Methodological proposal to the evaluation of the agroecological conversión process

Authors

  • Luis L. Vázquez
  • Hortensia Martínez
Keywords: Agroecology, agroecological conversion, indicators, Cuba

Abstract

The process of agroecological conversion starts from the state in which the production system is, and the capacity of the human capital available to act in directing the redesign and management of the farm. This requires the existence of methodological tools that facilitate the monitoring and the decisions that farmers must take during the transition. Most innovation projects that aim at transitioning farms towards sustainability, resilience and sovereignity need to define a starting point from which to plan the redesign and management, and then evaluate the changes that happen during the conversion, requiring rapid, sensitive and easy to use methods. Herein we propose a methodology that evaluates the following components involved in the agroecological conversion: human capital, management capacity, agroecosystem quality and transformability. A set of criteria, variable and indicators was developed for each component, which contextualized for each territory, can lead to obtaining the Coefficient of Agroecological Conversion (CRA). As a case study, the methodology was applied between 2012-2015 in the farm “La China” in Havana Province, Cuba. Values obtained for each component were: human capital (0,62), management capacity (0,63), agroecosystem quality (0,74) and transformability (0.44) indicating that the farm is in condition to advance in its agroecological conversion process.

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Published
24-07-2017
How to Cite
Vázquez L. L., & Martínez H. (2017). Methodological proposal to the evaluation of the agroecological conversión process. Agroecology, 10(1), 33–47. Retrieved from https://revistas.um.es/agroecologia/article/view/300721
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Artículos