Assessment of the Resilience of a Tartary Buckwheat ( Fagopyrum tataricum ) Cultivation System in Meigu, Southwest China

Yingjie Song, Devra I. Jarvis, Keyu Bai, Jinchao Feng and Chunlin Long
Additional contact information
Yingjie Song: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China
Devra I. Jarvis: Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research, c/o Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Maccarese, 00054 Rome, Italy
Keyu Bai: Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Jinchao Feng: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China
Chunlin Long: College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 14, 1-12

Abstract: Recent socioeconomic development, increased transport and new agricultural technology are endangering the survival of traditional agriculture and the Yi people’s traditional knowledge of cultivating Tartary buckwheat. The cultural heritage of Tartary buckwheat cultivation among the Yi communities needs to be investigated and protected before its loss. The main objectives of this study are to document the Tartary buckwheat cultivation system, to analyze the agroecosystem networks that support the current system, and to measure the resilience of the ecological, agricultural and social systems using relevant indicators. The Tartary buckwheat cultivation system in Meigu County uses a rotation system, in which various crops are planted alternatively (e.g., Tartary buckwheat, green manure and potato/corn), utilizing bunch planting and furrow drilling technology. Tartary buckwheat has an important position in the major festival activities among the Yi people’s communities. Network analysis on the current agricultural system, ecosystem and social system indicated that the system was stable. The mean score of ecological, agricultural and social stability were 2.50, 2.85 and 2.53, respectively, indicating moderately stability. In contrast, socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) resilience indicators in Meigu performed only moderately, with a score of 2.63. The assessment of the resilience of the Tartary buckwheat cultivation system can provide some guidance for policy makers to strengthen biodiversity conservation, sustainable agricultural production and livelihood development (e.g., land use, responding to extreme environmental stresses and improving education levels).

Keywords: resilience; Tartary buckwheat; socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS); Yi ethnic group (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5683/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5683/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:14:p:5683-:d:384780

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().