Horticultural agro-biodiversity and potential conservation: case study in Sicily

Local varieties are an expression of the selection that over time was carried out by different actors within local communitiesand which still constitute an important source of “economic” and a heritage of “knowledge” in any case to safeguard; theyexist and survive on the set of agronomic factors, cultural, sociological typical of a territory and, therefore, are a publicresource, a "common heritage" to defend and protect. The work carried out within different contexts of autochthonoushorticulture production in Sicily, aims to define some important economic useful indicators for orienting the variousstakeholders in the preparation of policy instruments to support horticultural biodiversity today.