Component and indicators of organizational capacity

In the organizational capacity component, orchards 1, 2, and 4 stands out, unlike orchards 8, 9, and 10, which presented the lowest values for this component. In the indicator of access to public services, the organizational capacity component gave the maximum value in all the HGs. This is because all the study units had access to public services such as drinking water, electricity, education,

174 telecommunication, and health services. It indeed guarantees the well-being of the family members of the study units to participate in the homegarden practice.

Also, the availability of essential services a universal and social right of every individual) ensures equality, education, and social justice. However, this also influences the cultural erosion significantly, as preferences of youngsters regarding diet, occupation, etcetera are changing in the study area, which may represent an abandonment of agricultural activities shortly. This concurs with Benz, Cevallos, Santana, Rosales, and Graf (2000) indicate that the effects of the modernization process, such as quality of housing and literacy, significantly influence the erosion of traditional knowledge in some communities in the Sierra de Manantlan of western Mexico.

For the indicator of family participation, H1 had the highest value. This is because, in most study units, children rarely participated in the management activities of the homegarden. Thus, it indicates that there is a lack of interest of children to continue the homegarden practice. However, other studies state that family labor (mainly women and children) is one of the essential characteristics of traditional agroecosystems such as HGs in other parts of the world, including Mexico (Kumar and Nair, 2006; Mariaca, 2012; Krishnamurthy et al., 2017; Ordoñez Diaz et al., 2018).

In the land tenure indicator, H4 stands out without being significantly different from H2. The type of tenure is an important indicator, as it influences the decision- making in the processes of management, use, and conservation of land linked to agricultural activities. All the interviewees mentioned that they owned the title of the property. Therefore, it allows them to make their own decisions based on their preferences without any external influences.

Regarding the size of the property of the study units, it varied between 100-3000 m², and the average homestead area is 300-500 m². The age of homegardens ranged between 5-50 years. However, the observation of the units indicated that

175 the size of the property did not influence the diversity of gardens. Although tree species such as cedar, jonote represented the importance of the garden’s age.

For the indicator of transmission of local biocultural knowledge, orchards 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 had the highest values compare to others. In contrast, the lowest values were registered in gardens 8, 9, 12. In other words, although orchards 1 and 4 presented the highest values, they did not substantially exceed orchard 2. This is mainly due to the lack of transmission of knowledge to the young or future generations. For example, in more than half of the study units, the language was practiced only by adults and no longer practiced by the younger generation. It indicates that adults still preserve their cultural heritage. Still, it was not transmitted to present generations, which is probably due to the last century's indigenous policies that influenced the social rejection of native people at a certain level. The above coincides with Oliveros and Islas (2017), that reported that the Hñathö or Otomi language in Michoacán is at risk of disappearing due to the long historical and social process of discrimination, exclusion, and racism.

Besides, as the use, management, and conservation of natural resources is linked with the holistic worldview of the native people, and it is crucial to assess the persistence of traditions, customs, and religious practices by the members of the study units. The results showed that older people in 50% of the study units (gardens 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12) still prefer to wear and proudly use the traditional costume. Also, as the young and adults of these units migrated to another community or state, the older people are managing the homegarden.

Moreover, young people, as well as grandchildren of the above units, have stopped wearing this clothing may be due to social rejection. Besides, to some degree, they were not familiar with spiritual-religious celebration practices associated with agricultural calendars as they migrated from their native place.

Therefore, it indicates the process of acculturation, which directly impacts. Also, family members' participation in community activities and religious festivals is vital to transmitting knowledge associated with the agricultural calendar. However, the results indicated that few units (25%) always participated in this activity. On the

176 other hand, others were often or sometimes participated in the events, except garden H10. This is mainly due to the illness of the household head.

Notably, gardens 2, 4, 5, 7, 11 follow at least two (traditional songs and dance or dress traditional dress). This is mainly due to the children’s participation in performing traditional dances and songs during religious festivals or school activities within the community. The members in garden one still follow all three activities. This is due to the adults' belief in family tradition or inheritance.

However, children and young people in this unit showed a lack of interest in continuing all the customs, and currently, they are just following the elder's instructions.

Children in the H1 showed a high degree of knowledge relevant to plants' use, mainly due to their interactions with their grandmother Mrs. Carmen who constantly communicate about plant uses in the native language. Also, about 25%

of the study units showed poor knowledge, as there was no third generation present in the community either due to their migration or lack of children. It indicates the process of acculturation and uprooting that significantly impacts the conservation of local biocultural heritage unless documented and promoted through ethnobotanical or community gardens. This concurs with Benz et al.

(2000), who reported that the traditional knowledge about plants suffered a decline that accompanied the loss of the indigenous language in some communities in the Sierra de Manantlan of western Mexico.

However, compared to knowledge about plant use and traditional food, the children from the 50% of the study units showed poor knowledge relevant to management practices in agroecosystems and associated ecological knowledge (local flora and fauna). This is mainly due to the lack of interest as well as the gap in transmission of knowledge. However, the rest of the study units' degrees of expertise varied from fair to good.

Moreover, about 7 out of 12 study units had just one generation, i.e., the current generation formed only by elders (father) to practice this traditional land-use

177 activity. And the rest of the units (gardens 1, 2, 3, 4, 6) have two generations (father and son) who continue this practice. However, the third generation (grandchildren) of these units was not showing any interest in continuing HG practice either due to lack of motivation or preference to migrate.

Regarding plant use knowledge, the head of the study units stated different forms of preparation or utilization of various local resources (plants and animals) in the surrounding environment (including homegardens). The number of forms or ways frequently mentioned varied between 16-20 forms of use, including food, medicinal, ritual, and other benefits (appendix 1). The various forms of use or exploitation of local resources by the owners contribute to their conservation and sustainability.

In summary, despite several internal shocks such as migration, illness, or death, the traditional land-use practice of homegardens is still prevalently practiced by the first and (in some units) second generation of an indigenous group Totonacs basically for self-subsistence, i.e., for family consumption. However, as owners of many units are older people with illness, continuity of this traditional practice by the third or new generations remains doubtful mainly due to the existing gap in the transmission of knowledge and migration to satisfy economic needs, which in turn contributes to diminishing the sociocultural resilience of these systems.