Participatory innovation development and diffusion : adoption and adaptation of introduced legumes in the traditional slash-and-burn peasant farming system in Yucatan, Mexico.
Campesino families of the Yucatan Peninsula have traditionally depended on a slash and burn system (milpa) for staple food production. Milpa productivity has decreased resulting in lower levels of food self-sufficiency, and conventional responses have encouraged increased use of fertilizers and herbicides. This is beyond the economic capacity of most families, hence a sedentary system based on the use of legumes as a green manure and as weed control has been introduced by NGOs.