8 Article Journal-Agrarian and Natural Resource Economics December, 2019 Vol.3 No.5 8-17 Traditional management of Agave used for mezcal and its associated knowledge: the case of Oaxaca and Aguascalientes, México Manejo tradicional de los Agaves mezcaleros y su conocimiento asociado: el caso de Oaxaca y Aguascalientes, México. PARDO-NÚÑEZ, Joaliné†* & SÁNCHEZ-JIMÉNEZ, Eduardo Centro de Investigación y Asistencia en Tecnología y Diseño del Estado de Jalisco, A.C ID 1st Author: Joaliné, Pardo-Núñez / ORC ID: 0000-0002-6965-1376, CVU CONACYT ID: 103632 ID 1st Coauthor: Eduardo, Sánchez-Jiménez / ORC ID: 0000-0003-0552-4658, CVU CONACYT ID: 370225 DOI: 10.35429/JANRE.2019.5.3.8.17 Received September 21, 2019; Accepted November 09, 2019 Abstract Resumen Maybe the most known and diffused use of the Agave Quizás el uso más conocido y difundido actualmente de los genus plants is the production of alcoholic beverages, agaves es la producción de bebidas alcohólicas, siendo el tequila being mezcal and tequila the most consumed. As a matter y el mezcal las más consumidas. De hecho, el incremento a nivel of fact, increased demand for these beverages has led to nacional y mundial de estas dos bebidas ha generado presiones importantes en los ecosistemas de los que se extrae el agave important pressures in the ecosystems from which the como materia prima, tanto para su uso directo, como para la Agave is obtained. In the present article, we compare obtención de semillas o plántulas. En el presente artículo, management practices carried out by mezcal producers in comparo las prácticas de manejo que llevan a cabo productores Oaxaca and Aguascalientes, comparing the state that de mezcal en Oaxaca y Aguascalientes, contrastando al estado de produces the most volume of mezcal with a state that is mayor producción de la bebida, en donde existen incluso new to that industry. We define management as "the problemas para el abastecimiento de la planta, con un estado cuya interventions, transformations or decisions over natural or producción de la bebida y aprovechamiento magueyero con tales artificial systems, their elements and functional processes fines, es incipiente. Defino como manejo a “las intervenciones, with explicit purposes", according with Casas et al (2014). transformaciones o decisiones sobre los sistemas naturales o artificiales, sus elementos y procesos funcionales con fines We also explore the expressions of management, as ways explícitos” de acuerdo con Casas et al. (2014). Siguiendo a estos to take advantage, preserve, restore or take back the mismos autores, se exploran las expresiones de manejo del vegetable elements of the ecosystem and the recurso agave, entendiendo a éstas como las formas de agroecosystem, finding important differences in terms of aprovechamiento, conservación, restauración o recuperación de future sustainability for the alcoholic beverage industry. los elementos vegetales de un ecosistema o agroecosistema, encontrando importantes diferencias en términos de sustentabilidad. Agave, Management, Cultivation Agave, Manejo, Cultivo Citation: PARDO-NÚÑEZ, Joaliné & SÁNCHEZ-JIMÉNEZ, Eduardo. Traditional management of Agave used for mezcal and its associated knowledge: the case of Oaxaca and Aguascalientes, México. Journal-Agrarian and Natural Resource Economics. 2019 3-5: 8-17 * Correspondence to Author (email: [email protected]) † Researcher contributing as first author. © RINOE – Western Sahara www.rinoe.org/western-sahara 9 Article Journal-Agrarian and Natural Resource Economics December, 2019 Vol.3 No.5 8-17 Introduction The Mezcal Regulatory Council reports that in 2016, the certified production of this Mexico is the point of origin and diversification beverage, that is, that with a guaranteed of the genus Agave, belonging to the family replacement of the plant, was 3 million liters, Agavaceae or Asparagaceae, constituted, in while the non-certified was greater than 6 national territory, by 159 species, of which 123 million liters, generating significant pressures on are endemic, being the eighth most diverse of the plant populations and their ecosystem (CRM, Mexican flora (García, 2007; García, Franco and 2016). On the other hand, García, Méndez and Sandoval, 2019). Talavera (2010) report that 18 species are now endangered, because they are extracted from Agaves, or magueyes, are predominantly their natural environment, which represents a found in arid or semi-arid areas of the national threat to their habitat, since they are territory, from 34° north latitude to 60° south indispensable for the proliferation of pollinators latitude, being more abundant in the south of the such as bats. republic, mainly in southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca (García, 2007), in terms of diversity of In this paper, we compare the species and abundance of individuals. management practices carried out by mezcal producers in Oaxaca and Aguascalientes, The genetic diversification of the agaves contrasting the state that is the greatest producer is wide, since it is a species highly adaptable to of the beverage, where there are even supply different environmental conditions and, in problems due to constant shortage of the plant, addition, the management made by human with a state whose production and use of the populations of these plants, due to their socio- agave for such purposes is recent. We define as cultural importance, has contributed to the management the “interventions, transformations generation of varieties and cultivars (Lara-Ávila or decisions about natural or artificial systems, and Alpuche-Solís, 2016). Its use to obtain their functional elements and processes for fibers, food and beverages, as well as explicit purposes,” according to Casas et al. agricultural uses aimed at retaining soils on steep (2014). Following these authors, we explore the slopes, has been widely documented (Castro and expressions of management of the agave Guerrero, 2013; Félix-Valdez et al., 2016). The resource, understanding these as the forms of multiple uses of the species throughout the use, conservation, restoration or recovery of the national territory have derived in an important plant elements of an ecosystem or knowledge about the growth cycle of each plant agroecosystem (Casas, et al. 2014) to obtain the and its reproductive particularities, whether same resources for human activity. Contextual sexual or vegetative (Bautista and Smit, 2012). elements are presented in the background, Depending on the species, Agaves can be methodology and results classified by propagated by seed, by vegetative stems, by management categories. propagules in inflorescence or by these three forms (Andrade and Martínez, 2017). Background Commonly, the separation of offshoots into nurseries or to the definitive growing ground is Unlike the tequila that is produced in Jalisco used directly. This is the fastest way to have an from a single species of Agave (A. tequilana adult plant, since it avoids the risks of Weber), mezcal is characterized by a great germination and the early stages of development diversity of magueyes that can be used for its (Félix-Valdéz, Vargas-Ponce, Cabrera-Toledo, elaboration. Casas, Cibrian-Jaramillo and Cruz-Larios, 2016; Andrade y Martínez, 2017). Some authors mention 53 species (Colunga-García Marín and Zizumbo-Villarreal, Perhaps the best known and widespread 2007; Torres, Casas, Delgado-Lemus and use of agaves today is the production of Rangel-Landa, 2015) but, regardless of certainty alcoholic beverages, with tequila and mezcal in numbers, the highest proportion of plants used being the most consumed. In fact, the increased to prepare mezcal, both in Oaxaca and demand at national and global level of these two Aguascalientes, are wild and are extracted -also beverages has generated significant pressures in in most cases- without proper planning to ensure the ecosystems from which the Agave is the future conservation of wild populations extracted as raw material, both for direct use, and through sexual reproduction. for the obtention of seeds or seedlings. ISSN 2524-2091 PARDO-NÚÑEZ, Joaliné & SÁNCHEZ-JIMÉNEZ, Eduardo. RINOE® All rights reserved Traditional management of Agave used for mezcal and its associated knowledge: the case of Oaxaca and Aguascalientes, México. Journal- Agrarian and Natural Resource Economics. 2019 10 Article Journal-Agrarian and Natural Resource Economics December, 2019 Vol.3 No.5 8-17 Since the Agave is harvested just before Understanding the management flowering, when all carbohydrates are practices carried out by human populations that concentrated in the stem to start the reproductive make use of significant amounts of plant stage (Delgado-Lemus, Casas and Tellez, 2014), (approximately 15 kilograms of maguey per final which prevents the formation of flowers, fruits liter of mezcal) is important to recover the and subsequently seeds. traditional knowledge of the region, as well as elucidate the future of the mezcal landscape in The agave used in Oaxaca to produce Mexico. So, this work aimed to document the mezcal is A. angustifolia known locally as management practices carried out by mezcal maguey espadín, this species gives rise to basal producers in Oaxaca, the main producer of the offshoot and propagules in the floral escape after beverage nationalwide, and in Aguascalientes, a cutting the apex, which facilitates maguey state that only recently (2018) obtained the producers vegetative propagation, with a denomination of origin as producer state. maturation period of five to six years for harvest,