Agroecological potential of Moringa oleifera Lam. for the state of Veracruz

Abstract

Moringa oleifera (Moringa) is a multipurpose species with food and medicinal applications. The purpose of this research was to delimit the areas with agroecological potential for the cultivation of Moringa in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. For this, an agroecological zoning was used integrating scientific and georeferenced data on agroclimatic requirements of this species, land uses and the location of urban communities, through Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The agroclimatic requirements for the Moringa crop were derived from two data sources. The first, of a bibliographic type, with scientific publications and official databases. The second, integrated georeferenced data, semi-structured interviews and collection of soil samples. The criteria for the identification of potential areas for cultivation were defined and then a GIS was built to generate the maps of the areas with agroecological potential, using five categories: Very high, High, Medium, Low and Very Low, according to their potential for Moringa cultivation. The agroecological potential maps included only the surface area categorized by the National Institute for Statics and Geography as for agricultural use. The results indicate that the territorial space with very high potential has an area of 1 008 119 ha, equivalent to 18 % of the total territory available in 37 % of the municipalities of the entity. It is concluded that the state of Veracruz has optimal agroecological conditions for the cultivation of Moringa oleifera in vast areas of its territory and that the incorporation of the information obtained from local producers is important to define the areas with potential for its cultivation.