QUELITES CULTIVATION IN THE VALLES CENTRALES OF OAXACA, MEXICO

Abstract

With more than 250 species in current use, quelites are found throughout the national territory where many of them grow as segetal in different agroecosystems, both rainfed and irrigated, especially in traditional agriculture. Quelites are plants that complement the diet of many rural populations in Mexico and can also contribute to the economic income of producers through their sale. Several of these quelites have such cultural importance that their management and utilization occurs not only as recollected or tolerated plants in agricultural systems, but for several years and in various regions of the country they are being produced as monocultures. As part of the research that has been carried out for several decades to register the presence, consumption, management and economic and cultural importance of quelites in Mexico, this contribution reports the form of cultivation of three species of quelites in two municipalities of the district of Ocotlán, Oaxaca, Mexico, highlighting the role of producers in the development of cultivation techniques for these plants based on traditional knowledge and their vital experience in agricultural work.