Suchergebnisse

Altres ajuts: Republics de Ecuador, proyecto "Centro de Prospectiva Estratégica" (CUP00101819) ; The cultivation of coffee and cocoa is the main source of income for small farmers in the northern Amazon region in Ecuador. As border area, they have been beneficiaries of multiple public and private institutions, principality designed to reactivate the production of coffee and cocoa. The goal was to improve the quality of life of local population threatened by poverty and characterised by high level of immigration from Colombia. The current study was carried out to outline the main obstacles faced by producer associations in order to identify policy measures to address these. This study show data of organisational structure, initiatives for marketing under partnerships, and storage infrastructure with an estimate for the production of coffee and cocoa, based on primary and secondary information. It also implies that the government could play a bigger role supporting peasant organisations in different aspects like: capture of added value by peasants; associative commercialisation with a focus on a popular and solidary economy; and offering flexible credit. All of this would encourage participatory, sustainable rural business ventures. Finally, we present different alternatives for improve the implementation of public agricultural policies, about of organisational structure of the producers, commercialisation processes and environmental concerns. ; El café y el cultivo del cacao es la principal fuente de ingresos para los pequeños agricultores de la región norte del Amazonas en Ecuador. A medida que la zona fronteriza, estos agricultores se beneficiaron de varias instituciones públicas y privadas, principalmente destinadas a reactivar la producción de café y cacao. El objetivo era mejorar y aumentar la calidad de vida de la población local amenazada por la pobreza y que se caracteriza por la inmigración colombiana de alto nivel. Este estudio se realizó para delinear los principales obstáculos que encuentran las asociaciones de productores con el fin de identificar las medidas de política para hacer frente a ellos. Este estudio muestra los datos de la estructura organizativa, las iniciativas de la comercialización en las asociaciones y la infraestructura de almacenamiento con una estimación para la producción de café y cacao, con base en información primaria y secundaria. También implica que el gobierno podría desempeñar un papel más importante en el apoyo a las organizaciones campesinas en diferentes aspectos, como la captura del valor añadido de los campesinos; la comercialización a través de cooperación con un enfoque en una economía popular y solidaria; y ofreciendo la flexibilidad de crédito. Todo esto alentaría a las actividades de participación, las empresas rurales sostenibles. Finalmente, se muestran diferentes alternativas para mejorar las políticas agrícolas poner en práctica, con respecto a la estructura organizativa de los productores, los procesos comerciales y los aspectos medioambientales.

Abstract Food self-sufficiency is a relevant political issue in many countries, developed and developing, particularly to satisfy the internal nutritional needs of the population and face situations in which the prices of basic products are unstable or when a country faces an external shock. Improving resilience involves strengthening local rural communities to meet demand with domestic production. The member countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LCN) produce enough food to sustain their population and to be one of the world's largest food exporters. From the theoretical discussion and using data from FAO, the research shows that there is a potential to improve food sovereignty and to define food and agricultural policies through agricultural complementarity among the LCN countries. Diverting part of the current trade with third parties to intraregional trade, for products in which the region has a comparative advantage, would mean that LCN countries could save up to 2.7 billion dollars per year, that is, 6.8% of total imports of food in 2018, avoiding the outflow of foreign currency and promoting greater economic integration between countries.

Altres ajuts: Fondecyt Regular (1150569) ; Este artículo pretende analizar críticamente y exponer el proceso de apropiación y explotación de los recursos en Ecuador, el cual se vincula con el objetivo político de la soberanía sobre aquellos recursos y los procesos propuestos de cambio de la matriz productiva, junto a la búsqueda de construcción de una economía social del conocimiento, enfatizando en la relevancia de la planificación, la inversión en ciencia y tecnología, y la institucionalización de estas acciones en normas, leyes, organismos y políticas públicas. La propuesta se realiza a través de la revisión, estudio y análisis de documentación oficial, complementada con material de prensa y contrastada con información emanada de fuentes institucionales. Finalmente, se establecen algunas propuestas y conclusiones como elementos que pudiesen contribuir en los procesos señalados particularmente en Ecuador, y, más ampliamente, en otras experiencias de apropiación y utilización soberana de los recursos naturales y búsqueda del desarrollo en América Latina. ; The aim of this article is to analyze the resources appropriation and exploitation process in Ecuador, which is associated to the political objective of sovereignty over resources and the suggested processes of change in the productive matrix as well as the search of social knowledge economy, emphasizing the relevance of planning; the investment in science and technology; and the institutionalization of these actions through regulations, laws, organizations, and public policies. This work was carried out through the revision, study and analysis of official documentation, which is complemented by press release and contrasted with information from institutional sources. Finally, some proposals and conclusions are established as useful elements that could contribute to the above-mentioned processes particularly in Ecuador and, more widely, in other experiences of appropriation and sovereign utilization of natural resources as well as the search of development in Latin America.

Cambodia is currently experiencing profound processes of rural change, driven by an emerging trend of large-scale land deals. This article discusses potential future pathways by analyzing two contrasting visions and realities of land use: the aim of the governmental elites to foster surplus-producing rural areas for overall economic growth, employment creation and ultimately poverty reduction, and the attempts of smallholders to maintain and create livelihoods based on largely self-sufficient rural systems. Based on the MuSIASEM approach, the rural economy of Cambodia and different rural system types are analyzed by looking at their metabolic pattern in terms of land use, human activity, and produced and consumed flows. The analysis shows that the pathways of self-sufficiency and surplus production are largely not compatible in the long term. Cambodia's rural labor force is expected to increase enormously over the next decades, while available land for the smallholder sector has become scarce due to the granting of Economic Land Concessions (ELC). Consequently, acceleration in rural-urban migration may be expected, accompanied by a transition from self-employed smallholders to employment-dependent laborers. If the ELC system achieves to turn the reserved land into viable agribusinesses, it might enable added value creation; however, it does not bring substantial amounts of employment opportunities to rural areas. On the contrary, ELC have high opportunity costs in terms of rural livelihoods based on smallholder land uses and thus drive the marginalization of Cambodian smallholders.

Supporting small farmer livelihoods in fragile, biodiverse regions, such as tropical forests, is a priority for many development agencies and national governments. These regions tend to be characterized by recent human settlements, increasing populations and infrastructure development, as well as competitive land use activities, which exert pressure on fragile ecosystems. Improvement in livelihood strategies often focuses on increasing yields by improving productivity, but without taking into account alternative methods, such as better agricultural practices and their dependence on agrochemical inputs, changing land use through crop substitution, or improving product commercialization. In this research, we use household types, defined according to different land use patterns, in the Northern Amazon region of Ecuador to explore the limitations of, and identify future options for, improving livelihood strategies based on small-scale coffee and cocoa production. The results of the different types are discussed in order to highlight the methods' utility and identify benefits in terms of environmental and social objectives versus economic profitability. Lessons are drawn that could be useful in applications of public policy aimed at the betterment of small coffee grower and cocoa farmer livelihood strategies, which involve thousands of families in the Amazon region of Ecuador, without compromising the environment.

This paper applies the so-called Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM), based on Georgescu-Roegen's fund-flow model, to the Spanish region of Catalonia. It arrives to the conclusion that within the context of the end of cheap oil, the current development model of the Catalan economy, based on the growth of low-productivity sectors such as services and construction, must be changed. The change is needed not only because of the increasing scarcity of affordable energy and the increasing environmental impact of present development, but also because of the aging population. Moreover, the situation experienced by Catalonia is similar to that of other European countries and many other developed countries. This implies that we can expect a wave of major structural changes in the economy of developed countries worldwide. To make things more challenging, according to current trends, the energy intensity and exosomatic energy metabolism of Catalonia will keep increasing in the near future. To avoid a reduction in the standard of living of Catalans due to a reduction in the available energy it is important that the Government of Catalonia implement major adjustments and conservation efforts in both the household and paid-work sectors.

Supporting smallholders' livelihoods in fragile and biodiversity rich regions such as rainforests is a priority of many development agencies and national governments. These regions tend to be characterized by recent settlements, increasing population and infrastructure, as well as land use competing activities that put pressure upon fragile ecosystems. Research aimed at improving livelihood strategies often focuses on increasing yields and productivity, but fails to account for alternative measures such as improving agricultural practices, changing land use or improving commercialization. This paper uses household types defined according to different land use patterns in the northern Amazon region of Ecuador to explore limitations and identify future options for improving livelihood strategies based in the small-scale production of coffee and cocoa. Results for application to four types are discussed, which highlight the utility of the method and identify trade-offs in terms of environmental and social goals versus profitability. Lessons are drawn that can inform public policies oriented to improving livelihood strategies of small producers of coffee and cocoa in the Amazon region without compromising the environment.

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M ; Food self-sufficiency is a relevant political issue in many countries, developed and developing, particularly to satisfy the internal nutritional needs of the population and face situations in which the prices of basic products are unstable or when a country faces an external shock. Improving resilience involves strengthening local rural communities to meet demand with domestic production. The member countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LCN) produce enough food to sustain their population and to be one of the world's largest food exporters. From the theoretical discussion and using data from FAO, the research shows that there is a potential to improve food sovereignty and to define food and agricultural policies through agricultural complementarity among the LCN countries. Diverting part of the current trade with third parties to intraregional trade, for products in which the region has a comparative advantage, would mean that LCN countries could save up to 2.7 billion dollars per year, that is, 6.8%of total imports of food in 2018, avoiding the outflow of foreign currency and promoting greater economic integration between countries.