Descripción:

The structure and composition of agricultural ecosystems depends on the economic and cultural needs and interests of their owners (Barrero & García, 2009). According to these authors, the new concepts that globalization has brought, in a way socially demerit rural work, threatening the production practices in the area and endangering local traditional knowledge. This reality has led the authors of this research to ask the following generating question; What are the main cultural practices used by farmers in the Western Region of Costa Rica, which allow conserving, reproducing, and giving different uses to the ‘cohombro’ cucumber (Sicana odorifera)? To learn about these cultural practices, the farmer's fairs that take place in different communities in the cantons of Poás, Grecia, Valverde Vega, Atenas, Naranjo, San Ramón and Palmares will be visited in order to get to know the producers and marketers, and the practices applied to reproduce, conserve, and use this species. The systematization of the information will be the basis for preparing an infographic on the species, which favors the education of people who have not had contact with the plant and those who currently conserve and reproduce it.