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2 Historical Perspectives and Domestication
DIDIER BAZILE, FRANCISCO FUENTES AND ÁNGEL MUJICA
2.1 Introduction
Biodiversity is a key global concern of the international community. The increasing species extinction rate is alarming for the future wellbeing of societies. Attention to biodiversity is important because people around the world are managing this biological diversity for plant cultivation, pastoral activities, forests and many other occupations. Good practices in protecting biodiversity are beneficial for the society in order to provide food, fuel and shelter as well as protect the biota and habitats for future generations (Jackson et al., 2007). Smallholder farmers are the guardians of both the biodiversity surrounding them and the knowledge to manage it (Altieri, 1987; Chevassus-au-Louis and Bazile, 2008).
Agroecosystems occupy 30% of the Earth’s surface (Altieri, 1991). There are varied and changing ways in which small farmers, in particular in the developing world, use genetic resources for agriculture. But the dynamic diversity of small-scale farmers has limited literature and most of the information comes from Africa (Bazile and Weltzien, 2008).
Latin America, specifically the Highlands of the Andes, is one of the ‘hot-spots’ of world biodiversity. This region has been used for thousands of years and has supported a large population in interaction with its agroecosystem. Importantly, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) has been cultivated by farmers in this region for more than 5000 years (Bazile and Negrete, 2009). A wild relative to quinoa exists in this region as parent of the cultivated form, along with other wild forms that could have participated in the evolution process.
In this chapter, we consider the domestication process at the origins of agriculture to explain the link between human settlements and agriculture development. With a particular focus on quinoa, we show the world importance of the genus Chenopodium (Chenopodiaceae), which has 250 species. We relate the complex process of the creation of quinoa from different wild parents and then present a new typology to describe the state of the actual diversification and utilization of the crop. Finally, we discuss how the importance of the biodiversity of quinoa could be related to other agricultures in the world and ask for rules to preserve farmers’ rights.
2.2 General Process of Plant Domestication
Information on crop evolution is vital in the current effort to understand and conserve biodiversity, and provides
