Reply #42: The beauty of Mexico City is obvious

[robdogbucky]

and so is the fact that there is a lot of backyard livestock within Mexico City:

“…The keeping of small numbers of animals in the backyards of the house is part of a Mexican tradition which goes back to the prehispanic epoch (Cossio, 1965), and later was enriched during the conquest with the introduction of European domesticated species (Romero, 1990). The backyard fills a large range of objectives: transformation of household wastes into food for family consumption, such as meat and eggs, savings and finance in times of economic emergencies of the nuclear family, and lastly, similarly to the case of the orchard, as an experimental laboratory for the introduction and adaptation of new varieties or species of animals. Despite the importance of this system for peasant families in the majority of countries in the world, information from the literature permitting the understanding of this system is limited. Previous studies carried out by our research group show animals to have divergent roles in the family economy: birds were used for household consumption, while pigs provided financial support to the family budget (Losada et al 1997). In the south-east of Mexico City, the limited urban development has allowed the activities related to agriculture to form a source of income and a form of life of an important sector of the population. In this sense, it is considered relevant to study the backyard with the objective of understanding its productive dynamic, which may allow its subsequent use in programmes for sustainable development…”

http://www.cityfarmer.org/livestock.html

"Résumé / Abstract
PCV2 antibodies have been found in pigs from all continents. However, this finding has been mainly studied in domestic swine reared under intensive production conditions. Mexico City, with a human population over 19 million in 2005, has both urban and rural areas. The pig production in its rural area is based on small family backyard farms. Taking into account this rather unique form of rearing pigs, the objective of this study was to determine the seroprevalence in backyard pigs from the rural area of Mexico City..."

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18801752

"...Other species of animals that have found a new habitat within Mexico City include pigs and poultry. These are kept within the backyards of family homes. Our research has reported that producers keep an average of 3 pigs and 26 birds per household, but there are some individuals who manage up to 60 pigs, all kept within the family. The type of pigs and poultry reared include native breeds as well as specialised breeds originating from mechanised farming systems - Yorkshire and Hampshire breeds in the case of pigs, Rhode Island and Leghorn in that of poultry. Their nutrition is based on the use of food wastes available from the city including kitchen wastes, stale bread and tortilla, left-over tortilla dough, chicken guts, and fruit and vegetable wastes from the markets, amounting to 4000 tonnes per day..."

http://www.cityfarmer.org/mexico.html


Now you have the whole picture.


robdogbucky