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Agro-ecological transition of agricultural production systems at imbabura province of Ecuador

Abstract:

Transitional processes from conventional agricultural systems to agro ecological production systems has been promoted at Imbabura province in Ecuador, but development difficulties have been observed, due to farmer’s decisions for embracing transition, depends not only on the technology and local resources available, but also on several aspects of the surrounding social, economic and institutional system. A research was conducted, in order to characterize the transitional agro ecological degree of production systems at Imbabura province, regarding the social cooperation activity, the natural resources management and the public policies dynamics, A stratified random sample of 50 producers was taken, to whom a questionnaire was applied. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics. Cramer test was used to determine the relationships of each item to municipalities. Results showed that, in social dynamics, there is a high degree of trust, participation and reciprocity but it is necessary to strengthen exchange networks, also, it was observed a high degree of agro ecological and conservationist practices. Agro ecological transition is limited by public policy dynamics because there are no incentive programs and also there are few institutional incentives to support agro ecological work, even though it is established by the current Food sovereignty law. Participation and used of self-harvest seeds were related to municipality. Otavalo is the municipality that displays greater dynamism and progress in the process of agro-ecological transition.