Introduction

Industrialization, urbanization, the expansion of wage labor and the consumer market contributed to transforming the structure, organization and functions of rural families (^{Maldonado, 2002}). According to ^{Rogers and Svenning (1973)} development is a social change, introducing new ideas into a system, for higher per capita incomes and living standards by using modern production methods and better social organization.

The rural communities have fostered collective life, creating bonds of solidarity and cooperation based on good relations and regulation of the internal order among the members of the community, called in the Andean societies Sumac Kausay (Kichua) or suma qamaña (Aymara) (good living) (^{The Universe, 2008}). While capitalism has fostered individualism, competition and economic maximization (^{Stavenhagen, 1976}). An essential part of a society are traditional foods, according to ^{D’antuono (2016)}, its knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation, forming part of the collective memory and population heritage.

Food security and sovereignty defined as “the right of peoples to nutritious and culturally adequate, accessible, sustainably and ecological produced food and their right to decide their own food and production system” according to the Nyéléni Declaration (2007), it has been consistently violated by international policies that encourage dietary uniformity.

In Mexico, indigenous and peasant resistance achieved recognition and survival of customs and habits, whose symbolic or ritual practices are accepted by inculcating certain values or behavior norms, by implying a continuity of the past (^{Canedo, 2007}). Traditional practices are developed in a central territory of culture and from this they reproduce their institutions, their forms of solidarity, their norms and behavior rules (^{Beller and Carrasco, 1997}). The customs, uses or social conventions deal with a set of rules. These social norms are shown in the form of a custom or tradition (^{Echánove, 1976}).

In this sense, cultural heritage is not limited to the legacy already built, but extends to the diversity of expressions and manifestations of the peoples of the world, being the own cultural bearers who represent it (^{Machuca, 2010}). Globalization represents a new phase of the international division of labor, where the interests of large capitalists try to integrate the entire Latin American region in a subordinate way in order to appropriate their natural resources and influence the material and cultural disarticulation of forms of coexistence (^{Grajales et al., 2006}). As a result of the expansion of this paradigm, nine million Latin Americans went through poverty and the economic dependence of Mexico and Central America towards the United States and Europe increased (^{CEPAL, 2010}).

In Mexico, according to ^{CONEVAL (2009)}, of the national total of 19.5 million food poor 12.2 resided in rural areas. Traditional agricultural practices also change. In the use of biodiversity, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (^{FAO, 2004}), only four species (wheat, maize, rice and potato) provide half the energy from plants and 14 animal species supply 90% of the food of animal origin, these facts show profound changes in world agriculture. Álvarez (2004) emphasizes that when a biological resource is lost, the knowledge associated with it is also lost, which causes abandonment and loss of socio-technical practices of production, transformation, collection, conservation and consumption of food species. That is culture is violated.

As for rural work, ^{Martínez (2004)} points out that traditional practices of cooperative work in peasant and indigenous communities have been altered by national policies and the expansion of capitalism. In Ecuador the new economic conditions in peasant communities have eroded reciprocal relations and even the crisis of basic institutions of the Andean rural world, such as minga. In relation to barter, although in ancestral societies in Mesoamerica and the Andean Region it played a predominant role in commercial activities, to date its practice has been progressively abandoned (^{Muldoon and Servitje, 1984}).

According to ^{Shanin (1974)} it would be explained by the establishment of money and the universalization of monetary relations and the advance of market exchange. In this context, the objective was to analyze the main sociotechnical practices associated with food security and sovereignty, at a time when the processes associated with the expansion of modernism and globalization put at risk the peasant and indigenous societies and their local organizations and institutions, so it is in the interest of identifying alternatives to strengthen its viability and functioning.

Materials and methods

The study region is located in the Mixteca region, in the District of Tlaxiaco comprising 35 municipalities and is located between altitudes varying from 1 820 to 2 850 m. It has an area of 2 710.89 km2 (Figure 1). According to the degree of municipal marginalization, 9 municipalities are in very high marginalization, 23 in high marginalization and 3 in medium marginalization (^{CONEVAL, 2005}).

Figure 1 Location of the municipalities and study communities in the Tlaxiaco District (INEGI, 2002). 

The main agricultural crops at the district level are: maize 77.7%, coffee 8.8%, bean 8.7%, wheat 4%, alfalfa 0.1%, pea 0.2%, green tomato, oats and peach 0.1% out of a total of 79 878 ha ^{INEGI 2008}). The 88.5% of maize crop is of rainfed and 14.5% of irrigation. In relation to trade, there are 126 DICONSA stores, 1 tianguis and 9 markets.

Based on the degree of marginalization and food poverty (^{CONEVAL, 2005}) and sufficiency of basic grains calculated by dividing municipal production among the number of inhabitants, 3 municipalities were identified and 3 communities within them. From a total of 216 peasant households (UDC) identified in the three communities, a sample of 68 was randomly selected, of which: 21 in La Candelaria, 25 in El Imperio and 22 in Santa Catarina Tayata. Surveys were applied between July and December 2011, in home visits. Traditional organizations-ancestral institutions-were analyzed based on cooperative work, food loaning, and barter through the survey, field observation and key testimony.

The communal use of resources was valued with the existing regulations (statutes), its application and utility with testimonies of authorities in use of local foods and the socio-technical practices in traditional agriculture. The number of cultivated species, type of crop, seed origin and type of traction were recorded. Harvesting of wild plants was evaluated by seasonality estimated by peasants in weeks and months; the amount collected was estimated in kilograms according to the local measures of bundles or boats, with data of the interviewees, as well as their alimentary use.

Results and discussion

The cooperative work has different denominations, according to the frequency of the work, the form of payment and its purpose, in the UDC gueza and tequio were observed as the more generalized practices. The rural social structure has allowed the good use of the regional and local space, the celebration of festivities, the provision of community services and the construction of social infrastructure. Concomitantly, a complex food system has been developed over time, it has been recreated with new species that until these days in indigenous areas continue to be the basis of the current diet ^{Mcclung et al. (2014)}. Considering that the production and access to food occurred through certain practices of ancestral origin that included cooperative work, food loans, barter, traditional agriculture and plant collection.

Gueza through work. On average, in the communities studied 90% of the respondents mentioned having participated in group agricultural work (gueza-trabajo). In Tayata the gueza is practiced in the harvests of maize and beans that take place between December and January, “we gather between 15 and 20 people and we go to somebody’s plot; te next day to another one, but the twenty of us have to go to all the guezas, helping us. Guezas are not paid for, all that is given is food and the person receiving the help is obliged to go to help the other”.

In La Candelaria, 100% of peasants stated that they had participated in this form of work to carry out sowing, cleaning, harvesting of beans and maize and for the construction of houses. In El Imperio 84% mentioned having gone to the gueza for similar jobs. This form of group work, practiced fromo yesteryear by peasant communities, facilitates work when family availability is not sufficient for specific needs, for example “this is often done through the help of neighbors or an institutionalized part, where the help of a large group is obtained while the beneficiary family provides food and drink” (^{Shanin, 1974}).

Despite economic adjustment measures and deregulation and privatization policies implemented in the rural sector in the last decades, these productive practices continue to exist in rural communities in Latin America. For example, in the Andean region remain in force the presta-manos and the minka, for the purposes of family activities or community benefit (^{Encalada et al., 1999}).

According to the field information, 90% of peasants in the communities studied go to the gueza for jobs, which indicates the importance of the practice today. The reasons according to ^{Marroqui (1957)}, apparently remain the same: a) gueza allows to replace the lack of manpower or its deficiency; and provides an opportunity for social exchange; the peasant has complete faith in associative work, knowing that the collaborators are interested in having the work done well, because they are waiting for the same work in their plots. Some terms used in Mesoamerica, such as guelagueza (zapoteco), gueza (Mixteco), mano y vuelta (mazateca), Jarhoajpikua (p'urhepecha) are synonyms. Like tequio and faena. While in the Andean practices, the terms minka (quichua), ayni (aymara), trabajo comunal (Spanish) have the same meaning.

Gueza for food loan. In municipalities the event observed was the San Pedro Molinos patron fest, where authorities of the municipality of San Pablo Tijaltepec attended, who previously agreed on soft drinks, beers, flowers and fireworks. On the day of the party they made the entrance to the town with the products mentioned, accompanied by a band of musicians and their wives, who wore colorful traditional costumes. In the municipal presidency they were received by the authorities, where in a solemn act they expressed feelings of solidarity and brotherhood, ratifying the commitments to continue with this tradition, reciprocally, year after year preserving what had been taught by their grandparents. After the formal act, the host authorities invited the visiting delegation to participate in the food and social activities.

Among neighboring agencies, this type of gueza was observed in the Community of Fortín Suárez of the municipality San Pablo Tijaltepec. The procedure is similar to the action at the municipal level. The space of expression of the gueza was the patron saint of the community. The authorities of neighboring agencies arrived with their delegation, carrying with them food products (tortillas and chickens), flowers, fireworks and musicians who played guitar, violin and others. Once the gueza was received, the authorities of the community invited to the food and to participate in the social events. It was observed that the women of the community provided tortillas and prepared the communitarian food, such as: chicken, maize mole, beans with vegetables and drink (beer and soft drinks).

Among families, the practice of food gueza reported in the three communities studied is similar. The loans are made at family parties, such as baptisms, marriages, others. It was observed that the woman is the one in charge of the agreements in which the quantity and the type of food are defined, which is commonly tortilla de maíz. As for the return time, there is no preset date. When consulting on how they keep track of the number of tortillas and who to return, they indicated that they usually carry a written record. It was also mentioned that if a family wants to give more than what they received they can do it, as a donation.

Food exchange is also present in changes of authority, where both outgoing and incoming authorities offer food. In the change of authorities of San Pablo Tijaltepec municipality, it was observed that while the men staged in the formal act, the wives of the authorities participated in the preparation and exchange of food. The food maize corn tamales and tortillas. The practice of food exchange and its social use indicates the relationship of food with syncretist cults, which are the social place of collective self-representation, where indigenous peoples and peasants articulate and recognize.

From the economic point of view, the food lending system is a logical and rational model. For example, if a peasant woman agrees to lend 50 maize tortillas, because the petitioner has a party and is in need of sufficient food, the person who received the commitment returns an equal number of tortillas. In this case, a loan without interest has materialized; by logic the provider will only demand the 50 tortillas lent. This system is totally opposed to the capitalist system, in which money demands high interest rates that impoverishes some and enriches others. ^{Hatem (2009)}, this system, based on the word, allows the peasant to get food without using money, in cases of necessity.

Bartering. Defined as the action and the effect of exchange, to permute one thing for another, is one of the practices developed by peasant communities from time immemorial, in the market spaces, called “tianguis” in Mexico; in which non -economic functions, such as centers of inter-communal contact, information, social life and recreation, are performed ^{Shanin (1974)}. In Chalcatongo municipality the regional tianguis takes place on Thursday of every week, since early in the morning, the merchants are located in the streets and squares. While the peasants, with their local products, are located in the central square.

The products exchanged are vegetables, fruits, aromatic species, prepared meals, tortillas, others. Farmers display their products in bundles or portions, as for formal sale and give a value to them, based on the seasonal price. The price is agreed upon dialogue between seller and buyer. For example, a peasant and his wife offered bundles of ocote, whose value they had set at 10 pesos and when exchanged they received the equivalent of this amount in vegetables.

Informant 1 indicated that they go to barter due to the lack of cash. According to the informant 2, the exchange modalities are several the most frequent are: apples for tortillas, tortillas for vegetables or for fruits. The maize tortilla seems to be the most used product for the exchange. In other markets of the region studied were also found testimonies of foodstuffs exchange. When the peasant goes out to the market, the sold quantity of the product allows them to get some cash and the part that does not get sold is used to exchange it for other foods.When sales are not very good and it is late, people from the communities are observed, bartering, “they are exchanging”. For the peasants, the barter practice goes beyond the market space, according to Informant 3, the exchange takes place in the communities, “I do not have quelites, you give me quelites, I give you nopales, or epazote, spearmint, of oregano, because what one does not have, the other has it”. This expression reaffirms that the exchange of food is also practiced within the communities of the region.

According to the interviews, of the analyzed UDCs that showed maize deficits: 74.3% bought it, 11% borrowed from stores, 14.7% exchanged it. In beans, 70% bought it, 5% borrowed it from stores, 5% borrowed and 20% exchanged. Exchange is the same as barter. These data confirm the validity of this practice. It seems that the limitations of cash force the peasants to maintain this form of commerce. Informant 2 of Chalcatongo municipality estimates that according to the season around 200 and 500 people participante in this type of trade.

Faced with permanent capitalist abasement, peasant and indigenous communities in Latin America have turned their eyes on barter as part of their struggle against international trade agreements such as the FTA, while strengthening their culture and consolidating sovereignty and autonomy, such as the Cauca Indians in Colombia (^{Tocancipa, 2008}).

Traditional practices in agriculture. The activities of the agricultural cycle begin with the preparation of the soil, which is done in April and May. In Santa Catarina Tayata community, the use of a tractor for soil preparation and planting is frequent, while maize cleaning is done by hand or with animal traction. In San Pablo Tijaltepec, in La Candelaria the most traditional community, 99% of UDC uses yunta in soil preparation; the sowing and the cleaning are done manually and sometimes with yunta. In El Imperio, the preparation of the soil is done with both yunta and tractor. The sowing and crossbreeding are manual or with yunta.

As to the seeds origin, 100% of the UDC used native seeds or “criollas” that they conserve or exchange of maize and beans, as well as wheat, peas, broad beans, chilacayote and zucchini.

Cultured and permitted or arable species totaled 35. Among the main for food, eight were recorded: maize (Zea mays L.), bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), string beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), chilacayote (Cucurbita ficifolia), pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.), broan bean (Vicia faba L.), peas (Pisum sativum) and wheat (Triticum sativum Lam.). The average diversity of basic grains in the UDC surveyed was four to six species. In La Candelaria they cultivated from four to eight species, in El Imperio from three to six species and in Tayata from two to five species.

As for the use of fruit species, this varies between 1 and 11, with an average of 5.4; in relation to the breeding of domestic animals by the UDC, it was found that they breed from one to seven species, with an average of 3.6. In the maize (main patrimonial culture) the white, yellow, blue and red varieties were identified. This is also the preferred crop to associate with other species and configure various types of traditional production systems such as milpa (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Location of the municipalities and study communities in the Tlaxiaco District (INEGI, 2002). 

Associated with maize crops, the varieties of early, red and black bean were found, whereas in monoculture the small bean was found, whose grain is black. Among other species pumpkin, chilacayote, bean and pea are preferred to associate with maize.

The percentage of UDCs that grew species and domesticated animals is shown (Figure 3). Most cultivated seven food species, which reaffirms the permanence of peasant agriculture, which uses biodiversity as a local food strategy. The presence of chickens and pigs in most of the UDCs shows the existence of the backyard system. Equine and beef cattle are also used as tractive force for field work.

Figure 3 Main agricultural species that are part of the UDC. 

Of the UDCs, 72% indicated that they did not use herbicides in the milpa, which shows the predominance of agricultural systems with traditional techniques, where numerous species are used to feed the animals and others in a food supplement strategy. Peasant agriculture indicates that it has not disappeared as predicted by the orthodox theories, which considered it as an obstacle for the expansion of capitalism Amin and Vergopoulos (1977).

It is recorded how this agriculture contributes with food to the rural population, gets rural labor and is a market for agricultural inputs. According to ^{Bvenura and Afolayan (2015)}, the abandonment of the use of biodiversity in food is causing malnutrition problems in children, because the less diverse the food diet the less diversity of nutrients it has.

Collection of wild plants. In the communities studied, peasants collected at least 20 species of wild species (plants and fungi), each year for food. The species found are: Arthrostemma ciliatum Pav. ex D. (xocoyoli); Porophyllum macrocephalum DC. (papaloquelite); Porophyllum tagetoides (Kunth) DC. (pepicha); Crotalaria longirostrata Hook. & Arn. (chapile); Amaranthus hybridus L. (Quintonil); Agave sp. (Maguey); Nasturtium officinale W. T. Aiton (cress); Leucaena esculenta (Moc. & Sesse ex DC.) Benth (huajes); Nasturtium officinale W. T. Aiton (cress); Portulaca oleracea L. (purslane); Brassica sp. (mostaza). Of edible fungi the traditional names are: de llano; de trapo; de Jina; cachito de venado; pata de gallo; de pajarito; and hongo tripa de pollo.

The average of collectors farmers was: in Tayata 61%, in La Candelaria 33% and in El Imperio 49%. According to ^{Bye and Linares (2000)} back in the day in La conquista were collected between 84 and 150 species and in 2000 only 15 species, and a third of them are introduced. Figure 4 shows the harvesters percentage of wild and arable species in the UDC studied. It emphasizes the consumption of quelites, the jina fungus and quintoniles the species of greater consumption in the studied towns. Nutritional The high percentage of collectors and the number of species suggests that harvesting is an important generalized practice and part of the local food system, which contributes to peasant food, especially in micronutrients.

Figure 4 UDC collecting wild species for food consumption. 

About this ^{Fungo et al. (2016)} in a study in Camerun found that wild plants provide large amounts of nutrients such as Baillonella toxisperma (98%) and Irvingia gabonensis (81%) were the most well-known food rich nutrients in the forests. While ^{Khojimatov et al. (2015)} reports 39 wild species of are used as food.

Temporality. Harvesting of arable and wild species depends on the presence of rainfall. The preparation of soil for sowing and cultural work encourages the development of the arables. Figure 5 shows the collection periods which are most frequent during the presence of rainfall, which occur from mid-May to September. At the community level, the estimated average by UDC was in La Candelaria, 47.1 kg, in El Imperio 91 kg, and in Tayata, 110.4 kg. The differences between the quantities collected are explained by the variation in its availability, which depends on the ecological conditions of each territory.

Figure 5 Estimation of harvest time of wild species. Elaboration based on interviews. 

^{Gonzáles (2008)} found that in the Tlaxcala milpas the peasants collect 18 food species, also notes that although the knowledge of its use is transmitted orally to children, it tends to be lost due to cultural, educational and nutritional changes of families, influenced by the environment. The species have varied uses indishes.

Among the maguey products it observed the use of the flowers called cacayas, in the feeding. On average, 42% reported using pulque as a drink: in Candelaria 15%; in El Imperio, 72%, and in Tayata, 40%. From pulque, tepache is also made specially to offer as an alcoholic drink at parties, and ticunchi, a candy made of papalome maguey, cooked with sicolluli plant, a form of traditional food, some farmers said it is disappearing.

On the other hand, 10.28% of the UDC indicated that they had collected species to sell. The most collected species were quelites, mustard and fungi. Fungi are sold at 10 pesos or more per kilogram. According to ^{Urso et al. (2016)} in a study in Angola highlights that among the plants used by the population there were found some with food and medicinal properties, which are part of the food strategy of communities in extreme poverty

Conclusions

Traditional socio-technical practices associated with food security are present in the region and in the towns studied, despite the expansion of modernizing and globalizing currents. These practices are: the cooperative work carried out by a high percentage of UDC (90%), it allows to supply the lack of labor, to count on labor without payment in cash and are also spaces of social exchange; food loans, are a mechanism for obtaining food in times of need and strengthen ties of solidarity; barter, facilitates access to food without using money. Traditional agriculture and the collection of wild plants contribute food to the population, which diversify the peasant diet, with various satisfactors.

The validity of generalized socio-technical practices strengthen food security and sovereignty, with which communities exercise their right to produce and obtain nutritious and culturally adequate food obtained from their farming systems, which are self-managed with reduced use of synthetic inputs, with a reduced ecological impact on agroecosystems and food. The traditional organizational and sociotechnical practices existing in peasant communities are manifested as a bulwark for development; for which they emerge as useful for reproduction and survival of peasant society.

The promotion and operation of a Instituto Nacional de Cultivos Tradicionales y Prácticas Sociotécnicas is envisaged as a necessity for the promotion, conservation and patrimonial development of the peasant and indigenous agriculture, existing in most of the UDC of the country.