Landscape and Urban Planning, 27 (1993) 141-150 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam Management of land, water and vegetation in traditional agro-ecosystems in Central Mexico Alba Gonzalez Jacome Social Anthropology, Department of Social Sciences, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, Prolongacién Paseo de la Reforma 880, C.P. 01210, Mexico Abstract, Traditional agro-ecosystems in Central Mexico have pre-Hispanic origins. Agricultural practices and society have co- evolved through a long period of time, These agricultural systems can be characterized as follows — They have been practised during an extensive time-span; they are organized on an ecological basis so as to be largely selfsustainable, and they tend to use a larger input of human labour than of agricultural machinery. — The individual aspects of the systems are simple but they are integrated into a complex network in which they become interdependent, and the system depends on that integration for its functioning — Agricultural knowledge is transmitted informally from one generation to the next within the context of family organization. — The most important variable in these systems is the workforee, which has gradually been attracted to jobs in industry and to seasonal migration, This paper deals with some of the above characteristics of Mexican traditional agro-ecology in relation to the manage- ‘ment of land, water and vegetation in Central Mexico. It discusses alternatives practised by peasants in view ofa declining, MI workforce and the possibilities of sustaining present practices under the pressures of an industrializing socicty. Introduction Contemporary agricultural systems of the Mexican Central Highlands are found in an ex- ‘tensive area which, in the fifteenth and six- teenth centuries, was dominated by groups of Nahuail Indians or groups influenced by them. The basic characteristics of these agricultural systems are not exclusive to the Highlands; they were known and applied throughout Meso- america Some, like the system of home gar- dens, are very old, with elements which have ‘been studied and described in areas of pre-His- panic occupation such as Tehuacan in the State of Puebla (Smith, 1965, 1967). Agricultural practice has been modified over time but only changes in the post-colonial era have been documented. Some changes in the basic ecological components of systems (such as land quality, water and vegetation), their adaptive processes to specific ecological con- ditions, and their co-evolution with human so- cieties and cultures have endangered the con- tinuity and transmission of some types of agricultural practice, or have even caused their disappearance. These types of practice have been classified by the majority of specialists as ‘traditional’ aterm which often has negative and ethnocen- tric connotations. Tradition may be thought of as something that does not change, as obsolete, as something which is not modern or as unde- veloped. The ethnocentrism is reflected by the classification applied by the dominant aca- demic groups in Western society to aspects of non-Western socictics. Generally, no distinc- tion is made between societies which practise a simple agriculture characterized by hunting and gathering and those which have a strong © 1993 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V, All rights reserved 0169-2046 /93 /$06,00142 agricultural tradition characterized by the phe- nomenon of urbanization, Some social scientists, particularly anthro- pologists, prefer to use alternative concepts so as to avoid the ethnocentric connotations of the word ‘traditional’. They face the task of classi- fying types of agricultural practice which have remote origins, are ecologically adapted, sus- tainable over very long periods of time, and use large amounts of human labour rather than ag- ticultural machinery. These types of practice are apparently technologically very simple but are, in fact, extremely complex in holistic as- pects. They take into account the different ele- ments of the local ecosystems in which they are inserted. Agricultural knowledge is transmit- ted informally from generation to generation. These systems are also very flexible in their ad- aptation to market conditions which combine elements of ecological and economic risk. In this context, it is important to reconsider the contribution of Palerm (1968), who class- ified this kind of agriculture with its specific characteristics as the ‘Mexican model’, to dis- tinguish it from other kinds of agricultural sys- tems. It has often been replaced by more mech- anized systems developed for environmental conditions different from those of Mexico, often with very little success. It is believed that mechanized agricultural systems with larger energetic inputs are more efficient and pro- ductive and thus are superior to the ‘Mexican model’. The fact is that ‘traditional’ and ‘mod- ern’ agricultural systems are based on different principles; the first are generally based on eco- logical considerations, whereas the underlying organizing principles of the second are gener- ally economic. The Mexican agricultural model is one example of ‘traditional’ agricultural practice which is common in many regions of the world. The object of this paper is to consider the underlying principles of traditional Mexican agricultural practice which are still in use in many parts of Highland Mexico, and some of the difficulties which the Mexican model must 4. Gonséle: Jdcome / Landscape and Urban Planning 27 (1993) 14150 face in its maintenance. We will deal with cases which manifest the huge capacity of tradi tional agricultural systems to combine envi, ronmental adaptation with restrictive govern- mental policies to survive. It is very important to describe these agricultural systems before the knowledge of their agricultural practice is lost. Basic agricultural characteristics of the Mexican model in relation to sustainability The notable durability of this traditional system has to be explained in terms of the co- evolution of culture with agriculture. It is the result of a process of selection of plants, con- stant experimentation in agricultural practice, the combination of subsistence needs and market demands, and the employment of all the members of the family in different eco- nomic activities. Mexico is a very diverse country, and Mexi- can agriculture has developed a large variety of local adaptations of the ‘traditional’ agricul- tural system. Mexican traditional agriculture depends on the integrated management of cul- tural and natural elements. In this way, alti- tude, weather, soil, water, vegetation, topog- raphy, winds, agricultural space, land tenure, the agricultural calendar, crops and workforce form a network in which both environmental and economic risks interact with a peasant so- cial organization. ‘The peasant social organization is based on the following elements: the composition and the economic organization of the peasant household, the availability of family members for agricultural activities throughout the year, the integration of peasant households into a community structure and their relation to the market, the availability of capital and access to credit. Besides these elements, the particular history of the community is also iportant, as well as specific political, economic and demo- graphic pressures. Owing to these pressures, diverse forms of agricultural practice coexist, as a result of localA. Gonzalez Ficome / Landscape and Urban Planning 27 (1998) 141-150 socio-cultural adaptations, crop diversifica~ tion and market pressures. Nevertheless, they share certain characteristics such as the sowing of various crops in an apparently haphazard fashion in the same field, These plants usually have different growth cycles and mature at dif- ferent times. This practice tends to conserve humidity in the soil. The rotation of crops in- cludes mixed cropping followed by the sowing of only one crop. It is considered essential to maintain plant cover of the land. The crops are generally adapted to drought conditions, to the uneven distribution of rains, or to the excess of humidity, Generally, annual crops are com- bined with permanent plants. Insects are con- trolled biologically and fields are fertilized by manure, mulch and/or mud. Mexican ‘traditional’ agriculture, combin- ing local conditions with ecological factors, has sometimes drastically altered the landscape, The peasant has reordered the landscape, in- serting gardens in a natural setting or leaving natural vegetation near cultivated fields (di- visions between fields, borders to control soil erosion, borders along irrigation canals to con- trol water evaporation, or the remains of what was once native forest) as ecological reserves. The Mexican peasant has understood eco- logical factors in an interrelated way and not as isolated or independent elements. Peasant agriculture itself must be seen in relation to other activities such as raising livestock on a small scale, industrial jobs and/or seasonal oc- cupations such as construction labouring, and migrant work in areas of intensive commercial agriculture either nationally (in the States of Colima, Jalisco, Veracruz and Sinaloa) or in- ternationally (in the USA and in Canada) (Palerm, 1968; Gliessman and Amador, 1980). The basic ‘traditional’ agricultural system is diverse, owing to the interrelations between lo- cal ecological and socio-economic conditions together with those at regional and national levels. It has a differer adaptive capacity to specific social conditions. For example, home 143 garden systems may be simple patches to grow medicinal plants, aromatic herbs and flowers, or they may include highly productive fruit trees whose products are sold on national or international markets, Of all the different kinds of home gardens, the most adaptable in terms of the peasant economy is that which com- bines fruit trees with other plants which may include cereals, vegetables or herbs and which may be at the same time for subsistance on the speed with which the peasant can change the kinds of crops he grows without changing the ecological structure of the home garden system (Kimber, 1966; Wilken, 1977; Gonzalez-Jé- come, 1985a). Apparently, the system is simple. The com- plexity is due to the nature of the interrelations between its components and not to these indi- vidual components as such. For example, the topography of the Highlands permits the con- current or successive use of fields at a higher or lower altitude according to drought or exces- sively humid conditions. The altitude can be combined with rainfall conditions, soil humid- ity, and the depth of underground water to cul- tivate diverse crops (corn, alfalfa and vegeta- bles) adapted to specific soil conditions (humidity and soil composition and depth). Land use is differential and includes raising livestock on a small scale (Siemens, 1983, 1990a, Gonzélez-Jacome, 1993), The importance of local history and land reform There is evidence that in pre-Hispanic times low-lying lands and flood plains were often used both for agricultural purposes and for fishing, whereas in the colonial period these areas were used for raising livestock, It is par- ticularly significant that in the northern Puebla Mountains as well as in the southwest of the country in the Juérez Mountains of Oaxaca, villages are often located in ecotones, thus hav- ing easy access to a greater diversity of plants144 and to different ecosystems (Guhs, 1992; Tyr- tania, 1992). In the area of the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley, land reform in the 1920s had an immediate ecological and economic impact. The villages of the southwest of Tlaxcala began petitioning for ‘ejidos’ (communal land granted to Mexi- can peasants after the 1910 Agrarian revolu- tion) in 1916, Information in the National Ar- chives (A.G.N.) indicates that in some cases the owners of haciendas in the region reached agreements with peasant groups to sell them the land before they began petitioning for it. In others, it is clear that local political leaders in- tervened so that some peasant petitions would not succeed, For example, in the locality of Chimalpa in Tlaxcala there is only private property. In another case, the legal rights of peasants of Xiloxoxtla, Tlaxcala, to ejical lands was recognized in 1916 but they never re- ceived the land in question, In 1921, however, 204 peasants of the neighbouring town of Te- peyanco bought the land which had been re- served for the peasants of Xiloxoxtla. The peasants of Zacatelco bought lands from the “Buenayista’ hacienda, which had been legally recognized as belonging to the peasants of Santo Toribio Xicohtzingo (Robins, 1992; W. Robins, personal communication, 1992; Gon- zalez Jacome, 1993). Historical information indicates how the owners of haciendas suddenly began exploit- ing the natural resources of their lands be- tween 1916 and 1925 when faced with expro- priation claims by peasants. The owners of the haciendas ‘La Blanca’, ‘San Jacinto’ and ‘Santa Agueda’, in the Atoyac-Zahuapan Basin, sold off their forests as lumber. The same process occurred in Xaltocan, a town to the northwest. of the city of Tlaxcala (Olivares, 1992; Gon- zlez Jacome, 1993). In the 1920s, in Central Veracruz, the own- ers of cattle ranches and haciendas faced with expropriation divided their lands among members of their families. On the other hand, those who were renting lands of those same 4. Gonzéles Jécome / Landscape and Urban Planning 27 (1993) 141-150 cattle ranches and haciendas organized a sys- tem of land invasions with people from afar so as to petition for the expropriation of the land (Wilkerson, 1980; Gonzdlez-Jacome, 1985a, 1988b; Siemens, 1990). Since 1921, the Mexican Government has controlled the principal agricultural resources: land and water. Land tenure was controlled by the ejido system, which gave property rights to the State; the access to water was controlled by the National Irrigation Commission estab- lished in 1925. During the 1940s, the State gained control of the national workers unions so that the peasants who combined agricul- tural and industrial activities were totally de- pendent on government policies. The Ejido Bank, which was established in the 1930s, lim- ited the peasants’ access to credit and con- trolled the kinds of crops the peasants were al- lowed to grow, thus strengthening their dependence. The importance of water management In Central Mexico the best agricultural lands are usually located next to natural water re- serves, which at the same time are sought by industry. These agricultural lands support a high demographic density and are normally lo- cated near urban settlements. Industry and ag- riculture compete for the same natural and de- mographic resources. This results in a reduction in the area dedicated to agriculture, a decrease in agricultural productivity, a change from polyculture to monoculture, pol- lution of water and land, acid rain, an increase in the temperature in the area, the presence of industrial wastes in the water reserves, an im~ balance between the cost of urban land and ag- ricultural land, an increase in the cost of living, seasonal migration of the workforce and pro- found changes in the culture of the peasants (Anonymous, 1984). The piedmount and mountains with roads and transport facilities to connect them with the urban industrialized centres have becomeA. Gonzilez Jdcome (Landscape and Urban Planning 27 (1993) 141150 areas dedicated to producing corn and whose workforce is integrated into the regional and national economy through seasonal migration (Gonzdlez-Jacome, 1985a, 1988b). Villages which until the 1970s practised polycultural agricultural systems have suffered from a lack of water, as a result of the extraction of their reserves for urban settlements and for indus- tries, such as those producing dairy products, which have a role to play in the national economy. For example, the Lerma Lagoon in the State of Mexico disappeared in the 1940s. Acuitlap- ilco Lagoon in Tlaxcala State has almost dis- appeared, owing to the use of its water for do- mestic purposes and the uncontrolled construction of wells which have depleted the underground water reserves. The construction of the Valsequillo Dam in Tehuacan, Puebla State, is directly related to the reduction of water levels in the Atoyac-Zahuapan Basin, causing humid lands which used to be culti- vated intensively now to be used only seasonally. Water management is locally specific ac- cording to topographical conditions and the extreme variability of atmospheric factors. For example, in flood-prone areas of southwestern Tlaxcala the rainy season begins between May and June and continues until September or October. August and September are character- ized by torrential rains. The peasant must be able to respond immediately to the sudden threat of flooding by chanelling the flood waters out of his fields. He can only do this if the irri- gation channels, which border the cultivated fields, are of packed earth. Cement irrigation channels are not immediately removable. They trap the flood waters in the fields, thus destroy- ing the crops. On the other hand, in the area of drained fields, where the need to drain off excess water is permanent, the channels are of rocks and mortar. In other words, it is not a question of the peasants lacking the knowledge to build more permanent structures, but rather the fa- 145 miliarity of the peasants with their environ- ment means that they know when those struc- tures are counter-productive. To be able to respond effectively to the contingencies of the environment the peasants must be able to count on the immediate availability of family labour (Wilken, 1969, 1987; Johnson and McNeish, 1972; Cano, 1984; Doolittle, 1990; Garcia Cook). In semi-arid regions it is important to dam rainwater by means of horizontal canals which follow the terraces, containing walls and/or canals which cut across the natural flow of the water, directing it to smaller drainage canals and dams. These dams are built in depressions in the land, ravines, rivers and streams, These aspects of agro-ecology must be ‘understood as parts of a more comprehensive ‘system adapted at the same time to the global characteristics of the area and to the specific needs of each field or sub-area. These cultural adaptations have a low social and economic cost, are affordable to most peasants and are dependent on availability of family labour. Dams can be constructed with rocks, sandbags or packed earth, These can be built or removed quickly with a pickaxe and shovel without in- vesting great amounts of money or work. The sandbags can also be used on the bottom of ca- nals excavated in the earth so as to raise the water level, Dams in the Central Highlands of Mexico can also be built in natural depressions without the need to reinforce the bottom with rocks as in other parts of Mexico (Wilken, 1969, 1991; Matheny and Gurr, 1979; Gonzé- lez-Jacome, 1991, 1992, 1993). The combined management of land, water and vegetation is a basic requirement for the formation of organic matter. This is done by means of retaining water and plants in natural or artificial deposits such as canals and ditches. Modern agriculture is based on different prin- ciples. For example, the role of water in agri- culture is limited to drainage or irrigation. The existence of water reservoirs surrounded by patches of natural vegetation seems like a waste146 of land to the modern farmer (Gliessman, 1981; Gliessman and Amador, 1980). Swamps are one of the best examples to highlight the cultural differences between peasants and farmers. Modern farmers usually dry swampy areas to expand agricultural space, whereas traditional peasants use swamps to build drained fields, ‘chinampas’ or any other intensive agricultural systems with a combi- nation of canals and platforms (Siemens, 1990; Wilken, 1991). ‘Traditional’ Mexican agricul- ture stimulates the formation of artificial res- ervoirs (‘estribos’, ‘aguajes’ or ‘cajas’) which are a kind of miniature swamp where a mix- ture of water, soil, plants, aquatic animals, in- sects, algae and micro-organisms (mud) are used by peasants to maintain the fertility of the soil and a high diversity of species (Chacén, 1978; Wilken, 1979; Altieri and Letourneau, 1982; Chac6n and Gliessman, 1982; Gonzalez Jacome, 1991). Plant cover and biomass Traditional Mexican agriculture is based on the permanence of plant cover and crop rota- tion, Areas of natural vegetation can always be found (on river banks, the borders of roads, canals and fields, in ravines and in small areas of natural secondary vegetation, deliberately left as ‘acahuales’ ). Crops with different growth cycles are sown in the same field and are har- vested at different times. Weeded plants and the stalks of crops are left in the field. Some crops are sown not to be harvested but are used rather as a means of fertilizing the land, intro- ducing biomass and humidity into the agricul- tural system when the ground is prepared for sowing. Biological diversity is related to the high ac- cumulation of biomass and the natural control of plagues and weeds (Anonymous, 1982). The study of home gardens in temperate Tlaxcala compared with tropical home gardens in Ta- basco showed a similar biological diversity de- spite marked climatological differences. Tlax- 4: Gonzales Jécome / Landscape and Urban Planning 27 (1993) 141-150 calan home gardens had an average size of 0.34 ha, and included 82 useful species, with 73% of perennial plants, 51% of Mesoamerican na- tive plants, a minimum of 15 species and a maximum of 51, a diversity index of 2.43 bits, a leaf area index of 3.20, 85.3% plant cover, 30.5% light transmission, 9.00% of ornamen- tal plants, 2.8% medicinal plants, consisting of between seven and 24 species, and having an average density of trees of 296 ha~' (Batra, 1982; Becking, 1975, Gonzalez Jacome, 1976, 1985a; Allyson, 1983; Gliessman, 1990). In the case of Tabasco, the home gardens had an av- erage size of 0.70 ha, and included $5 useful species per garden, with 52.30 perennial spe- cies, 30.70% tree species per garden, a diver- sity index of 3.84 bits, a leaf area index of 4.50, 96.7% plant cover, 21.5% light transmission, 7.0% of ornamental plants and 2.0% of medic- inal plants (Gliessman, 1990). In drained field systems, the biological di- versity includes aquatic vegetation. In a sam- ple of 13 plots in the north of the Atoyac—Za- huapan Basin, a total of 24 cultivated plants was found in one field and more than one va- riety of some of the species. Corn was sown in all of the plots, and in 11 (85%) there was a combination of corn with alfalfa. In nine plots (70%) there were also beans. In seven (54%), asmall variety of tomato (“tomatillo’ ), climb- ing beans and squash were also grown (Gon- zalez Jacome, 1984). The way in which modern agricultural sys- tems in highland Central Mexico harvest crops, extracting the whole plant and leaving the soil uncovered, causes the loss of biomass, the re- duction of biological diversity and erosion. This occurs because the soils are thin, and be- cause of the indiscriminate use of heavy agri- cultural machinery. In other parts of Mexico where mechanized agriculture is based on a flourishing economy, chemical fertilizers and plastic covers can replace the plant cover; how- ever, this leads to an increase in environmen- tal pollution.A. Gonzi Ficome / Landscape and Urban Planning 27 (1993) 141-150 Erosion The geomorphology of the Mexican High lands, the characteristics of the rainy season, the loss of vegetation cover, and the disappear- ance of forested areas are natural processes re- lated to the erosion of agricultural soils. In the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley, these processes are complicated by demographic and social pres- ‘sures such as the increase in total population, the increase in population density, the reduc- tion in the mortality rate, especially amongst children, rural poverty, the need to earn a monetary income by selling available natural resources (wool, coal, mushrooms, animals), and the gradual loss of traditional knowledge of resource management (Gliessman and Mo- untjoy, 1988; Gonzalez Jécome, 1991). The effects of development projects such as road building and large dams, which have in- volved the indiscriminate clearing of large areas of forest and inadequate precautions to protect the environment, have intensified the problems of erosion in some areas. The high- way from Apizaco to Calpulalpan is a clear ex- ample of this lack of adequate planning (Wer- ner, 1988; Olivares, 1992). Diverse agricultural practice to maintain soil fertility Several methods are used by the peasants besides crop rotation to maintain the fertility of the soil. Amongst these there is the combi- nation of cereals and legumes in the same plot and nitrogen-fixing trees on the edges of fields and canals (Alnus spp., Erythrina spp., Cra- laegus mexicana and Prunus capulli, whose fruits are left on the ground to be recycled as biomass). Every 3 years mud from the canals is thrown onto the fields to augment their fer- tility (Gliessman, 1984; Gonzdlez Jacome, 1984; Mountjoy, 1985; Crews, 1985; Gliess- man and Mountjoy, 1988). The leftovers after ‘the harvest (leaves and stalks) and manure and mulch are also applied to the fields. 147 ‘Some peasants in the southwest of Tlaxcala alternate chemical and natural fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers are cheaper than natural ‘ones and these are used for 5-7 years succes- sively. When agricultural productivity de- creases, manure is applied not only to increase the productivity but also to avoid the saliniza- tion of the soil. ‘There are also agricultural methods to mod- ify the natural characteristics of the soil, Very humid fields are treated with ash. Clayey soils are improved with ash or sand. Manure is fre- quently applied to sandy soils, and acid soils are treated with lime (Mielich, 1979; Orozco, 1979; Gonzdlez-Jacome, 1993). Agricultural activity is completed by draught animals and cows, which contribute important elements to the system such as manure, milk for the children and monetary income when they are sold to the slaughterhouse or local butchers to cover family needs and emergen- cies. Alfalfa is directly related to the impor- tance of the animals as an integral part of the agricultural system (Gonzalez Jacome, 1993). Another effect of this ecologically integrated agricultural system is that insects and other natural predators tend to concentrate on the edges of the fields and not among the crops. For example, the insect known as ‘chahuiztle” prefers the Baccharis neglecta or the Senecio salignus left to grow at the edges of the fields. Birds are naturally attracted to the insect con- centrations in the trees bordering the rivers and canals, which are also preferred by rodents and small mammals such as rats and hares (Gliess- man and Mountjoy, 1988). From a socio-economic perspective, inten- sive agricultural systems such as drained fields in the Atoyac-Zahuapan Basin produce from two to three harvests a year, permitting two different crops for different purposes (subsist- ence, fodder or market). The productivity of corn is from 2.4 to 7 t ha~'. The system needs a permanent labour force drawn from the im- mediate family and allows for savings to be made. Such a system supported a population148 density of 209 persons per square kilometre in 1970. This density has increased radically in the last two decades with the increase of agri- cultural and industrial jobs, and reached 624 persons per square kilometre in 1990 (Na- tional Population Statistics, S.P.P., 1970, 1990). The combination of agricultural and indus- trial activities by members of the same family, together with seasonal migration to agricul- tural jobs, forms a vicious circle. The smaller the family, the greater the difficulty in working in intensive agriculture, as a result of a lack of manpower. On the other hand, a bigger family necessarily has more economic needs which cannot be satisfied by agriculture alone, be- cause the plots become ever smaller as they are divided among the children and passed on from one generation to the next. The adult family members must work in salaried jobs, thus di- minishing the availability of labour for agri- cultural activities. However, salaries in indus- trial jobs are not sufficient by themselves to permit the social reproduction of the family. Agriculture then becomes less intensive and less productive and is not a viable full-time ac- tivity. Nevertheless, it has been traditional ag- riculture which has underwritten the eco- nomic and social cost of Mexican industrialization. The rural development pro- grammes have also tended to exacerbate this stiuation, as they are based on policies de- signed to eliminate traditional agricultural practice and to replace it with industrial inputs which are very costly in ecological, economic and social terms, ‘Conclusions To function integrally the Mexican peasant economy depends on the three basic elements of land/soil, water and natural vegetation. Of these three elements, the first two are con- trolled directly or indirectly by the State. The creation of irrigation districts in the country since 1926 has permitted the irrigation of large A Gonzales Ticome / Landscape and Urban Planting 27 (1993) 142-150 areas of land, but it has also contributed di- rectly to the gradual disappearance of agricul- ‘tural systems which, like the drained fields, are culturally adapted to environmental condi- tions characterized by the permanent presence of water, Highly productive Mesoamerican agricul- tural systems such as the chinampas and drained fields have suffered a gradual loss of their water resources or have suffered from contamination. It would seem that these agri- cultural systems are the ones most affected by the urbanization and modernization of the country this century. Other agricultural sys- tems such as the multi-crop home gardens have been more resistant, This situation could be the result of their greater capacity to adapt to mar- ket conditions (Anonymous, 1975). In the areas of the home gardens there was a greater percentage of ejidal land until 1992, i.e, the State was the real owner of the land and gave the peasants the right of use. The produc- tivity of ejidal property, either collectively or individually, also depends on access to water— a commodity also controlled by the State. Peasant societies make contact with the insti- tutions of the dominant society and the market by selling their products and their labour and by buying what they need to be able to keep cultivating the land. Obtaining water, together with other agricultural needs and machinery, is related to the chances of obtaining credit and public services from the community. The indiscriminate use of ‘modern’ ele- ments such as fertilizers and weed-killers changes the composition of the natural vege- tation, diminishing the diversity of species and the fertility of the soil. Local plant varieties, which are better adapted to specific environ- mental conditions, are replaced by hybrid va- rieties which cannot be reproduced by the peasants themselves. The minimal use, oreven loss, of the local varieties, which are more re- sistant to disease, drought or excess humidity, increases dependence on ‘modern’ technology and on irreplaceable resources. This means an4. Gomsélez Jicome / Landscape and Crban Planning 27/1993) 14/=150 increase in the economic cost to the peasant of continuing to cultivate the land. Traditional agricultural knowledge which has been acquired through experimentation over hundreds of years is being lost. The pos- sibility still exists for an interdisciplinary col- laboration to study what has been termed ‘tra- ditional’ agricultural knowledge, to incorporate it into the maintenance and the improvement of agricultural productivity by developing practical alternatives. For an agricultural sys- tem to be sustainable, it must be based on sound ecological principles, must be socially fair, and be supported by national economic Policies. It is here that the Mexican ‘tradi- tional’ agricultural systems face the greatest threat to their survival (Anonymous, 1982; Gonzalez-Jacome, 1993). References Akkermans, A.D.L. and van Dijk, C., 1981. Non-leguminous root-nodule symbioses with actinomycetes and Rhizo- biurn. In: W.5. Broughton (Editor), Nitrogen fixation, Vol. 1, Ecology. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 57-103, Allyson, J.L., 1983. An ecological analysis of home gardens in two Mexican villages. Master's Thesis, University of California, Santa Cruz Altieri, M, and Letourneau, D.K., 1982, Vegetation manage+ ‘ment and biological control in agroecosystems. Crop Prot.. 1 405-430. Anonymous, 1970. National population statistics, Mexieo Ministry of Budget (S.P.P.). Anonymous, 1975, Memorandum Técnico 115. 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