Integration of Conservation Strategies of Plant Genetic ... - Genres

On farm conservation of fruit trees and the informal sector in Italy
I. DALLA RAGIONE 1 , P. PERRINO 2
Abstract
The present contribution deals with two research projects concerning on farm conservation of local, old
and archaic fruit varieties, carried out, by regional associations and other institutions, in selected areas
of Central Italy.
The paper deals also with the utilization and improvement of local varieties possessing interesting traits
for the market, and for which there are strong links with the sociological, economical and historical
knowledges of the territory.
Methods and strategies to search for old varieties and their conservation are presented and discussed in
the light of the results obtained during the present research work.
The status of on farm conservation, through the informal sector in Italy, is shortly described. A direct
or indirect influence of the formal sector is inevitable.
Introduction
The high hills of North and North-East Umbria, is an area characterized by calcareous soil and long
lasting summertime drought.
In this area, for centuries the traditional crop system has been multicrop, otherwise said vertical
multicrop, since cereals or tobacco were cultivated in association with olive trees or, more often, vine
trees, which were supported by elms, maples and, occasionally, fruit trees. An ancient adage said that
farmers had to cultivate "high and low" to better indicate the vertical crop differentiation (Desplanques,
1969).
The great diffusion of metayage ( mezzadria ) intensified the tendency toward multicrop and
characteristic plantations of trees (alberata ), sometime fruit trees, supporting vines ( Sereni, 1961). All
this was the consequence of the landowner habit, that was to encourage metayager's family to settle on
the farms, often very isolated, with the hope to prevent major seasonal emigrations, once typical of the
large landed estates of Southern Italy; in this system farmers and their family had to secure themselves
with all the necessities for survival. The result was a closed economy, largely dependent on multicrop.
(Deplanques, 1969).
Authors' addresses:
1
Via Baglioni 50
06100 Perugia
I taly
2
CNR I stituto del Germ oplasm a
Via Am endola 165/ A
70126 Bari
I taly