Posted on by Luigi Guarino

Farming relicts in peril in Georgia

From our friend and colleague David comes news of a paper on erosion of crop genetic resources in Georgia. The one in the Caucasus, not the southern US. Anyway, good to be reminded that it’s not just species that are in trouble, but also crop varieties.

There are some nice B&W photos in the article, including this one of a threshing board, which reminded me of one of our earliest posts.

The bottom line?

…in Georgia the main reason for genetic erosion of ancient crop varieties is demographic decline in mountain regions due to harsh economic conditions and lack of modern infrastructure.

Wait. So if there were more people in the mountains, and better roads, there would be more landraces? All those people wouldn’t be growing modern varieties and trucking the harvest to markets in the cities?

4 Replies to “Farming relicts in peril in Georgia”

  1. Things don’t necessarily happen that way. The exodus from rural areas is a reality and is one of the main reasons for genetic erosion. We came to similar conclusions in a study in the Northwest region of Portugal.

    As a main result of this re-collecting, we can conclude that in the target region, mainly in the more inland areas, mostly old people inhabit the villages. The younger generation has moved to the bigger towns, resulting in a trend of fewer and ageing residents, with consequent abandonment of agricultural activities. Frequently nowadays, farmers plant only enough for their own consumption …

    Filomena Rocha; Eliseu Bettencourt; Carlos Gaspar. 2008. Genetic erosion assessment through the re-collecting of crop germplasm. Counties of Arcos de Valdevez, Melgaço, Montalegre, Ponte da Barca and, Terras de Bouro (Portugal). Pant Genetic Resources Newsletter, No. 154: 6–13

    Reply

    1. The fact that there are only old people growing crops for their own consumption doesn’t necessarily say anything about genetic erosion. In Georgia and Portugal this paper and you found the old people, and genetic erosion. But a causal connection between the two has not been demonstrated. A plausible model has been but forward, but it hasn’t been proven. I can put forward a model too, that is that if there were more people, there would be more erosion. I haven’t proven it either. All too often the discourse on genetic erosion stops at the level of plausible models.

      Reply

  2. Many of the Georgian crop varieties were collected by Peter Hanelt and colleagues with most reports published in Kulturpflanze, now Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, however, none of this important work is being cited by the authors of the Georgian study.

    R. K. Beridze, P. Hanelt, T. S. Girgvliani, V. N. Kandelaki and D. Mandžgaladze. Collecting plant genetic resources in Georgia (South Ossetia, Dzhavakheti) 1990 Feddes Repertorium 103
    DOI: 10.1002/fedr.19921030708

    A complete list of reports can be found in:

    Collecting by the Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) at Gatersleben (English). Hammer, K., Fritsch, R., Hanelt, P., Knuepffer, H., Pistrick, K. In: Collecting plant genetic diversity: technical guidelines. Guarino, L., Ramanatha Rao, V. & Reid, R. (eds). IPGRI, FAO & IUCN. 1995, p. 713-725

    Reply

  3. BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT and J. KRUSE, 1982: Report of a travel to the Georgian SSR 1981 for the collection of indigenous material of cultivated plants. – Kulturpflanze 30: 203-213.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT and R. FRITSCH, 1983: Report of a collecting mission to the Georgian SSR 1982 for study of indigenous material of cultivated plants. – Kulturpflanze 31: 173-184.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT and J. KRUSE, 1983: O nauchnom sotrudnichestve v izuchenii kul’turnoj flory Gruzii. – Izv. Akad. Nauk Gruz. SSR, Ser. Biol. 9: 1-3.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT, V. N. KANDELAKI, I. M. SAKVARELIDZE and J. SCHULTZEMOTEL, 1985: A further mission to the Georgian SSR 1984 for collecting indigenous material of cultivated plants. – Kulturpflanze 33: 199-212.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT, R. FRITSCH and N. TARALASHVILI, 1987: O nauchnom sotrudnichestve v izuchenii i sokhranenii genofonda aborigennykh sortov i form kul’turnykh rastenij Gruzii. – Izv. Akad. Nauk Gruz. SSR, ser. Biol. 13: 287-288.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT, R. FRITSCH and N. TARALASHVILI, 1987: O nauchnom sotrudnichestve v izuchenii i sokhranenii genofonda aborigennykh sortov i form kul’turnykh rastenij Gruzii. – Izv. Akad. Nauk Gruz. SSR, ser. Biol. 13: 287-288.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT, V. KANDELAKI, R. FRITSCH and J. SCHULTZE-MOTEL, 1988: O nekotorykh rezul’tatakh sovmestnykh issledovanij kul’turnoj flory Gruzii. – Izv. Akad. Nauk Gruz. SSR, Ser. Biol. 14: 143-144.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT, V. N. KANDELAKI, D. MANDZHGALADZE and J. SCHULTZEMOTEL, 1988: Collecting plant-genetic resources in the Georgian SSR (Chevsuretia, Tushetia) 1987. – Kulturpflanze 36: 405-419.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT, T. S. GIRGVLIANI, V. N. KANDELAKI and D. MANDZHGALADZE, 1990: Collecting plant-genetic resources in Georgia (South Ossetia, Dzhavakheti) 1990. – Feddes Repert. 103: 523-533.

    BERIDZE, R. K., P. HANELT, V. N. KANDELAKI, D. MANDZHGALADZE and J. SCHULTZEMOTEL, 1990: Collecting plant-genetic resources in the Georgian SSR (Kartli, Meskheti) 1989. – Kulturpflanze 38: 157-171.

    HANELT, P. and R. K. BERIDZE, 1991: The flora of cultivated plants of the Georgian SSR and its genetic resources. – Flora Veg. Mundi 9: 113-120.

    Source.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *