Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

Peanuts Arachis hypogea 18
Rice paddy Oryza sativa 8
Barley Hordeum vulgare 6
Radish Raphanus sativus 2
Pawpaw Carica papaya 2
Table 4.2 indicates the frequency with which interviewees reported the cultivation of
particular crop species. In terms of the major foods, the profile is fairly uniform:
cassava, yams (Dioscorea spp.), sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), eddoes and
dasheen (Colocasia esculenta, also known outside the Caribbean as taro), and plantain
(merged with sweet species of Musa in the chart, despite their somewhat different
nutritional roles: the exact frequency with which plantain itself was mentioned was 80
percent). Each of these species was reported by over 80 percent of respondents, and
this represents a minimum proportion of those who actually grow it. At the varietal
level, the pattern is less uniform, as each of these crops is present in several
varieties, any one of which may be cultivated by a relatively small number of families.
Beyond these major staples, more interhousehold variety in range of crops planted is
evident, although most of the other species were reported by more than half of those
interviewed: hot peppers (Capiscum spp.), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), pineapple
(Ananas comosus), sugar cane (Saccharum sp.), corn (Zea mays) and pumpkin
(Cucurbita maxima). A smaller number of crop species were mentioned at very low
frequencies, less than 10 percent, and in these minor crops there evidently exists
some variation in agricultural strategy. All of the crops plants reported in interviews
and observed growing in the farms appeared to be among those listed in a survey of
Rupununi food plants conducted in the late 1960's in both Amerindian and non-
Amerindian farms in the vicinity of Lethem (Dagon 1967a), although a number of
novel cultivars were observed and reported to be grown in house gardens (see
chapter 4.2.5 below).
Two further features of the data are worth pointing out. First is that peanuts
(Arachis hypogea), the only crop grown mainly for sale rather than home
consumption, was mentioned by only 18 percent of interviewees, which provides a
good indication of the extent of priority of subsistence over commercial activities.
Second, papaya was mentioned in only a single interview, but was observed to be
growing in a far higher number of the farms visited. This may be because this species
is rarely planted, but is dispersed into farms and fallows endozoochorously (when the
seed is swallowed whole and subsequently defecated, intact and still viable, in
another location) by birds such as the crested orondepola (Psarocolius decumanus)