Traditional peoples are often described as "stewards of agricultural diversity", yet little research has been conducted on the determinants of agrodiversity. This thesis focuses on agrodiversity and how peasant farmers build and maintain cultivated plant diversity in home gardens found in three distinct traditional communities along the Maranon river in the Peruvian Amazon---an upland mixed agricultural village, a lowland agricultural village, and a lowland fishing village. Data were gathered through household surveys (n = 192) and in-depth interviews (n = 112). Substantial variation in cultivated plant diversity was found among and within villages. Residents with the highest home garden agrodiversity tend to be among the wealthier households, and are more likely to have both established their own garden, and tended it for longer periods. Complex planting material exchange networks underlie the establishment and maintenance of home garden agrodiversity. The results underscore the importance of studying local variations in agricultural diversity, and exchange networks that bring agricultural planting stock to peasant farmers.

Agrobiodiversity constitutes an essential resource for traditional rural populations. Home gardens are "hotspots" of agrobiodiversity and important loci of in situ conservation efforts. This study seeks to understand the factors affecting gardeners' choices and to assess the accessibility of planting material in rural communities of the Peruvian Amazon. Household surveys and garden inventories conducted in 15 villages of the Corrientes river (n = 300), and case studies in three of these villages (n = 89), allowed to describe the local and regional patterns of garden agrobiodiversity and the structure of planting material exchange networks. Analyses reveal a strong link between species diversity and both household cultural and socioeconomic characteristics, and village ethnicity and size. Planting material flows primarily through matrilineal bonds, from advice-givers to advice-seekers, from old to young and from rich to poor. Farmers with exceptional species diversity, propensity to give and/or expertise are identified and their role in the conservation of cultivated plants is assessed. Expertise is not found to be as closely related to high species diversity as expected, but knowledge and planting stock dissemination go hand-in-hand.

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