview would be done with members of the Asociación de Ciales Agrícolas de la
I was able to participate in Youth CIAL meetings and workshops, help English and health classes with Nourish
International, and I played a lot of soccer with youth during my time in Honduras.
12
39
Región de Otoro (ASOCIADRO), the association of all the CIALs in the area. Although members
of the Asociación had a busy schedule of events, fairs and workshops on top of their daily work, I
was able to meet with all eight of them during the final week of my fieldwork.
A free listing technique was performed where the interviewees were asked a series of
questions that are designed to yield a list of varieties that are perceived by them to be of high
nutritional and culinary value (see Appendix 2 for list of questions). The list gathered names of
different varieties of maize and other foods, as well as possible synonyms for each food item. A list
of varieties that were spoken about during interviews and participant-observation were compiled
together with the free-listing inventory of varieties. Participants reviewed this list and checked off
whether yield, flavour, colour, commercial value, and nutritional value were very good, good,
regular, poor, or very poor. This gave me an idea of what varieties were valued, and for what
reasons.
The second technique I used was pile sorting, where I used cards with the name of maize
varieties on each, and where possible, the addition of a physical sample of the variety of maize or
other food item. The respondents were asked to sort the varieties into piles or groups that go
together. This process gave me an idea of the emic grouping of crop varieties and foods with
similarly perceived nutritional qualities, but also allowed me to ask about the meaning, or criteria
of similarity, among varieties in the same group. My expectation was that the respondents’
explanations would be more revealing than the groupings themselves.
This was true, as
participants' reasoning behind the groupings was of great value to my research, and
complemented the answers they had given during interviews.
40
Joanna Kocsis, a Masters student in the Rural Planning and Development program at
Guelph, assisted me in facilitating the group interviews, and in particular led an exercise called
Dotmocracy, a facilitation method for gathering and identifying levels of consensus on written
reports among a large group. In trying to elicit a visual representation of what varieties were
considered the best in nutritional value, Joanna had participants privately put checks next to a list
of varieties in another room, to show which they believed were three most nutritional varieties.
Check marks representing first place were tallied as three points, second place checks with two
points, and those in third place with one point. These points were added together to show a
visual representation of the group's collective preferences.
During my final visit in May 2011, I was able to interview a group of individuals from El
Aguila about some of my preliminary findings and to clarify a few of the answers I had received
the year before. By using different methods, including semi-structured interviews, group
interviews and by consulting with FIPAH staff members and facilitators, I was able to collect
sufficient data from a diverse group of people to triangulate the information gathered.
Nutrient Analysis:
Due to my involvement in the larger CIMMYT-CCLF project to improve the food
security and nutritional status of small farmers in the marginal highlands of Honduras, it was
possible to arrange for a nutritional analysis of maize varieties. As I will describe in the following
sections, maize is the most important food item for the households in the Valley of Jesus de
Otoro. As it is such a vital element of every meal, and because individuals have very strong
feelings about the different varieties of maize, farmers and members of FIPAH expressed interest
41
in having data about the nutritional content of their local varieties. With this data, those wanting
to improve nutrition and food security in the region could work to educate communities on
which varieties were more nutritious, and also to use this knowledge when implementing
experiments with the CIALs.
Natalia Palacios, CIMMYT maize nutrition quality specialist, gave me a list of tests that
she would recommend be done in order to analyse the nutritional quality of the local maize
landraces. Marvin Gomez, a FIPAH agronomist, and I made inquiries as to whether the
laboratory services at CIMMYT, the University of Guelph, FHIA (The Honduran Agricultural
Research Foundation), or CENTA (National Centre for Agricultural Modernization, in El
Salvador) could perform these tests. In the end, only CIMMYT was able to complete the
required tests. Samples of ninety varieties of maize from seven departments where FIPAH works,
eight samples of which were from communities where I did my research, were sent to the
CIMMYT laboratory for nutritional testing. Most varieties were local landraces, and a few
creolized improved varieties. The analyses performed were for the content of protein, oil, starch,
total phenolics, iron, zinc, and anthocyanins in the blue varieties and carotenoids in the yellow
ones. Anthocyanins were analyzed because they are powerful antioxidants and something that
CIMMYT is looking at breeding into varieties to improve nutrition. Carotenoids are important
indicators of vitamin A that, as mentioned above, causes vitamin A deficiency (VAD) when
lacking (see Appendix 3 for laboratory data). Using SPSS 19, varieties were grouped into colour
classes or by location and the mean and standard error of the mean were computed and graphed
(see Appendix 5) . In the next chapter I begin my discussion of the analyses of these data,
beginning with the environmental and political factors that influence food security.
42
Table 2: Tested Nutrients and Human Nutrition (From Whitney et al. 1990)
Nutrient:
Anthocyanins
Carotenoids
Iron
Importance in Human Nutrition:
Non-essential nutrient that acts as an antioxidant
Are precursors of the fat-soluble vitamin A, that
are essential for normal vision, foetal
development, and cell division needed for healthy
skin, mucus membranes, and a functioning
immune system.
Needed for energy and for carrying oxygen
throughout the body
Lipids (Fats
and oils)
Phenolics
Protein
Used by the body as energy and for the
absorption of some essential vitamins.
Non-essential nutrient that acts as a antioxidant
Provide the body with amino acids that are
needed to build, maintain, and replace tissues
Starches
Broken down into glucose which provides cells
with energy
Zinc
Involved in many processes in the body, including
growth and membrane strength of cells, thus
affecting development and immune function
43
Deficiency in the Diet leads to:
Dry corneas, loss of night vision and eventual blindness. Can
also cause abnormal growth and a poor functioning of the
immune system leading to increased infections.
Reduced ability to work and mental productivity. Symptoms
include paleness, fatigue, weakness, and apparent apathy and
lack of motivation.
Fatigue, changes in pigmentation in hair and skin, the wasting
of muscles, diarrhoea and swelling of the body (oedema),
including feet, ankles, and abdomen, as well as stunting.
Lack of energy, and degradation of the body (mental
impairment, wasting, stunting) as proteins are used to produce
energy.
Retardation of physical and sexual development, and an
impaired immune system especially of the digestive system
that leads to further malnutrition.
CHAPTER 4: Food Security and Resources: Diversity and Inequality
In order to achieve food security, people need to have access (physically, socially and
economically) to productive resources and to markets and political ecology allows for a viewing of
food security as being integrally linked to environmental and policy spheres. In this chapter, I
explore how the diversity of environmental niches, quality of land, and access to markets affects
food security and the livelihoods of rural Honduran farmers. I will also show how national and
international policies in Honduras have failed to address the diversity and inequality, especially
in land access, to the detriment of the marginal rural poor.
Environmental Diversity within the Region:
In order to understand the varied environmental niches and their relationship to ongoing
household food insecurity, I first need to provide a general overview of the Otoro Valley. The
climate, vegetation, and soils of Honduras are very diverse given its mountainous relief and its
two coasts. This results in high ecological heterogeneity that allows for a wide variety of
agricultural systems. If we concentrate exclusively on the region where I worked, this
heterogeneity can be seen clearly. The Otoro Valley ranges in altitude from about 650 meters
above sea level (masl) to over 2,000 masl. Even within the municipality of Jesus de Otoro, the
diverse climate, vegetation, and soils give rise to a variety of ecological zones. These zones are
classified according to Holdridge into a) tropical dry forest, transition to subtropical, b)
subtropical moist forest, c) subtropical lower montane humid forest, and d) subtropical lower
montane wet forest (Romero Velásquez 2009). The local population recognizes the different
zones as lowlands or valley, foothills, a middle altitude, and the highland area.
44
The flat areas and rolling hills of the lower Otoro Valley are classified as tropical dry
forest, transition to subtropical (Romero Velásquez 2009). The annual average temperature here
is below 24oC, with average annual rainfall approximately 1060mm (Romero Velásquez 2009).
The area is prone to drought during the dry season that lasts approximately six to seven months.
Snaking through the valley is the Rio Grande de Otoro, a tributary of the great Ulua River, with
tributaries and ephemeral streams that appear only in the rainy season. The soils vary from
fertile, well-drained soils in some parts of the valley, especially near the rivers and streams, to
stony, dry, and acidic soils with low fertility in other parts (Romero Velásquez 2009). The valley
is used mostly for agriculture and livestock, and also contains the larger towns and villages, such
as the town of Jesus de Otoro where FIPAH is based. As a result of urban expansion there are
no longer any virgin forests within this zone, although these are normally common in marginal
areas. Extensive lands are pasture lands for the grazing of Brahman cattle, and large fields of
upland rice grown using irrigation channels can also been seen. Cultivation of maize and beans,
and coffee in the shade of guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum)13 trees, occurs within this zone.
Indio desnudo or indio paludo (Bursera simaruba)14, pochote (Ceiba aesculifolia), pino caribe15 (Pinus
caribaea), roble 16 (Quercus segoviensis), encino (Quercus oleoides) 17 , and nance (Byrsonima
crassifolia)18 grow in the more infertile soils, while cedro real (Cedrella odorata)19 and caoba del
pacifico (Swietenia humilis)20 grow in the more fertile soils of the valley (Romero Velásquez 2009).
Elephant Ear Tree
Gumbo-Lindo/Copperwood
15 Caribbean Pine
16 Oak species
17 Oak species
18 Called Craboo in the Bay Islands
19 Spanish Ceder
20 Honduras mohogany/ Pacific Coast Mohogany
13
14
45
Further up into the hilly terrain above the valley is the subtropical moist forest (Romero
Velásquez 2009). Here the annual average temperature is about 20.6oC and the soil has high
natural fertility (Romero Velásquez 2009). Estimates by a local agronomist suggest that about
1200mm of rain per year is average for this altitude. Much of the land is agricultural, with
shaded and sun-grown coffee plantations, pineapple and banana varieties, small plots of maize
and beans, as well as small grasslands used to feed the beasts of burden used for transportation
and also to gather firewood. Since most of this area does not have electrical service, except those
communities located directly beside the highway, the primary use for the secondary forests
around the villages located within this zone is as fuel for cooking. The wood from the forests is
also used for constructing homes and fencing. The forests in this zone is made up of indio desnudo
(Bursera simaruba), sombra de ternero (Cordia bicolor), guapinol (Hymenaea courbaril), guama (Inga
sp.)21, pino candelillo (Pinus maximinoi)22, ocote (Pinus oocarpa)23, ciprés de montaña (Podocarpus
guatemalensis), roble (Quercus skinneri), and encino (Quercus oleoides) (Romero Velásquez 2009).
Higher up, around 1,500 masl, in the steep ravine topography and shallow but well
drained soils, is the subtropical lower montane humid forest (Romero Velásquez 2009). Here the
average annual temperature is around 18oC, and rainfall is around 1,340 mm per year (Romero
Velásquez 2009). Over two thirds of the area is secondary forests, with crops of coffee, pineapple,
banana, guineo (variety of banana), and basic grains for subsistence. Here again, there are small
grasslands used to feed the horses, donkeys and mules that are used for transportation and also to
gather firewood. The common tree species are guama (Inga sp.), guarumo (Cecropia peltata),
One Inga spp., which is edible, is called the ice-cream-bean tree
Thinleaf Pine
23 Pine/Yellow Pine; national tree of Honduras
21
22
46
pinabete (Pinus maximinoi), ciprés de montaña (Podocarpus guatemalensis)24, roble (Quercus skinneri),
and encino (Quercus oleoides) (Romero Velásquez 2009).
Above 1,500 masl, there exists a zone called the subtropical lower montane wet forests
(Romero Velásquez 2009). This area makes up an extensive part of the mountain top areas of the
region. Here the soils are high in organic matter, shallow, and high in acidity (Romero Velásquez
2009). The average annual rainfall is above 2,000mm and the average annual temperature is
18oC (Romero Velásquez 2009), though it can get close to 5oC during the early mornings
(madrugada) of December and January. Above 2,000 masl frost can occur at times. Much of this
area is primary forest, and it is the source of many of the streams, rivers and aquifers that feed the
valley. Due to its ecological importance, much of this zone has been protected through the
implementation of a Reserve by the government (discussed further below). The main trees in this
zone are cedro (Cedrella tonduzii)25, ciprés de montaña (Podocarpus guatemalensis), encino (Quercus
oleoides), roble de montaña (Quercus skinneri), liquidámbar (Liquidambar styraciflua) 26 , ticuaz
(Trichospermun mexicanum), pino candelillo (Pinus maximinoi), and álamo (Populus sp.)27 (Romero
Velásquez 2009). Some trees are up to 2m in diameter and over 30m in height, which, according
to Romero Velásquez (2009), indicates they are about 800 years old. Small communities,
growing maize and beans for subsistence on the steep slopes, are found within this zone. For the
most part, the main use of wood is as a source of energy for food processing and construction
material for beams, posts, and fences in households.
Mountain cypress
West Indian Cedar
26 Sweetgum
27 Poplar species
24
25
47
Along with a great span in altitude and environmental conditions, the climatological
conditions differ according to altitude. In general, precipitation follows a seasonal pattern, which
can be divided into two seasons that dictate the way agricultural work is distributed throughout
the year. Winter (invierno) corresponds to the rainy season which begins in May or June and lasts
until around November, whereas summer (verano), or the dry season, begins in December or
January and lasts until April. However, traditional confidence in, and knowledge of, seasons has
been eroded due to frequently changing and consistently unstable precipitation and temperatures
associated with climate change (Kocsis 2011). This is not unique to Honduras; other researchers
(see Finnis et al 2012; Mertz el al 2009; Mertz et al 2008) have found that small-scale farmers are
experiencing similar issues elsewhere. Usually, the rainy season is long enough for two cropping
periods, but there is a significant chance that those crops sown in October-November face water
shortages at the end when the dry season starts. The annual average of approximately 1,600 mm
of rain per year masks considerable variation (FAO 2009). In addition, dry periods (called
canícula) often develop during the rainy season, usually in July. These add an additional risk to the
forecasting when to plant crops. Because agriculture is the main source of income in the Otoro
valley, all household livelihoods are vulnerable to extreme weather events. This can occur
directly by los in agricultural productivity or through the need for local agricultural labour, or it
can occur indirectly by effecting the market relations that bind all the communities in the valley
together (Kocsis 2011). For example, during participant-observation in the fields, participants
mentioned that the rainy period is interrupted by an extended drought (canícula), while very
heavy rainfall causes washouts more regularly. The impact of these disruptions on agricultural
productivity can cause significant loss of productivity as well as loss of income for many
community members.
48
In the face of irregular and extreme weather and the loss of food crops and income, shortterm coping strategies in the Otoro Valley rely heavily on remittances through migration,
informal credit and the sale of possessions (Kocsis 2011), however, adaptive strategies over the
long-term are constantly on the minds of farmers. Nearly every week when I accompanied a
community member and FIPAH staff to her weekly radio show that disseminates information
and promotes communication between farmers in the valley, she, her guests, and local farmers
calling into the show, would talk about how to adapt to a changing climate. The CIALs actively
work to alleviate the losses from extreme weather events through research and participatory plant
breeding of new crop varieties that are adapted to specific conditions that strengthen their
communities’ production systems. The CIALs have also been identifying landraces that are
tolerant to diseases that are occurring lately as a result of extreme weather effects. The use and
dissemination of these identified varieties improves the food security of rural communities. Along
with improving crop varieties, NGOs in the region also facilitate capacity development around
soil conservation techniques and use of more sustainable farming practices. For example, small
farmers generally do not use irrigation, but some farmers in the valley have been taking water
from rivers and streams in the area, and to a lesser degree from the rain, to water their crops. In
the greenhouses used by the CIALs for example, they use drip irrigation that is gravity fed from
streams or the community water system. Some farmers also use gravity to feed mariposas
(sprinklers) that they rotate throughout their fields in times of drought.
In this chapter I demonstrate how food security in the Otoro Valley is intimately affected
not only by climate and geography but also by access to land - particularly good quality land.
The quality of land serves to accentuate differences in landscape and climate discussed above.
This diversity in the biophysical environment within a small area impacts access to beans, maize
49
and vegetables that help households and individuals better meet basic nutritional requirements.
The heterogeneity of the biophysical environment along with changing weather, also impacts
farmers’ ability to sell excess produce for cash essential for meeting other family needs such as
education, clothing, household improvements and health care expenses. In addition to
geographic diversity, there is severe seasonal variability in food access. Rural small-scale farming
livelihoods are not predictable, affected as they are by the interaction of annual variations in
climate, income, food, labour necessities, and market prices. These elements can reinforce each
other and, in some households, may trigger regular periods of increased poverty, ill-health, and
malnutrition (Graham 1999:9).
Transitory and Seasonal Food Insecurity:
Food security is affected by how the biophysical environment and climate factors impact
vulnerability to crop loss and the stability of access to food. These factors contribute both to
seasonal or cyclical food insecurity and temporary food insecurity, along with the possibility of
chronic food insecurity (Maxwell and Smith 1992:15). Temporary food insecurity arises when a
household encounters a short-term drop in its food security and is in jeopardy of failing to meet
food needs over a short period (Maxwell and Smith 1992:15). While seasonal food insecurity
happens when a regular repetition in the periods of insufficient access to food occurs, the term
transitory food insecurity refers to insecurity that is less predictable and regular. It is
characterised by periods of scarcity of food availability and access to food that are caused by crop
failure, due to diseases, insects and animals (Maxwell and Smith 1992:15). Farmers in the Otoro
valley experience both of these types of food insecurity.
Farming in the Otoro valley is very risky. As one man in his 30s in Barrio Nuevo stated,
“In this season, there are so many pests. There is a worm that we call “el medidor”, and another
50
we call the “el cogollero” that damage the plants...There are also insects, like the cricket.”28 For
many farmers the unpredictability of climate is the factor that most influences food availability.
One male farmer from Crucita Oriente said, “When the climate changes, crops fail, and prices
for food rise [so] families can’t feed themselves.”29 Due to frequently changing and consistently
unstable precipitation and temperatures associated with climate change, every year presents
different problems with crops (Kocsis 2011). One blight, called mancha de asfalto (Tar Spot), was
found in almost every maize field in the Otoro region during the 2010 season. This disease,
caused by three fungi (Phyllachora maydis, Monographella maydis and Coniothyrium phyllachorae), meant
that there was a very poor maize harvest. The fungus spreads through the plants' leaves,
absorbing nutrients and preventing the seed from growing, leading to low grain yield. Farmers
and agronomists in the Otoro region seemed not to have been familiar with this disease30. The
Honduran Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, SAG, conveyed their concern about mancha de
asfalto, which has been known to cause yield losses of up to 75 percent in Central and South
America (SAG 2011). They mentioned that mancha de asfalto was first detected in Honduras four
years ago and has since spread throughout the country (SAG 2011).
Earlier in 2010, many of the fields of maize needed to be replanted (some as many as four
times) because of an infestation of caterpillars that were eating all the newly sprouting maize
plants. Farmers also told me of losing crops to hielo (literally, ice), which is a number of different
28“En
este tiempo hay tantas plagas. Hay un gusano que le llamamos el medidor, y otro que le llamamos el cogollero que daña la
planta…También hay insectos, como el grillo."
29 “Cuando el no es el cambio climático, las cosechas son malas, e incrementar los precios de los alimentos ... las familias no pueden
alimentarse”
30 From my fieldnotes in 2010: “Mancha de asfalto seems to have been unknown to the agronomists and farmers of
Otoro until this year…FIPAH organized a day long workshop for local farmers to come and learn about it.
However, [a FIPAH agronomist who works in Yoro] knew about the disease because it had affected Yoro and
Vallecillos (where FIPAH also works) in 2008 and 2009. But it seems to be a newish problem in Honduras since no
one was very familiar with it.”
51
diseases affecting beans, maize, cabbage, tomato, potato, and mango that typically cause
wrinkling, discoloration and spots on the plant leaves. For example one farmer (male, 50 years
old, in El Águila) said: “I do not save potato seeds. I lost them in ‘un hielo’ - to a fungus. Right
now, I do not save the seeds from beans…they were hit by a bean ‘hielo’”.31 One women in El
Águila told me “the land is good for producing, but always there is damage from hielo”.32
Another women in that village told me that “we grew vegetables but they were hit by hielo”.33 A
male farmer and active volunteer in the middle community mentioned that, “The black bean
that I have is resistant to ‘hielo’, and is resistant to drought. Because of this, I grow it”.34 Farmers
generally attribute hielo to storms that bring cold rain and strong wind (called el Norte), which
occur most frequently in the highlands, or excess water in the soil, which is particularly a
problem in the flatter areas of the valley. The farmers in the mountains, far from other
communities, also mentioned that they regularly lost crops to animals, such as the racoon
(mapache)35. Farmers in the lower communities said they regularly lost crops to theft. Not only do
these losses of crops mean a loss of access to food, but also a loss of access to seeds for future
planting. One young farmer I spoke to told me with great sadness about how his crop had been
eaten by caterpillars. Though he was worried about his ability to grow a crop of maize for his
family, he seemed particularly hurt by the loss of his best seed, which he had spent time sorting
and saving. Jansen (1998) describes the concern about the unpredictability of climate. He
describes how when people are faced with the question as to how they know when to plant and
No [guardar las semilla de papas]. Perdió en un hielo, un hongo….Ahorita no [guardar la semillas de frijoles]….pegan hielo de frijol.”
“las tierras son buenas para producir pero siempre se daña por el hielo.”
33 “siembramos verduras pero le cayó hielo”.
34 “frijol negro que tengo ese…es valiente por el hielo…es fuerte para la sequita también…por ese yo lo sembró”
35 “El mapache mi cultivos lo comio... Es un animal como perro…Personas aquí se comen este animal… yo me
come hasta el tepezcuinte” (The racoon eats my crops. It is an animal like the dog. People here eat this animal. I eat
things including the tepezcuinte) (Male farmer, early 30s, El Águila).
31
32
52
when to harvest, they say, “ ‘we sow when it starts to rain, but you never know whether summer
returns after the first rains’. Doubt dominates” (Jansen 1998:122). Doubt also dominates in the
Otoro Region.
In the Otoro valley, only households in the valley bottom mentioned using the second
cropping season (which is called la postrera), and exclusively for planting bean crops, and only
when they could access land. Since water is lacking in this second cropping season, its success
depends to a large extent on the water–holding capacity of the soil (Jansen 1998). The
unpredictability of this cropping season in terms of drought and crop pests means that some
farmers deliberate on whether to plant during this time or not. This concern is reflected in the
work of Jansen (1998:78) who found that several of the farmers he spoke to considered not
sowing during la postrera because of increasing drought stress, while others experimented with
sowing in August instead of in November, the so-called postrera de agosto.
Seasonal food insecurity is a well-documented phenomenon in the communities in rural
Honduras. In the Otoro region, much like Beaudette (1999) describes for the Yorito region of
Honduras, the period between April and August is characterized by a shortage in household
income and food security known as los junios. A FIPAH baseline study in 2010 indicated that 47
percent of households who form part of the CIALs, lack maize for household consumption in
August as their own stores have been depleted (FIPAH 2010). My interviews suggest that this
number may be higher for the communities as a whole. Seasonal food insecurity arises because
the savings from the coffee harvest at the beginning of the year have been spent, the maize and
beans from the previous year’s harvests have been consumed or sold, and producers have
recently invested any money left into buying inputs for the planting season. As well, reduced
demand for farmworkers (as jornaleros or mozos), coupled with the requirement for those farmers
53
who own land to prioritize planting maize and beans in their own fields (Beaudette 1999:158),
affects income availability. Los junios are a time of food shortages because, having eaten their
reserves of staple foods, families now have to buy maize and beans at elevated prices at a time of
reduced income. This means that some families simply cannot afford to buy food, even if staples
are available in the market. Food supplies become more readily available in September at the
time of harvest in the valley, and especially after the coffee harvest begins when women can
afford to buy more items to augment the family diet (see also Beaudette 1999:158). Though
families said that they grow tubers such as yucca, sweet potato, malanga and badú, which are ready
to be consumed in June and July, these are not seen as a substitute for maize. Food preferences
and cultural issues of food access are discussed in the following chapter.
Many families in the Otoro region stated that during June, July and August they
experienced a shortage of food and a need to buy maize and beans. ASOCIAL and Classen
(2008) and Classen et al. (2008) indicated that households participating in FIPAH projects in the
Yorito region have enhanced their food supply over the years, reducing, and in many cases
eliminating, the time of food insecurity known as los junios. This outcome is associated with the
work of the CIALs and continues to be a priority for the local NGO with which I was associated.
Inequality of Access to Markets and to Good Quality Land:
In addition to the diversity of landscape and climate, there is also considerable diversity in
terms of people’s ability to own and access assets, especially land. From a food sovereignty
perspective, access to these resources is important in order to achieve food security. One of the
major themes that emerged during interviews with farmers in all three of the research
communities was access to land. Access to food is determined by a family's ability to acquire
food, whether they obtain it through home production, commercial purchase, or transfers
54
between people, such as exchanges, gifts, or aid. In Intibucá, 78.2 percent of households
consumed more than 80 percent of the maize they produced, and 85.7 percent of farmers
consumed the same percentage of beans (Thorpe 2002:135). Home production, quality of land,
and growing conditions are major factors influencing crop yields and thus food attained from
home production.
In general, the fields of farmers in the highlands have steeper slopes and more organic
matter from the surrounding forests. As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, temperature
and light also play a role in growth. Temperature in the community of El Águila, the highest
altitude community I worked in was significantly lower than in the valley. On the days I worked
in this community, the mornings were wet, dark and foggy. The proximity of the surrounding
mountains also means that direct sunlight only reaches certain fields for small portions of the day.
This contributes to high humidity because rainfall and dew do not evaporate. These agroecological factors mean that the maturation period of crops grown in fields higher in the
mountains is much longer than those crops grown in the valley regions. Farmers in El Águila
informed me that they planted their maize in mid-April, and would harvest in October or as late
as January. One variety called Maiz del Año was said to take over nine months (270 days) to
mature, while the variety Matasaneño, that was planted by every household I interviewed in this
town, has a slightly shorter maturation period. In the valley, maize varieties mature in only three
months, with elote (corncobs) ready in August and fully mature maize in September (120 days).
This corresponds to research findings in the region of Yorito, where FIPAH also works. Here the
ripening of the maize in the high-altitude fields is 210 days contrasted to the 120 days it takes
corn to ripen on the gentle slopes of the valleys (Classen et al 2008:15 footnote #8).
55
While these differences can provide challenges, it should also be noted that farmers
exploit these differences as a strategy to achieve food security. Families in both the mid-altitude
community and the highland community said that they planted maize and beans in both the
mountains and the valley or foothills (las lomas). They do this in order to be able to access maize
earlier in the season, thus shortening the period when food is scarce, as well as having different
fields maturing at different times, so that not all fields had to be harvested at once as more hands
are needed to do so. Planting at different altitudes is a hunger prevention strategy for those at
high altitudes. In this sense, farmers exploit the different geographical and climatic factors to
their own benefit.
Income generated from asset ownership varies with differences in the productivity of land.
Not only is landownership highly inequitably distributed within Honduras, but also the
distribution of quality land is highly unequal across farm-size in Honduras (Thorpe 2002:129).
Thorpe (2002) quotes a POSCAE-OXFAM survey that documents the large regional differences
in basic grain yields; yields in Choluteca were under 10 qq/mz (see Table 2 for a conversion of
local weights and measures), while those in Atlántida were up to 62 qq/mz. There is also a
considerable difference just within the Otoro Valley. In the Valley, maize yields on average are
about 40 qq/mz, however, yields on the hillsides are about 16-20 qq/mz. In the case of beans,
yields are lower; in the valley the yields are about 25 qq/mz, while on the high altitude slopes
beans only yield 12 -15 qq/mz (pers com Omar Gallardo). Climate and geography affect the
availability of food by influencing the yields of crops.
Table 3: Conversion Chart of Weights and Measures
Local Honduran system
1 Tarea (1/16 mz)
Imperial system
0.11 Acres (ac)
56
Metric system
0.04 Hectare (ha)
1 Manzana (mz)
1 Quintal (qq)
1 Arroba (1/4 qq)
1 Carga (2 qq)
1.68 Acres (ac)
100 Pounds (lbs.)
25 Pounds (lbs.)
200 Pounds (lbs.)
0.7 Hectare (ha)
45.5 Kilograms (kg)
11.4 Kilograms (kg)
136.5 Kilograms (kg)
Climate and geography affect the availability of food by influencing what types and what
varieties of crops can be grown. Improved varieties of maize, beans and other crops, which were
not bred for the climatic conditions of the highlands, do not grow well there, and the traditional
landrace varieties far out-produce them. Many of the highest yielding varieties suitable for this
area are yellow varieties, such as Matasaneño. If improved varieties are tested out by farmers, they
are subjected to the local conditions and management practices, kernels of these varieties
repeatedly selected for cultivation the next season, and occasionally their hybridization with local
varieties is encouraged. Thus farmers create varieties that they call “creolized” (variedades
acriolladas) (Bellon et al. 2006; Bellon and Risopoulos 2001). One such creolized variety is Guayape
Criollo, which is a hybrid of the improved variety called Guayape and a local variety. In the
highlands, varieties of beans such as chinapopo (Phaseolus coccineus) and frijol milpero (Phaseolus
vulgaris, the climbing variety) are grown. Not only are different varieties of crops available at
different altitudes but also entirely different types of crops as well. Farmers in the highlands
planted cabbage, potatoes, onions, and squash much more frequently than those at lower
altitudes. Farmers in the highlands mentioned that the climate at these altitudes was more like
the climate in La Esperanza where many commercial vegetables crops are grown.
Though most of the households I spoke with had some access to land, some did not own
or rent any land and relied on men in the household to take on day labourer jobs (jornalero) and
the women to do other jobs, such as operate a small pulperia, or be a caretaker for other
community members and visitors. Data of household income sources of rural farms in Intibucá
57
shows that around 57 percent comes from off-farm sources (Thorpe 2002: 139). Wage rates in
the departments of Lempira, Intibucá and Ocotepeque are amongst the lowest because of lack of
opportunities associated with high value agricultural production and a problem of surplus labour
on small family-owned plots. However, due to the fact that the farming of annual crops on the
steep hillsides of these mountainous regions is so labour-intensive and there is only so much
available labour, there is “a limit on the amount of land that can be cultivated” (Thorpe
2002:142). Labour absorption seems to be greatest where small landholdings are present and
where unpaid family labour dominates. In Intibucá, 62 percent of labourers are unpaid
employees (Thorpe 2002:126).
The steep geography and torrential rains during the rainy season prevent the supply of
food from such sources as commercial food production, government food stocks, imports and
food assistance, from reaching the higher altitudes. Whereas every corner in town has a small
pulperia that sells a range of food from basics like maize, beans and lime, to cleaning supplies,
dairy products, and small packages of snack foods, called churros, in the pulperia in El Águila the
only things for sale were local maize, salt, lime for tortillas, soap, small denomination cell phone
cards36, and a few small candies. The biggest obstacle to supply is the lack of passable roads in
the steep mountain areas. Along the flat valley floor, transportation by car, truck, pack animal, or
on foot is relatively easy, however, as you ascend into the mountains the roads and paths become
steep and during the rainy season many of them are impassable due to washout. I was in
Honduras during the rainy season and many days while working with FIPAH we had to cancel
our trips to communities because it had rained at night and the roads would be washed out or
Cell phones are often recharged by car batteries which are themselves recharged in town and carried up into the
mountians, by friends in other communities who have generator, or in the FIPAH offices while gathered for
workshops.
36
58
too soft to drive on. As mentioned in Chapter 2, roads are only navigable to a point, and even
then only by trucks with four-wheel drive. At medium and high elevations, only a few villages
have people who own a truck, usually those who own larger coffee plantations. Many families in
the communities near the valley own bicycles that they used to get around. One home that I
visited in Barrio Nuevo was at the bottom of the hill along which the town was located. Many of
the community members left their bikes, which they used to bike to town or to the hacienda, at
this house before walking up the steep road to their homes. Another common mode of
transportation was on horse, mule, or donkey. With these animals, farmers would use the many
shorter walking paths down the mountainsides. However, it was by foot that most people
travelled. During a stay with a family in the middle community, Crucita Oriente, Angela and I
were awoken at 4am as the three young men in the family ate breakfast before walking down the
mountain to start work around 7am in the town. In the case of an emergency, transportation was
a concern to many in the communities, especially those in high communities. One group of
women with whom FIPAH works set aside funds from their projects so as to be able to hire a
truck for transportation if ever needed. Not only is transportation a worry during emergencies
but it also impacts households’ food security strategies, in particular influencing availability of
fruits and vegetables, maize varieties, meat and dairy due to lack of electricity for fridges, farm
inputs, and labour.
Access to, and availability of, a diverse diet are influenced by climate and geography. As
discussed, geography affects the availability of crop species and varieties. Though it is true that
many fruits and vegetables and other foods are available in the town market and the weekly
“mall” (open air market), people in El Águila and other high communities typically only have
access to their own vegetables, fruits, as well as access to many more wild greens and animals.
59
Inequality of Land Ownership:
About a quarter of the households I spoke with could feed themselves with maize grown
on the land they had access to (see Table 3 below). Most of those who grew enough for their
families and some to sell when harvests were good were those who lived in the highest elevation
community who had fought to get communal land title in the late 1980s. Though there had been
a community there for over 70 years, a “diputado terrateniente” (large landowner) had claimed the
land in El Águila, built a road and decided to harvest the trees for lumber. Because it was going
to impact their water source, the communities from lower altitudes joined with the people from
El Aguila to fight this. After being beaten and harassed by the landowner’s guards, and
undertaking protests in the capital, the Congress finally passed a decree buying the land from the
landowner at an inflated price and then titled it to the residents of El Águila. The land is now
administered by a Consejo Indigena Lenca (Lenca Indigenous Council). It became a communal title
so that no one individual could sell parts of it. I was told that the communal title makes the
community more secure and that it gives them more food security. Because they have land every
year, they strive to diversify their plots, improve the soil, protect their water37. The great care
many farmers in El Águila take of their plots was obvious the first time I visited in 2009. During
this visit, I accompanied a FIPAH agronomist for a day of planting apple, peach, pear and
avocado trees on the steep slopes of a field directly above area where two homes are located.
When I came back a year later, quite a few of the trees had not survived, but the ones that had
were showed to me with pride and there was much talk of the importance of diversification and
soil stabilization. For example, during a group interview with three male farmers (two in their
30s; one in his 70s) and one female farmer (in her 60s) in El Águila, I was told, “The land is
37Interview
in El Águila with four key informants, May 6th, 2011.
60
always used by someone in the community and it can’t be lost. It allows for better food security
because you always have access to land. You can’t sell your land and become landless. The
communal title allows for freedom to grow whenever, freedom to diversify the plot, freedom to
improve the soil on your own area and you know you will still have that field in the future. It is
an advantage and a freedom.” 38
Table 4: Land and Self-Sufficiency
Interviewees
Community
Where land is rented:
Where land is owned:
1 and 2
(Husband and
Wife)
3 and 4
(Husband and
Wife)
5 (Elderly
Man)
6 (Middle
Aged
Widowed
Father)
7 and 8
(Husband and
Wife)
9 and 10
(Husband and
Wife)
11 and 12
(Husband and
Wife)
1 and 2
(Husband and
Wife)
3 and 4
(Husband and
Wife)
5 and 6
(Husband and
Barrio Nuevo
Rent in valley for maize
Small plot on the hilltop,
and small area near house
Rent in valley for maize
Small area near house
No
Rent in valley for maize
Small area near house
No
Rent in valley for maize
Has own land near house, in
the valley and his fathers
land just above the village
Yes
Owns a plot in the hills, as
well as small area near
house
Owns land in the mountain,
has a larger plot around
house with coffee
Have land in mid-altitude
and small area near house
No
Use family land in the
valley, and small area near
house
Recently purchased small
plot near the valley, and
small area near house
Land around house has very
diverse stand of fruit trees,
Yes
Crucita
Oriente
Rent land in the
mountains
Rent land near
community
Own Maize lasts
the whole year?
No
No
No
No
No
“La tierra siempre es utilizada por alguien de la comunidad y no se puede perder. Permite mejorar la seguridad
alimentaria, ya que siempre tienen acceso a la tierra. Usted no puede vender su tierra y se quedan sin tierras… El
título comunal permite la libertad para cultivar cuando quiere, libertad para diversificar la parcela, la libertad para
mejorar el suelo en su propia área y usted sabe que todavía tiene ese parcela en el futuro. Es una ventaja y una
libertad.” (Group interview with 3 male farmers (two in their 30s; one in his 70s) and one female farmer ( in her 60s)
in the Highland community of El Águila, May 2011).
38
61
Wife)
7 (Elderly
Woman)
8 (Widow who
lives with her
sons)
9 and 10
(Husband and
Wife)
11 and 12
(Husband and
Wife)
1 and 2
(Husband and
Wife)
3 (Wife)
coffee,
Her sons use her land and
give her some maize to use.
Only small area near house
with a few fruit trees and
vegetables
Own a little land in the
mountains, and small area
near house
Own a little land in the
mountains, and small area
near house
Communal land, and
private land near valley
El Águila
4 (Husband)
5 and 6
(Husband and
Wife)
7 and 8
(Husband and
Wife)
9 and 10
(Husband and
Wife)
11 And 12
(Husband And
Wife)
Rents in valley
No
No
No
No
Yes
Communal land, and uses
family’s private land near
valley
Communal land, and
private land near valley
Communal lands
Yes
Communal lands
No
Communal lands
Occasionally
Communal land, and
private land near valley
Occasionally
Yes
No
The same year that the community of El Águila received their communal title, much of
the land around them became protected. The Reserva Biologica de Montecillos falls over the border
between Comayagua, La Paz, and Intibuca. It was created July 1987 through the Ley de los
Bosques Nublados which stated those areas between the highest point and the altitude of 1800,
2000 or 2100 masl were a “protected zone in perpetuity” and that within the limits of this zone
any agricultural activity, grazing, logging, burning, mining, hunting, fishing, construction of
roads, houses, commercial establishments, or any public or private activities which would cause
ecological disturbances would be prohibited (Article 5, Ley de los Bosques Nublados, Decreto
87/87 1987). This law may have protected the water and forests of the mountaintops, but it
62
impacted farmers who had used this land to grow basic grains. In the middle community, many
farmers noted that they had very little land, and often less than their fathers, because of the
formation of the Reserva. For example, the following conversation typifies this kind of experience:
Farmer: “My dad worked in the mountains. There. I remember him working in
Malacara39. This corn is called maíz del año. How white the cob is! ……….
According to the teacher, maíz del año is hardy (valiente) against ‘hielo’ (a fungus).
He had land very high up.”
Angela: “You did not continue planting this variety?”
Farmer: “No, because the water projects came and it was prohibited to cut the
forest anymore. Now it is called a protected area. But that land is excellent.” 40
In the lowland community, no one owned land on the valley floor because the powerful
landlords used this flat, rich soil for rice and cattle production. Stickers in town proudly stated
that Otoro was the rice capital of Honduras, however, I was told that because of falling rice
prices, much more of the land is now being used by the owners for beef cattle. Often land that
could be rented in the valley by the residents of local communities, but it could only be used for a
portion of the year as the owner then used it to pasture his cattle.
As I was shown, access to land is a critical aspect in food security and poverty. As Classen,
et al (2008:4) state, “extreme poverty is a consequence of a number of factors. Inequality in
access to land is a critical one.” Stonich (1993:149) argues in her ethnography of southern
A highland community.
A: mi papa trabaja en la montaña. Allí. Recuerdo que delel trabajaba en malacara. Esta maíz se llama maíz del
año Que blanco la mazorca así. La mazorca blanca… no se….Mi papa sembró un maíz del montaña. Maíz del
año, dice la maestro (Jacinto). Valiente para el hielo. Tuvo tierra muy arriba.
Ángela: usted no siguió sembrando esa variedad?
A: no porque en eso salieron unas proyectos de agua y prohibieron cortar el boque. ya lo denominaron como área
protegida. Pero eso tierra es excelente.
39
40
63
Honduras that, "the crucial issue underlying … continuing human impoverishment is gross
inequality in access to resources within a socially institutionalized context". Indeed, inequality
levels in Honduras are high compared to the rest of the world although they are similar to those
of neighbouring countries and close to the Latin American average (World Bank 2006:iii). As I
stated in the Introduction, 80 percent of farmers farm on less than 5 hectares, using less than 15
percent of the total agricultural land, while 1 percent of farmers farm on more than 50 hectares
each, owning more than 30 percent of the total arable land (United Nations World Food
Program 2005:11). Gini coefficients, which are an indication of inequality of income
distribution41, computed from the Censo Nacional Agropecuario (CNA) data show that inequality in
land tenure increased over the second half of the last century from 0.7573 in 1952 to 0.7858 in
1993. Regional Gini coefficients illustrate the heterogeneity of landholdings in different
departments. In the department of Intibucá, the 1993 data show a coefficient of 0.718. More
uneven landholdings are to be found in departments with large cattle ranches (0.824 in
Choluteca, 0.758 in Olancho), coffee plantations (0.781 in Santa Barbara) and banana
plantations (0.749 in Atlántida). Departments with smaller Gini coefficients, and thus more equal
landholdings, are those found in the regions of Honduras that are less fertile, poorer and highly
indigenous. As Thorpe 2002 points out, “impoverishment is, on the surface at least, correlated
with a more egalitarian access to land” (117). This is demonstrated when looking at who has
access to land in the Otoro Valley. The poorer quality land that is not easily accessible in the
high mountains is available to the poor households as there is less competition for this land. This
is in contrast to the lowlands were landlessness is more extensive.
The Gini coefficient is a measure of the inequality of a distribution, a value of 0 expressing total equality and a
value of 1 maximal inequality.
41
64
Addressing Inequality: A Brief History Of Land Reform Policies And
Current Policies That Affect Food Security
In order to understand and improve the food security and nutritional status of rural
Hondurans, we must consider the specific policy factors that present constraints and
opportunities to rural farming households. The policy situation in Honduras influences the
livelihood strategies employed by rural Honduran households in attaining food security, as
defined to include a culturally appropriate and nutritionally sound diet. Over the last 250 years,
both national and international policies have been put in place to try and address the inequality
that keeps many Honduran farmers food insecure. However, there is a disconnect between the
food security strategies of rural Honduran households and the governmental policies that
propose to address the issue of food security and poverty.
Previously, government investments in human and physical resources have been spent
mainly in the areas around Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula and along the Northern Coast, the
area known as the “T of Development.” Outside this “T”, spending has been focused on the
inland valleys where agro-ecological conditions allow for export agriculture and large
landholdings. Agrarian policies have had a long history of only reaching these areas. In the
1880s, modern agrarian change was initiated with the implementation of agro-export oriented
modernization policies and the emergence of the banana plantations (Jansen 1998:7). Marco
Aurelio Soto’s liberal government (1876-1883) advanced policies that encouraged the production
of sugarcane, coffee, natural latex gum (chicle), and cocoa for export (Jansen 1998:7). In order to
do this, export taxes were cut while tax exemptions were created on inputs necessary for
plantations, conditions for increasing access to land for the purpose of commercial plantations
were created, and in order to free up labour, workers of plantations were excepted from the
65
requirements of military service and public work (Jansen 1998:7). This climate was ripe for the
formation of large plantations of the next big export: bananas. Honduras is often described as the
archetype of a “banana-republic”, for one hundred years ago bananas made up 66 per cent of
total exports (Lapper and Painter 1985), while the American-based companies the Standard Fruit
Company and United Fruit Company manipulated Honduran authorities. These companies
were given extensive land concessions along the northern coastal lowlands. Notwithstanding
opposition, these mighty banana companies continued to dominate Honduran politics until the
1970s (Jansen 1998:7).
The expansion of cattle for export is another important facet of agrarian (Howard 1987,
1989; Kramer 1986; Williams 1986; Stonich 1995). Loans in the 1960s and 1970s from the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, and the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB) delivered credit for pasture and farm improvement,
breeding programmes, and road improvements, which meant that “on-the-hoof trade” was
replaced by motorized transportation (Jansen 1998:7; see also Stonich 1993). The establishment
of high quality packing plants allowed for access to the protected US market and this coincided
with an increased demand for Honduran meat (Williams 1986). This “beef bonanza” in the
1960s and 1970s, did not improve the livelihoods of the rural poor (Jansen 1998:8). Between
1952 and 1993, the pasture area expanded by 86.3 per cent, increasing land used for cattle from
about one-third to nearly two-thirds of all farmland (Sunderlin and Rodriguez 1996:5). This in
turn altered the availability of arable land for cropping, together with reducing the demand for
labour. This type of land use, along with inequality in landholding, caused the rapidly growing
population to farm on fragile and steep hillsides with foreseeable consequences for the
environment (Humphries et al 2005:1). This model of development meant that increasing
66
latifundios such as the cattle farms, banana and sugar plantations were fencing-in public lands
and threatening the minifundios and subsistence livelihoods of most of the Honduran farmers
(Boyer 2010:323).
During the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century cattle herds were
largely owned by smallholders, as were most of the coffee plantations (Kramer 1986, GuevaraEscudero 1983). Life in the highlands of Honduras was not defined by the banana industry that
defined the country at large, though the export commodities of coffee and cattle did have some
influence on rural life. For hundreds of years, smallholder agriculture developed on its own, while
government interest in smallholder was limited to the creating agricultural laws controlling land
rights.
The most significant reform initiative in Honduras arrived in 1962 when the land reform
law (‘Ley de Reforma Agraria’) was passed. The following decade was termed the ”Golden Age” of
land reform in Honduras. During this time, a portion of the land previously owned by the
banana corporations was distributed to farmer cooperatives. Yet, these firms continued to have
power over all banana commercialization as well as in political and military intervention (Posas
1992). After World War II, state-led macroeconomic planning created new state agencies, whose
mandates were to modernize agriculture. Of these new agencies, the most important were Banco
Nacional de Desarrollo Agrícola (BANADESA), the Instituto Nacional Agraria (INA), the Corporación
Hondureña de Desarrollo Forestal (COHDEFOR), the Instituto Hondureño del Café (IHCAFE), and the
Secretaría de Recursos Naturales (SRN) (Jansen 1998:9). Jansen (1998:7) points out that “these
agencies had to deal with the conflicting objectives of promoting growth in production and
productivity, meeting national demand for food grains, diversifying exports, incorporating the
67
rural poor in economic development as well as reconciling contradictory interests (especially with
respect to access to land)”.
These state-led interventions were threatened by the economic crisis of the 1980s along
with the new international philosophy on development that of neo-liberalism. Comparable to
many other Latin American countries, Honduras struggled with problems of stagnating
economic growth and foreign debt. Within this new development ideology, the Callejas
government (1990-1993) passed in 1992 the Agricultural Modernization Law (LMDSA)42 as the
new agenda for the agricultural sector. The basic argument underpinning this decree was for the
government to remove itself from direct involvement in agricultural production and to regulate
agriculture without disturbing the free movement of goods and capital (Boyer 2010:324).
Under the LMDSA, land titling led to the selling of agrarian reform lands to the “highest
bidder” (Boyer 2010:324). More than 50 per cent of lands occupied by cooperatives were sold to
foreign agribusiness and to the Honduran oligopolies, military officers and cattlemen (Boyer
2010:324). At this time, “the number of agricultural researchers in Honduras fell from 127 to 78,
and extension workers were reduced from a total of 561 to 241” (Boyer 2010:324). Throughout
Central America, public technical assistance, credit, and rural development projects declined
(Boyer 2010:324). Without any agricultural research being conducted at public institutions,
agricultural research became biased toward the desires of richer farmers who had enough money
to buy technical assistance packages (Classen et al 2008:5). Thus agrarian and food policies in
Honduras favour farmers from better resource-endowed areas that focus on improving
42
Ley para la Modernización y el Desarrollo del Sector Agrícola
68
productivity of export agriculture, while excluding poor farmers, who continue to use lowyielding slash and burn farming and traditional varieties of crops (Humphries et al 2005: 2).
In April 2006, Honduras entered into a free-trade agreement with the United States: the
Dominican Republic–Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). DR-CAFTA set
a precedent for trade agreements by including the obligation for signatories to recognize the strict
intellectual property rights (IPRs) outlined by the International Union for the Protection of New
Varieties of Plants in their Convention of 1991 (UPOV-91). Agriculture in Honduras, as well as
in the rest of Central America and the Dominican Republic, is being changed by DR-CAFTA
with the loss of agricultural livelihoods associated with cheap grain imports and downward
pressure on local prices (Humphries et al 2012). The type of legal protection enshrined in these
international agreements provides rights to a handful of formally trained plant breeders in large
institutes (Ivanoff 2006). By adhering to UPOV-91, plant varieties will become patentable, and
germplasm conserved by farmers or created by them will be difficult to protect from practices
such as “bioprospecting” (Humphries et al 2012). However, as of the writing of this thesis,
UPOV-91 has not been signed into law by the Honduran Congress, though many expect it to be
passed shortly.
Including agricultural products in a free trade agreement has always been extremely
controversial. The initial position of the Central American governments was a complete refusal
to lower the tariffs on certain agricultural products, wanting the US to first agree to lower its
domestic subsidies (Ricker 2004). The US rejected this proposal, but allowed for the tariffs on
some Central American products to be gradually reduced instead of immediately repealing them
outright. These products are categorized as “sensitive agricultural commodities,” and include
beans, rice, sugar, beef, pork, poultry meat, milk and other dairy products, and white maize. The
69
DR-CAFTA continues the process of unilateral economic opening, applied since the nineties by
the State of Honduras. A scenario of DR-CAFTA could be for Honduras to take advantage of
the lower-cost cereals and grains imported from the USA to supply a cheap basic food basket for
Hondurans (to stabilize the cost of living), while Honduras specializes in the production and
processing of diverse fruits and vegetables for export to the USA, along with clothing (maquila)
and traditional export crops (bananas, coffee, cocoa, wood) (IDRC 2005). The IDRC and the
Association for Research and Social Studies (ASIES; Asociacion de Investigacion y Estudios Sociales) of
Guatemala, funded a study analyzing the potential impact of DR-CAFTA on the rural sector in
Honduras which noted that the risk associated with this scenario is the dependency of the
affordability of the basic food basket on continued low prices of USA-imported grains and
cereals, which is in large part made possible by subsidies to the US industry (IDRC 2005)
The impact of import dependence is most keenly felt when steep rises in global grain
prices severely affect poor households, whose incomes are largely devoted to food purchases,
underlining the vulnerability of the majority of Hondurans to global integration. As well, farmers
are pushed aside as cheep grains flood the market. In reaction to worries about a food crisis, the
government led by Mel Zelaya designed a four-year National Program of Basic Grains
(Programa Nacional de Granos Básicos 2006-2010) to increase grain production and food
security within the nation by making Honduras self-sufficient in terms of agriculture (Carbonario
et al. 2010). In attempts to increase production of basic grains to ensure food security for the
population and contribute to employment generation, part of the Strategic Plan was to
implement the Technical Production Voucher Project, Bono Tecnológico. The Bono Tecnológico was
an economic incentive for the technological upgrading of small producers of basic grains. Seed
70
and fertilizer were to support 80,000 small farmers in 17 provinces and 17143 municipalities of
the poorest, and resource poor farmers (SAG 2006). High yielding seeds and fertilizers were
offered to smallholder farming households in order to increase national production. Recipients of
the seeds and fertilizers would repay communal banks (cajas rurales) “to create a revolving fund for
future credit to producers” (Carbonari et al. 2010:2). However, the World Bank (see report by
Carbonario et al., 2010) noted that an increase of 45 percent in the yields would be needed in
order for a normal smallholder farmer using the Bono Tecnológico package to be able to repay the
value of the voucher to the communal banks without losses (Carbonari et al. 2010). Farmers I
spoke to had not used this program themselves, but some of them talked about how the mayor
was giving away seeds and fertilizer. One farmer complained, “Look, right now the mayor is
offering a variety of seed...but we are only being given a pound. A pound does
nothing…Additionally, these varieties of maize brought plague. In the valley was an infestation of
caterpillars that damaged the crop.” 44 His response was that the program only offered one
pound of seeds and that it was not worth the trouble of sowing it.
The seeds that were given to farmers through this program were improved varieties
developed through DICTA (such as DICTA Laderas, DICTA Guayape, Tuxpeño, HB-104,
QPM 01 y 03, DICTA Sequia, Intibucano A-503) (SAG 2010). Though these varieties attempt
to address the diversity of the rural countryside, they continue to assume that farmers do not
have the productive resources or knowledge to address food security.
As Honduran
anthropologist Mario Ardon Mejia, told me, “policies dealing with food security [in Honduras]
Carbonari et al. (2010:2) state that, “the project was implemented in 17 states, 216 municipalities, and 2,125
communities, benefiting 81, 747 small farmers.
44Mire,ahorita el alcalde ofreció una semilla… solo les está dando una libra. Con una libra no hace nada. Pero esas
variedades de maíz traen plaga. En ese valle fue un gusanera que daño la cosecha.
43
71
have ignored the advances in food security and local knowledge developed over the centuries.
These policies erode the productive capacities of the rural producers…As well, [policies such as]
Bono Tecnológico simply gave farmers seeds and inputs without parallel policies that would ensure
that these rural households were less vulnerable and dependent on the use of agrochemicals”
(interview September 4th, 2011).
Conclusions:
Within the Valley of the Otoro Grande there are diverse environmental niches that allow
for unique livelihood strategies around farming because of the restrictions they pose on what
crops can be grown. Unpredictable climatic extremes also impact food accessed by families. The
combination of these factors can lead to seasonal and temporary food insecurity. Access to lands
in these different niches also impact food security. Access to appropriate seeds and good quality
land contribute greatly to food insecurity in rural farming families. As I have pointed out,
agrarian and food security policies have largely ignored the environmental and cultural diversity
of Honduras to the exclusion of the most marginal. The voices of poor, small-scale rural farmers
have been largely left out and ignored by national and international polices. This is why local, indepth research with small-scale farmers is so valuable to increase food security in a country where
over half the population lives in rural areas. By listening to these voices, policies can be directed
and made more useful within the range of livelihood strategies. Working with local actors will
also elucidate the locally specific cultural and socioeconomic conditions that affect food security.
In the next chapter, I will discuss these factors relating to the Jesus de Otoro Valley.
72
CHAPTER 5: Cultural and Socioeconomic Factors Affecting
Availability, Access and Use of Food
Just as the factors such as environment, unequal access to resources, and food security
policies affect food availability, accessibility and use, so too do values, beliefs, traditions, and
attitudes. Cultural practices affect food security by influencing what things are considered food,
how hunger is defined, which foods are preferred, how the consumption of certain foods
intersects with notions of identity, and how these affect the daily food choices individuals make.
Kathleen DeWalt (1984) outlined the concept of pathways of household food procurement. She
used this concept to explain how the food choice process encompasses the interaction of factors
that include time, economic resources, and the location of food supply, as well as norms and
cultural preferences. Cultural conventions for directing food intake are not easy to list nor
consistent in how they are carried out by groups of people (Goode 1989:127). The interactions
and practices I observed and about which people spoke to me were their own. “Para mi…” (for
me) or “en mi opinion…” (in my opinion) were often the qualifiers used by people when I spoke
with them about food preferences. Comparable to most features of culture, such “socially shared
understandings of food contribute to, but do not determine, choice”, states Goode (1989:129).
Indeed, conceptions surrounding food and nutrition are constantly negotiated, conveyed,
reinforced and adapted over time through communication by individuals, households and
communities. This chapter examines how those in the communities where I worked navigate the
cultural factors that contribute to food security, how these factors relate to preliminary nutritional
data obtained from local maize landraces, and how cultural practices impact nutritional intake.
73
Superfoods and a Cultural Definition of Hunger:
A cultural superfood is the staple food of the culture, one that is served at every meal.
According to Jelliffe (1967: 279) a cultural superfood is a staple food that is the main source of
calories, occupies a major part of the community’s work time, and has importance in religion,
mythology and history. The importance of staple foods in many cultures is evidenced by the
incorporation of these staples into definitions of what it means to be hungry. For example, in
much of Asia, rice is a superfood; a meal lacking rice is not a true meal, and its absence causes
subjective feelings of hunger (Wilson 1986:258). My Dedo (grandfather), a Bulgarian immigrant to
Canada, will tell you that a meal without bread is not a real meal. For him, like many in the
Mediterranean and Middle East region, every meal must always have bread (Goode 1989:133),
and a table is not properly set without the placement of salt and bread. In his exploration of the
cultural definition of hunger by the Kalauna of the Southwest Pacific, Young (1986:113) discusses
how some crops, especially those of introduced varieties, are not seen as proper foods. In
contrast, yam, taro, banana and sweet potatoes are the principal subsistence crops that are
carefully measured, distributed, tallied, and hoarded, and are considered an integral part of the
main meal (Young 1986:114). During the hungry season, only plantain, sweet potato and
cassava may be available, though a meal consisting of only cassava indicates a real scarcity and
poverty and “no one willingly admits to having fed on such despised food” (Young 1986: 114).
In Central America, maize is the cultural superfood and thus influences the definitions of
hunger and what it means to be food secure. Maize is the staple food of many in the developing
world. During the “Seminario Taller sobre Investigación Participativa e Innovación Tecnológica
74
en Producción de Semilla de Maíz”45 in La Ceiba, November 2011, Felix San Vicente quoted a
FAOSTAT (2007) figure that said in Honduras, annual maize consumption exceeds 73kg
(161lbs) per capita (FAOSTAT 2007). However, this figure is a national average and does not
fully illustrate the amount consumed in the interior of the country. In the Bay Islands, northern
coast and the large cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula much of the population eats wheat
tortillas or even bread. For example, an average household of about 8 people in a mid-altitude
community in the Otoro Valley informed me during interviews and a meeting with USAID that
they consume (both human and animal) about 5lbs of maize a day (approximately 1,825kg per
year). Most of this maize is consumed as tortillas, the basis of every meal. Just as Beaudette
(1999) observed in the department of Yoro, I saw that all meals consist of tortillas, sometimes
accompanied by beans, rice, eggs, and occasionally meat and mantequilla (a type of sour cream)
(Beaudette 1999: 165-166). The simplest meal my interviewees told me about was that of tortillas
and salt, a point Thorpe (2002) also speaks to when discussing ways to quantify rural poverty. He
suggests that, because many respondents in his study said they survived on a diet of salt and
tortillas, local maize prices could be used to enumerate household consumption for evaluating
food security (Thorpe 2002:135).
Much time is devoted to maize in the communities I visited. Not only is maize the crop
that occupies significant time for farmers in their fields, the preparation of tortillas is also a long
process. The woman of the household (in the case of my interviewees it was either a mother or a
daughter) is the first to get up in the morning. She begins her day by starting the fire in the stove,
and starts the process of tortilla making by milling the maize in the hand mill. The night before,
the women cook the maize for many hours and then rinse it thoroughly to be ready for the
45
"Workshop on Participatory Research and Technological Innovation in Maize Production"
75
following day's tortillas. The tortillas are cooked on the comal (griddle), with well-practiced fingers
used to flip them over without getting burned. Often a woman will make all the tortillas for the
day. This could be around 100 or up to 250, as discussed by Beaudette (1999:154).
For those in the Otoro valley, tortillas are culturally and symbolically significant just as
they have been for the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, for whom without tortillas
there is no authentic meal, “amounting to symbolic and psychological (if not nutritional)
starvation” (Leatherman and Goodman 2005: 840). Indeed, due to the importance of maize to
every meal, access to and availability of this crop is key to defining hunger and food security.
Hunger in the communities where I worked is defined in terms of access to maize (or
tortillas), and not access to food altogether. When Angela and I explained my project to one
farmer, the first thing he wanted to tell us was about the importance of maize. He said “there is a
proverb that says, if there is a table without maize or beans, they say these tables are sad, because
they lack food”46. Another interviewee told me “without tortillas, there is hunger and sadness”.47
A family would not necessarily feel they were hungry if they did not have beans for a meal, but a
meal that has no maize is considered a serious problem.
As discussed in Chapter 4, the hungry time known as los junios occurs because
communities have consumed or sold the previous harvest of beans and maize (beans harvested
from December/November, maize harvested from September/October) and this year’s crop of
maize has only recently been planted. During these times families eat more bananas (and related
varieties of plantains), tuber crops such as yucca, potatoes, sweet potato, malanga and badu (taro
“...Hay una lección que dice que si hay una mesa, y no hay maíz, ni hay frijolitos, dicen quizas estas mesas están triste, porque falta ese
alimento”(Male, early 30s, Crucitas Oriente)
46
47
“Si no hay tortillas, hay hambre y hay tristeza” (Female, 30s, Barrio Nuevo).
76
varieties), and vegetables such as chayote and cabbage. During this time pigs and chicken are
also fed other crops to reduce the amount of maize usage. Beaudette (1999: 244) mentions that
women in Yorito said that vegetables are important “during los junios, “because there are no
beans”, or “when there is nothing else to eat”.”
When I asked people about dietary diversity, I was told about two main time periods of
greatest diversity (see Figure 3). About half of the people mentioned that the time of more
diversity occurred during May and June, because this was a time of great abundance of crops
such as beans, yucca, and vegetables and that there may be a bit of maize left from the previous
harvest. However, this time period was also an occasion when families had to search for other
foods outside of the normal maize and beans. In this sense, diversity was seen as something
undesirable as it accompanied times of hunger. The other half of my interviewees told me that
there was more diversity after the maize harvest when there had been water available to nourish
the crops. These farmers would often confuse diversity with quantity of food, especially the
quantity of maize consumed, which underscores the importance of the maize crop. The time
with least diversity is associated with the period when people are picking coffee and have more
disposable income. Thus access to income does not translate into a diverse diet, despite
households having physical and economic access to diverse foods during the first few months of
the year.
77
Figure 3: Perceived Dietary Diversity: Number of interviewees who perceived Dietary
Diversity to be high during the month. Circled areas show months that interviewees thought of as
having high dietary diversity.
Dietary diversity, the number of diverse foods or food groups ingested over a given
interval, is often associated with higher household food security and a healthier diet. Dietary
variety is seen as a proxy for dietary quality. The household dietary diversity score (HDDS)
developed by the FAO are meant to reflect the economic ability of households to eat a variety of
foods. Hoddinott and Yohannes (2002:38-39) found that “as a general rule, changes in dietary
diversity—as defined as the number of unique foods consumed—are a good indicator of changes
in per capita consumption and per capita caloric acquisition, both “access” measures of
household food security”. Other reports have shown how an increase in dietary diversity is
related to both the socio-economic status and food security of households (see also Hatloy et al.
2000; FAO 2007:3). However, emphasis on dietary diversity overlooks cultural values when
cultures devalue dietary diversity. For people who value a single food source above all others,
dietary diversity might have a limited role in cultural perceptions of hunger. In fact, for many
participants in this study, the times of greatest dietary diversity were also perceived as times of
78
reduced consumption and caloric intake. Hence, dietary diversity for some people can be seen as
having a negative influence on food security. While the FAO has incorporated cultural
preferences into their definition of food security, frameworks that place a great deal of
importance on the role of dietary diversity in food security are not representative of the
perceptions and lived experiences of the people of the Otoro valley. People chose foods because
of cultural preferences for specific foods. This points to a potential problem inherent in the
definition of food security: different cultural groups put different emphases on different aspects of
the definition. These differences should have implications for thinking about food security
policies.
Cultural preferences and food consumption
Sensory properties of food, such as shape, size, and colour influence food selection and
preferences. These characteristics often inform people about taste and texture by which they
evaluate foods to be “more or less appetizing, appealing, or valuable for certain purposes.”
(Messer 1989:9). These visual cues provide criteria for folk classification of foods. These
classifications allow people to construct diets that combine “cultural ideas of the nutritional
contents of particular food types as well as their other social symbolic meanings” (Messer
1989:10). People use colour to rank varieties, and because it often “encodes other dimensions of
cultural value (colour) may influence food selection more than reputed nutritional worth" (Messer
1989:10). This was seen in Mexico, by the well-known nutritional anthropologist Ellen Messer,
where white maize is preferred for tortillas, "since white tortillas are said to look “cleaner”, to
have a softer texture, and to taste better than tortillas of coloured maize" (Messer 1989:10).
Though coloured maize can be seen as having good taste and texture, it may be seen as making
dirty tortillas and if coloured grains mix with white, it can be seen as dirtying the pure colour of
79
those tortillas (Messer 1976; Messer 1989). As Messer (1989:10) states, in this context colour
functions as “a kind of folk index of purity and refinement, and affects the prestige value of
varieties within a particular category of foods", for example the prestige of white maize versus the
lower cultural status of coloured maize. The prestige of white tortillas, which “since preColombian times…have had preference over coloured ones” (Bordi 2006:99), has changed over
the last decade for the middle and upper class in Mexico. Bordi (2006) calls this phenomenon a
nationalistic nostalgia for “authentic” Mexican foods in the face of globalization. In her article,
Bordi (2006) shows that because of the close link between colour, status and identity, when
globalization and neoliberal trade threaten national identity, there are changes in the way
Mexicans build identity through the consumption of coloured maize. How then are issues of
colour and other preferences, playing out in other contexts where maize is a staple food? During
my fieldwork, I observed how issues of identity and cultural preferences played out in the Otoro
Valley.
During my time in Otoro, it was immediately apparent to me that culturally influenced
sensory properties play an important role in food preferences. Local preferences of colour, shape
and taste, are important factors that help to determine what varieties of maize and beans are
available in the households. Many households that I interviewed cultivated a diverse number of
bean and maize varieties. The average number of varieties for each household for beans and
maize was two or three varieties, though diversity was variable throughout the communities.
Each variety is grown for a number of reasons. The most prominent motives, apart from
agronomic factors like yield and resistance, are colour, texture, taste, tortilla quality, length of
time tortillas stay fresh, cooking time, and marketability.
80
The colour of tortillas derived from the differently coloured maize varieties was very
influential in the making of food choices. One elderly woman informed me that she had no idea
what varieties she used because the colour was the only important characteristic in classifying
maize.48 This supports the findings of DeWalt and DeWalt (1982:80), who found that in their
mountain research communities in southern Honduras, farmers recognized two varieties of
maize: amarillo (yellow) and blanco (white). Not only was colour used to classify varieties, but
people had very strong feelings toward certain colours of tortillas. During my time in Honduras,
people expressed very strong feelings towards tortillas made from negrito (black) maize. One
woman in Barrio Nuevo, the lowland community, informed me that she did not even want to
touch tortillas of black maize because they made her think that the people who had made them
had not washed their hands.49 This sentiment was also related to me in the highland community
of El Águila, where most of the families use a lot of coloured maize. Here one woman told me
that her children think she has not properly washed the maize when she uses her black maize to
make tortillas. One young woman informed me that the reason she does not use ash to remove
the pericarp from her maize is because of the colour it turns the tortillas. I was also told a story by
another young woman of when her mother sent her to school with tortillas made from black
maize, her schoolmates would insultingly tease her saying that her family ate tortillas of ash.
Colour was so important for determining her preference for white maize that one woman in
A. Que variedades que les sembró? (what varieties did he grow?)
DR: No se no me acuerdo ? (I don’t know, I don’t rememeber)
R: ¿Qué color es? (what colour is it?)
DR. es blanco (It is white)
A. Hay otro variedades que usted siembra o solo esto? (Are there other varieties that you plant, or only this one?)
DR: Si siembra maíz amarillo (Yes, he plants yellow maize)
A. Maíz amarillo? Pero no sabía la variedad? (Yellow maize? But you don’t know the variety?)
DR: No (No) (Female, 60s, Barrio Nuevo, No CIAL).
48
““Por el color, yo pienso que nunca las he probado porque las miro negras… pienso que no se han lavado las manos” (Female, 30s,
Barrio Nuevo, CIAL)
49
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Barrio Nuevo said that, despite knowing that yellow is more nutritious, she “prefers what is nice,
and not what is good for health”50. Yet another example of how the importance of colour of the
maize masa (dough) is that some women I spoke to separate out different coloured kernels of
maize from cobs that have been pollinated by coloured maize from nearby fields. I was told that
this was done because the flavour of the various colours differs.
When discussing the nutrient value of crops, many rural Hondurans would talk to me
about the sabor (flavour) of the crops, and which varieties were “mas dulce” (sweeter). During the
group interview the participants told me “The mountain varieties are sweeter and thus we
believe they have more nutrition. Mountain maize is more sweet.” One woman told me she
thinks this means it has more nutrition and that the food tastes better when made from mountain
maize.51 Flavour was something they could talk to me about with personal knowledge, whereas
vitamin, mineral or protein content was something they said they did not know about personally,
but had some knowledge about these factors from health organizations and animal feed bag tags
sold in the agricultural stores in town.
50
“prefiero lo que es bonito, y no lo que es bueno para la salud”(Female, late 40s, Barrio Nuevo, No CIAL)
“Las variedades de montaña son más dulces y así creemos que tienen más nutrientes. Maíz montaña es más dulce.” “Creo que esto
significa que tiene más nutrientes. El sabor de la comida es mejor.”
51
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Figure 4: “Flavour” of Yellow vs. White Maize
Colour of the maize implies not only the colour of the tortillas, but also how “heavy” the
tortillas will be. People again and again told me that the tortillas of yellow maize are heavy or
unpleasant [“cae muy pesado”]. However, many others commented positively saying that one has
to eat only half as many tortillas of yellow to be full52. These sentiments show the complexity of
feelings towards one aspect of maize. While many said that they did not like the fact that the
yellow tortillas are heavy, others mentioned that this is evidence that they are more nutritious
and also that they have more flavour (see Figure 4)53. During the group interview participants
suggested that not only is it that yellow maize is heavier, but that the heaviness is explicitly
“Sí, yo me como cuatro tortillas de maíz blanco, y cuando comeo tortillas de maíz amarillo solo tres o dos.”(Male, early 30s,
Crucitas Oriente, No CIAL)
52
“El amarillo llena más que el blanco”( Female, 30s, Crucitas Oriente, no CIAL),
“El amarillo rinde más; es más pesado. Con dos tortillas está cabal”(Male, late 40s, Crucitas Oriente, CIAL)
During my 36 interviews about a third of the participants (12 individuals) specifically talked about how they
believe that yellow maize has the most flavour when compared to white (7 female, 5 male; 5 who were not part of a
CIAL, and 7 who were; 5 in El Águila, 5 in Crucitas, and 2 in Barrio Nuevo). Only five individuals (3 male, 2
female) preferred the flavor of white maize over yellow.
53
83
related to environmental factors. Specifically, they argued that this is because most yellow maize
comes from the mountains (higher altitudes).
Colour also contributes to the ideas of what is “human food” and what is “animal food”.
Interviewees in the lowland community told me they do not like the colour of the yellow maize
because it is considered a food for animals, and not fit for human beings54. They said that yellow
was used mostly for “concentrado” (feed) for the chickens, pigs and horses. This idea dissipates as
one travels up the mountainside, where yellow maize is grown and eaten more frequently.
In southern Honduras, DeWalt and DeWalt (1982:80) found that although many of the
highland households in their research area “grew significant amounts of white maize”, there was
still a strong “personal preference for yellow maize”. The personal preference for yellow maize
did come up during my time in Honduras, typically from those in older generations or from
those involved in the CIALs or active in rural and indigenous movements. One elderly
grandmother said that she prefers yellow maize and that when people give her maize, she gives
the white to the chickens and cooks the yellow maize for herself.55 Households in the valley who
may prefer yellow or black maize, and do not grow much of their own maize, say that they thus
eat mostly white maize because of limited availability of coloured maize due to low market value.
Temmer (2010) found that when rural highland Honduran farmers grow maize and beans for
personal consumption and not for sale on the local market, their priorities in what they are
looking for in bean and maize varieties changes. Instead of good market value and high yields,
This sentiment was relayed to me during visits to the parcelas and the market. During interviews no one made this
specific point but comments such as “No me gusta el color para comer, pero si lo tenemos, lo usamos para el engorde
de los animales (Female, late 40s, Barrio Nuevo)” were mentioned many times.
55 “La tortilla de maíz amarillo es bien dulcita….como la de maíz negrito. También yo prefiero cuando tengo maíz amarillo. Mi hijo
compro cuatro cargas y un día viene un niño escuelero y me mira con las tortillas y dice que bonitas las tortillas de abuelita. Entre blanco y
amarillo yo prefiero el amarillo. El blanco maiz se los doy a los pollos y yo cocino el amarillo” (Female, 70s, Crucita Oriente, No
CIAL).
54
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farmers who produce for personal consumption tend to place more emphasis on taste, colour and
ease of cooking (Temmer 2010:90). Other families informed me that they ate whatever colour
they had access to on a daily basis, but that for certain food items, they would search for certain
maize colours. However, the personal preference for the taste of yellow or black maize does not
translate into market value.
Purchasing Power and Status:
The ability of consumers to obtain goods and services based on their control of money or
credit affects household food security, and their ability to acquire food is influenced by these food
prices. Price of foods influences what foods are bought, and in the case of maize, what colour is
bought by those with less cash to spend. International markets of maize distribute mainly yellow
maize, but in Latin America consumers as a whole prefer the domestically grown white varieties.
In fact, the price of yellow maize in Honduras is lower than for white. This is because urban
consumers throughout Latin America have expressed preferences for white, and consumers are
willing to alter their purchasing habits only at discounted prices. Further, consumers of lowincome groups are more likely to purchase and consume yellow varieties. This makes yellow
maize an inferior good for the more affluent residents, while it is a normal good for the highland
poor where income elasticity is low56. This process is seen in other food items, such as different
coloured sugars. In the ethnographies of Sidney W. Mintz (1985; 1999), he demonstrates how
changes in the preferences of consumers from brown sugar to white sugar, and then back again,
need to be contextualized within the political economy of consumption and production (Knight
An inferior good is one that decreases in demand when consumer income rises, unlike normal goods, for which the
opposite is seen.
56
85
2009). Knight (2009) speaks to the shifts in taste from brown to white sugar by Indonesians
during the late twentieth century.
During the Tenth International Conference of Farmer Experimenters in Honduras (X
Encuentro Internacional de Agricultores (-as) Experimentadores (-as) en Honduras) held in Siguatepeque in
August 2010, I spoke with two sisters who presented on their CIAL’s evaluation of landrace
varieties of maize in Vallecillo, Francisco Morazán. During the presentation it became clear that
colour was a crucial factor that their community looked at while evaluating varieties, along with
yield and resistance to pests. Colour was important because it impacted the commercial value of
the grain itself and also the tortillas. White maize has a high commercial value, while a yellow
variety has less commercial value despite the fact that yellow varieties constantly scored the
highest in flavour during evaluations. Notwithstanding this, many families in their community
grow at least one variety of both yellow and white maize. They explained that this was because of
the personal preferences of the families and also because their community was poor. When
people needed to buy maize for themselves and their animals they would more likely be able to
afford yellow than white; if they only had white corn to sell no one in the community could afford
to buy it. The main advantage of white maize is its marketability.
Colour also affects the marketability of beans. I was told that the best beans to sell were
those with a brilliant red colour, while the best price for maize was obtained for white maize,
commonly the variety Guayape. One farmer in Barrio Nuevo, who harvests a large amount of
maize, said that he grows Guayape because of its good colour for selling, and the yellow variety
because of its good taste and use for personal consumption. Just as was conveyed to me by my
participants, DeWalt and DeWalt (1982:80-81) documented nearly 30 years earlier that white
was preferred by people in towns and larger urban centres and was thus easier to sell and earned
86
a higher price. Perales et al. (2003) also found that throughout their study area in rural Mexico,
the prevalent maize types were white, a trait that reflected market demand. In their ethnography,
they wrote that farmers reported that sometimes buyers refused to buy coloured maize (Perales et
al. 2003).
Food Preferences and Identity:
Identity has been studied in the social sciences as both as a process (how it operates) and
as an object (what it is). Identity involves the mental self-image that an individual gives to
themselves based on daily interactions with individuals, groups, and different objects. These
images expose various “layers of meaning” that are constructed upon individual, social, cultural
and foundations (Bisogni et al 2002: 129). According to Wilk (1997:308), “it is an anthropological
truism that food is both substance and symbol.” Many findings have shown that food is an
exceptionally meaningful symbol of personal and group identity (Caplan 1997; Counihan 1999;
Leitch 2003; Mintz 2002; Sutton 2001; Wilk 1999; etc). As Weismantel (1988:7) states, the
production, preparation and consumption of foods are central to identity construction: “What we
eat and how we eat it also defines us as social beings... To cook is to speak and to mean, as well as
to make and to do”. People ascribe identity to themselves and to others based on their
interactions with food, such as what is considered edible, what foods they like and dislike, and
how they prepare foods (Bisogni et al 2002:129). Eating specific foods is part of enacting one's
own identity. Identity as associated to food is a mutually shaping relationship; a person’s
identities affect what is eaten and vice versa. Identities linked to consumption are “reflexive and
dialectical in nature as they result from a person’s food choices, as a person compares themselves
with various situations” (Bisogni et al 2002:135). Research has shown that foods are a remarkably
powerful “symbol of personal and group identity, forming one of the foundations of both
87
individuality and a sense of common membership in a larger, bounded group” (Wilk 1997:308).
However, identities and food practices can also be fluid and changing. As Warde notes “what is
much less well understood is how such a stable pillar of identity can be so fluid and changeable,
how seemingly insurmountable boundaries between each group’s unique dietary practices and
habits can be maintained, while diets, recipes, and cuisines are in a constant state of flux” (Warde
in Wilk, 1997:244). Indeed, culture is constantly changing, even as it is being put on the pedestal
of tradition.
Honduran cultural identity has rarely been studied in the literature, and those that have
looked at it, point to the vague aspects of “an honoured Honduran national identity” (Pine 2008).
“Although it is constantly and openly being negotiated, ‘Honduran-ness’ is an elusive category”
writes Pine (2008:3) in her ethnography of urban Hondurans in which she studied complex
connections between alcohol, work, religion, politics, influence of the United States, and social
change in Honduras. There are some aspects of “Honduran-ness” that speak to sameness, but
many that point to differences with others (Pine 2008).
Rowlands (1997) notes that Honduras differs from its neighbouring countries partly
because of the composition and power of the oligarchy, the absence of a significant guerrilla or
independence movement, and its strategic significance in terms of US foreign policy. These
factors influence the identity that Pine (2008) speaks to in her ethnography, in which she shows
that Hondurans constantly compare themselves to an idealized image of Americans. Along with
this strong foreign influence, a strong local agrarian capitalist class failed to emerge and a middle
class did not begin to develop until the later half of the last century (Rowlands 1997:31). This has
left Honduras today with great inequality and also few national heroes. Along with inequality,
88
clientalism and caudillismo57 take power out of the hands of most Hondurans, and produce a
climate where social capital is very important for improving livelihoods.
As mentioned in earlier chapters, most Hondurans experience poverty, and Pine (2008)
shows that ‘Honduran-ness’ is greatly influenced by the amount of poverty in the country. The
population of Honduras is 90 percent mestizo (mixed race), with ethnically different features
present in both the ruling class and the indigenous populations. The inequality so prevalent in
Honduras means that most Hondurans see themselves as different from the “ethnically marked
ruling class” (Pine 2008:3). Most also see themselves as different from the nine officially
recognized indigenous groups (Tawahka, Pech, Tolupan, Lenca, Miskitu, Maya Chorti, Garífuna, Isleños
de Habla Inglesa, and Nahua), despite their mestizo heritage.
The Honduran identity described by Pine (2008:24), where Hondurans see themselves as
more violent than, and therefore behind, people from other countries, also arises within
Honduran society. Not only is Honduras the most violent country in the world outside of a war
zone according to the United Nations (UNODC 2010), but a 2005 CEPAL study reported that
61 percent of Honduran men hold traditional attitudes concerning the gender roles, involving an
overstressed connotation of masculinity related with machismo (male pride, male chauvinism)
(Classen et al 2008: 4). Along with machismo attitudes come stereotypical portrayals of poor
Hondurans, especially ‘indios’ as alcoholic and violent (Pine 2008; Rowlands 1997). These
general and clichéd patterns of behaviour produce a national identity of “supposed moral and
Caudillo means leader or boss. “In its broadest political sense, caudillismo in Latin America has popularly come to
mean any highly personalistic and quasi-military regime whose party mechanisms, administrative procedures, and
legislative functions are subject to the intimate and immediate control of a charismatic leader and his cadre of
mediating officials.” At the local level, we more commonly find the Indian-derived cacique which signifies chief
(Boussard 2003:152 footnote#7).
57
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cultural inadequacy of the Hondurans…that is frequently expounded in the Honduran
newspapers” (Pine 2008:9).
However, the negative image of Honduran-ness was recently challenged. For a short
time under the leadership of Jose Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran Ministry of Culture had an
official policy to recognize the plurality of Honduran ethnicities (Enrique 2010:31). As part of this
work, Casas de Cultura58 were developed to promote, and indeed celebrate, local cultural heritage,
with centres in diverse areas such as the departments of Copan, Gracias a Dios, Santa Barbara
and the valleys of Sula and Jesus de Otoro (Enrique 2010:32).
Eating tortillas is a symbol of Honduran identity especially in the interior of Honduras,
but this identity is further defined within Honduran society depending on colour of maize used
and types of foods prepared. There is indeed a plurality of shared identities apparent in this
heterogeneous county. As was discussed above, many things are implied depending on what one
eats. By saying white maize is “cleaner”, “more beautiful”, and “more cultured” denigrates those
who eat coloured maize. The sentiment that “los pobres indios” who consume coloured maize
should feel shame about the fact that they eat this food was often conveyed to me. During a
group interview I was told that you would be considered “un indio pobre” if you ate tortillas made
from criollo varieties such as black maize, criollo beans varieties such as chinapopos (Phaseolus
coccineus, large colourful beans), or foods like ticucos (large tortillas with beans inside also called
tamal de viaje).
On the other hand, the celebration of the local criollos (landraces), and the local dishes, is
an expression of continuity with the past that is worth commemoration. It is also an assertion of a
58
Cultural Centres (houses of culture)
90
pride and a hope to share with the next generation. During an interview, a farmer who lives in
the mid-altitude community of Crucita Oriente passionately told me that planting criollos,
including the coloured varieties, was important because these seeds are the heritage or legacy
(patrimonio) of the indigenous people of Honduras; “they are life, for without them there is no
life”59. His choice of varieties of maize of certain colours was based around a pride in his identity
as indigenous Lenca 60 . During a conversation with the husband in one of the families I
interviewed, he and I talked about how important the activity of growing maize was to the people
of the Otoro valley. When asked why he always liked growing maize despite having his own shoe
repair stall in the town market building, he answered, “Because it is a tradition, it is our heritage,
our custom”61. For him, his roots are firmly planted in the parcela (field). He said, “Generally, we
were raised working in the fields”62. Criollo seeds and local foods had to some farmers an intrinsic
value as being a connection to their heritage. For them, their identity is wrapped up in these
seeds and these foods. Thus to lose these seeds and these foods is to threaten their identity. This
means that they struggle to protect these things. This became evident in stories about ambitious
travels to join huge marches in the capital city of Tegucigalpa against the loss of indigenous
seeds, stories and photos of local demonstrations to keep the municipality free of GMO seeds,
and a pride when talking about the seed banks set up by FIPAH and other NGOs. It should be
noted that climate and geography also seem to facilitate the retention of Lenca indigenous
culture, as they permit the growing of the crops that have symbolic and cultural meaning.
“Porque la semilla criollo… es nuestro patrimonio. Es la vida. Porque cuando no lo vea esto alimento, no hay vida.” (Male, 30s,
Crucitas Oriente, No CIAL)
59
“Somos indígenas!” he told Angela and me during an interview, a sentiment I would hear often after that from him.
During a trip with USAID officials in 2011 we passed him on the road up to El Águila and the thing he wanted most
to remind the officials after being introduced was “Somos indígenas!” (We are indigenous!)
60
61
“porque es una tradición; es un patrimonio; una costumbre.”(Male, 40s,, Barrio Nuevo)
62
“Por lo general, como nos hemos criado trabajando en el campo” (Male, 40s,, Barrio Nuevo)
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The Nutritional Value of Local Food Sources: Maize Nutrition
As I have mentioned in Chapter 1, food security “exists when all people, at all times, have
physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary
needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO 2002). The concept of food
security covers the collective group, the social being, and the individual body. At this last level,
food security means that healthy tissue and organ function are maintained by receiving the
appropriate amounts of nutrients, including vitamins and minerals. Thus the nutritional content
of available foods is important. Although considerable research is conducted on issues of yield,
risk, vulnerability, agrobiodiversity and sustainability, when it comes to crop selection and
experimentation, there is limited consideration for how access to different landraces affects
everyday dietary practices and food preferences within farmer households. In order for plant
breeding projects to be successful, it is necessary to merge productivity issues with the qualitative
consideration of preference and factors such as ease of preparation and perceptions of nutritional
value and health that farmers attribute to different landraces. The significance of these factors is
starting to be recognized within the research community, mainly within interdisciplinary and
participatory research programs (Dickenson et al. 2009). Here the expertise of anthropologists
can play an important role.
Globally, maize provides approximately 15 percent of protein and 20 percent of calories
used by humans (Brown et al. 1988, cited in Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). In Honduras, corn
or maize (Zea mays L.) is the chief annual crop, both in terms of its portion of total harvested area
and as I have shown, its role in human consumption. Roughly 25 percent of all farmland is sown
with maize, and “Hondurans’ per capita maize consumption is among the highest in the world”
(Hintz et al. 2003: 307). Because of this and because of maize’s role as a superfood within
92
Honduran culture, it is important to know the nutritional makeup of this grain, and how
processing changes the nutrients available for use by the human body. With the impact of all the
different factors described in the last chapters in mind, a nutritional analysis was performed from
90 varieties of landraces collected after the 2010 harvest. We hoped that the data from these tests
would show what nutrients are available to rural farmers in Honduras.
Maize kernels provide many macronutrients and micronutrients needed for human
metabolism. In addition to serving as a critical source of macro- and micronutrients, maize is also
a rich source of many phytochemicals (compounds in plants that may affect health but are not
essential nutrients) including carotenoids, phenolic compounds, anthocyanins, and tocopherols.
Several studies with these phytochemicals have shown that they have multiple functional roles,
for example, as antioxidants, as antimutagens, and as reducers of cancer (Hu and Ju 2011: 2026).
However, according to Nuss and Tanumihardijo (2010), the amounts of certain essential
nutrients are poorly balanced or inadequate for
individuals who rely on maize as a major food source.
Structure of the Maize Kernel
Nearly half (42 percent) of the dry weight of the
maize plant is made up from the edible grain. Each
kernel has three compartments, each with their own
Figure 5: Structure of the Maize
Kernel
unique chemical and nutritional composition (See Figure 5). The kernel is divided into the
endosperm (83 percent), the embryo or germ (11 percent) and pericarp (6 percent) (Custodio et
al. 2010).
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Typical Nutritional Composition of Maize:
Genetic background, variety, environmental conditions, plant age, and geographic
location can impact kernel composition within and between maize varieties. These factors allow
for a range in kernel colour (white, yellow, orange, red, black, etc.), quantity of kernels per ear
(300-1000), weight (190-300g per 1000 kernels), spatiality (12-16 kernels per row) and nutrient
composition (FAO 1992, cited in Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). With this in mind, it is
estimated that in general maize contains about 72 percent starch, 10 percent protein, and 4
percent lipids (Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010).
Overall protein quality of common maize is lacking. Most maize varieties lack the essential
amino acids lysine and tryptophan, and are deficient in ascorbic acid (vitamin C), B-vitamins,
iron and iodine (Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). Protein provides the body with amino acids
needed to build up, maintain and replace tissues in the body. Maize kernels contain about 10
percent protein, which is mainly distributed in the endosperm and germ (Custodio et al 2010). In
addition to providing essential amino acids, maize with more of the amino acid, lysine, is said to
help protect against certain vitamin deficiency diseases and other health complications, such as
improving bioavailability of niacin. In a study of the nutritional quality of Mexican landraces, it
was found that landraces, especially those with blue grains, had high lysine and tryptophan (Vidal
Martínez et al 2008: 15).
Starch molecules are large molecules that the body breaks down into glucose to use as
energy in cells. Starch is maize’s primary carbohydrate and kernel constituent, totalling 72
percent dry weight. The wealth of kernel starch is located in the endosperm. Lipids supply
energy, insulate against extreme temperatures, defend against shock, and sustain cell membranes.
Fats allow for the digestion, absorption, and transport of vitamins A, D, E and other fat-soluble
94
vitamins, as well as being a source of essential fatty acids. The fat content in maize grain varies
between 3.5 and 6 percent of the total weight of grains, with an average of 4.5 percent. Such
content can be increased by the size of the germ, as approximately 85 percent of oil is located in
the germ (Custodio et al 2010).
The seven minerals regularly lacking in human foods are calcium, copper, iodine, iron,
magnesium, selenium and zinc (White and Broadley 2005, cited in Nuss and Tanumihardijo
2010). The germ contains about 80 percent of all minerals within a maize kernel. However
minerals such as zinc are accumulated in the endosperm as well. Other minerals found in maize
grain are iron, magnesium, and calcium (Custodio et al 2010). The minerals are absorbed from
the soil and transported to the grain and other plant structures. Therefore the mineral
composition of soil performs a significant part in the final accumulation of these compounds in
the grain.
To improve the content of minerals in plants, one needs to target strategies that improve
the uptake from the environment, transport within the plant, accumulation in edible tissues, and
reduction of anti-nutrients (Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). In nutrient-poor ecosystems, the
application of nitrogen, phosphorus, and/or potassium can increase transfers of iron, zinc, and
calcium from the soil to plant tissues (Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). However, caution must be
used because the excessive application of phosphorus or nitrogen can have the opposite effect
and impede mineral uptake (Frossard et al. 2000, cited in Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010:429).
Recent scientific studies have shown that phenolic phytochemicals not only contribute to
colour and flavour of food items, but that they exhibit potential health benefits due to their strong
antioxidant activities. Black, blue and red maize contains anthocyanins, which are flavonoid
95
compounds that are not considered essential nutrients, but are strongly recommended for
optimal health due to their potent antioxidant behaviours (Gropper et al. 2005, cited in Nuss and
Tanumihardijo 2010).
Yellow maize contains provitamin A carotenoids and vitamin E (tocopherols).
Carotenoids are yellow-orange pigments that are divided into two groups: carotenoids (α-and βcarotene) and xanthophylls (β -cryptoxanthin, lutein, and zeaxanthin). Only three provitamin A
carotenoids, α-carotene, β-carotene, and β-cryptoxanthin, are thought to contribute to the needs
of vitamin A when consumed in sufficient quantities. On average yellow maize contains less than
1mg/g of provitamin A, while white maize lacks carotenoids completely (Nuss and
Tanumihardijo 2010).
Changes during the Grain Harvest, Drying and Processing into Foods:
Around the world, maize kernels are consumed off the cob, parched, boiled, fried,
roasted, ground, and fermented for used in breads, porridges, gruels, cakes, and alcoholic
beverages (Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). During harvesting, threshing and drying of maize
grain, the chemical composition of the grain remains unchanged, as breaking apart of the
pericarp and germ-damage are only physical changes. However, these changes make the grain
more vulnerable to attack from pathogens that in turn can generate a change in the chemical
composition. Grain drying can also influence a small loss of some compounds, such as
carotenoids.
Kernels contain the water-soluble vitamin niacin, but unless properly processed, it is
biologically unavailable to humans (Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). Long-term consumption of
improperly prepared maize can lead to pellagra (niacin deficiency disease, which causes
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diarrhoea, dementia, and dermatitis). Cooking maize with lime, heat and/or pressure can break
niacin apart from other compounds in the food and supply upward to 90 percent of daily calcium
(derived from the lime) to people as well as greatly enhance the bioavailability of lysine,
tryptophan and isoleucine (Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). However, this also leads to a loss of
thiamine, riboflavin, fat, and fibre (Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010).
Treating maize with lime, which is sometimes called nixtamalization, originated in Central
America, and requires that the maize is cooked in a boiling lime solution for less than one hour
and then steeped overnight. As discussed earlier, the liquid is discarded in the morning and the
cooked-steeped maize, called nixtamal, is then washed and ground into masa (dough) for use in
tortillas and other foods. The lime used can be either calcium oxide or wood ash.
In a study of how nixtamalization effects Guatemalan lowland white maize, Pappa,
Palacios de Palomo, and Bressani (2010) found that tortillas nixtamalized with calcium oxide?
had higher levels of calcium, but those made with ash had high levels of calcium, potassium, iron
and zinc. Participants in this study found that maize nixtamalized with ash was harder to grind
than maize processed with calcium oxide, and that the masa and tortillas from ash were harder,
and need a longer cooking time (Pappa, Palacios de Palomo, and Bressani 2010).
Phytic acid is essential for kernel germination and phosphate storage, but it has been
shown to have adverse affects on the bioavailability of kernel minerals that are essential for
human health (Raboy 2003, cited in Nuss and Tanumihardijo 2010). The milling, soaking, or
heating can degrade or remove about 40 percent of the phytic acid, but this is at the expense of
the minerals it may bind to, making this an only marginally successful process (Nuss and
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Tanumihardijo 2010). Fermented maize foods provide increased bioavailability of the B-vitamins
niacin, thiamine and riboflavin.
Results from Nutritional Analysis:
Since we only had one sample (200 grains) per variety at any one location, samples were
grouped together to get better statistical data. The grouping by colour (white, yellow, red and
black) was motivated by hearing from the farmers how important colour was for elucidating the
value of the grain. Colour groups were graphed with 1) the mean of the protein values (%), 2) the
mean of ProVitamin A (µg/g), 3) the mean starch (%), 4) the mean crude fat content (%) and 5)
the mean content of anthocyanins (µg/g). Where known, the mid range of values were plotted to
show where our colour groups fell in relation to known average values given by CIMMYT (pers.
com Luis Galicia of CIMMYT). Since mineral content is so dependent on soil and other
environmental aspects, while analysing iron and zinc content, samples were grouped by
geographical department.
Figure 6: MEAN protein content of white, yellow, red and black maize landraces
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Figure 7: Percent protein content of all varieties according to altitude of plot
When colour groups were plotted against the mean protein for each group (see Figure 6),
it showed that there was significant difference between the colour classes of Black and White
(0.001), and White and Yellow (0.012). Black maize had the highest average protein content and
would be considered high in protein according to CIMMYT standards. Yellow and Red maize
categories are on the higher end of the normal area for protein content. A linear regression of
altitude and percent protein showed that altitude could explain approximately 11 percent of the
variation in the protein content (see Figure 7).
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Figure 8: Mean provitamin A Content of Maize Colour categories, with the average
provitamin Content for Yellow Maize (given by CIMMYT) shown to give context.
Figure 9: Graph of the Showing the Values of provitamin A Content of White,
Yellow, Red and Black Maize Landraces, showing the names for some varieties
When colour groups were plotted against the mean of ProVitamin A for each group (see
Figure 8), it showed that there was significant difference (0.0001) between the yellow colour class
and all other colour classes. Figure 9 shows some of the values (ug/g) of the landrace varieties.
Yellow maize had significantly more of the precursors to vitamin A (beta-carotenoids) than did
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any of the other three groups. There was no significant difference between any of the other
colour classes (see Appendix 5).
Figure 10: Values of anthocyanins showing the outlier in the white colour category.
As can be seen in Figure 10, one sample of white had a high anthocyanin reading. Since white
varieties of maize do not contain anthocyanins, this was considered an outlier and removed for
statistical purposes. When mean anthocyanin content without this outlier was graphed against
the colour groups, it showed that there was significant difference (0.0001) between the Black
group and all other colour classes. The black maize category had significantly more of these
antioxidants. There were no significant differences between White, Yellow or Red colour groups.
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Figure 11: Mean anthocyanin content of white, yellow, red and black maize
landraces without outlier
When colour groups were graphed against the mean starch content and mean crude fat
content of each colour group, they showed no significant difference between the colour classes,
though for all colour categories, the starch content was on the higher end of the normal
distribution of starch. Maiz Rojo, Guayape Criollo, Vallecillos, Matazaneño (Hijo de), Tuxpeño,
Olotillo Blanco, Maiz Harina, Negrito, Matazaneño, Pintado, Negrito, Cristalino, Raquin
Amarillo Chileño, and Capulin Tusa Morada all had over 70 percent starch, which is considered
high. Fat content on the other hand lay on the lower end of normal, with Sesenteño Blanco,
Pongaloya and Amarillo Fino having below 3 percent.
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Figure 12: Mean starch content of white, yellow, red and black maize landraces
Figure 13: Mean crude fat (ether extract) content of white, yellow, red and black
maize landraces
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For mineral content there was no significant difference, though the regions of Marcala,
Opalaca and Otoro had very high variation in iron content (see Figure 14), while Opalaca and
Victoria regions had high variation in zinc (see Figure 15). The mean of all locations was very
low in the normal distribution for iron, while the mean for zinc was a little higher. A linear
regression for altitude and zinc content showed that as altitude increased there was a slight
decline in zinc content (see Figure 16).
Figure 14: Mean iron content of maize landraces from different regions
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Figure 15: Mean zinc content of maize landraces from different regions
Figure 16: Linear regression of zinc content values plotted against altitude
I was also able to compare cultural values to those of the nutritional data. During the
group interview, participants and I created a list of maize varieties through the free-listing
exercise, and they were also gathered from a list that I compiled from all of my interviews.
Participants reviewed these names, and checked off a list of values for each variety they were
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familiar with. In the end, fourteen varieties of maize that we listed during this particular
interview were also sent to CIMMYT for testing. I used these 14 varieties and their
corresponding ranked values to create Figure 17. These data were compared to see if there was
any significant correlation between cultural values and nutritional data.
Figure 17: Cultural and agronomic values of fourteen varieties of landraces
In general, participants told me that the landrace varieties of maize are more nutritious.
There is a significant relationship between the local varieties and the perceived nutritional value
(sig. 0.028), and higher protein in the landraces (sig. 0.043). There is also an inverse relationship
between market value and protein content (sig. 0.038): the more money corn can be sold for, the
lower the protein content. In part, this may be because landraces, which tend to sell for less than
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improved white varieties, have more germ (the part with the protein). There is also an inverse
relationship between the market value of maize and vitamin A (sig. 0.001). In general, the better
the market value, the lower the nutritional value. This is due to the fact that the yellow maize
(which is high in vitamin A) commands a lower price. Prices do not reflect nutritional content of
protein or vitamin A.
Discussion of results:
When I spoke to a CIAL member about why people tended to downplay their knowledge
of nutritional properties of food, she helped me understand that it probably had to do with the
way I spoke about nutrition. She said, “People do not know what, in scientific terms, is more
nutritious. They may know that yellow maize plumps up the pigs faster than white maize, or that
black is the sweetest and weighs more so you have to eat less, but they do not necessarily know
that this means it has more nutrients.”63 This is, in fact, reflected in what people told me when
discussing the different qualities of maize varieties. As I mentioned above, participants suggested
that yellow maize is “heavier”, but that maize that comes from the mountains (higher altitudes) is
also more filling. High protein foods can lessen hunger and extend satiety more than foods high
in carbohydrates or fats (Rolls and Barnett 1999). Perhaps the high protein content of black and
yellow maize explains the sensation of “feeling full” or “heaviness”. Participants said that
highland maize makes you feel full longer. Starches also have a role to play in feeling full. Indeed
maize contains a lot of starch; our samples had an average of 69.1 percent starch. The range of
digestibility of starches is tallied using the glycemic index (GI). Foods with a lower GI release
"La gente no sabe, en términos científicos, lo que es más nutritiva. Ellos pueden saber que el maíz amarillo
engorda de los cerdos más rápido que el maíz blanco, o que el negro es el más dulce y pesa más por lo que tiene que
comer menos, pero no necesariamente saben que esto significa que tiene más nutrientes. " (Female, 60s, a midaltitude community).
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energy slower, leaving you feeling full longer. In a study of tortillas, it was found that blue
tortillas had a lower GI value than white tortillas, and that they also had much higher protein
content and higher lipid content (Hernández-Uribe et al 2007). As is seen in Figure 7, there is a
correlation between altitude and protein content. However, this could just be because coloured
varieties are more prominent at higher altitudes.
Vitamin content was related to nutritional quality in the minds of many of my
participants. When asked what “nutritious” meant during a group interview, I was told by a male
farmer that, “[it was] like fertilizer for the soil, nutrients are good for our growth and health.”
One woman said, “it is something I would give to a child when they are sick.” I was told that, “a
food is nutritious when it has vitamins, such as A, B, and minerals”. In both Crucita Oriente and
Barrio Nuevo, PLAN International had local volunteers who were involved in community-based
growth monitoring of children and health promotion, from which they knew about vitamins and
which deficiencies produced what symptoms. During the group interview I was told,
“We believe that the yellow maize has more nutrition, but we have no idea what
varieties of vitamins are contained in it and what it is good for. We don’t know what
nutrients, what classes of nutrients, are contained in the maize varieties. Does it
have vitamin A or B? Which ones, we don’t know. We hope to see this [from this
study].”64
Knowledge of vitamins is promoted by organizations because VAD is a concern in Honduras. In
a study of Vitamin A deficiency and anemia done in 1999, 14 percent of the children in
Honduras were vitamin A deficient and 32 percent were at risk of VAD (Nestel et al 1999). In the
“Creemos que el maíz amarillo tiene más nutrientes, pero no sabemos qué variedades de vitaminas están
contenidas en él y lo que es bueno para el. No sabemos qué tipo de nutrientes, lo que las clases de nutrientes, se
encuentran en las variedades de maíz. ¿Tiene vitamina A o B? ¿Cuáles, no lo sabemos. Esperamos ver este [de este
estudio].” (Female, 60s, mid-altitude community, CIAL).
64
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same study a “logistic regression analysis showed that children 12-23 months old living in areas
other than the rural south of the country were at great risk of VAD” (Nestel et al 1999, emphasis
added). This could be because in the poor rural south, and other such marginal areas, yellow
maize is consumed and thus risk of VAD is decreased. In the south, there is a high consumption
of sorghum (see DeWalt and DeWalt 1982; DeWalt 1998), however, white sorghum is valued
above yellow sorghum, just as maize is.
Anthocyanins are only found in coloured maize varieties and thus all varieties with these
beneficial nutrients were coloured local landraces.65 A recent study of landrace and hybrid maize
varieties from the highlands of Mexico found similar results to those presented here (VázquezCarrillo et al. 2011:207). Landraces grains were found to be heterogeneous in terms of grain
size, hardness and color, and higher in protein and phenol content than locally grown hybrid
grains (Vázquez-Carrillo et al. 2011:207). This study also found significant correlations between
phenol content and tortilla colour (Vázquez-Carrillo et al. 2011:207)
Starch content was not significantly different between colour classes (0.130), location
(0.130) or altitude (0.856), however all colour classes lie towards the high end of the normal
distribution, particularly the red group, whose mean is within the range considered high by
CIMMYT. Fats also show no difference between colour classes. This suggests that colour groups
would make one feel full at first and meet the short-term energy needs of the body but the feeling
of satisfaction would not last long when relying on starches or fats.
Given that anemia is a concern in Honduras, it is important to note that all the maize
varieties have low iron content. In 1996, 30 percent of Honduran children were anaemic, while
65
All improved varieties were white.
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infection along with being underweight respectively amplified the risk of being anaemic by 51
percent and 21 percent (Nestel et al. 1999). Iron intake from other sources, such as green
vegetables, needs to be promoted. Though there was no difference in mineral content between
regions, this could be because of great diversity in soil quality within these regions, which
effectively “washes out” the effects of mineral differences. The linear regression of zinc content
and altitude had an R2 value of 0.081 showing that here is an inverse relationship between zinc
content and altitude: in other words, as altitude increases, zinc goes down. This could be due to a
decline in soil nutrients as altitude increases.
Table 5: Recommended daily allowance of vitamin a, iron, zinc and protein at
different life stages, compiled from Health Canada (2010)
Vitamin A
Infants
Children
Males
Females
Lactation
400ug/day
400ug/day
900ug/day
700ug/day
1300 ug/day
IRON
Infants
Children
Males
Females
Pregnant
Lactation
11mg/day
10mg/day
8mg/day
18mg/day
27mg/day
10mg/day
ZINC
Infants
Children
Males
Females
Lactation
3mg/day
5mg/day
11mg/day
8mg/day
12mg/day
PROTEIN:
Infants
Children
Males
Females
Lactation
11g/day
19g/day
56g/day
46g/day
71g/day
National average maize consumption is around 226g/day (0.5lbs/day). If an adult male
were to eat only food made from black corn (which has an average of 11.5 percent protein), they
would need to eat 487g (1.07 lbs.) of this maize per day to get sufficient protein; a female would
need to eat 400g (0.88lbs) per day (see Table 5). In other words, they would have to consume
double the average national daily intake of maize to acquire sufficient protein from maize alone.
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For Vitamin A consumption, a person eating the average national daily maize intake of
226g/day would only get 425.2g per day if eating yellow corn (which has an average of 2.17).
These 425g of Vitamin A per day from yellow corn would provide enough Vitamin A for
children (if it is all bioavailable) but less than half recommended for adult males. If individuals
only ate white corn (with an average Vitamin A content of 0.805), they would get only 44g, a
fraction of their recommended intake. Zinc in our samples had an average of 0.0224mg/g, which
means that a person who ate the national average of half a pound (226g) would get 5.1mg per
day, which is not sufficient for adults. Iron in our samples had an average of 0.0174mg/g, which
means that a person who ate the national average of half a pound (226g) of corn would get only
3.93mg per day of iron which does not met any of the daily recommended intakes.
This nutritional analysis shows that the coloured landrace varieties of maize have a higher
nutritional value for protein, anthocyanins, and Vitamin A. However, even if we disregard the
social, cultural and environmental factors that affect availability, accessibility and use of different
coloured maize varieties, and individuals in the communities started to eat black and yellow
maize primarily, there would still be a severe deficiency of nutrients.
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CONCLUSIONS:
The research findings presented in this thesis allowed me to explore the combination of
factors that affect the availability, accessibility, stability and use of food in three research
communities in rural Honduras. The key findings are summarized in the following section,
followed by the theoretical considerations of this research. Limitations and further research are
discussed at the end.
Key Findings:
Local perceptions of food characteristics such as ‘heaviness’ or ‘feeling full’ relate to the
colourful maize varieties grown in the high altitudes. The belief that yellow corn has more
vitamins and the fact that landraces have a high nutrition value for protein, anthocyanins and
vitamin A is also confirmed with the nutritional study conducted here. However, it is has shown
that all varieties of maize are low in minerals and nutrients such as iron, and that if individuals
were to eat only coloured varieties there would still be micronutrient deficiencies within the
population. The individuals and organizations that work to re-valorize the landraces need to also
promote an identity that includes the consumption of green vegetables and fruit.
The phenotypic variations between crop varieties, such as their nutrient content, are
clearly not the only factors that affect availability, accessibility and use of these foodstuffs by
households in the Jesus de Otoro valley. The vast environmental differences found within the
valley also affect food security by impacting both what can be grown and families' access to
markets. Historic and current policies around land have also impacted who has access to land
and the decisions and behaviour of households in relation to food. A further sphere of influence
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on the availability, access and use of food is that of culture. The nutrient analysis will give farmers
more information on the nutritional differences between varieties so that they can choose to plant
crops that better meet their need for foods that are high in vitamins and micronutrients.
Every individual, household, and community responds differently to the dynamic and
fluid system of values that they are exposed to. They interpret and relate to these systems
according to their circumstances, creating different levels of solidarity with their own cohesive
identity groups. While some see a future that is influenced by “the city” and external factors,
others see the future as a continuation from the past and yearn to improve on what they have.
People in the communities struggle with reconciling the modern image of a Honduran while
valuing the landraces and their indigenous identity. The saving of local seeds and doing
experiments to improve these varieties is a striking example of this second viewpoint. Though
cultural values, beliefs, traditions and the symbolic importance of certain foods may not be the
main reason for the continued importance of a certain variety or type of food in the livelihood
strategies of farmers, people must navigate these sometimes conflicting components of identity to
create their own strategies to achieve food security and food sovereignty.
When looking to improve food security, one must study ways in which individual agency
and social structure interact to mutually shape decision processes and behaviours. Looking at the
relationship between identity and eating in the communities visited in rural Honduras, one can
see how food ideals, personal preferences, access to resources, and social and cultural frameworks
can interact with identity in a reflective and changing way. Honduran farmers are presented with
a number of constraints by cultural, social and economic systems. The cultural value of maize as
a superfood to the people of the Otoro Valley means that deviation from this staple is
unthinkable. The value of white maize means it has a higher price that constrains those who have
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little cash but who want to express their identity as people who eat white tortillas. On the other
hand, those who have access to yellow and other coloured maize, may be stigmatized even if they
prefer the taste of yellow maize tortillas and other foods.
The structures, both formal and constructed, also present these rural farmers with
opportunities. Those with access to yellow maize, utilize it because it is cheaper and tastier. Many
actively celebrate landraces to raise the importance and value of these varieties that are more
accessible because of their lower price and their superior agronomic qualities in marginal areas.
Raising the cultural value of coloured varieties of maize is a way that people are choosing to
value perceptions of their identity as indigenous Lenca farmers. This change in values
distinguishes them from urban Hondurans. People who grow improved varieties, hybrids and
almost exclusively white maize do this to differentiate themselves relative to the indigenous and
rural groups.
Those working to promote healthy eating at the individual, household, community and
population levels are addressing a phenomenon that includes both structure and agency and a
focus on one without the other may be inadequate to produce preferred changes. In order for
plant breeding projects and food security improvement programs to be successful, it is necessary
to merge productivity issues with the qualitative consideration of preferences, such as ease of
preparation and perceptions of nutritional value and health that farmers attribute to different
landraces. Understanding perceptions of nutrition and a healthy diet at the local level is crucial to
understanding and addressing food insecurity. Giving voice to local understandings of nutrition
and culturally shaped preferred qualities of food allows for a process of active involvement by
local players in the formation and development of policies, strategies and programs to combat
food insecurity and malnutrition. In particular there needs to be a concerted effort to promote
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the value of indigenous, diverse maize varieties as this will have implications in terms of the
intake of certain nutrients. One policy implication would be the merging of nutritional education
with the support for landraces and a pride in Honduran identity.
The dynamic aspects of food identity came up when speaking about nutrition and
teaching people about healthy foods. As one woman in her 60s from a mid-altitude community
who is very involved in the work of FIPAH and other NGOs said,
“I think indigenous food is more diverse, and that it uses more nutritious
varieties, and more vegetables, and that it must be preserved. But it is difficult
to teach people of this when the “city food” such as white tortillas, red beans
and Coca-Cola, are seen as good food, “clean” and upper class, and when
Coke and churros (snack foods) are so cheap ... and more, when there are ads
[for processed foods] everywhere.”66
This statement showed me the challenges farmers in the Otoro Valley have in valuing their
“patrimonio”. Even with information about the nutritional benefits of coloured landraces and of
eating a more diverse diet with fruits and green vegetables, those who want to promote healthy
eating have a hard time navigating the sometimes contradictory cultural preferences, which
interact with local ecological and political constraints. The indigenous and organic movements
within Honduras may thus be seen as helping people resist the cheap, sugary, processed foods
from the city. Movements like Via Campesina allow peasants and indigenous peoples to be
viewed as current actors and not just as remnants of a distant past (Desmarais 2002:94). These
“Creo que los alimentos indígenas son más diversos, y tienen variedades más nutritivo, y más verduras, y que deben ser preservados. Pero
es difícil hacer entender a la gente de esto cuando los ‘alimentos de la ciudad’, como las tortillas blancas, frijoles rojos y Coca-cola, son
vistos como buena comida, ‘limpia’, y de clase superior, y cuando la Coca-cola y los churros son tan baratos…y mas, cuando los anuncios
de estos están por todos los lados.” (from fieldnotes during a ride up to a mountain village. All Spanish grammar mistakes
are my own)
66
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movements struggle to change the terms “campesina/o” and “indígenas” from pejorative ones to
terms of pride. In this context resurrecting the term “peasants” is an act of resistance (Desmarais
2008: 139).
By combining local and laboratory knowledge, this study within the region of the Otoro
Valley in Intibucá Honduras, shows that cultural heterogeneity and contradictions in identity
formation that surround food need to be given serious consideration when attempting to improve
nutrition within poor, rural communities.
Theoretical Considerations:
Using political ecology, it becomes clear that aspects of food, nutrition and health are
situated within a wide set of sometimes conflicting and contradictory realities. As mentioned,
food security sets a goal and food sovereignty defines a way to realize it. The definition of food
security has expanded greatly since the 1970s to include the social and cultural aspects that limit
availability, access, and use of food. Ideas of hunger and nutrition have many cultural
perceptions associated with them. The call for food sovereignty in which peoples define their own
food and agricultural policies means that local cultural perceptions, such as local definitions of
hunger, can be incorporated into strategies in achieving food security. The call by food
sovereignty actors for the right of people to fashion food policy means direct democratic
participation by all people. When calling for a rights-based approach to food security, food
sovereignty requires an authority that holds people responsible to their duties and obligations so
that rights can be met. It also calls for the reflection of underlying and persistent inequalities of
power. In an environment like Honduras where the state is not able to hold people responsible or
to sufficiently regulate food and agrarian policy, the means proposed by food sovereignty to
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reach food security are hard to come by. One size fits all policies that are put forward do not
meet the needs of many of the most marginalized farmers. The policies that are put forward by
the weak state and influenced by players with extensive power within society do not prioritize or
empower the majority of Honduran farmers. The unconscious and internalized routines and
values that shape the way food is used may also show the conflicts inherent in definitions of both
food security and food sovereignty. As can be seen by looking at the socio-economic and cultural
aspects of food availability, access, and use in the municipality of Jesus de Otoro, a
transformation of culture is needed in order to follow the processes suggested by food sovereignty
to meet food security goals. This research also shows that individual and community agency and
decision-making around food, nutrition, and agriculture may lead to a way of eating that is not
necessarily healthy. This tendency must be considered in the context of the rights of people to
define their own food systems.
Limitations of this Research
An impediment to the ethnographic data was my limited fluency in Spanish, especially
my understanding of the local dialect. This was corrected as much as possible by having Angela,
my research assistant, available during my interviews. She was able to translate local expressions
and to define Spanish words I may not have been familiar with. Another constraint was the
limited time available for research in the field. I was able to spend 4 months in the area, which
allowed me to ask my questions and observe planting of crops and consumption of foods, but it
did not allow me to experience the seasonality of farming life and to see if responses to questions
would have varied by season. Having the experiential knowledge of both FIPAH staff and my coadvisor Sally Humphries was helpful in correcting any misunderstandings that may have arisen
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from this. Limitations arising from the nutrient data include the need for more samples of the
same variety, further quantitative ranking of socioeconomic and cultural aspects, analysis of the
bioavailability of nutrients, and the quality content of the protein (such as amounts of tryptophan
and lysine).
Areas for Further Research
Additional studies should be performed using this research as a starting point. Further
nutritional data, in connection with a wider survey that ranks socioeconomic and cultural values,
would be of value to those wanting to study the nutritional intake and food security barriers in
the Otoro Valley. As well, a more thorough testing of varieties that takes into account the
environmental factors of gene expression would allow for more comprehensive knowledge of the
nutrient content of varieties. However, with the current data that shows the lack of nutrients even
within the most nutritious varieties, it is evident that there is a need for culturally appropriate
nutritional educational programming. Further research into pedagogies of culturally appropriate
nutritional education in addressing malnutrition and food insecurity in Honduras can follow
from the documented perceptions addressed here.
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Appendix 1: Interview questions:
Disponibilidad (acceso a los alimentos / diversidad / semillas / variedades):
¿Son todas las personas que viven en su casa dedica a la agricultura o trabajan en el
hogar, o usted o cualquiera de su familia tienen un trabajo fuera del hogar? Por ejemplo, ¿se
siembran los cultivos, sino también trabajar como un trabajador asalariado? ¿Cómo funciona su
hogar ganar dinero? ¿Cultiva café? ¿Trabaja como recolector de café? ¿Tiene familia en 'la
ciudad' o en América del Norte que envíe dinero? (¿Qué estructura de la familia tienes que
aumenta o restringe su capacidad de acceso a los alimentos) En su hogar sólo tienen uno de los
padres? ¿Tiene mucha gente en su familia para ayudar con los trabajos agrícolas y de trabajo de
la casa? ¿Tienes tu propia tierra? ¿Qué tipo de tierra tienes acceso? ¿Es buena tierra? (¿De qué
manera todo esto afectará su acceso a los alimentos?) ¿Usted alquila tierras para sembrar? Si
usted alquila la tierra, existen restricciones que impiden el crecimiento de más o conseguir más
de su cosecha? ¿Tal vez no se puede plantar una segunda cosecha durante la Postera, o tal vez
no se puede mejorar el suelo en esta parcela? ¿Cómo se obtiene el dinero para alquilar la tierra?
¿Cuándo usted paga el alquiler? ¿Usted compra de fertilizantes y herbicidas? Si es así, ¿cómo se
consigue el dinero para comprar estos productos?¿Qué otras plantas de maíz y frijol qué crecer?
¿Tiene una huerta? ¿También propios animales como pollos y cerdos? ¿Tiene los huevos para
comer? ¿Tiene huevos que usted vende? ¿Tiene otros animales que usted come o que usted
vende?
¿Cómo decidir qué cultivos sembrar? ¿Te gusta que tenga o le gustaría tener acceso a las
variedades de semillas? ¿De dónde sacas las semillas a partir de (amigos, familia, tienda, banco de
semillas, etc.)? ¿Le da regalos, recibir regalos, el comercio, o de intercambio de alimentos y las
semillas de sus vecinos, familiares y amigos? ¿A menudo siembran nuevas variedades de maíz,
frijoles o verduras? ¿Por qué? Si lo hace, es porque usted tiene acceso a nuevas tierras, la nueva
información / conocimiento, o que han perdido sus semillas que ha guardado?
¿Se puede guardar el maíz y los frijoles hasta la próxima cosecha? ¿Está usted en deuda con
alguien, así que usted tiene que vender su cosecha para conseguir dinero para pagarles? Si es así,
¿cómo afecta esto a su seguridad alimentaria? ¿Tienes que comprar el maíz a continuación, a
finales de año, después de vender la suya propia? ¿Podrás ahorrar dinero para ayudarle a
comprar alimentos durante 'Los junios? ¿Qué 'significa junios Los'? ¿Qué significa tener hambre?
119
¿Qué se siente cuando se tiene que comprar maíz? ¿Alguna vez se teme que su familia no tiene
suficiente comida para comer durante todo el año?
Las prácticas dietéticas:
¿Tiene usted acceso a la comida que les gusta comer en todo momento del año? ¿Hay
momentos en los que consumen alimentos que no te gusta? ¿Hay momentos en los que no tienen
acceso a los alimentos que desea consumir? ¿Tiene acceso a los alimentos que usted quiere? ¿Hay
algún alimento que realmente les encanta comer y no podía hacer sin él? ¿Hay alimentos que son
muy saludables y que te gusta comer? ¿Hay alimentos que sabemos que no son saludables para
usted, pero usted come una gran cantidad de? ¿Hay épocas del año cuando se tiene una mayor
diversidad en su dieta? ¿Cuándo y por qué? ¿Cultiva plantas diferentes en un mismo campo (por
ejemplo, frijol de milpa)? ¿Elaboran diferentes plantas que crecen en un campo? ¿Ha habido
ocasiones en las que no son capaces de guardar las semillas? ¿Por qué? ¿Es porque se ven
obligados a comer sus semillas guardadas? ¿Es debido a que su primera cosecha que se plantaron
se perdió con plagas?
Cambio:
¿Tiene usted acceso a las variedades de semillas y tipos de alimentos que no en el pasado?
¿Tiene una huerta grande ahora? ¿Cree que ha habido un cambio en la diversidad de lo que
come? ¿Cree que ha habido un cambio en la diversidad de lo que se siembra? ¿Por qué?
¿Ha de formar parte de un CIAL significaba que su huerta y el campo tiene más diversidad?
¿Tiene más variedad en su huerto? Ha de formar parte de un CIAL significa que usted ha
cambiado su dieta de alguna manera? Si es así, ¿por qué este cambio? ¿Tiene usted acceso a
nuevos conocimientos y las semillas necesitan? Ha de formar parte de un CIAL significa que
usted ha visto el cambio en el acceso a los alimentos de temporada? ¿Qué época del año ha
registrado mayores cambios? (¿Cómo ha obtenido información de formar parte de un CIAL han
incorporado en sus vidas? ¿Por qué ni por qué no?) ¿Cree usted que hay cambios en relación con
los hogares que forman parte de un CIAL? (En caso afirmativo) ¿Qué tipo de cambios es lo que
ves?
120
Appendix 2: Free-Listing Questions
Can you please tell me all the varieties of maize that you grow in your plot?
Can you please tell me about all the varieties of maize you buy from the market?
Do you receive any additional maize varieties from other farmers?
What other foods do you consider to be healthy and ‘good for you’?
¿Puede decirme por favor todas las variedades de maíz que se siembran en su parcela?
Por favor, ¿puede decirme todas las variedades de maíz que compra en el mercado?
¿Recibe usted algún variedades de maíz adicionales de otros agricultores?
¿Qué otros alimentos no se tiene en cuenta para estar sano y es bueno (o saludable) para ustedes?
121
Appendix 3: Nutritional Data
L
a
b
#
Local
Name
Pedigree
Comm
unity
Farmer
Re
gio
n
Pr
ote
ina
%
Al
mi
dó
n
%
Ex
tra
cto
Et
ere
o
%
Fe
no
les
Li
br
es
µ
M
/g
7.
84
5
Anto
ciani
nas
(µg/
g)
Al
m
g/
kg
Fe
m
g/
kg
Ti
m
g/
kg
Z
n
m
g/
kg
M
n
m
g/
kg
C
u
m
g/
kg
L
ut
u
g
/
g
Z
ea
x
ug
/g
B
C
ry
u
g
/
g
2
0
0
4
2
0
0
5
2
0
0
6
2
0
0
7
2
0
0
8
2
0
0
9
2
0
1
0
2
0
1
1
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
Negrito
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
La
Asoma
da
Andrés
Martíne
z
Le
mpi
ra
10.
32
71.
70
4.3
61
Cristali
no
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Asoma
da
Le
mpi
ra
10.
67
71.
67
Raquin
Tusa
Morada
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Asoma
da
Le
mpi
ra
10.
92
Chumb
agua
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Asoma
da
Le
mpi
ra
Maison
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Asoma
da
Constan
tino
Castañe
da
Constan
tino
Castañe
da
Constan
tino
Castañe
da
Ramiro
García
Maíz
Harina
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Asoma
da
Olotillo
Amarill
o
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
211.
166
0.
40
0
17
.2
03
0.
02
9
22
.3
81
4.
85
4
1.
33
5
N
/
A
N
/
A
3.8
13
6.
74
4
N/A
0.
47
5
15
.3
57
0.
04
7
16
.9
74
7.
13
7
1.
36
9
0.
37
4
68.
68
3.2
17
6.
64
7
N/A
0.
20
5
15
.9
41
0.
05
7
20
.8
91
4.
79
8
1.
14
7
1.
5
0
6
N
/
A
9.7
2
73.
06
4.0
21
5.
39
3
N/A
0.
06
1
15
.7
57
0.
01
8
31
.0
51
4.
42
4
1.
52
2
0.
09
8
Le
mpi
ra
9.7
7
70.
15
3.5
48
5.
41
8
N/A
1.
12
1
15
.0
95
0.
07
8
17
.8
36
9.
79
0
1.
51
5
1.
0
2
2
N
/
A
Ramiro
García
Le
mpi
ra
11.
10
69.
55
4.8
36
7.
50
4
N/A
0.
22
1
16
.2
27
0.
08
1
26
.8
03
5.
69
6
1.
16
3
La
Iguala
Saturnin
o Reyes
Le
mpi
ra
11.
51
66.
44
3.2
12
5.
38
7
N/A
0.
64
2
17
.3
77
0.
05
4
23
.6
97
5.
83
3
1.
23
6
La
Iguala
Saturnin
o Reyes
Le
mpi
ra
10.
19
69.
47
3.7
42
5.
62
0
N/A
0.
51
3
12
.7
52
0.
07
4
19
.5
12
5.
41
3
1.
15
5
Pongalo
ya
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Iguala
Celestin
o Reyes
Le
mpi
ra
10.
51
70.
37
2.5
37
5.
97
8
N/A
2.
34
4
20
.3
22
0.
13
2
21
.3
70
8.
18
5
1.
34
3
Amarill
o Raqui
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
El
Zapote
Antonio
Espinosa
Le
mpi
ra
10.
80
67.
71
3.6
19
5.
84
6
N/A
1.
61
6
22
.9
06
0.
21
6
17
.4
41
6.
84
8
1.
86
1
El
Zapote
Tulio
Mateo
Le
mpi
ra
10.
22
70.
73
3.1
16
5.
37
5
N/A
0.
72
9
22
.5
04
0.
07
8
30
.2
07
5.
28
9
Capulín
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
El
Matas
ano
Ramón
García
Le
mpi
ra
8.1
5
70.
96
3.7
54
6.
91
5
N/A
1.
48
2
21
.3
83
0.
07
4
25
.2
65
Negrito
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
El
Matas
ano
Ramiro
Garcia
Le
mpi
ra
9.8
9
72.
13
3.6
08
8.
46
3
N/A
0.
78
1
16
.9
16
0.
04
2
Chumb
agua
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
El
Zapote
Antonio
Espinoz
a
Le
mpi
ra
11.
10
71.
14
3.4
42
6.
89
5
261.
169
0.
00
0
17
.4
50
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
Monte
Verde
Carlos
Lorenzo
Op
ala
ca
12.
76
63.
18
3.2
94
5.
41
6
N/A
2.
00
6
21
.5
45
Olotillo
Blanco
H5
Mixto
122
N
/
A
B
C
ar
o
u
g
/
g
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
3
7
6
N
/
A
0.
1
0
3
N
/
A
0.
7
9
1
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
2
1
3
N
/
A
0.
0
0
9
N
/
A
0.
6
1
6
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
3
0
7
1.
2
4
1
N
/
A
0.
31
6
1.
2
6
2
1.
3
9
4
N
/
A
0.
1
3
3
0.
0
0
0
N
/
A
0.
7
6
4
0.
6
9
7
N
/
A
4.
96
0
1.
38
4
1.
8
3
0
N
/
A
N
/
A
2.
4
2
9
N
/
A
0.
7
3
6
N
/
A
1.
9
5
1
N
/
A
5.
72
4
1.
15
5
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
19
.0
49
4.
39
1
1.
78
1
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
0.
01
4
22
.6
53
6.
28
9
0.
99
2
0.
56
1
0.
21
3
16
.1
30
7.
60
5
1.
55
7
1.
3
6
1
1.
2
3
9
1.
8
0
3
1.
2
4
3
0.
3
0
4
0.
0
0
0
1.
2
0
5
0.
6
2
1
N
/
A
0.
12
9
N
/
A
0.
28
4
P
r
o
A
u
g
/
g
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
1
2
0
2
2
2
0
2
3
2
0
2
4
2
0
2
5
2
0
2
6
2
0
2
7
2
0
2
8
2
0
2
9
2
0
3
0
2
0
3
1
2
0
3
2
2
0
3
3
2
0
3
4
2
0
3
5
2
0
3
6
2
0
Amarill
o
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Unión
Teófilo
Lemus
Op
ala
ca
10.
31
70.
00
4.0
13
6.
68
7
N/A
0.
64
4
16
.8
81
0.
07
7
18
.1
39
4.
91
2
2.
27
9
San
Pedrit
o
Teófilo
Lemus
Op
ala
ca
10.
79
69.
90
3.8
62
5.
31
3
N/A
0.
34
8
18
.9
74
0.
06
9
21
.1
95
5.
12
1
Maíz
Harina
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
San
Pedrit
o
Teófilo
Lemus
Op
ala
ca
9.2
7
70.
01
3.8
32
6.
83
8
N/A
0.
37
4
17
.9
40
0.
05
0
17
.8
18
Olotio
Amarill
o
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Monte
Verde
Matias
Vasquez
Op
ala
ca
7.3
2
68.
25
3.9
22
7.
05
1
N/A
0.
18
1
12
.8
35
0.
04
1
Monte
Verde
Jose
Vasquez
Op
ala
ca
10.
67
69.
40
3.4
89
9.
39
1
308.
428
0.
40
7
15
.0
55
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Zacate
Blanco
Policarp
o
Amaya
Ma
rcal
a
10.
56
70.
03
3.0
35
6.
33
8
N/A
2.
73
5
Lavato
rio
Esau
Orellana
Ma
rcal
a
11.
53
69.
13
3.6
89
6.
08
9
N/A
Lavato
rio
Esau
Orellana
Ma
rcal
a
11.
00
67.
96
3.1
92
7.
37
9
Carriz
al
Dilcia
Gómez
Ma
rcal
a
10.
23
71.
76
3.4
27
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Resbal
on
Wilian
Gómez
Ma
rcal
a
12.
21
69.
99
Quisca
monte
Francisc
a
Vásquez
Ma
rcal
a
13.
36
Harina
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Zacate
Blanco
Pilar
Pineda
Ma
rcal
a
Blanco
Grueso
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Zacate
Blanco
Mariano
Amaya
Guayap
e
Criollo
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Crucit
a
Abajo
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
Blanco
Zapalot
e
Raquin
Amarill
o
Amarill
o
Grueso
Matam
bre
amarillo
Pintado
Amarill
o Fino
Negrito
Rojo
Hijo de
Mataza
neño
Raquin
Mataza
neño
Raque
Amarill
4.
57
9
1.
35
1
2.
6
8
7
N
/
A
5.
73
5
0.
89
6
28
.0
91
4.
75
5
0.
93
4
0.
04
6
23
.0
48
4.
83
1
1.
94
5
19
.2
58
0.
10
9
18
.8
24
5.
72
3
2.
02
2
0.
78
0
16
.2
67
0.
06
2
15
.6
46
9.
73
8
1.
65
3
13.6
43
2.
25
6
19
.2
98
0.
10
4
17
.4
63
5.
44
0
0.
83
9
7.
15
3
98.1
71
3.
61
7
19
.1
95
0.
12
9
18
.5
91
4.
21
1
1.
77
3
2.9
08
5.
53
9
N/A
1.
21
5
20
.0
47
0.
09
5
17
.7
74
6.
15
7
1.
34
4
69.
83
3.9
12
9.
61
8
291.
548
5.
98
9
26
.9
25
0.
16
6
22
.0
69
4.
17
0
9.1
6
72.
19
4.1
27
9.
39
5
N/A
1.
81
1
18
.1
50
0.
06
5
17
.4
25
Ma
rcal
a
12.
04
69.
94
3.4
04
4.
65
1
N/A
0.
96
2
14
.1
45
0.
07
3
Reimun
do
Lorenzo
Ot
oro
9.3
0
74.
96
3.8
53
5.
94
9
N/A
0.
49
4
12
.0
22
Camp
anario
·2
Francisc
o Reyes
Ot
oro
11.
45
69.
38
3.1
66
12
.6
07
32.1
26
1.
67
9
Ojo de
Agua
Claros
Gómez
Ot
oro
9.3
9
73.
74
3.4
61
7.
32
3
N/A
Ojo de
Agua
Claros
Gómez
Ot
oro
10.
81
71.
46
3.8
04
5.
86
1
Ojo de
Agua
Claros
Gómez
Ot
oro
9.5
6
71.
90
3.3
65
Camp
anario
Francisc
a Reyes
Ot
oro
11.
42
68.
47
4.1
02
123
N
/
A
2.
2
0
9
N
/
A
0.
9
6
5
N
/
A
2.
0
7
0
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
7
6
7
N
/
A
1.
04
6
1.
6
0
9
N
/
A
0.
4
3
5
N
/
A
1.
2
3
9
N
/
A
2.
5
8
7
2.
7
5
0
4.
0
4
7
N
/
A
14
.8
22
4.
5
8
3
3.
6
1
4
3.
5
7
7
N
/
A
1.
4
3
7
1.
4
5
0
0.
9
3
2
N
/
A
3.
7
2
8
3.
2
5
7
2.
7
2
1
N
/
A
18
.2
92
2.
87
2
2.
9
7
9
N
/
A
N
/
A
5.
4
4
8
N
/
A
2.
7
2
5
N
/
A
5.
4
4
9
N
/
A
4.
41
7
1.
81
1
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
16
.5
16
7.
71
0
0.
99
2
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
0.
04
7
19
.2
65
4.
23
3
1.
02
0
0.
14
5
21
.2
61
0.
09
6
20
.0
71
6.
13
6
1.
55
3
1.
1
0
9
N
/
A
1.
2
9
0
N
/
A
0.
0
0
0
N
/
A
0.
6
4
5
N
/
A
1.
43
1
18
.7
69
0.
12
3
21
.5
63
8.
21
3
2.
19
2
6.
72
1
N/A
0.
91
1
17
.3
41
0.
09
3
18
.5
94
7.
42
0
2.
16
5
1.
8
5
2
N
/
A
2.
3
9
3
N
/
A
1.
0
0
6
N
/
A
2.
2
0
2
N
/
A
7.
08
9
N/A
1.
04
0
20
.4
26
0.
09
2
17
.3
40
5.
83
7
1.
56
8
12
.0
15
6.
09
N/A
0.
65
21
.2
0.
06
21
.0
6.
12
1.
43
2.
6
4
0
1.
9
2.
5
5
0
1.
3
0.
8
4
6
0.
0
2.
1
2
0
0.
6
N
/
A
13
.6
26
13
.1
23
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
24
3
7
2
0
3
8
2
0
3
9
2
0
4
0
2
0
4
1
2
0
4
2
2
0
4
3
2
0
4
4
2
0
4
5
2
0
4
6
2
0
4
7
2
0
4
8
2
0
4
9
2
0
5
0
2
0
5
1
2
0
5
2
2
0
5
3
2
0
5
4
2
0
5
5
o
Camp
anario
2
Victoria
Aguirre
Ot
oro
12.
82
64.
57
4.3
80
7.
49
8
N/A
0.
74
5
21
.2
75
0.
09
5
19
.8
77
8.
73
5
1.
58
4
4
7
N
/
A
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Nocor
o
Ovidio
Valerian
o
Val
laci
llos
10.
11
68.
02
4.7
68
7.
80
8
N/A
1.
12
7
18
.1
63
0.
05
9
23
.3
12
5.
22
1
1.
33
7
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Dulce
de
montañ
a
Negro
Planta
Alta
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Nocor
o
Ovidio
Valerian
o
Val
laci
llos
13.
25
68.
87
3.9
90
6.
48
1
N/A
1.
16
8
21
.9
50
0.
05
6
26
.4
15
6.
33
7
2.
20
9
9.
47
4
Nocor
o
Ovidio
Valerian
o
Val
laci
llos
11.
14
66.
92
3.9
16
9.
42
2
277.
051
0.
90
3
16
.7
27
0.
03
8
15
.9
90
4.
96
0
2.
08
8
4.
4
9
0
N
/
A
N
/
A
2.
9
2
1
N
/
A
0.
8
5
7
N
/
A
2.
3
1
8
N
/
A
Quirrire
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
San
Cristo
bal
Natanae
l
Vasquez
Val
laci
llos
9.5
6
70.
82
3.9
52
5.
92
2
N/A
1.
37
9
17
.8
79
0.
08
5
20
.2
75
4.
50
8
2.
49
8
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Quirrire
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
San
Cristo
bal
Natanae
l
Vasquez
Val
laci
llos
13.
05
64.
82
3.6
72
5.
95
9
N/A
2.
30
8
16
.8
10
0.
07
6
24
.0
11
5.
53
3
1.
17
9
1.
45
1
San
Cristo
bal
Natanae
l
Vasquez
Val
laci
llos
10.
65
70.
72
4.0
23
6.
26
8
N/A
1.
06
4
13
.2
51
0.
05
1
19
.3
61
3.
92
3
1.
45
0
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
San
Cristo
bal
Marvin
Meza
Val
laci
llos
11.
02
69.
42
3.8
18
6.
53
5
N/A
1.
15
8
18
.4
28
0.
05
5
22
.3
85
5.
21
0
1.
57
6
San
Cristo
bal
Amilcar
Cerrato
Val
laci
llos
11.
77
64.
30
3.5
20
8.
99
6
186.
248
1.
94
0
20
.0
71
0.
12
6
26
.0
52
6.
95
3
1.
19
1
1.
7
4
9
1.
4
4
0
1.
6
7
2
N
/
A
1.
5
8
6
1.
3
5
2
2.
4
3
6
N
/
A
0.
3
4
0
0.
0
1
9
1.
1
7
2
N
/
A
1.
1
3
3
0.
6
9
4
2.
3
9
0
N
/
A
Rojo
Planta
Baja
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
San
Cristo
bal
Amilcar
Cerrato
Val
laci
llos
10.
60
68.
49
3.2
09
5.
93
8
9.78
8
1.
21
9
20
.5
17
0.
06
3
17
.3
26
4.
95
0
1.
01
6
9.
82
6
Amarill
o Plata
Baja
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
San
Cristo
bal
Amilcar
Cerrato
Val
laci
llos
10.
98
70.
95
3.0
66
6.
99
4
N/A
1.
14
6
15
.0
08
0.
06
3
16
.1
17
4.
29
6
0.
95
6
San
Cristo
bal
Sabino
Lopez
Val
laci
llos
11.
72
64.
51
3.7
32
5.
97
4
N/A
1.
28
3
22
.6
46
0.
05
1
26
.8
85
6.
62
1
1.
35
7
3.
3
9
8
5.
3
6
0
N
/
A
4.
0
4
5
2.
8
7
4
N
/
A
0.
9
3
1
1.
6
1
4
N
/
A
2.
9
5
3
3.
0
5
1
N
/
A
La
Vered
a
Santos
Benito
Ramos
Val
laci
llos
8.7
8
69.
75
4.1
73
6.
41
0
N/A
1.
41
1
15
.2
70
0.
06
6
23
.3
65
5.
71
3
1.
60
7
0.
12
6
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Vered
a
Santos
Benito
Ramos
Val
laci
llos
10.
22
65.
13
3.9
97
8.
42
3
N/A
2.
06
2
18
.2
30
0.
07
6
21
.8
89
5.
28
8
1.
65
9
La
Vered
a
Ana
Maria
Flores
Val
laci
llos
9.1
4
72.
41
3.4
22
5.
01
7
N/A
1.
22
5
15
.3
61
0.
06
5
22
.0
25
7.
18
9
0.
69
4
1.
4
1
7
6.
1
0
1
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
0
4
6
2.
6
3
0
N
/
A
0.
0
0
0
1.
8
3
6
N
/
A
0.
5
2
3
3.
1
5
2
N
/
A
HQ-03
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
T. de
Quebr
adas
Dimas
Arguijo
Val
laci
llos
9.4
8
64.
86
4.0
10
5.
48
7
N/A
0.
92
1
15
.4
71
0.
04
7
21
.8
26
7.
00
2
0.
99
1
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Guayap
e
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Tuliap
ita
Rosa
Luisa
Amador
Val
laci
llos
9.9
3
69.
02
3.3
62
6.
40
1
N/A
1.
08
8
19
.5
35
0.
07
9
30
.2
17
7.
41
4
1.
89
5
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
HB-104
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Tuliap
ita
Luis
Lagos
Val
laci
llos
9.3
0
68.
83
4.2
04
7.
50
0
N/A
0.
95
2
17
.3
27
0.
04
2
20
.8
02
6.
83
1
0.
95
5
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Maiz
Harina
Bufio
Quirrire
Amarill
o Planta
Alta
Habane
ro
Upareñ
o
De los
Altos
Chomo
n
Olotillo
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
2
5
124
6
03
2
66
7
6
7
N
/
A
0
3
N
/
A
0
0
N
/
A
5
1
N
/
A
0.
48
2
4.
98
2
N
/
A
8.
90
4
N
/
A
8.
48
9
2
0
5
6
2
0
5
7
2
0
5
8
2
0
5
9
2
0
6
0
2
0
6
1
2
0
6
2
2
0
6
3
2
0
6
4
2
0
6
5
2
0
6
6
2
0
6
7
2
0
6
8
2
0
6
9
2
0
7
0
2
0
7
1
2
0
7
2
2
0
7
3
2
0
Tuxpeñ
o
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Agua
Blanca
Dixi
Ferrera
Val
laci
llos
8.7
0
72.
61
4.2
61
5.
54
6
N/A
1.
36
4
15
.8
47
0.
05
9
19
.7
56
4.
41
6
0.
71
6
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Pacaya
Tusa
Morada
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
San
Isidro
Miguel
Huete
Val
laci
llos
9.9
5
69.
40
4.2
04
6.
86
3
N/A
0.
75
8
21
.4
79
0.
04
7
21
.5
00
6.
67
4
0.
91
7
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Olotillo
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
San
Isidro
Rafael
Barahon
a
Val
laci
llos
10.
60
68.
96
4.0
50
7.
07
5
N/A
1.
05
3
17
.5
43
0.
06
8
20
.4
79
4.
18
9
0.
76
2
1.
22
2
San
Isidro
Rafael
Barahon
a
Val
laci
llos
9.5
7
69.
44
4.2
88
6.
52
4
N/A
0.
93
7
18
.3
93
0.
04
9
21
.2
16
4.
31
7
1.
39
2
Mina
Honda
José
Corea
Yor
ito
10.
69
69.
39
3.4
88
6.
23
9
N/A
0.
77
9
20
.8
87
0.
06
1
30
.4
19
8.
28
8
1.
65
7
Mina
Honda
José
Corea
Yor
ito
11.
36
67.
64
4.8
73
6.
93
5
16.4
57
1.
35
8
14
.7
71
0.
09
0
27
.3
31
8.
98
5
0.
90
6
1.
7
3
1
3.
4
7
3
3.
0
3
6
N
/
A
N
/
A
3.
0
6
7
3.
0
9
4
1.
9
5
2
N
/
A
1.
1
2
3
1.
2
4
1
1.
0
5
7
N
/
A
2.
6
5
7
2.
7
8
8
2.
0
3
3
N
/
A
Negro
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Mina
Honda
José
Corea
Yor
ito
10.
26
69.
27
4.1
59
9.
55
7
164.
627
0.
97
4
14
.3
64
0.
08
1
26
.5
60
7.
14
1
1.
41
8
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Maiz
Rojo
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Mina
Honda
José
Corea
Yor
ito
8.5
8
76.
41
3.4
41
9.
19
9
24.8
65
1.
41
2
9.
60
3
0.
09
9
19
.0
02
7.
28
1
0.
88
9
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Pacaya
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Mina
Honda
Jose
Corea
Yor
ito
9.8
8
70.
51
4.1
58
5.
92
6
N/A
7.
46
8
16
.5
68
0.
21
1
26
.1
33
4.
56
7
0.
95
8
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Chorote
ga
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Luquig
ue
Manuel
Hernan
dez
Yor
ito
10.
08
66.
55
3.6
03
5.
70
4
N/A
0.
69
0
17
.2
24
0.
01
3
22
.6
23
4.
25
3
1.
84
0
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Tizate
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Luquig
ue
Napoleo
n
Aquino
Yor
ito
7.7
2
68.
61
5.1
93
8.
12
6
N/A
0.
95
9
17
.4
22
0.
02
0
28
.0
30
4.
85
3
1.
68
7
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Olotillo
Amarill
o
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Luquig
ue
Filander
Martine
z
Yor
ito
9.7
5
70.
60
3.4
85
5.
54
4
N/A
0.
69
8
17
.3
37
0.
02
6
26
.6
93
4.
73
5
1.
40
7
2.
11
1
La
Espera
nza
Odir
Palma
Yor
ito
8.9
7
71.
09
3.3
01
6.
08
1
N/A
0.
58
8
14
.0
49
0.
03
3
20
.7
92
4.
73
3
1.
12
1
2.
4
2
1
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
5
8
7
N
/
A
0.
2
6
9
N
/
A
1.
0
6
2
N
/
A
Guayap
e
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Espera
nza
Odir
Palma
Yor
ito
S/
M
S/
M
S/M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Sesente
ño
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Espera
nza
Irene
Hernan
dez
Yor
ito
10.
36
64.
65
N/A
0.
66
4
13
.1
15
0.
05
0
27
.0
08
4.
12
1
1.
96
8
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Capulin
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Espera
nza
Edgardo
Palma
Yor
ito
S/
M
S/
M
S/M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Olotillo
Amarill
o
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Espera
nza
Amilcar
Orellana
Yor
ito
9.1
8
69.
51
3.7
01
6.
71
1
N/A
0.
65
7
14
.7
87
0.
01
5
27
.4
87
5.
90
7
1.
70
6
0.
65
8
Higuer
o
Quem
ado
Santa
Cruz
Margari
to Perez
Yor
ito
9.3
6
67.
22
3.3
02
6.
05
5
N/A
1.
33
9
13
.8
09
0.
03
3
23
.2
73
4.
89
7
1.
37
7
1.
9
6
1
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
3
6
8
N
/
A
0.
3
9
4
N
/
A
1.
0
7
8
N
/
A
Amado
Hernan
Yor
ito
9.5
5
65.
19
3.5
86
10
.9
411.
063
0.
51
17
.0
0.
01
20
.9
7.
17
1.
65
N
/
N
/
N
/
N
/
N
/
Sesente
ño
Amarill
o Planta
Baja
Pata de
Gallina
Capulin
Tusa
Morada
Cacho
de
venado
Negro
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
2.4
48
125
7.
69
5
10
.2
64
3.
29
2
7
4
2
0
7
5
2
0
7
6
2
0
7
7
2
0
7
8
2
0
7
9
2
0
8
0
2
0
8
1
2
0
8
2
2
0
8
3
2
0
8
4
2
0
8
5
2
0
8
6
2
0
8
7
2
0
8
8
2
0
8
9
2
0
9
0
2
0
9
1
2
0
9
2
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Chileño
dez
63
4
01
0
24
2
0
A
A
A
A
A
0.
28
7
N
/
A
1.
0
4
6
N
/
A
0.
0
0
0
N
/
A
0.
5
2
3
N
/
A
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Santa
Cruz
Santos
Herrera
Yor
ito
10.
06
71.
35
3.5
77
5.
96
9
N/A
0.
61
8
14
.2
19
0.
03
8
19
.1
94
7.
17
0
0.
38
3
Santa
Cruz
CIAL
Santa
Cruz
Yor
ito
12.
36
69.
42
3.9
80
7.
52
6
184.
597
0.
45
1
17
.3
27
0.
01
6
36
.1
03
5.
25
0
1.
65
9
1.
3
3
0
N
/
A
Santa
Cruz
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Santa
Cruz
CIAL
Santa
Cruz
Yor
ito
S/
M
S/
M
S/M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Capulin
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Santa
Cruz
Juan
Pedro
Herrera
Yor
ito
8.3
1
66.
87
3.0
50
5.
17
9
N/A
0.
43
1
13
.5
84
0.
00
0
21
.9
26
4.
09
6
1.
34
3
0.
17
8
Olotio
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Espera
nza
Amilcar
Orellana
Yor
ito
8.4
3
70.
00
3.5
48
5.
57
0
N/A
0.
32
2
17
.2
09
0.
00
8
24
.4
05
3.
74
7
0.
87
9
1.
0
0
6
N
/
A
N
/
A
1.
2
2
8
N
/
A
0.
1
5
3
N
/
A
0.
7
6
7
N
/
A
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
Santa
Cruz
Arturo
Gomez
Le
mpi
ra
13.
36
68.
82
3.2
79
8.
83
4
224.
812
0.
78
3
15
.9
48
0.
00
7
20
.8
50
7.
60
5
2.
37
5
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Santa
Cruz
Arturo
Gomez
Le
mpi
ra
11.
84
66.
50
3.1
92
6.
39
8
N/A
0.
57
8
19
.1
90
0.
01
6
18
.7
07
5.
33
3
1.
84
5
11
.4
38
Altami
ra
Adan
Bustillo
Vic
tori
a
8.8
4
69.
49
3.6
29
6.
20
8
N/A
0.
63
8
16
.7
47
0.
04
9
23
.7
03
6.
80
7
0.
84
0
5.
1
5
5
N
/
A
N
/
A
2.
5
5
4
N
/
A
1.
4
1
9
N
/
A
2.
6
9
6
N
/
A
Vallecill
os
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
Monte
Galan
Orlando
Reyes
Val
laci
llos
9.9
3
74.
43
3.7
54
5.
44
0
N/A
0.
43
1
16
.6
32
0.
00
7
24
.3
06
5.
29
3
1.
03
9
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Tabero
n
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Lagun
a
Pedro
Cruz
Vic
tori
a
10.
38
70.
07
4.0
52
4.
38
1
N/A
0.
52
1
15
.3
30
0.
00
3
29
.5
07
6.
90
4
1.
14
7
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Maizon
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
El
Plantel
Lucia
Gutierre
z
Vic
tori
a
9.9
6
70.
90
3.6
21
5.
74
5
N/A
0.
84
2
17
.3
07
0.
03
2
26
.5
68
3.
05
1
1.
43
3
0.
12
6
Bucho
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
La
Fortun
a
Jose
Santos
Murillo
Vic
tori
a
12.
28
63.
51
4.3
12
6.
17
7
N/A
0.
51
0
16
.8
05
0.
01
6
20
.7
07
4.
18
1
0.
56
9
0.
8
8
7
N
/
A
1.
0
5
2
N
/
A
0.
0
0
0
N
/
A
0.
5
2
6
N
/
A
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
El
Plantel
Jesus
Cruz
Vic
tori
a
10.
99
66.
01
3.1
53
5.
74
3
N/A
0.
79
4
23
.7
85
0.
05
9
35
.1
00
4.
97
8
1.
74
0
6.
08
1
Guach
ipilín
Jorge
Gabarre
te
Vic
tori
a
11.
69
68.
00
3.9
85
7.
02
0
208.
532
0.
79
8
15
.6
20
0.
01
5
26
.9
53
6.
89
3
1.
42
2
4.
0
1
7
N
/
A
N
/
A
3.
9
7
7
N
/
A
1.
4
3
9
N
/
A
3.
4
2
7
N
/
A
Negro 2
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22,MNQ 20
El
Plantel
Eulofio
Cruz
Vic
tori
a
12.
46
64.
82
4.0
64
10
.2
45
398.
613
1.
57
7
19
.4
62
0.
04
9
29
.8
75
5.
87
9
1.
35
0
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
N
/
A
Olotio
Amarill
o
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22, MNQ
16
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
El
Plantel
Eulofio
Cruz
Vic
tori
a
10.
47
62.
63
3.6
25
8.
57
5
N/A
0.
77
8
15
.0
64
0.
04
7
16
.4
81
7.
85
7
1.
00
4
0.
67
5
La
Lagun
a
Avilio
Ramos
Vic
tori
a
S/
M
S/
M
S/M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
S
/
M
2.
2
2
0
S
/
M
1.
7
8
5
S
/
M
0.
4
4
4
S
/
M
1.
3
3
7
S
/
M
MNQ6, MNQ12,
MNQ 17, MNQ
19,MNQ 22
CURL
A
Fredy
Sierra
CU
RL
A
10.
50
66.
90
N/A
0.
36
9
14
.9
18
0.
00
8
21
.8
11
3.
83
1
0.
80
8
1.
9
3
2
1.
16
7
1.
7
1
4
0.
6
2
0
1.
4
7
7
Negro
Chileño
Azul
Pacaya
Amarill
o
Pacaya
Amarill
o Palido
Negro 1
Olotio
Pionner
4.3
20
126
5.
46
3
N
/
A
S
/
M
Appendix 4: List of Foods Eaten in the Otoro Valley
Arroz*
Baleadas
Catrachas/ Catrachitas*
Chimol/ Chismol
Churros*
Cornflakes*
Elotes*
Empanadas*
Enchiladas*
Encurtido o Chile*
Espagueti*
Fritas*
Jilote
Maicillo
Montucas* y Nacatamales*
Pan de Harina
Pan de Maíz*
Pastelitos/ Pasteles*
Pupusas
Quesadillas*
Riguas*
Rosquillas*
Rice
Wheat tortilla folded in half with mashed fried beans and grated hard
local cheese (queso criollo). Eaten more in the northern parts of Honduras.
Fried corn tortillas covered with mashed fried beans and cheese
Salsa of tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and
pepper
Chips/Snacks (bought in little packets at the corner stores known as
Pulperias)
Cornflakes
Fresh mature corncobs eaten in August and September while they are in
season. Boiled or roasted.
Corn flour pastries stuffed with meat or vegetable filling
Fried maize tortilla topped with meat, sliced boiled egg and/or potato,
and covered with a tomato-chilli sauce and grated cabbage and cheese.
(Called a tostada in Mexico)
Pickled vegetables. Jars of encurtido can be found on many tables in homes
and in restaurants to be used as a condiment.
Spaghetti (Often served as very soft noodles mixed with tomato sauce as a
side to rice and beans and tortillas)
Fritters/Doughnuts of fresh corn
Immature corncob that can be eaten raw and whole, or cooked in soup.
Less mature than elote.
Sorghum. Eaten extensively in the south of Honduras and across the
boarder. Not many people in the Otoro valley eat it, though interviewees
(valley and middle communities) told me they had planted it in the past or
had bought a little to make tortillas or to fatten up chickens. Ash is used or
than lime to make tortillas of sorghum.
Fresh tamales with meat
Wheat Bread
Bread made from maiz de harina (a floury, starchy corn that is dried and
ground to make flour)
Corn flour stuffed with rice, beef, and vegetables and/or potatoes and
either fried or baked.
Thick corn tortilla filled with a blend of the following: cheese, cooked pork
(chicherron), squash (ayote), or (pataste), refried beans, or queso con loroco. Found
in the town of Otoro but are uncommon in the communities. Common in
larger cities and in the south, and in El Salvador, where they are said to
originate.
Cheese inside a folded tortilla
Sweet corn pancake cooked in plantain leaves
Doughnuts
127
Sopa de Gallina Indio*
Tajadas*
Tamal Sipe*
Tamales *
Tamales De Viaje*
Tamalitos de elote*
Ticucos*
Torta De Pescado*
Torta De Queso*
Tortillas*
Tortillas de guineo negro
Totopostes*
Ajo
Apio*
Arvejas
Ayote/ Pipián/ Zapallo*
Bledo*
Calabaza*
Camaca*
Camote*
Cebolla*
Cebollino
Chilacayote
Chile Verde
Coliflor
Culantro ancho*
Creole Chicken soup (with yellow corn)
Fried Plantains (like plantain chips)
Tamal of fresh corn
Corn dough (masa) stuffed with a meat mixture then wrapped in cornhusks
or banana leaves and steamed in a big pot.
Travel Tamales (tamal of dried corn, which can be made with maize that
has used ash to remove the paricarp)
Fresh corn tamales
Tamale with whole beans
Fish Cake: the river and lake in the valley does have some fish, but the
water is very polluted. Fish is also brought in from Lago Yajoa, and you
can even find shrimp and other seafood in town (likely because it is along
a major transportation route)
Cheese Cake
Tortillas: most commonly eaten food. Either made from yellow or white
corn, and sometimes with the more exotic red or blue corn, tortillas are
made from corn that has been soaked and cooked in lime and then
ground. They require no fat of any kind and are cooked on an ungreased
comal (griddle).
Corn and plantain tortillas
Sweet, thin toasted corn tortillas
Garlic
Celery
Peas (grown in the CIAL gardens)
Squash
Wild Green of the Amaranth Family, which grows in the
milpa/cornfields.
Pumpkin
Guazuma ulmifolia, Tree with medical properties
Sweet potato
Onion
Chive
Chilacayote (Gourd / Squash)
Sweet Pepper
Cauliflower
Eryngium foetidum. Native plant with long, tapered leaves with serrated
edges that has similar but stronger taste/smell than Cultantro de castilla.
Culantro ancho does grow in the wild, but its tiny seeds are easily planted in
huertos, and solares, where they are grown for household consumption or for
the local market. Used for flavouring beans, soups, etc.
128
Culantro de castilla
Diente León*
Ejote/ Habichuela*
Espinaca*
Herba Morra*
Izote, Flor de *
Lechuga
Lechuga china
Llantén
Malanga*/ Badú*
Materas*
Mostaza*
Orégano
Pacaya*
Papas*
Pataste/ Patastillo*
Pepino*
Perejil*
Rábano*
Remolacha*
Repollo*
Ruda
Tomate*
Verdolaga* (in the past)
Valeriana
Yuca*
Zanahoria*
Aguacate*
Banano/ Plátano/ Guineo/
Mínimo*
Ciruela
Coco
Durazno
Fresas
Guaba/ Guayaba
Guanábana
Lima
Limón/ limón real
Cilantro/Coriander. Introduced species that has flat parsley-like leaves.
Dandelion (collected from milpas)
Green Bean
Spinach, but also a local wild plant that is not Spinacia oleracea
Solanum spp.
Izote flowers (Yucca spp.) cooked/fried when young
Lettuce (grown CIAL gardens and in Ojo de Agua for sale in the market)
BukChoy: grown in the CIAL gardens
Plantain (Angela told me about this one)
Malanga/ Taro
Small Onions
Mustard Greens, grows wild in the miplas/fields
Oregano
Pacaya
Potatoes (in the highlands, and imported from La Esperanza region)
Chayote
Cucumber
Parsley (in CIAL gardens)
Radish (part of PLAN)
Beet (in CIAL gardens)
Cabbage
Rue (seen, specially in Ojo de Agua and Rincon, but not talked about
during interviews)
Tomato
Purslane- Common weed in agricultural fields, Portulaca oleracea.
Valerian, planted by FIPAH as live barriers in El Aguila.
Cassava/ Yucca
Carrot (grown in the CIAL gardens and those promoted by PLAN)
Avocado
Bananas / Plantains many grown in the fincas or solares around the
houses.
Plum, planted by FIPAH and ANAFAE in El Águila.
Coconut
Peach (eaten in while still green and sour, or made into juice)
Strawberries (grown esp. in the south near La Esperanza)
Guava
Soursop (various varieties)
Lime
Lemon
129
Mandarina
Mango
Manzana
Maracuyá y granadilla
Marañones
Melón
Moras*
Nance*
Naranja*
Nectarina
Papaya*
Paterna*
Pera
Piña*
Sandía
Tamarindo
Uvas*
Zapote*
Mandarin
Mango
Apple (grown in the highlands, being planted by ANAFAE for live
barriers)
Passion fruit, purple and orange varieties
Cashews (the red fruit is eaten with salt)
Melon (for sale in the markets in Otoro)
Blackberries (picked in El Águila and other mountain communities)
Nance
Orange
Nectarine, planted by FIPAH and ANEFAE in El Águila
Papaya (not talk about in interviews but seen as shade tree in fincas and in
solares)
Large Green Pod with white cotton around the dark green soft beans
inside.
Pear (in El Águila, and ANEFAE were also planting some as live barriers)
Pineapple (grown on the north side for the lower valley in Barrio Nuevo,
Coclan and Ojo de Agua)
Watermelon (Grown in the CIAL garden in Maye in the valley.
Sold in town, from farther down the valley past Barrio Nuevo)
Tamarind (no one mentioned this one, but one used to grow in the garden
of the old FIPAH office)
Grapes (Julio planted specially, not a common cultivar)
Sapodilla (Julio planted specially)
Chinapopo*
Large, climbing bean that is grown in the mountains usually with the
corn, Phaseolus coccineous.
Frijol Mantequilla
Butter bean/Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus). Grown in the CIAL garden in
Cedral.
Frijol Milpero*
Bean from the milpa (grown amongst the corn)
Frijoles* (Colorado y Negro de Beans (several varieties of red and black)
Varios Variedades)
Gandul
Pigeon Pea (to make chilate according to IHDER)
Lentejas
Lentils
Nuez
Nut
Leche*
Mantequilla
Quesillo
Queso; Criollo y Queso
Milk
Sour cream butter
Fresh Cheese (texture of fresh mozzarella)
Unripened Fresh Cheese; hard salty creole cheese, and fresh white cheese.
130
Blanco, Criollo Corriente
Requesón
Soft fresh cheese (ricotta-like)
Aceite
Manteca
Margarina
Oil
Lard or Vegetable Fat
Margarine
Cerdo*
Chorizo
Huevos*
Mondongo
Pato*
Pavo/ Jolotes*
Pescado
Pollo*
Res
Pork (Pig is especially eaten at Christmas)
Sausage
Eggs (chicken, ducks)
Tripe (Soup, traditional of the north coast)
Duck
Turkey
Fish (esp. tilapia)
Chicken
Beef (many beef cows in the valley but most families did not eat beef
regularly)
Deer, Armadillo, Tepezcuintle/Paca (large spotted rodent of the
mountain forests), iguana (in the valley) or other wild animals
Venado, Armadillo/ Cuzuco,
Tepezcuintle, Iguana o otros
animales salvajes *
Azúcar*
Caña De Azúcar *
Dulces/ Confite
Miel (y Miel del Bosque)
Sugar (white sugar and soap are two things that people in the mountains
bought in the valley)
Sugar cane
Sweets / Candy
Honey (and Forest Honey)
Consume, cubitos
Sal
Consume
Salt
Alcohol (cerveza, ron, guaro,
aguardiente, etc)
Atol Agrio
Atol de Avena/ Osmil
Atol Chuco*
Atol Dulce*
Alcohol
Café*
Chicha*
Chilate
Fermented corn meal drink
Oat Atol, watery Oatmeal
Fermented corn meal drink with ayote seeds and black or coloured beans.
Fresh corn drink often with cinnamon, pimiento, sugar and sometimes
milk.
Coffee (usually drunk strong and with a lot of sugar)
Homemade fermented yellow-corn alcoholic beverage, which like
Drink made from toasted corn flour with suntul (rhizome of a local wild
131
Chocolate
Frescos
Horchata (con morro/ jicaro,
azúcar, arroz y leche)
Poleada
Pozol
Té
plant) and sugar. It is drunk out of a guacal (cup made of calabash)
Drink made from toasted corn-flour with cinnamon, sugar, (soya was
sometimes added for protein)
Sodas (often very sugary, colourful drinks sold by the 3 liters)
Horchata made with morro, sugar, rice and milk, usually for celebrations,
birthday parties, etc. Also sold on Tuesdays in ‘el moll’
Drink make from toasted corn flour, toasted ground pumpkin/squash
(eyote) seeds with cinnamon, and sugar.
Boiled dried corn drink
Tea (black tea is sold in town, but families also make herbal teas, such as
té de pimienta gorda from the leaves of the allspice tree)
* Spoken about during semi-structured interviews
132
Appendix 5: Statistical Output
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:Protein%
(I) Colour
Tukey HSD Black
Red
White
Yellow
(J) Colour
Red
White
Yellow
Black
White
Yellow
Black
Red
Yellow
Black
Red
White
Mean
Difference (I-J)
1.060080
1.614299*
.701075
-1.060080
.554219
-.359005
-1.614299*
-.554219
-.913224*
-.701075
.359005
.913224*
Std. Error
.5693246
.4031614
.4190115
.5693246
.4843223
.4975939
.4031614
.4843223
.2932717
.4190115
.4975939
.2932717
95% Confidence Interval
Sig.
Lower Bound Upper Bound
.253
-.433750
2.553910
.001
.556459
2.672140
.345
-.398354
1.800504
.253
-2.553910
.433750
.663
-.716576
1.825015
.888
-1.664623
.946613
.001
-2.672140
-.556459
.663
-1.825015
.716576
.013
-1.682729
-.143719
.345
-1.800504
.398354
.888
-.946613
1.664623
.013
.143719
1.682729
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = 1.387.
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:ProVitamin A ug/g
(I) Colour
Tukey HSD Black
(J) Colour
Red
White
Yellow
Red
Black
White
Yellow
White
Black
Red
Yellow
Yellow
Black
Red
White
Mean
Difference (I-J)
Std. Error
-.5210658143 .39969200504
Sig.
.563
-.1745307121
2.0149495450*
.5210658143
.3465351022
1.4938837307*
.1745307121
-.3465351022
.28303781989
.29416535073
.926
.000
.39969200504
.34001651351
.34933375952
.563
.739
.000
.28303781989
.34001651351
.926
.739
1.8404188329*
2.0149495450*
1.4938837307*
1.8404188329*
.20589022351
.000
.29416535073
.34933375952
.20589022351
.000
.000
.000
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = .683.
133
95% Confidence Interval
Lower Bound Upper Bound
- .5276714781
1.5698031066
-.9171833374 .5681219132
2.7867992931 1.2430997969
-.5276714781 1.5698031066
-.5456218418 1.2386920461
- -.5772796044
2.4104878571
-.5681219132 .9171833374
- .5456218418
1.2386920461
2.3806466903 1.3001909754
1.2430997969 2.7867992931
.5772796044 2.4104878571
1.3001909754 2.3806466903
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:ProVitamin A ug/g
(I) Colour
Tukey HSD Black
(J) Colour
Red
White
Yellow
Red
Black
White
Yellow
White
Black
Red
Yellow
Yellow
Black
Red
White
Mean
Difference (I-J)
Std. Error
-.5210658143 .39969200504
-.1745307121
2.0149495450*
.5210658143
.3465351022
1.4938837307*
.1745307121
-.3465351022
.28303781989
.29416535073
1.8404188329*
2.0149495450*
1.4938837307*
1.8404188329*
.20589022351
.39969200504
.34001651351
.34933375952
.28303781989
.34001651351
.29416535073
.34933375952
.20589022351
95% Confidence Interval
Sig.
Lower Bound Upper Bound
.563
- .5276714781
1.5698031066
.926 -.9171833374 .5681219132
.000
2.7867992931 1.2430997969
.563 -.5276714781 1.5698031066
.739 -.5456218418 1.2386920461
.000
- -.5772796044
2.4104878571
.926 -.5681219132 .9171833374
.739
- .5456218418
1.2386920461
.000
2.3806466903 1.3001909754
.000 1.2430997969 2.7867992931
.000 .5772796044 2.4104878571
.000 1.3001909754 2.3806466903
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = .683.
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:Anthocyanins (?g/g)
(I) Colour
Tukey HSD Black
Red
(J) Colour
Red
White
Yellow
Black
White
White
Yellow
Black
Yellow
Red
Yellow
Black
Mean
Difference (I-J)
196.20826931*
238.76878967*
245.15440992*
196.20826931*
42.56052035
48.94614061
238.76878967*
-42.56052035
6.38562025
245.15440992*
-48.94614061
Std. Error
25.160171169
17.816918792
18.517384594
25.160171169
Sig.
.000
.000
.000
.000
21.403664753
21.990175120
17.816918792
.201
.125
.000
21.403664753
12.960562634
18.517384594
.201
.961
.000
21.990175120
.125
White
-6.38562025 12.960562634
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = 2707.980.
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0
.961
Red
134
95% Confidence Interval
Lower Bound Upper Bound
130.19141270 262.22512593
192.01962547 285.51795386
196.56731902 293.74150082
262.22512593 130.19141270
-13.59977592 98.72081662
-8.75307885 106.64536006
285.51795386 192.01962547
-98.72081662 13.59977592
-27.62112792 40.39236843
293.74150082 196.56731902
8.75307885
106.64536006
-40.39236843 27.62112792
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:Starch%
(I) Colour
Tukey HSD Black
Red
White
Yellow
(J) Colour
Red
White
Yellow
Black
White
Yellow
Black
Red
Yellow
Black
Red
White
Mean
Difference (I-J)
-2.293159
-1.264969
-.211221
2.293159
1.028190
2.081938
1.264969
-1.028190
1.053748
.211221
-2.081938
-1.053748
Std. Error
1.2748238
.9027534
.9382449
1.2748238
1.0844879
1.1142054
.9027534
1.0844879
.6566900
.9382449
1.1142054
.6566900
95% Confidence Interval
Sig.
Lower Bound Upper Bound
.282
-5.638122
1.051805
.502
-3.633671
1.103733
.996
-2.673048
2.250606
.282
-1.051805
5.638122
.779
-1.817359
3.873738
.250
-.841585
5.005461
.502
-1.103733
3.633671
.779
-3.873738
1.817359
.382
-.669317
2.776813
.996
-2.250606
2.673048
.250
-5.005461
.841585
.382
-2.776813
.669317
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = 6.952.
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:Crude Fat (ether ectract) %
Mean
Difference (I(I) Colour (J) Colour
J)
Std. Error
Tukey HSD Black
Red
.034074347 .2353375182
White
-.001494184 .1666518650
Yellow
.203379154 .1732037236
Red
Black
-.034074347 .2353375182
White
-.035568531 .2002007581
Yellow
.169304807 .2056867261
White
Black
.001494184 .1666518650
Red
.035568531 .2002007581
Yellow
.204873338 .1212275792
Yellow
Black
-.203379154 .1732037236
Red
-.169304807 .2056867261
White
-.204873338 .1212275792
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = .237.
135
95% Confidence Interval
Sig.
Lower Bound Upper Bound
.999
-.583419194
.651567888
1.000
-.438765942
.435777574
.645
-.251083787
.657842095
.999
-.651567888
.583419194
.998
-.560868008
.489730945
.843
-.370389101
.708998715
1.000
-.435777574
.438765942
.998
-.489730945
.560868008
.336
-.113211291
.522957968
.645
-.657842095
.251083787
.843
-.708998715
.370389101
.336
-.522957968
.113211291
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:Iron mg/kg
Tukey
HSD
(I) Region
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
(J) Region
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Mean
Difference (IJ)
-1.389074183
.566369233
-1.128304933
-.071178297
.256316254
2.284633184
1.389074183
1.955443417
.260769250
1.317895886
1.645390437
3.673707368
-.566369233
-1.955443417
-1.694674167
-.637547530
-.310052979
1.718263951
1.128304933
-.260769250
1.694674167
1.057126636
1.384621187
3.412938118
.071178297
-1.317895886
.637547530
-1.057126636
.327494551
2.355811481
-.256316254
-1.645390437
.310052979
-1.384621187
-.327494551
2.028316930
-2.284633184
-3.673707368
-1.718263951
-3.412938118
-2.355811481
-2.028316930
95% Confidence Interval
Std. Error
1.2449100282
1.3735771673
1.3016114527
.9521569954
1.2449100282
1.0073248998
1.2449100282
1.5357059592
1.4716898221
1.1740023435
1.4217874444
1.2191726754
1.3735771673
1.5357059592
1.5820190228
1.3096544425
1.5357059592
1.3502945118
1.3016114527
1.4716898221
1.5820190228
1.2339663277
1.4716898221
1.2770173875
.9521569954
1.1740023435
1.3096544425
1.2339663277
1.1740023435
.9182504985
1.2449100282
1.4217874444
1.5357059592
1.4716898221
1.1740023435
1.2191726754
1.0073248998
1.2191726754
1.3502945118
1.2770173875
.9182504985
1.2191726754
136
Sig.
.921
1.000
.976
1.000
1.000
.273
.921
.862
1.000
.919
.908
.052
1.000
.862
.935
.999
1.000
.862
.976
1.000
.935
.978
.965
.120
1.000
.919
.999
.978
1.000
.151
1.000
.908
1.000
.965
1.000
.642
.273
.052
.862
.120
.151
.642
Lower Bound Upper Bound
-5.159559381 2.381411015
-3.593812836 4.726551303
-5.070522929 2.813913062
-2.954996224 2.812639630
-3.514168944 4.026801452
-.766272936 5.335539305
-2.381411015 5.159559381
-2.695781536 6.606668370
-4.196568682 4.718107182
-2.237829715 4.873621488
-2.660807113 5.951587988
-.018826568 7.366241304
-4.726551303 3.593812836
-6.606668370 2.695781536
-6.486168470 3.096820137
-4.604125498 3.329030437
-4.961277932 4.341171974
-2.371401450 5.807929352
-2.813913062 5.070522929
-4.718107182 4.196568682
-3.096820137 6.486168470
-2.680213146 4.794466418
-3.072716744 5.841959119
-.454791315 7.280667550
-2.812639630 2.954996224
-4.873621488 2.237829715
-3.329030437 4.604125498
-4.794466418 2.680213146
-3.228231050 3.883220152
-.425313125 5.136936088
-4.026801452 3.514168944
-5.951587988 2.660807113
-4.341171974 4.961277932
-5.841959119 3.072716744
-3.883220152 3.228231050
-1.664217006 5.720850866
-5.335539305
.766272936
-7.366241304
.018826568
-5.807929352 2.371401450
-7.280667550
.454791315
-5.136936088
.425313125
-5.720850866 1.664217006
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:Iron mg/kg
Tukey
HSD
(I) Region
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
(J) Region
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Victoria
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Mean
Difference (IJ)
-1.389074183
.566369233
-1.128304933
-.071178297
.256316254
2.284633184
1.389074183
1.955443417
.260769250
1.317895886
1.645390437
3.673707368
-.566369233
-1.955443417
-1.694674167
-.637547530
-.310052979
1.718263951
1.128304933
-.260769250
1.694674167
1.057126636
1.384621187
3.412938118
.071178297
-1.317895886
.637547530
-1.057126636
.327494551
2.355811481
-.256316254
-1.645390437
.310052979
-1.384621187
-.327494551
2.028316930
-2.284633184
-3.673707368
-1.718263951
-3.412938118
-2.355811481
-2.028316930
95% Confidence Interval
Std. Error
1.2449100282
1.3735771673
1.3016114527
.9521569954
1.2449100282
1.0073248998
1.2449100282
1.5357059592
1.4716898221
1.1740023435
1.4217874444
1.2191726754
1.3735771673
1.5357059592
1.5820190228
1.3096544425
1.5357059592
1.3502945118
1.3016114527
1.4716898221
1.5820190228
1.2339663277
1.4716898221
1.2770173875
.9521569954
1.1740023435
1.3096544425
1.2339663277
1.1740023435
.9182504985
1.2449100282
1.4217874444
1.5357059592
1.4716898221
1.1740023435
1.2191726754
1.0073248998
1.2191726754
1.3502945118
1.2770173875
.9182504985
1.2191726754
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = 8.086.
137
Sig.
.921
1.000
.976
1.000
1.000
.273
.921
.862
1.000
.919
.908
.052
1.000
.862
.935
.999
1.000
.862
.976
1.000
.935
.978
.965
.120
1.000
.919
.999
.978
1.000
.151
1.000
.908
1.000
.965
1.000
.642
.273
.052
.862
.120
.151
.642
Lower Bound Upper Bound
-5.159559381 2.381411015
-3.593812836 4.726551303
-5.070522929 2.813913062
-2.954996224 2.812639630
-3.514168944 4.026801452
-.766272936 5.335539305
-2.381411015 5.159559381
-2.695781536 6.606668370
-4.196568682 4.718107182
-2.237829715 4.873621488
-2.660807113 5.951587988
-.018826568 7.366241304
-4.726551303 3.593812836
-6.606668370 2.695781536
-6.486168470 3.096820137
-4.604125498 3.329030437
-4.961277932 4.341171974
-2.371401450 5.807929352
-2.813913062 5.070522929
-4.718107182 4.196568682
-3.096820137 6.486168470
-2.680213146 4.794466418
-3.072716744 5.841959119
-.454791315 7.280667550
-2.812639630 2.954996224
-4.873621488 2.237829715
-3.329030437 4.604125498
-4.794466418 2.680213146
-3.228231050 3.883220152
-.425313125 5.136936088
-4.026801452 3.514168944
-5.951587988 2.660807113
-4.341171974 4.961277932
-5.841959119 3.072716744
-3.883220152 3.228231050
-1.664217006 5.720850866
-5.335539305
.766272936
-7.366241304
.018826568
-5.807929352 2.371401450
-7.280667550
.454791315
-5.136936088
.425313125
-5.720850866 1.664217006
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:Zinc mg/kg
Tukey
HSD
(I) Region (J) Region
Lempira Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Marcala Lempira
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Opalaca Lempira
Marcala
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Otoro
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Vallacillos
Victoria
Yorito
Vallacillos Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Victoria
Yorito
Victoria Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Yorito
Yorito
Lempira
Marcala
Opalaca
Otoro
Vallacillos
Victoria
Mean Difference
(I-J)
3.536914558
.838753600
1.893252790
-.493155998
-4.536301192
-3.595103596
-3.536914558
-2.698160958
-1.643661768
-4.030070557
-8.073215750*
-7.132018154*
-.838753600
2.698160958
1.054499190
-1.331909598
-5.375054792
-4.433857196
-1.893252790
1.643661768
-1.054499190
-2.386408789
-6.429553982*
-5.488356387*
.493155998
4.030070557
1.331909598
2.386408789
-4.043145193
-3.101947598
4.536301192
8.073215750*
5.375054792
6.429553982*
4.043145193
.941197596
3.595103596
7.132018154*
4.433857196
5.488356387*
3.101947598
-.941197596
Std. Error
1.6822709436
1.8561413315
1.7588926727
1.2866681212
1.6822709436
1.3612175751
1.6822709436
2.0752290965
1.9887228551
1.5864520209
1.9212888092
1.6474915621
1.8561413315
2.0752290965
2.1378128331
1.7697613199
2.0752290965
1.8246790298
1.7588926727
1.9887228551
2.1378128331
1.6674825100
1.9887228551
1.7256582378
1.2866681212
1.5864520209
1.7697613199
1.6674825100
1.5864520209
1.2408496177
1.6822709436
1.9212888092
2.0752290965
1.9887228551
1.5864520209
1.6474915621
1.3612175751
1.6474915621
1.8246790298
1.7256582378
1.2408496177
1.6474915621
138
Sig.
.362
.999
.933
1.000
.113
.128
.362
.850
.981
.160
.001
.001
.999
.850
.999
.989
.144
.201
.933
.981
.999
.783
.029
.033
1.000
.160
.989
.783
.157
.174
.113
.001
.144
.029
.157
.997
.128
.001
.201
.033
.174
.997
95% Confidence Interval
Lower Bound Upper Bound
-1.558214847
8.632043964
-4.782980708
6.460487908
-3.433942458
7.220448039
-4.390114811
3.403802814
-9.631430597
.558828214
-7.717851909
.527644716
-8.632043964
1.558214847
-8.983450990
3.587129073
-7.666948526
4.379624990
-8.834991175
.774850061
-13.892263594 -2.254167906
-12.121810515 -2.142225794
-6.460487908
4.782980708
-3.587129073
8.983450990
-5.420339521
7.529337902
-6.692022948
4.028203751
-11.660344823
.910235240
-9.960300969
1.092586577
-7.220448039
3.433942458
-4.379624990
7.666948526
-7.529337902
5.420339521
-7.436748154
2.663930576
-12.452840740
-.406267224
-10.714893803
-.261818970
-3.403802814
4.390114811
-.774850061
8.834991175
-4.028203751
6.692022948
-2.663930576
7.436748154
-8.848065811
.761775425
-6.860134945
.656239750
-.558828214
9.631430597
2.254167906 13.892263594
-.910235240 11.660344823
.406267224 12.452840740
-.761775425
8.848065811
-4.048594765
5.930989956
-.527644716
7.717851909
2.142225794 12.121810515
-1.092586577
9.960300969
.261818970 10.714893803
-.656239750
6.860134945
-5.930989956
4.048594765
Based on observed means.
The error term is Mean Square(Error) = 14.765.
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0
Variedad
Criol
lo
1
Rendime
nto
3
Sab
or
4
Col
or
4
2
Nutrici
on
4
Protie
na
11.23
Almid
on
68.59
Blanta Baja
(Amarillo)
Raquin (Amarillo)
1
3
3
3
3
3
10.83
70.17
1
4
4
3
3
3
10.76
70.74
Maiz de Harina
(Blanco)
Rojo
1
3
4
4
5
4
10.59
69.08
1
3
2
3
1
3
10.21
71.51
Sesenteno
(Amarillo)
Olotillo Amarillo
1
4
4
3
3
3
9.96
67.04
1
5
5
4
3
5
9.8
63.73
Guayape (Blanco)
0
3
3
4
5
4
9.61
71.99
Mataseneno
(Amarillo)
QPM (Blanco)
1
4
4
4
3
4
9.56
72.82
0
4
3
4
4
4
9.48
64.86
HB104 (Blanco)
0
3
2
4
5
2
9.3
68.83
Olotillo Blanco
1
4
3
4
4
5
9.25
70.94
Capulin (Blanco)
0
3
2
4
4
2
8.25
69.92
Tizate (Blanco)
1
4
3
3
4
3
7.72
68.61
Negrito
Valor
Comercial
139
Acie
te
3.93
2
3.27
7
3.41
9
4.29
4
3.31
1
3.36
8
3.67
74
3.36
2
3.41
3
4.01
0
4.20
4
3.58
2
3.75
4
5.19
3
Hier
o
17.9
49
17.9
47
18.3
18.3
98
17.6
44
15.7
54
15.8
24
15.7
79
19.5
98
15.4
71
17.3
27
15.1
07
13.8
17
17.4
22
Zinc
24.4
34
23.2
68
19.4
36
20.4
81
18.7
48
24.1
12
23.8
22
30.2
17
19.4
51
21.8
26
20.8
02
21.9
81
25.2
65
28.0
30
Pro
A
0
2.5
42
1.2
43
0
0.7
38
1.3
94
1.3
57
0.2
15
2.1
62
0
0
0.2
32
0.2
56
0
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