Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 11.2 Total number of plants by category in patios
Total
number of
plants
Fruit
trees
Non-fruit
(shade)
trees
Vegetable
plants
Medicinal/
spice
plants
Ornamental
plants
Men
5
119
51
(43%)
12
(10%)
0
(0%)
21
(18%)
35
(29%)
Women
20
594
189
(32%)
34
(7%)
48
(8%)
129
(22%)
194
(33%)
Total
25
713
240
(34%)
46
(6%)
48
(7%)
150
(21%)
229
(32%)
of avocado and mango trees, the most commonly mapped trees. While fruit
trees and ornamentals constituted the majority of plants in all patios, men
tended to map fruit trees and women ornamentals. Out of the plants that men
mapped, 43 per cent were fruit trees and 29 per cent ornamentals. Fruit trees
accounted for 34 per cent of the plants mapped by women, while ornamentals
were 32 per cent. This difference was not as significant as that between shade
trees (non-fruit) and vegetables. Men identified more non-fruit trees than
women. However, at times, women ignored the non-fruit trees in the patio
while, in some cases, men ignored certain fruit trees. In some houses where
women participated in the mapping, non-fruit trees were rare and vegetable
plants more common. In contrast, where men carried out the mapping, some
of the patios had both fruit and non-fruit trees but seldom had any vegetables.
None of the men mapped vegetable plants, while 7 per cent of plants women
mapped were vegetables.
8
Although the total number of plants identified by all participants was 713,
that included only 130 different plant species (Table 11.3). This is because
many patios had multiple plants of the same species.
For example, in one patio (Figure 11.2), the participant mapped 14 fruit
trees in total, but only six different species. There were two avocado trees, a
mango, two guava, two lime trees, six banana/plantain plants and a coconut
tree. Within the banana/plantain plants, there were three different varieties.
This was also true of the avocado, mango and lime trees. Each of these species
and varieties had, in many cases, a different use due to cultural factors. The
stories that participants related about different species also reflected distinct
relations and interactions with individuals, environment and community. This
was true especially with ornamentals; because they reproduce easily they are
often shared among the members of different networks.
On average, women identified 22 different species in their patios while men
mapped 13. This difference was a result of the large number of ornamental
plants that women mapped; in their patios ornamentals comprised 54 per cent
of the different species. Men tended to map trees and the species-diversity in
what they mapped comprised 40 per cent fruit and 18 per cent non-fruit trees.
By comparison, species diversity in women's maps consisted of 22 per cent fruit
