Morphological characterization of native crop varieties using farmers’ descriptors

In 2001, in the frame of in situ conservation project, the National Institute of Agrarian Innovation (INIA), together with several governmental and non-governmental organizations, conducted documentation of the morphological characteristics of native varieties of maize and potatoes using ‘peasant descriptors’. The objective was to make an inventory of the most important crops grown by farmers, using their own descriptors and language, in order to understand the diversity and variability of the native crops and varieties. Technicians and experts interacted with farmers and visited their fields were visited at different growth stages. Descriptors used by farmers ae related to leaves, stems, flowers, tubers, grains, and fruits; and they were based on places, people, colours, animals, and shapes. As a key result, morphological characteristics of different varieties of maize and potato crops according to farmers’ descriptions or terminologies, are elaborated and documented. During documentation, it revealed that women farmers are the knowledge holders, or play an important role in cultivating crops, since they ae experts in describing the diversity of native varieties they grew in their fields.