Geraldine Moreno-Black
Prapimporn Somnasang
Sompong Thamthawan
The tradition of using and maintaining non-domesticated plants in house gardens is an expression
of culture, and represents an intense interaction between humans and plants. The preservation of botanical
diversity is directly related to local knowledge and practices, and closely bound up with microeconomic and
social processes. Human beings play a role in maintaining select species, providing botanical refuges and
serving as an active force in shaping the landscape. In northeastern Thailand, women's gardening practices
have been instrumental in the preservation, selection, consumption and exchange of non-domesticated
plants.
The house garden is important as an informal 'experimental station' where women can transfer, encourage and tend indigenous species as they try them out and adapt them for use (Kimber, 1978; Ninez, 1987). As a result, these gardens often represent a refuge where less common species and varieties are preserved. During our study, we obtained information on women from 60 of the 110 households in a village, making use of interviews, focus groups and surveys of the different house gardens.
The house gardens studied contained 230 different plant species. Individual garden diversity ranged from 15 to 60 different species. Non-domesticated plants were found in 44 (88%) of the gardens; of all of the plants recorded during the surveys, 29% were classifiable as non-domesticated species. However, there was considerable variation between the individual gardens. Some contained no non-domesticated plants at all, while the garden which was most diverse contained 10 different non-domesticated plant species.
The considerable variation among the gardens studied is probably related to the high degree of control exercised by individual women with respect to plant choice and management. Home gardens are tailored to each woman's own preferences, although personal constraints such as off-farm employment, family size, household composition and local traditions are of influence on the number and variety of non-domesticated species. Most plants are used for food, although a number of women grow plants for their medicinal, religious or decorative value. Some of the non-domesticated species appeared spontaneously (gurt eng/birth themselves), but a sizable number of plants were taken from the wild or obtained from friends, neighbours, other villages or government agencies. A few of the plants had been deliberately spared when the forest was cleared for house-building by the parents or grandparents. Species which are no longer in frequent use, such as those used for soap or paper-making, still have a place in the garden.
In conclusion, the women in the village we studied select certain indigenous species to grow at home. Through their individual practices and preferences, and their control over the resource areas, these women increase the probability that these plants will be maintained over time. Rapid economic and population growth in the region are bringing about changes which drastically affect the forest areas. House gardens, a form of traditional agriculture, can provide a source of stability in the face of these changes.
Geraldine Moreno-Black
Department of Anthropology
University of Oregon
Eugene
Oregon 97403
USA
Prapimporn Somnasang
Department of Community Nutrition
Faculty of Medicine
Khon Kaen University
Khon Kaen
Thailand
Sompong Thamthawan
Department of Biology
Faculty of Sciences
Khon Kaen University
Khon Kaen
Thailand
References
Kimber, C. (1966) 'Dooryard gardens of Martinique', Pacific Coast Geographers
28:97-118.
Ninez, V. (1987) 'Household gardens: Theoretical and policy considerations', Agricultural Systems
23:167-186.