Pitayas and the People Who Use Them

David Yetman
April 28, 2005


In El Pitayal, the cactus-rich coastal lowlands of southern Sonora, the Masiaca Indigenous Community has been collaborating with academic researchers and economic development specialists to perpetuate of one of Mexico's - and Earth's - great cactus forests. And the fruits of their labors might end up on grocery store shelves.

The Southwest Center at The University of Arizona in Tucson and the Masiaca Indigenous Community of southern Sonora are entering the fourth year of multi-discipline program of conservation, community development and research. The work is being supported largely by the Wallace Research Foundation and the Robidoux Foundation.

David Yetman, a social science researcher at the Southwest Center and director of the project, says that the 500-acre, old-growth organ pipe cacti (Stenocereus thurberi) in two reserves have been protected and fenced off. The Masiaca community patrols the fences and monitors condition inside the reserves.

The reserves also have attracted the attention of Mexican researchers. At least one doctoral student is studying the biological activity of organ pipe cacti both inside and outside the reserves and has already published data about the cacti in a master's thesis.

Of equal importance is the livelihood that local comuneros, or community members, in El Pitayal derive from the organ pipe forests. Jeff Banister, the Southwest Center's outreach coordinator for Mexico, and Yetman have brought Mexican and American development specialists to El Pitayal to assist the community in making consumer products from pitaya, the fruit of the organ pipe.

After three years of experimenting, comuneros came up with recipes for preparing organ pipe mermelada (jam) and cuero (fruit leather) for sale. Organ pipe orchards have been planted in two villages and begun in a third to test the viability of cultivated organ pipes as commercial fruit producers.

While El Pitayal and others are still exploring marketing possibilities, the number of participants continues to expand. Yetman said economic development and conservation must go hand in hand.

"Probably five families are involved in making mermelada and cuero. Harvesting the fruits for market has become a common household activity in the village of Sirebampo with about 200 families, where our initial efforts have been centered.

"Many comuneros view the great cacti as a critically important resource, but others would rather see them bulldozed and lease the land for shrimp farming. We have to convince a majority of the comuneros that the intact forest is an egalitarian, profitable resource that will last forever," he said.

Yetman stresses that this is not an altruistic program, and he has more personal reasons for wanting to see the pitaya forest preserved.

"Strolling through the Pitayal is an experience that can only be compared with a walk through Earth's great forests. Once it is gone, it will never come back," he warned.

For more information, contact David Yetman, research social scientist, UA Southwest Center, at 520-621-2484, or e-mail dyetman@email.arizona.edu or Lori Harwood, communications coordinator, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 520-626-3846, harwoodl@u.arizona.edu

The UA Southwest Center is online at http://swctr.web.arizona.edu/

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David Yetman
520-621-2484
dyetman@email.arizona.edu
Lori Harwood
520-626-3846
harwoodl@u.arizona.edu