How did Naxi people use plants for food during droughts?

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Since 2009, continuous drought in Southwestern China has forced millions of people to live with food shortages. The market was the primary source of aid grains, and concern that it might not provide enough food made food security under climate change a pressing issue. Traditional adaptive strategies of indigenous people from before market systems are a potential source of innovation.

Researchers asked which edible plants Naxi people consumed during droughts, how they produced enough food, and how they consumed the plants. The study documented traditional Naxi food knowledge to support drought food security and Chinese policy decisions.

In three Naxi villages, researchers conducted an ethnobotanical investigation using a literature review, semi-structured interviews, collaborative fieldwork and group discussions. They surveyed 89 informants, including 35 key informants, from 2012 to 2013. They used the Significant Index (SI) to evaluate each edible plant's significance to the food supply. Voucher specimens were collected for taxonomic identification.

The researchers recorded 141 edible plants consumed: 38 cultivated and 103 wild. These were primarily landrace crops, supplementary edible plants and famine plants. Naxi people produced sufficient food through widespread food production systems, the strong resilience of landrace crops and the diversity of wild edible plants. They used edible plants fully to meet food and nutrition needs during drought through a diverse diet and by consuming almost all edible parts of the plants.

The researchers concluded that edible plant diversity is a cornerstone of food security during drought. Both cultivated crops, especially landrace plants, and wild edible plants were important. Naxi people protect edible plant diversity through ecological morality and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). The researchers called for national inventories of edible plant diversity and studies of the TEK of other Chinese indigenous peoples to inform sustainable food policy decisions in China.