Quién mantiene la memoria biocultural y la agrobiodiversidad en la isla de Mallorca? Algunos aprendizajes desde las variedades locales de tomate

Abstract

Memory linked to seeds, and specifically the knowledge associated with local varieties of tomato, has been preserved thanks to oral transmission across the generations. Since the 1950s, the aging of the rural population, the modernisation of agriculture and the exodus to urban areas have led to the gradual loss of farming culture and the genetic erosion of landraces. The objective of the article is to discover those actors who continue to grow and preserve local tomato varieties in Majorca, and the knowledge associated with them. Through qualitative techniques such as participatory observation and semi-structured interviews, we explored surviving local knowledge of these varieties and concluded that a substantial part of this knowledge is on the verge of disappearance, due to ageing farmers and a lack of generational replacement. However, parttime farmers and some professional farmers using quality labels are contributing to the recovery and preservation of the biocultural memory of local varieties of tomato on the island.