Diversity of traditional vegetables in Wa homegardens
A total of 91 vegetable varieties were recorded from the six villages, 55 traditional vegetable varieties, belonging to 11 families and 25 genera, were recorded in the homegardens (Table 3). Out of the total traditional vegetable varieties, the largest number of traditional vegetables belonged to Cucurbitaceae (10 varieties, 18.18%), Solanaceae (10 varieties, 18.18%), Brassicaceae (7 varieties, 12.73%), and Liliaceae (7 varieties, 12.73%) (Fig. 2). And other 36 introduced vegetables were investigated in the study area. Among all the villages, 23 ± 6 (average ± S.D.) traditional vegetable varieties per homegarden and 9 ± 3 (average ± S.D.) introduced vegetable varieties per homegarden were analyzed. Villages from Dazhai, Xiaozhai, Banjing, Yangluo, Heling, and Papai cultivated more in traditional vegetables than in introduced vegetables (Fig. 3).
The RFC value calculated in this study ranged from 0.02 to 1. For each traditional vegetable variety, the higher the RFC value, the more frequently it was planted by local Wa villagers in the homegardens, and the more important and valuable it was in the Wa community. The most frequent vegetable varieties encountered in the homegardens were Allium fistulosum, Allium tuberosum, Amaranthus paniculatus, Brassica chinensis, Capsicum frutescens, Nepeta cataria, and Sechium edule. These 7 traditional vegetables cultivated by 100% of the households are essential plants in homegardens for edible use. For example, Amaranthus paniculatus has been widely planted in Wa homegardens owing to the feature of drought resistance, tolerance to barren soil, high yield, and no plant diseases or insect pests. Allium fistulosum, Nepeta cataria, Allium tuberosum, and Capsicum frutescens are used as spices in traditional food, which reflected that Wa households are selecting and planting local spicy vegetables, to be used as a seasoning, in the homegardens.
Table 3
Traditional vegetables and their uses in Wa homegardens
Scientific name
|
Local name
|
Wa name
|
Family
|
Edible parts
|
Edible methods
|
RFC
|
Allium chinense
|
Jiao tou藠头
|
Gong de mo
|
Liliaceae
|
Bulb
|
Spice
|
0.38
|
Allium fistulosum
|
Pake da cong 帕科大葱
|
De mo
|
Liliaceae
|
Whole plant
|
Spice
|
0.12
|
Allium fistulosum
|
Xiao xiang cong小香葱
|
De mo a mu
|
Liliaceae
|
Whole plant
|
Spice
|
1.00
|
Allium sativum
|
Bai pi suan白皮蒜
|
De ha
|
Liliaceae
|
Bulb
|
Spice
|
0.53
|
Allium sativum
|
Yongguang da suan 永广大蒜
|
Gong de ha din
|
Liliaceae
|
Bulb
|
Spice
|
0.05
|
Allivm hookeri
|
Pie cai苤菜
|
De ga
|
Liliaceae
|
Root, flower
|
Spice
|
0.62
|
Allivm tuberosum
|
Xi ye jiu cai细叶韭菜
|
De ga bie te
|
Liliaceae
|
Leaf
|
Fry
|
1.00
|
Amaranthus paniculatus
|
Yi mi cai薏米菜
|
|
Amaranthaceae
|
Tender leaf and stalk
|
Fry, Boil
|
1.00
|
Benincasa hispida
|
Lao mian dong gua 老缅冬瓜
|
Bie lan
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Fruit
|
Fry
|
0.48
|
Benincasa hispida
|
Yuesong dong gua 岳宋冬瓜
|
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Fruit
|
Fry
|
0.40
|
Brassica chinensis
|
Zi qing cai 紫青菜
|
|
Brassicaceae
|
Leaf, stalk
|
Fry, Boil
|
1.00
|
Brassica chinensis
|
Da qing cai 大青菜
|
Di ke lao te
|
Brassicaceae
|
Leaf, stalk
|
Fry, Boil, Pickling
|
0.48
|
Brassica chinensis
|
Wa qing cai 佤族青菜
|
|
Brassicaceae
|
Leaf, stalk
|
Pickling
|
0.90
|
Brassica chinensis
|
Yuan qing cai 圆青菜
|
Di ke lao
|
Brassicaceae
|
Leaf
|
Pickling
|
0.82
|
Brassica pekinensis
|
Pake bai cai 帕科白菜
|
Di ke lao ben
|
Brassicaceae
|
Leaf, stalk
|
Fry, Boil
|
0.47
|
Brassica pekinensis
|
Nangui bai cai 南归白菜
|
|
Brassicaceae
|
Leaf, stalk
|
Fry, Boil
|
0.28
|
Capsicum annuum
|
Chao tian jiao 朝天椒
|
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Spice
|
0.63
|
Capsicum annuum
|
Xiaozhai la 小寨辣椒
|
Meng ke meng xiao
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Spice
|
0.22
|
Capsicum annuum
|
Talang la jiao 他朗辣椒
|
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Spice
|
0.02
|
Capsicum frutescens
|
Xiao mi la 小米辣
|
Meng he bie te
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Spice
|
1.00
|
Capsicum frutescens
|
Bai pi xiao mi la 白皮小米辣
|
Meng he beng
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Spice
|
0.77
|
Capsicum frutescens
|
Lao shu la jiao 老鼠辣椒
|
Meng he bing
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Spice
|
0.02
|
Capsicum frutescens cv. Shuanlaense
|
Shuan shuan la 涮涮辣
|
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Spice
|
0.02
|
Colocasia esculenta
|
Zi yu 紫芋
|
Gi ao
|
Araceae
|
Corm
|
Fry, Soup
|
0.05
|
Colocasia esculenta
|
Banshuai yu tou 班帅芋头
|
|
Araceae
|
Corm
|
Fry
|
0.38
|
Colocasia esculenta
|
Di shui yu 滴水芋*
|
|
Araceae
|
Leaf, stalk
|
Soup, Spice
|
0.90
|
Colocasia esculenta
|
Naka da ma yu 那卡大麻芋
|
|
Araceae
|
Corm
|
Soup
|
0.02
|
Coriandrum sativum
|
Xi ye yan sui 细叶芫荽
|
De gei
|
Apiaceae
|
Tender leaf and stalk
|
Boil, Salad, Spice
|
0.85
|
Cucumis sativus
|
Di huang gua 地黄瓜
|
Gai
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Fruit
|
Salad
|
0.95
|
Cucurbita moschata
|
Jin gua 金瓜
|
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Fruit, tender leaf, flower
|
Fry
|
0.28
|
Cucurbita moschata
|
Lao mian nan gua 老缅南瓜
|
Bei
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Fruit, tender leaf, flower
|
Fry
|
0.22
|
Cucurbita moschata
|
Xiao nan gua 小南瓜
|
Bei
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Fruit, tender leaf, flower
|
Fry
|
0.55
|
Dioscorea batatas
|
Zi shan yao 紫山药
|
|
Dioscoreaceae
|
Tuber
|
Boil
|
0.03
|
Dioscorea batatas
|
Shan yao 山药
|
Hao ang
|
Dioscoreaceae
|
Tuber
|
Boil
|
0.65
|
Dioscorea batatas
|
Xi shan yao 细山药
|
|
Dioscoreaceae
|
Tuber
|
Boil
|
0.32
|
Foeniculum vulgare
|
Hui xiang 茴香
|
Di gei lao
|
Apiaceae
|
Whole plant
|
Spice
|
0.03
|
Lagenaria siceraria
|
Hu lu 葫芦
|
Ci nie
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Tender leaf
|
Fry
|
0.07
|
Luffa cylindrica
|
Si gua 丝瓜
|
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Tender fruit
|
Fry
|
0.27
|
Lycopersicon esculentum
|
Xiao fan qie 小番茄
|
Meng ge li xia
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Salad
|
0.35
|
Eryngium foetidum
|
A Wa yan sui 阿佤芫荽*
|
De gi ga pu
|
Apiaceae
|
Whole plant, tender leaf and stem
|
Spice
|
0.30
|
Mentha haplocalyx
|
Bo he 薄荷*
|
De ba ha
|
Lamiaceae
|
Tender stem tip, leaf
|
Spice, Fry
|
0.45
|
Momordica charantia
|
Menge ku gua 勐阿苦瓜
|
Dong dai
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Fruit
|
Fry, Salad
|
0.02
|
Nepeta cataria
|
Jing jie 荆芥
|
|
Lamiaceae
|
Tender leaf
|
Spice
|
1.00
|
Pachyrhizus erosus
|
Hong shu 红薯
|
Ha na yang
|
Leguminosae
|
Bulb
|
Fry
|
0.05
|
Perilla frutescens
|
Bai su 白苏
|
|
Lamiaceae
|
Leaf, stalk
|
Spice
|
0.02
|
Perilla frutescens
|
Hei su 黑苏
|
|
Lamiaceae
|
Leaf, stalk
|
Spice, Salad
|
0.02
|
Pisum sativum
|
Lao zhai wan dou 老寨豌豆
|
De dou
|
Leguminosae
|
Seed
|
Fry
|
0.23
|
Pisum sativum
|
Wangya wan dou 王雅豌豆
|
|
Leguminosae
|
Seed
|
Fry
|
0.20
|
Pisum sativum
|
Hong wan dou 红豌豆
|
|
Leguminosae
|
Seed
|
Fry
|
0.17
|
Raphanus sativus
|
Bai luo bo 白萝卜
|
Meng bie te
|
Brassicaceae
|
Root, leaf
|
Pickling
|
0.03
|
Sechium edule
|
Fo shou gua 佛手瓜
|
|
Cucurbitaceae
|
Tender stem tip, flower, fruit
|
Fry
|
1.00
|
Solanum melongena
|
Bai qie 白茄
|
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Fry
|
0.23
|
Solanum melongena
|
Zi qie 紫茄
|
|
Solanaceae
|
Fruit
|
Fry
|
0.67
|
Vigna unguiculata
|
Dou jiao 豆角
|
Bai
|
Leguminosae
|
Tender pod
|
Fry
|
0.55
|
Zingiber officinale
|
Huang jiang 黄姜
|
Si gei
|
Zingiberaceae
|
Root stock
|
Spice
|
0.90
|
* cultivated and wild species |
The edible methods for traditional vegetables are various, including fry, boil, salad, or spicy seasoning. Those traditional edible methods objectively require Wa gardeners to grow more vegetables to meet daily dietary needs. Among all the recorded 55 traditional vegetable cultivars, the edible plant parts of traditional vegetables were divided into nine categories: fruit, leaf, stalk, bulb, flower, seed, root, whole plant, and pod (Table 4). Fruits (20 species, 28.17%), mainly in the Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae families, are the most commonly used plant parts for nutrition. For 19 species (26.76%), the tender leaf is the part for edible usage by Wa people. Households used tender leaves of traditional vegetables in multiple cooking methods, such as seasoning, frying, boiling, and salad. For five species (7.04%) of 55 cultivars, traditional food needs to use the flower as edible parts. This phenomenon showed that the anthophagy (flower-eating) culture is rich and diverse among Wa villagers.
Table 4
Numbers of species per edible plant part
Edible parts
|
Number of species
|
Percentage
|
Fruit
|
20
|
28.17%
|
Leaf
|
19
|
26.76%
|
Stalk
|
10
|
14.08%
|
Bulb
|
7
|
9.86%
|
Flower
|
5
|
7.04%
|
Seed
|
3
|
4.23%
|
Root
|
3
|
4.23%
|
Whole plant
|
3
|
4.23%
|
Pod
|
1
|
1.41%
|
Traditional vegetables planted in homegardens were used mostly for self-consumption and fulfilling the owners’ needs. The number of households who cultivated vegetables in homegardens for self-consumption was relatively high (Fig. 4). Thirty-three out of 60 households which accounted for 55% of households use 80%-100% of their vegetables. 13% of households have achieved self-sufficiency in the proportion of 50%-80% of their cultivated vegetables in the homegardens. 15% of households are self-sufficient in percentages of 20%-50% of cultivated vegetables in the homegardens. Only 17% of 10 households use 0–20% of their cultivated vegetables in the homegardens. Vegetables planted in homegardens were used mostly for self-consumption and to fulfill the needs of the owners. Traditional vegetables are primarily used for the household's diet but are increasingly being used to generate cash income for several families. According to the interviewees, sometimes the surplus from the consumption would be sold to increase supplementary income for the families.
Seed sourcing and management
The storage and protection of seeds are an essential part of the traditional knowledge related to crops. Traditional seeding and breeding methods can promote the protection and inheritance of local vegetable germplasm resources. Among all the traditional vegetable seeds sources, about 78% of the total 60 household depend on maintaining and storing the local seeds themselves, with a further 9% of households’ seed supplies coming from neighbors and relatives. 13% of households choose to purchase local seeds in the traditional markets (Fig. 5). According to the interviews, households in Wa villages primarily use local storage methods to conserve the seeds of traditional vegetables planted in their homegardens the next year. Local seed storage practices are simple. The seeds will be hung above the fireplace where households cook the meals every day. The purpose of this action is to keep the seeds directly in a dry and ventilated place to prevent mildew and to prevent predation from insects. The selection of crop seeds for saving is based on colour, food quality, resistance to environmental stress, yield, and so on. Because of the simple breeding and selection methods of seeds, traditional vegetable landraces such as melons, beans, and peppers, which are easily harvested, are better preserved.
Seed exchange system occur within the villages and seeds are also exchanged outside Wa communities. When a household plants vegetable that have excellent characters such as color, quality or resistance to insects, neighbors, and relatives can ask for an exchange with their local crop seeds. In this way, local people have a positive, regular and reciprocal exchange seed system in the local areas. Excellent local vegetable landraces are selected from generation to generation, which is conducive to the preservation and development of traditional vegetables. The exchange between villages and towns occurs through traditional markets—farmers sell local traditional vegetable seeds in traditional markets. About 13% of households purchase local seeds in the traditional markets. Some farmers sell local traditional vegetable seeds, which are selected with better quality and set the price themselves. Like many of the local communities, seed exchange is not the main mechanism for seed acquisition in the Wa communities, with most seeds coming from each households’ own storage systems. In that context, it is not surprising that, although active, the traditional seed exchange methods are fragmented and decentralized.
The exchange between villages and towns occurs through traditional markets—farmers sell local traditional vegetable seeds in traditional markets held for a long time. However, while the local family’s economic conditions gradually improved, seed management for traditional vegetables has been under threat of loss. Local farmers started to stop preserving traditional seeds and choose to go to the seed stores to buy modern hybrid seeds. Unlike in the villages’ traditional market, seed stores in the agriculture market now only provide modern hybrid-seeds for farmers. One of the seed dealers said: “Farmers now prefer to buy modern seed because of the high production when they have enough money.” (Interview, 16th December 2015). This development will increase the homogeneity of vegetables planted in homegardens, consisting primarily of modern hybrid varieties of vegetables in the future. Meanwhile, from interviews we gathered that approximately 80% of the modern hybrid varieties of vegetable seeds could not be retained and sown. Farmers continuously have to buy new varieties of vegetable seeds frequently every year. This cycle’s consequence is that local farmers lose the traditions of seed selection and breeding of vegetables in their homegardens unconsciously without realizing it.
Gender relation for homegardens management
In the study areas, 83 % of families were female household heads who have the right to make decisions about what kinds of vegetables will be planted in the homegardens. Male household heads account for 10% responsible for decision-making, and a small percentage which is 2% is determined by the elderly. 5% families will make decisions jointly between both male and female household heads. When it comes to seed selection and breeding, female households take more responsibility (88%). Male household heads account for only 10% of those responsible for the management of the gardens, less that for making decisions (8%). (Fig. 6). The proportion of male household heads involved in garden management and with responsibility for distribution of vegetable varieties, and for preservation and cultivation, is smaller than the female household head.
Factors influence traditional vegetables and relevant traditional knowledge in the homegardens
The participants addressed five main factors for continued cultivation and selection of traditional vegetables in the homegardens: good taste (73.33%), honoring their ancestors through maintaining their traditions (46.67%), low cost (16.67%), low planting requirements (10.00%), and cultural festivals (1.67%) (Fig. 7).
Good taste is the fundamental reason for Wa villagers to keep planting traditional vegetables and preserving traditional knowledge in homegarden management. In Wa villages’ view, traditional vegetables commonly have a more robust flavor than the modern hybrid ones, which is the main reason for traditional vegetables being used in their daily meals. Besides, Wa farmers believed that many traditional vegetable varieties have adapted to local soil and climatic conditions over these millennia of cultivation and have superior traits or good palatability.
Nearly half of the respondents believed that keeping planting traditional vegetables is critical to honor and respect their ancestors. Wa people have ancestor-worship consciousness; they value the traditional vegetable varieties germplasm as wealthy cultivated through generations and generations back to their ancestors.
16.67% and 10.00% Wa villagers, respectively, choose low planting costs and requirements because they will not give up planting traditional vegetables in the homegardens. For example, Allium fistulosum has a strong pungent spicy taste and a high resistance to disease and is easily cultivated. These features help Wa villagers save the workforce and financial resources for managing their vegetable gardens. Local people also prefer to grow traditional varieties using their seed and without fertilizers in their homegardens. Even though the modern hybrid vegetables can bring higher production, in the meantime they would have to continuously spend more money for vegetable seeds and fertilizer on the market. Resource input and outcomes are not proportional in such small systems; one of the farmers said:
“The traditional vegetables are easier to manage in homegardens, we don’t need to spend too much time on pest control and fertilization with traditional vegetables, but as for modern vegetable varieties, they are easily threatened by pests and diseases, and we need to spend time spraying pesticides and applying chemical fertilizers to achieve high yields. It’s not always worth the effort.” (Interview, 3rd August 2015)
1.67% of the respondents mentioned that culture and festivals make traditional vegetables vital in Wa custom. Although these traditional vegetables only account for a small proportion, each has its unique characteristics and should not be ignored. For instance, Wa people have the custom of eating Brassica chinensis as a traditional dish during the New Year to bless the whole family for the coming year. Colocasia esculenta (Di shui yu) and Eryngium foetidum (A Wa yan sui) are the essential seasonings due to a particular taste for traditional Wa dish “chicken rice porridge” which is a cultural custom for Wa families to host guest and celebrate festivals.