Abstract

VELASCO-HERNANDEZ, Ma. de los Ángeles et al. Relationship between peasant knowledge and climate variables in the central-eastern region of Puebla, México. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2016, vol.13, n.4, pp.643-662. ISSN 1870-5472.

Agriculture and especially maize cultivation represent one of the most important socioeconomic activities for food security in México. Throughout time, empirical knowledge has been transmitted from generation to generation. In the study, surveys were applied to farmers in the Central-Eastern region of the state of Puebla, with experience in sowing maize, during 2014 and 2015. The objective of the research was to explain the relationship between climate-temperature and precipitation-, at pentad scale, with the proverbs and yields of the years 1980, 1987, 2011 and 2013. Results showed that at least half of the farmers trust in the sayings and, as consequence, in years with good yields of the maize crop, most of them were validated, while for those considered as “regular” and “bad”, most did not come true. These two situations can be explained in terms of an optimistic vision of the farmer. It is concluded that peasant empirical knowledge about time/weather prediction is accepted by an important number of farmers and continues to influence agricultural activities.

Keywords : agriculture; empirical knowledge; precipitation; temperature.

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