Conservation and Use of Latin American Maize Diversity: Pillar of Nutrition Security and Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Latin America is the center of domestication and diversity of maize, the second most cultivated crop worldwide. In this region, maize landraces are fundamental for food security, livelihoods, and culture. Nevertheless, genetic erosion (i.e., the loss of genetic diversity and variation in a crop) threatens the continued cultivation and in situ conservation of landrace diversity that is crucial to climate change adaptation and diverse uses of maize. This paper provides an overview of maize diversity in Latin America before discussing factors associated with persistence of large in situ maize diversity, causes for maize landrace abandonment by farmers, and strategies to enhance the cultivation of landraces. The authors note that continued cultivation, and therefore on-farm conservation of genetic diversity held in maize landraces, can be encouraged by creating or strengthening market opportunities that make the cultivation of landraces and open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) more profitable for farmers, supporting breeding programs that prioritize improvement of landraces and their special traits, and increasing the access to quality germplasm of landraces and landrace-derived OPVs.