Agrobiodiversity of Homegardens in Maranhão, Brazil

Abstract

There is limited information available on the agrobiodiversity of homegardens in Brazil. Thus research was initiated to investigate this aspect in the state of Maranhão (Brazil) during 2016. Twenty five homegardens were visited, with 105 specimens, distributed among 47 genera and 29 families being catalogued. The families with the most representative species were Rubiaceae, Malvaceae and Lamiaceae, with four species each, followed by the Solanaceae, Euphorbiaceae (three species each), Myrtaceae, Crassulaceae, Anacardiaceae (two species each), other families had one species each. This study further elucidated how much households use these species and found that, 52% are used for food, 35% for medicinal and 13% for ornamental use.  It is mostly women who were the primary care takers of the agroforest homegardens, as they had a good working knowledge of cultivation and garden maintenance in general. The survey also revealed that the homegardens had a strong cultural character, thus highlighting their value as an important community resource for the creation and transmission of traditional knowledge, thus serving as a source of information management for the preservation of community identity.