Smallholder farmers in developing countries such as Ecuador have contributed widely to ecosystem conservation. Although they have been affected by the consequences of climate change, the synergy of Pachamama care and technical knowledge has become key to sustaining dynamics in their local territories. This paper presents a combined methodology approach based on fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) to capture perceptions of ecosystem conservation. The purpose was to assess the impact of the “Biocorridors for Living Well” program on the application of local knowledge by smallholder farmers. The findings showed that program managers had a limited narrow focus based on the general program ideology, whereas peasants’ perceptions revealed a more complex map, highlighting the importance of building capacities beyond sustainable agricultural techniques. Also, both groups were aware of the contribution of ecosystem conservation to rural development. However, it is essential to stress that the contribution of smallholder farmers to conservation was critical, and most of the time, their efforts were not valued. Therefore, to scale up program outcomes, national and international institutions require an understanding of local peasants’ perceptions to guarantee action sustainability and to avoid repetitive actions in their local territories.
The modernization of agricultural practices has been widespread in South America since the 1970s. The main practices implemented included the use of fertilizers and phytosanitary control based on synthetic elements, and agricultural mechanization for plowing. These activities affect soil quality and make soils more dependent on fertilizer imports throughout the continent. At the same time, the intensification of agricultural activity also increased CO 2 emissions in South America from less than 150 thousand gigagrams in 1977 to more than 280 thousand gigagrams in 2017, which translates into a greater burden of agriculture on the environment. Ecuador is one of the South American countries that share several social, climatic, and topographic characteristics common in the region; therefore, it is interesting to study the factors that help mitigate soil erosion processes resulting from agricultural activity.For this purpose, this study performs the estimation of a Tobit model with the information of the agricultural units with seasonal crops present in the Continuous Agricultural Surface and Production Survey of 2018. For the model approach, the number of soil conservation practices (SCP) in each farm is considered as the dependent variable. The estimation results show that there is a positive relationship between farms that are managed by women and the number of SCP implemented: the same result was obtained with respect to agricultural investment by local governments. However, it was found that farms with government technical assistance implemented fewer SCPs, which opens the debate on the importance of soil conservation in public policy.
In Ecuador, the factors that encourage agricultural graduates to return to the rural production sector are unknown. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the variables that influence why agricultural graduates do not return to the rural sector. Fuzzy cognitive maps and hierarchical clustering were used to achieve this. Interviews were carried out with academic experts from the rural development field and agricultural planning managers who work across 10 of Ecuador’s provinces. Eighteen categorized variables were identified in the study, of which five were strategies for agricultural development that involve different actors. These were: (1) State policies for rural development, (2) quality academic training, (3) innovation and entrepreneurship training, (4) national research and university extension programs, and (5) associative cooperativism. The identification of these variables supports state authorities and universities in designing strategies that promote the involvement of agricultural graduates in the rural production sector.
PurposeThe objective of this study was to examine the impact of the pandemic on sustainable agricultural practices (SAP) adoption such as: organic fertilizers, minimal use of tillage, crop rotation, soil burning and crop association in the frame of family farming systems in Ecuador.Design/methodology/approachThe present research employed probit models' estimation with pooled data from 2018 to 2020. The study combined three sources of information with The Survey on Surface and Agricultural Continuous Production, as the main. This study also proposed the analysis of six regions: Coast, Coast Mountains, Northern Highlands, Central Highlands, Southern Highlands and the Amazon.FindingsThe authors see a lower adoption in the year 2020, where the pandemic was one of the causes. The only exception was the use of organic fertilizer. The adoption of these sustainable practices differed across the six regions. The findings also reveal that the employment generated by agricultural enterprises had a negative influence on the adoption of three sustainable practices, and that for the remaining practices the effect was positive.Research limitations/implicationsThe data set lacks information on the acceptance and the application of the practices promoted by agricultural technical assistance, which could provide insights into the effectiveness of the learning process. The limited observation period does not allow for investigating long-term effects on sustainable practices adoption.Originality/valueThis study helps to understand the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in the adoption of SAP. Additionally, this research can help with the scalability of the practices starting from the regions that are most likely to adopt each of them.
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