Agroecología e Investigación-Acción Participativa (IAP): Principios y Lecciones de Centroamérica

Autores/as

  • V. Ernesto Méndez University of Vermont, Burlington
  • Martha Caswell University of Vermont, Burlington
  • Stephen R. Gliessman University of California
  • Roseann Cohen Community Agroecology Network (CAN), Santa Cruz
  • Heather Putnam
Palabras clave: Investigación comunitaria, cooperativas de agricultores, investigación transdisciplinaria, café, El Salvador, Nicaragua, México

Resumen

En la última década se ha visto un avance y un interés cada vez mayores sobre la integración de la agroecología y la investigación acción participativa (IAP). Este artículo tiene los siguientes objetivos: (1) analizar las características y principios clave de la IAP, usando dos estudios de casos que integraron IAP y agroecología en América Central; y (2) aprender de las lecciones ofrecidas por estos estudios de caso y otros de la literatura, sobre cómo integrar mejor IAP y agroecología. Los principios clave identificados para los procesos agroecológicos efectivos de IAP incluyen un interés compartido en la investigación por parte de los socios, una creencia en el poder / acción colectiva, un compromiso con la participación, la práctica de la humildad y el establecimiento de la confianza y la responsabilidad. Las lecciones importantes a considerar para el trabajo futuro incluyen: (1) procesos de investigación que no comenzaron con un enfoque de IAP, pueden evolucionar para incoporarlo; (2) la participación de los agricultores / partes interesadas en el establecimiento de la agenda de investigación, desde el comienzo, resulta en una mayor participación y mejores resultados; (3) tener los socios adecuados para los resultados deseados es clave; (4) la reflexión intencional y explícita es un componente esencial de los procesos de IAP; y (5) las colaboraciones intergeneracionales son cruciales para los beneficios a largo plazo. Los desafíos clave que enfrentan los procesos de IAP incluyen la necesidad de tiempo y recursos durante períodos más largos; la complejidad de la facilitación de procesos con múltiples actores; y las barreras institucionales dentro de la academia y las organizaciones de desarrollo, que aún no adoptan e inverierten adecuadamente en procesos agroecológicos integrales de IAP.

Descargas

Los datos de descargas todavía no están disponibles.

Citas

Araujo S. 2015. Farmworkers lead the way on people’s agroecology in the U.S. https://whyhunger.org/ connect/item/2770-farmworkers-lead-the-wayon-peoples-agroecology-in-the-u-s

Bacon C, Méndez VE, Brown M. 2005. Participatory action-research and support for community development and conservation: examples from shade coffee landscapes of El Salvador and Nicaragua. Santa Cruz, CA, U.S.A.: Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS), University of California.

Bacon C, Sundstrom WA, Flores-Gomez MA, Méndez VE, Santos R, Goldoftas B, Dougherty I. 2014. Explaining the ‘hungry farmer paradox’: Smallholders and fair trade cooperatives navigate seasonality and change in Nicaragua’s corn and coffee markets. Global Environmental Change 25: 133-149.

Bentley JW. 1994. Facts, fantasies, and failures of farmer participatory research. Agriculture and Human Values 11: 140-150. Doi: 10.1007/bf01530454

Bezner Kerr R, Nyantakyi-Frimpong H, Lupafya E, Dakishoni L. 2016. Food sovereignty, agroecology and resilience: competing or complementary frames? In Food sovereignty, agroecology and resilience: competing or complementary frames?, An International Colloquium on Global governance/ politics, Climate Justice & Agrarian/social Justice: Linkages and Challenges, Colloquium Paper # 65. The Hague: International Institute of Social Studies (IISS).

Cahill C. 2007. The personal is political: Developing new subjectivities through participatory action research. Gender Place and Culture 14: 267-292.

Cuéllar M, Calle A. 2011. Can we find solutions with people? Participatory action research with small organic producers in Andalusia. Journal of Rural Studies 27: 372-383. Doi: 10.1016/j. jrurstud.2011.08.004

Dlott J.W, Altieri MA, Masumoto M. 1994. Exploring the theory and practice of participatory research in US sustainable agriculture: a case study in insect pest management. Agriculture and Human Values 11: 126-139.

Eksvard K, Rydberg T. 2010. Integrating Participatory Learning and Action Research and Systems Ecology: A Potential for Sustainable Agriculture Transitions. Systemic Practice and Action Research 23: 467-486. Doi: 10.1007/s11213-010-9172-6

Fals-Borda O, Rahman MA. 1991. Action and knowledge: breaking the monopoly with participatory action-research. In Action and knowledge: breaking the monopoly with participatory action-research. New York, NY: The Apex Press.

Fox J.A. 2006. Lessons from action research partnerships. Development in Practice 16: 27-38.

Francis CA, Lieblein G, Breland TA, Salomonsson L, Geber U, Sriskandarajah N, Langer V. 2008. Transdisciplinary research for a sustainable agriculture and food sector. Agronomy Journal 100: 771-776. Doi: 10.2134/agronj2007.0073

Gliessman SR. 2015. Agroecology: the ecology of sustainable food systems. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/ Taylor & Francis.

Greenwood DJ, Levin M. 1998. Introduction to action research: social research for social change. Thousand Oaks, CA, U.S.A.: Sage Publications.

Greenwood DJ, Whyte WF, Harkavy I. 1993. Participatory Action Research As A Process And As A Goal. Human Relations 46: 175-192.

Grudens-Schuck N. 2000. Conflict and engagement: An empirical study of a farmer-extension partnership in a sustainable agriculture program. Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Ethics 13: 79-100.

Guzmán GI, Lopez D, Roman L, Alonso AM. 2013. Participatory Action Research in Agroecology: Building Local Organic Food Networks in Spain. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 37: 127-146. Doi: 10.1080/10440046.2012.718997

Jaffe R, Bacon CM. 2008. From differentiated coffee markets towards alternative trade and knowledge networks. In Confronting the coffee crisis: Fair Trade, sustainable livelihoods and ecosystems in Mexico and Central America (Bacon C, Méndez VE, Gliessman SR, Goodman D, Fox JA, eds.) Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, pp 311-336.

James EA, Milenkiewicz M, Bucknam A. 2008. Participatory action research for educational leadership :Using data-driven decision making to improve schools: Sage Publications.

Jones L, Bjelland D. 2004. International experiential learning in agriculture. In International experiential learning in agriculture, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education, 963-964. Dublin, Ireland: Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education.

Kindon S, Pain R, Kesby M. 2007. Participatory Action Research Approaches and Methods. In Participatory Action Research Approaches and Methods, Routledge Series in Human Geography. Oxon: Routledge.

La Via Campesina 2015. International Forum on Agroecology Declaration brings common understanding of agroecology. In International Forum on Agroecology Declaration brings common understanding of agroecology.

Levidow L, Pimbert M, Vanloqueren G. 2014. Agroecological Research: Conforming-or Transforming the Dominant Agro-Food Regime? Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 38: 1127-1155. doi: 10.1080/21683565.2014.951459

Méndez VE, Bacon CM, Cohen R. 2016a. Introduction: Agroecology as a transdisciplinary, participatory and action-oriented approach. In Agroecology: a transdisciplinary, participatory and action-oriented approach (Méndez VE, Bacon CM, Cohen R, Gliessman SR, eds.) CRC Press/Taylor and Francis, pp 1-22.

Méndez VE, Bacon CM, Cohen R, Gliessman SR. 2016b. Agroecology: a transdisciplinary, participatory and action-oriented approach. In Agroecology: a transdisciplinary, participatory and action-oriented approach, Advances in Agroecology: CRC Press/Taylor and Francis.

Méndez VE, Bacon CM, Cohen R. 2013. Agroecology as a transdisciplinary, participatory, and action-oriented approach. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 37: 3-18. doi:

Méndez VE. 2008. Farmers’ livelihoods and biodiversity conservation in a coffee landscape of El Salvador. In Confronting the coffee crisis: Fair Trade, sustainable livelihoods and ecosystems in Mexico and Central America (Bacon CM, Méndez VE, Gliessman SR, Goodman D, Fox JA, eds.). Cambridge, MA, U.S.A, pp 207-236.

Méndez VE. 2004. Traditional shade, rural livelihoods, and conservation in small coffee farms and cooperatives of western El Salvador. Ph.D. Department of Environmental Studies, University of California.

Méndez VE, Bacon CM, Olson M, Morris KS, Shattuck AK. 2010. Agrobiodiversity and shade coffee smallholder livelihoods: A review and synthesis of ten years of research in Central America. Professional Geographer 62: 357-376.

Méndez VE, Caswell M, Gliessman SR, Cohen R. 2017. Integrating Agroecology and Participatory Action Research (PAR): Lessons from Central America. Sustainability 9: 705. doi: 10.3390/su9050705

Méndez VE, Gliessman SR, Gilbert GS. 2007. Tree biodiversity in farmer cooperatives of a shade coffee landscape in western El Salvador. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 119: 145-159.

Minkler M, Wallerstein N. 2008. Community-based participatory research for health: From process to outcomes. In Community-based participatory research for health: From process to outcomes: Jossey Bass.

Morris KS, Méndez VE, Lovell ST, Olson M. 2013a. Conventional food plot management in an organic coffee cooperative: explaining the paradox. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 37: 762-787.

Morris KS, Méndez VE, Olson MB. 2013b. ‘Los meses flacos’: seasonal food insecurity in a Salvadoran organic coffee farming cooperative. Journal of Peasant Studies 40: 457-480.

Nyantakyi-Frimpong H, Hickey C, Lupafya E, Dakishoni L, Bezner Kerr R, Luginaah I, Katundu M. 2017. A farmer-to-farmer agroecological approach to addressing food security in Northern and Central Malawi. In Harnessing people’s knowledge for food system transformation (Wakeford T, Sanchez-Rodriguez J, Chang M, Buchanan C, Anderson C, eds.). Coventry, UK: CAWR.

Nyantakyi-Frimpong H, Nankasa Mambulu F, Bezner Kerr R, Luginaah I, Lupafya E. 2016. Agroecology and sustainable food systems: Participatory research to improve food security among HIVaffected households in northern Malawi. Social Science & Medicine 164: 89-99. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.020

Olson MB, Morris KS, Méndez VE 2012. Cultivation of maize landraces by small-scale shade coffee farmers in western El Salvador. Agricultural Sys10.1080/10440046.2012.736926 tems 111: 63-74. doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2012.05.005

Putnam H. 2016. Women Taking Risks: Coffee Leaf Rust Crisis in Nicaragua. W-E Digest. http://www.wedigest.org/dirt-women-taking-risks-experimentation-with-solutions-to-the-coffee-leafrust-crisis-in-nicaragua/

Putnam H, Cohen R, Jaffe RM. 2016. Agroecology as a food security and food sovereignty strategy in coffee-growing communities: opportunities and challenges in San Ramon, Nicaragua. In Agroecology: a transdisciplinary, participatory and action-oriented approach (Méndez VE, Bacon CM, Cohen R, Gliessman SR, eds.) Bocan Raton: CRC Press/Taylor and Francis, pp 193-216.

Putnam H, Gliessman SR. 2015. Nicaragua: Beneficial forest microorganisms in coffee production. In Replacing chemicals with biology: Phasting out highly hazardous pesticides with agroecology (Watts M, Williamson S, eds.) Malaysia: Pestucide Action Network Asia and the Pacific, pp 142-144.

Putnam H, Godek W, Kissmann S, Luckson Pierre J, Alvarado Dzul SH, Calix de Dios H, Gliessman SR. 2013. Coupling Agroecology and PAR to Identify Appropriate Food Security and Sovereignty Strategies in Indigenous Communities. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 38: 165-198. doi: 10.1080/21683565.2013.837422

Ruiz-Rosado O. 2006. Agroecology: A discipline leading towards transdiscipline. Interciencia 31: 140-145.

Selener D. 1997. Participatory action research and social change. Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell University Press.

Tervalon M, Murray-Garcia J. 1998. Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 9: 117-125. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2010.0233

Wezel A, Bellon S, Dore T, Francis C, Vallod D, David C. 2009. Agroecology as a science, a movement and a practice. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 29: 503-515. doi: 10.1051/agro/2009004

Whitmer A, Ogden L, Lawton J, Sturner P, Groffman PM, Schneider L, Hart D, Halpern B, Schlesinger W, Raciti S, Bettez N, Ortega S, Rustad L, Pickett STA, Killilea M. 2010. The engaged university: providing a platform for research that transforms society. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 8: 314-321. doi:10.1890/090241

Wingenbach GJ, Chmielewski N, Smith J, Piña Jr JM, Hamilton WT. 2006. Barriers to international experiential participation. Journal of International 10.1080/21683565.2013.837422 Agricultural and Extension Education 13: 79-89.

Publicado
27-06-2019
Cómo citar
Méndez, V. E., Caswell, M., Gliessman, S. R., Cohen, R., & Putnam, H. (2019). Agroecología e Investigación-Acción Participativa (IAP): Principios y Lecciones de Centroamérica. Agroecología, 13(1), 81–98. Recuperado a partir de https://revistas.um.es/agroecologia/article/view/385691
Número
Sección
Artículos