doi: 10.56294/ere202351
ORIGINAL
Historical context of the agroecological transition process in the Buenos Aires property of the municipality of Florencia Caquetá
Contexto histórico del proceso de transición agroecológica en predio Buenos Aires del municipio de Florencia Caquetá
Andres Ariza Devia1, Michel Renteria Suaza1
1Universidad De La Amazonia, Facultad De Ingeniería. Florencia-Caquetá, Colombia.
Cite as: Ariza Devia A, Renteria Suaza M. Historical context of the agroecological transition process in the Buenos Aires property of the municipality of Florencia Caquetá. Environmental Research and Ecotoxicity. 2023; 2:51. https://doi.org/10.56294/ere202351
Submitted: 08-09-2022 Revised: 26-01-2023 Accepted: 11-05-2023 Published: 12-05-2023
Editor: Prof.
Dr. William Castillo-González 
ABSTRACT
In the agroecological transition there are three main problems that limit this type of agroecological transition processes. The little and almost non-existent advice and support from the state, who do not have access to technological advice and the participation of the state for the agroecological transition with policies. Therefore, the objective is: to discover what are the characteristics that have favored and disfavored the agroecological transition process of the family participating in the study. with a historical hermeneutic approach, with a descriptive type of research and a mixed approach (qualitative and quantitative). This study involved the family of the Buenos Aires farm in the municipality of Florencia Caquetá, where a change in thinking is evident in the way of production seeking the agroecological transition. To collect this information, the interview tool will be used and the Atlas.ti software will be used to analyze the data, obtaining the networks as results. The concept of agroecology of the producer agrees with the cited authors, in the Sunkey diagram the co-occurrences are found, allowing us to show that for difficulties and satisfaction there are two words that co-occur, which are species and learning.
Keywords: Economy; Biodiversity; Alternatives and Sustainability.
RESUMEN
En la transición agroecológica se tiene tres principales problemáticas que limitan este tipo de procesos de transición agroecología. La poca y casi nula asesoría y apoyo del estado, que no tienen acceso a asesoría tecnológica y la participación del estado para la transición agroecológica con políticas. Por lo que se tiene como objetivo: descubrir cuáles son las características que han favorecido y desfavorecido el proceso de transición agroecológica de la familia participantes del estudio. con enfoque histórico hermenéutico, con un tipo de investigación descriptivo y un enfoque mixto (cualitativo y cuantitativo). Este estudio involucró a la familia del predio Buenos Aires del municipio de Florencia Caquetá, donde se evidencia un cambio de pensamiento en la manera de producir buscando la transición agroecológica. Para el levantamiento de esta información se acudirá a la herramienta entrevista y para el análisis de los datos se usó el software Atlas.ti, obteniendo los network como resultados. El concepto de agroecología del productor concuerda con los autores citados, en el diagrama de Sunkey se encuentran las co-ocurrencias permite evidenciar que para las dificultades y satisfacción hay dos palabras que co-ocurren las cuales son especies y aprendizaje.
Palabras clave: Economía; Biodiversidad; Alternativas y Sustentabilidad.
INTRODUCTION
According to Ravlic(1), the agroecological transition process is a set of practices and knowledge that are developed on a farm to obtain healthy products with ecological principles and through sustainable agroecosystems, where relationships are integrated, avoiding the external use of chemical inputs, thus achieving synergy between agroecosystems and communities, allowing a more excellent stable production for the market, ensuring a family economy.
Therefore, three main problems limit this type of agroecological transition process. Little or no state support for resources: There is a gap between farmers with access to technological advice who can enter differentiated markets that reward organic production and those lacking the capacity. Strong state participation is needed for the agroecological transition with policies, programs, and support for change processes. Alternative markets: Inadequate marketing systems create uncertainties and hinder the agroecological transition since recognizing the real value of production can promote biodiversity and food security. Community organization, which facilitates the exchange of knowledge and the pooling of resources, is crucial for individual progress in the agroecological transition; participation and organizational strategies are fundamental to achieving the established objectives and goals.(2)
According to Altieri et al.(3), the world over time is becoming more dependent on conventional agroecosystems focused on grain production, which in turn are vulnerable to the revelation of peasants and family farming apart from dealing with climate change, but have prepared for change, reducing the loss of yields, which is key for the future of global food security. This is because most of the world's rural populations in conditions of poverty and vulnerability depend largely on terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem services for their subsistence but do not have secure access to these resources".(4)
Vallejo et al.(5) argue that rural sectors in Colombia are constantly threatened because they depend in one way or another on external factors such as inputs, unemployment, poverty, and climate change, and this leads to food insecurity because they lack the technologies necessary to guarantee food sustainability, causing young people to migrate to urban areas in search of better opportunities for their lives and, of course, forced displacement due to armed, political and social conflict. For this reason, the agroecological transition has succeeded in developing new alternatives and innovations through family farming to produce food while allowing the care of ecosystems to boost family, peasant, and community farming.(6)
Ravlic(1) considers that a process of agroecological transition with input from law aims to foster a beneficial connection between agroecology as a science, social practice, and environmental law, focusing specifically on the elements that can operate from within the discipline to shape a process of agroecological transition as a development that guarantees the fulfillment of rights. These are stipulated in the Colombian constitution in Title II, chapter 3: Collective Rights and the Environment; Articles 79-80.
In the department of Caquetá, despite the fact that some families have been interested in developing production processes with an agroecological focus, they have found that many gaps along the way have impeded the maximum development of the transition due to the lack of biotechnologies and institutional support.
Decisive aspects such as society, techniques, culture, and economy will be evaluated during this study. These aspects form part of the agroecological transition process and demonstrate changes in cultivating and the work of communities and society.(7)
This study aims to discover and analyze the agroecological transition experience in the department of Caquetá on the Buenos Aires estate in the village of Caraño. This farm shows how agroecology can be implemented in different areas, providing nutritious experiences demonstrating that obstacles can be overcome. Hence, our research question seeks to discover the characteristics that have favored and disadvantaged the agroecological transition process of the family participating in the study.
METHOD
Location
The present study was carried out on the Buenos Aires estate, located in the rural area of the municipality of Florencia. This municipality is characterized by a relative humidity of over 80 %, an average annual rainfall of 3480 mm, and an average annual temperature of 25 ºC at 242 meters above sea level. This municipality is also the capital of the department of Caquetá.(9)
Population:
This study involved the family of the Buenos Aires property in the municipality of Florencia Caquetá, where there is evidence of a change in thinking in the way of producing, seeking an agroecological transition in order to obtain a wide variety of products such as agroforestry systems, fish farming in geomembranes with aquaponics and home gardens; they are also opting for conservation, research and environmental education, as they propagate native trees (timber, fruit).
Research focus
Paradigm
The systematization was based on a methodology with a historical hermeneutic approach, as it allowed for the contextualization of the agroecological experience, the knowledge of the actors, and the identification of the critical points according to the producer's objectives.(9)
Type of research:
The study was descriptive, given that the objective was to characterize systemic criteria that would allow the establishment of the structure and behavior of the property to be systematized.(10)
Approach
The research approach was mixed because it combined the qualitative and quantitative perspectives in the study to give more depth to the research analysis.(11)
The method
Construction of the historical context of the agroecological transition process of the Buenos Aires farm: to gather this information, we will use the interview tool as we are looking for elements that are not quantifiable but detailed, explanatory, descriptive, and, in some cases, emotional. All this will be done through direct dialogues that will be recorded with the prior authorization of the producers of each experience. Atlas. Ti software was used for data analysis, obtaining the networks as results.
RESULTS
For the producer, agroecology is a set of production practices that allow for environmental interaction in pursuit of sustainability and the territory's economy. Taking into account the FAO's(12) concept, it agrees with the producer, as it mentions that agroecology allows for the development of sustainable practices for peasant family farming and its economy and ecosystems. Even though the concept has evolved, it still follows the main criteria considered in the previous concepts, thus being considered a significant alternative to achieve long-term development, productivity, and social utility.(13). Amorim et al.(14) argue that agroecology is considered a scientific discipline that goes beyond the limits of science itself and seeks to integrate aspects not addressed in classical science, such as the social relations of production, equity, food security, self-consumption, quality of life and sustainability. This suggests that the producer is clear about agroecology, which suggests he is practicing it correctly on his farm.
Figure 1. Group of codes: concept of Agroecology
Difficulties and satisfactions of the agroecological transition process
Atlas generated the Sankey diagram. Ti illustrates the co-occurrences between the category difficulties in the transition and satisfaction with the process, and the most co-occurring codes are restoration, species, diversity, and learning. The most representative co-occurrence between difficulties and satisfactions is species and learning because, according to the interviewee, it is tough to arrive at an environment where the behavior and requirements for the proper development of a species are not known. Therefore, one must begin to investigate and delve deeper into the subject, which is why learning is more often a source of difficulties than satisfaction; this can happen due to the producer's lack of knowledge on the subject.
Figure 2. Difficulties and satisfaction with the transition process; Sankey diagram
In figure 3, it was noted that throughout the interview, the producer emphasized on several occasions that if we want to make the transition, the first thing we have to do is to have a high diversity of species, whether they are timber trees or native fruit trees, and to plan to change our lifestyle, leaving monocultures behind in order to make production systems more practical. Therefore, these are the words that are most frequently encountered when applying the interview tool to the producer.
Figure 3. Word cloud
CONCLUSIONS
The agroecological transition at the Buenos Aires site represents a significant effort to integrate sustainable practices into agricultural production. It highlights the importance of agroecology, an approach that goes beyond the way food is produced.
The interview shows the need to strengthen communities through the exchange of knowledge, which is essential to overcoming the barriers faced in the agroecological transition.
The research highlights the importance of a more comprehensive vision that considers the technical aspects of production and the socio-economic and cultural contexts that influence the adoption of agroecological practices.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
1. Ravlic SH. Transición Agroecológica. Aportes desde el derecho. En: Barreto M, editor. El Derecho Humano a la alimentación: debates y praxis en un escenario de crisis. Rosario: UNR Editora; 2022. p. 275–85.
2. Marasas ME, Cap GB, De Luca LC, Perez M, Perez RA. El camino de la transición Agroecológica. Buenos Aires: Ediciones INTA; 2012. Disponible en: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/15683
3. Altieri MA, Nicholls CI. Agroecología y resiliencia al cambio climático: principios y consideraciones metodológicas. Rev Agroecol. 2013;8(1):7–20. Disponible en: https://revistas.um.es/agroecologia/article/view/182921
4. Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO). The 10 elements of agroecology: guiding the transition to sustainable food and agricultural systems [conferencia]. Forty-first Session; 2019 Jun 22–29; Rome, Italy. Disponible en: http://www.fao.org/3/i9037en/I9037EN.pdf
5. Vallejo Cabrera FA, Salazar Villareal MC, Giraldo Diaz R. Ciudadanía Ambiental y escalamiento de la agroecología en la Zona de Reserva Campesina de San Isidro, Pradera, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Luna Azul. 2021;(52):126–44. Disponible en: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=321770043007
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8. Alcaldía de Florencia Caquetá. Plan de acción climática. Municipio de Florencia Caquetá. Florencia: Alcaldía de Florencia Caquetá; 2023.
9. Jara Holliday O. La sistematización de experiencias: práctica y teoría para otros mundos políticos. 1ª ed. Bogotá: Centro Internacional de Educación y Desarrollo Humano - CINDE; 2018. 258 p.
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FINANCING
Authors did not receive funding for the development of this research.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORSHIP
Conceptualization: Andres Ariza Devia, Michel Renteria Suaza.
Writing – original draft: Andres Ariza Devia, Michel Renteria Suaza.
Writing – proofreading and editing: Andres Ariza Devia, Michel Renteria Suaza.