Future of indigenous agriculture: a challenge to us.

• Author: Diaz, Ana Ruiz
• Position: Bio-Repression

The contamination of heirloom varieties of corn in Mexico by genetically modified corn imported from the USA is a very serious matter for peasants. Small farmers depend on corn for their basic food supply. This contamination was discovered and published by Ignacio Chapela and David Quist in the Fall of 2001. Their findings were corroborated by at least three studies performed by the Mexican government. There will be other contaminations of this sort. Genetically modified may be found in potatoes and soybeans very soon.

Information on genetic modified organisms is very complex, and often not written in Spanish. In Mexico, we have studied and translated many articles and manuals written in Asia, Canada, Africa and the US. We need to listen and learn from other leaders about their food systems and development of biotech crops in their geographical regions.

As a result of my experience, training and research, I have developed a deep respect for peasant knowledge and accomplishments. Several people have help us to understand the importance of diversity in the food chain. Some such people are the Huicholes, Tzotziles and Mijes, Indians native to the craddle of corn in Jalisco, Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico. I wish to make other people aware of this ancient wisdom and to hope for a science that is as wise.

The keepers of corn: Who are Huicholes?

The Huicholes are Indians living in the hills of Jalisco, Nayarit and Colima. They are custodians of the candles of life; of the heart of corn. The Huichol people are but a few thousand Indians, threatened by alcoholism, bad health and greedy neighbors. This culture has the traditional role of keeping light and corn.

As with other living beings, corn has two relatives who are essential part of the family: a perenial and an annual wild corn, the teocintle. Seed banks all over the world treasure the value of these ancient living relatives of corn. These seeds have been bred for ten-thousand years and are known as heirloom varieties of white, yellow, red, spotted, and black corn. Huichol culture has a sacred trilogy, it is deer, peyote and corn. Huicholes discover early in their lives the interdependence of corn, deer and peyote. They learn by heart the rules to respect and to be cautious of the desert, the wild and the gift of growing corn.

GM agronomic practices are a significant threat to the genetic integrity of crops as precious as corn. Genetically modified plants are toxic insecticidal plants that damage...