Effect of Distance to Market on Size of Medicinal Plant Garden
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THE ROLE OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN RURAL PARAGUAYAN LIVELIHOODS BY NORMAN BREUER MORENO A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA Copyright 2000 by Norman Breuer Moreno ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would not have been possible without the collaboration of many people. I would like to acknowledge first and foremost all members of my impromptu research teams. These mothers, farmers, young women, and elderly persons of rural Paraguay took me into their homes and fieely shared their knowledge of medicinal plants, farming systems and many other aspects of their lives and livelihoods. Special thanks go to my "cornadre" Clemencia Escobar, who was more like a mother than a simple facilitator to me. Others whose names I cannot overlook were my informants at Aguaity, I Eusebio Ayala. These were Juan Velhquez and his niece Norma, and my "marketing expert," NClida Noguera de L6pez and Rey Morales. My invaluable informants and collaborators at Ru Pyahu also deserve special thanks. Among them were Doh Prudencia Escobar, and her husband Leonor, who shared their home and food with me as well as their knowledge and insight. Thanks to Erna Torres, Doiia Isabel Torres, Don Bkez and Don Karaito, all of whom were great enthusiasts in teaching me everything from how to make cane syrup and cure yerba mate, to the secrets of living a long and healthy life. No farmer was more hardworking than Eustaquio Otazo. Both he and his bright 16 year-old daughter Celia helped me translate local measures and figures into a comprehensible format. I am surely forgetting many of the wonderfbl people at Eusebio Ayala and Ru Pyah& and so, in order to make up for the inadequacy of my memory I acknowledge everyone who assisted me in every way with my research. I owe them all an enormous debt of gratitude. Many dedicated Paraguayan researchers have spent years studying different aspects of the things that make us Paraguayan. Many of them were very open and willing to share both their knowledge and insights on the matter I was researching. I thank Dr. ~icardbMoreno Azorero, of the Institute of Research in Health Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Asunci6n (UNA), Dr. Isabel Basualdo, of the Institute of Botany of the Department of Chemistry, UNA, Dr. Elisa Ferreira, of the Human Ecology career of the School of Agrarian Sciences, UNA, and Maria Iris Centdn, Professor of Agricultural Economics at the School of Agrarian Sciences at Caazaph, UNA. I would also like to thank Genoveva Ocampos for her comments and the useful data in her book as well as other publications by BASE ECTA, the Sociological Institute she heads. I am thankful to Emestina, the senior secretary at the institute who helped me with a smile. I would also like to thank the Paraguayan researchers whom I did not have a chance to meet but whose printed works were invaluable as references to me. Among them are, Tomiis Palau Viladesau, Ram6n Fogel, Dr. Dionisio Gomdilez Torres, Maria Castillo de Favitsky, Dr. Michael Michalowsky, Drs. NClida Soria, Mirta Ortiz, and Maria Fhtima Mereles, as well as Celeste Acevedo, who have all dedicated years of their lives to the scientific study of the wonderful Paraguayan floral pharmacopoeia. A few others whom I must recognize are Gustavo Godlez, Carlos Pastore, Carlos Rubbiani and Bartomeu MeliB. I cannot exclude fiom my acknowledgements my great grandfather, Fulgencio R. Moreno. His love and understanding of what it means to be Paraguayan were transmitted to me through my mother, Sacha. I am grateful to them both for providing me with a noble cultural identity. I thank my father, Norman J. Breuer, doctor and healer, for instilling scientific curiosity and the meaning of the word holistic in me. Much of the spiritual, philosophical, historical and intellectual aspects of this work and my life are his credit. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my brother JosC and my sister Michelle. Special thanks go to my sister Ver6nica and her husband Agustin for their logistical, intellectual and emotional support. I would not be here studying nor would this thesis have ever been completed without the daily love and support fiom my wife Bea, who aside &om inspiring me to do my best, also painstakingly proofed and fixed the many details of putting my rough ideas into meaningful, readable form. She always asks the right questions. She always helps without being asked, and with a smile. If there were more smiles like hers, our job as development specialists would be easier, as the world would be a better, kinder place. My children Norman, Astrid and Erik, were constantly a source of joy, pride and hope. Finally, I would like to thank those at the University of Florida who have touched my work or my life during these past two years. They include my friends Matt Langholtz, who loves Paraguay and is deep, Ronaldo Weigand, my dialectical challenger, and Manuel Avila, who kept me informed of current events in Paraguay. I am grateful to Kevin Gaskin for his incisive questions and comments. I thank the Natural Resource Use in Latin America Discussion Group that arose fiom Dr. Nigel Smith's seminar for quality discussion and much needed relaxation. The walking, talking development encyclopedia of this group, Robert Miller, exposed me to more new thought than I could have imagined during those memorable sessions. They prove that the age of the polymath is not yet over. Thanks go to Marilia Coutinho and Rebecca McNair for support and encouragement. Dr. Hugh Popenoe's experience and insight are very much appreciated. His mind is open and his scope broad, all this without dulling the sharpness of rigorous scientific thought. Last but not least, thanks go to Dr. Peter E. Hildebrand, a true mentor in the classicil sense. His door was and is always open for all and me. He somehow combines a love for teaching and a fervent dedication to making things better for the world's subsistence farmers with the demands of two university positions, running a family and supporting computer-illiterate, non-traditional students like myself. I join "campesinos" everywhere in thanking him warmly for dedicating his life to understanding and helping the last, and searching for ways to put them first. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................ III ABSTRACT ........................................................................................xiv LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................xi ... LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................mi CHAPTERS 1 EXPLANATION OF THE RESEARCH. QUESTIONS. AND OBJECTIVES .....................................................................................1 Prologue ...........................................................................................1 Introduction ...................................................................................... -3 The Problem ...................................................................................... -5 Related Research ................................................................................-6 Research. Questions............................................................................. -8 Objectives........................................................................................ 9 Research Design ..................................................................................9 The Farming System at Eusebio Ayala ...................................................10 The Farming system at Ru F'yahfi .........................................................13 Methods and Analysis ..........................................................................17 Farming Systems Research for Development and Natural Resource Management ......................................................................17 Field Work Methodology....................................................................... 19 Interviews .................................................................................... -19 .Analysis . ......................................................................................-20 Sigmficance...................................................................................... 21 2 CONDITIONS IN PARAGUAY AND AT THE STUDY SITES....................... 23 Socioeconomic. Conditions in Paraguay ..................................................... 23 Conditions at the Study Sites................................................................. 32 viii Aguaity. Eusebio Ayala.. ..................................................................-32 Ru pYahu...................................................................................... 33 3 MEDICINAL PLANTS. CONSERVATION. AND DEVELOPMENT ..............................................................................35 Introduction .....................................................................................-35 Traditional Medicine. Healt hcare. and the Environment ..................................37 Recognition of Medicinal Plants as an Important Natural Resource and Healthcare Issue ...............................................................38 Regulatory Agencies and Conventions...................................................... 38 Projects that Involve Medicinal Plants and Conservation around the World ..............................................................................-39