RESEARCH WORK

 

Adoption of new agroecological practices in three basic units of cooperative production*

 

 

Yuván Contino-Esquijerosa1*, Jesús Manuel Iglesias-Gómez1, Odalys Caridad Toral-Pérez1, Janet Blanco-Lobaina2, Mario González-Novo3, Roberto Caballero-Grande3 and Eliecer Perera-Concepción3

1Estación Experimental de Pastos y Forrajes Indio Hatuey, Universidad de Matanzas, Ministerio de Educación Superior, Central España Republicana, CP 44280, Matanzas, Cuba
2Instituto de Investigaciones en Pastos y Forrajes, La Habana, Cuba
3Asociación Cubana de Técnicos Agrícolas y Forestales, La Habana, Cuba
Corresponding author's* e-mail: yuvan.contino@ihatuey.cu

 

 

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted in order to determine which new agroecological practices were adopted in the reconversion process of three basic units of cooperative production (UBPC, for the initials in Spanish) of the center and East of Cuba. They were located in Las Tunas (UBPC Maniabo), Camagüey (UBPC Primero de Enero) and Ciego de Ávila (UBPC La Estrella) provinces. Their social objects were animal production (milk and meat), and fruit, citrus and food crop production. The agroecological practices were quantified at the beginning, and the percentage of adoption of the new practices was compared after four years. The proportion comparison analysis was used, and the data were processed through the statistical package SPSS® version 11.5.1 for Microsoft Windows®. The UBPCs Estrella and Primero de Enero incorporated 30 and 24 new practices, respectively; while Maniabo incorporated only 13, because it already had implemented 36 from the recommended ones. The most introduced practices were the establishment of agroforestry systems, biological pest control and crop rotation. It is concluded that in all the UBPCs under study diverse agroecological practices were implemented as consequence of the reconversion process. The conception of the increase of biodiversity and complexity of the productive system conditioned the development of agroecological reconversion in the entities under study.

Keywords: alternative agriculture, biodiversity, food security

 

 

INTRODUCTION

Sustainable food production without affecting the environment is a challenge for the current society, which entails transforming the conventional systems of agricultural exploitation into agroecological systems, in productive entities (Hernández-Mansilla et al., 2013).

Agroecology is defined today as the fundamental science to guide the conversion of conventional production systems, based on monocrops that depend on inputs and agrochemicals, towards more diversified and self-sufficient systems, in harmony with the environment and the optimization of the agroecosystem (De Schutter, 2010). In addition, it provides the ecological bases for the maintenance of biodiversity in agriculture, and plays a relevant role in the reestablishment of the balance of agroecosystems to reach sustainable production (Toledo-Toledo, 2017).

In this sense, the development of technological strategies compatible with the rational management of agroecosystems has been, during the last decades, the main concern of the institutions in charge of promoting rural development and setting in motion a wide process of validation, dissemination and implementation of proposals under the approach of sustainability (Vera-Pérez, 2011).

Altieri and Nicholls (2007) stated that an agroecological reconversion process in a productive unit generates direct and indirect transformations, especially in biodiversity and soils. Meanwhile, García-Barrios and González-Espinosa (2017) stated the need of using agroecological paradigms, which integrate processes and in which the agricultural practices are adapted to the specific conditions of each rural area.

In Cuba, the basic units of cooperative production (UBPCs) emerged in the early nineties and followed the paradigm of the Green Revolution, but at present thy aim their efforts at improving their economic efficiency and profitability, from the diversification of their productions, in view of agroecological re-conversion; this means a change in technologies and management systems, as well as in the involved actors' mentality, in order to increase productivity (Vázquez-Moreno and Fernández-Trujillo, 2016).

The objective of this study was to determine the new agroecological practices adopted in the reconversion process of three basic units of cooperative production of central and eastern Cuba.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Location of the studied basic units of cooperative production. The work was conducted in the UBPCs Maniabo, Primero de Enero and La Estrella. Their main characteristics are described in table 1

 

Selected indicators for the evaluation and follow-up of the agroecological reconversion process

A set of indicators was identified (table 2), mainly of sustainability, which served as basis to select the agroecological practices to be recommended for the agroecological reconversion process in each productive form. This identification was made in a coordination meeting with a group of experts from entities such as the Institute of Plant Health Research (INISAV), the Pastures and Forages Research Station Indio Hatuey (EEPF IH) and the Pastures and Forages Research Institute (IIPF), with the participation of members and the president of the National Agroecological Table of the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians (ACTAF).

In the analysis the selection of easily understood and measured indicators, whose information was feasible to obtain, was considered, with the highest possible reliability, and the previous studies by Funes-Monzote et al. (2009), Vera-Pérez (2011) and (Blanco-Lobaina et al., 2013), were taken into consideration.

 

Selected agroecological practices

From group work, the expert team and the main actors involved defined 66 feasible agroecological practices (table 3) to be implemented in the farms of the studied UBPCs these practices were grouped by general topics, such as: establishment of agroforestry systems (9 practices), soil conservation and protection (6), use of organic fertilizers (11), biological pest control (4), production of organic fertilizers (6), crop rotation (5), production diversification (14), polycropping (7) and other practices (4).

The agroecological practices were quantified at the beginning and the adoption percentage of the new practices was compared after four years. A percentage evolution table of the adoption of the practices in the three UBPCs was elaborated.

Statistical processing. For the data analysis the proportion comparison analysis (chi-square) was used with the statistical package SPSS® version 11.5.1 for Microsoft Windows®.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 4 shows the percentage evolution of the introduction of agroecological practices in the three UBPCs. It was observed that the practices related to pest biological control were all adopted in the three units. Among them were those recommended by Nicholls et al. (2015), such as the use of biopesticides or biological means, the use of color or odor traps, the use of natural repellent or medicinal plant preparations and the application to the soil and to the efficient microorganism plants.

The practices related to the establishment of agroforestry systems were next in order of adoption, although the UBPC Maniabo did not introduce any, because at the beginning of the study it had seven of the nine recommended ones, among which living fences, underbrush, protein banks and the recovery and planting of trees in areas invaded by Dichrostachys cinerea and Acacia farnesiana, stood out.

The other UBPCs worked on planting the hydro-regulating zones, living fences, intercropped trees on non-productive soils, associations of grasses with legume trees, recovery of idle lands or lands invaded by thorny shrubs, among others.

In this regard, it is known that trees can contribute foodstuffs of high nutritional value for livestock and for humans, and this helps to achieve self-sustainability of the system, besides propitiating the maximum recirculation of nutrients and the protection and maintenance of the environment (Congo-Yépez et al., 2018).

They improve soil fertility, because many are capable of fixing nitrogen and their litter increases the organic matter contents; and, in turn, the biodiversity of the ecosystem is higher, by facilitating the nesting of many bird species. Tree planting offers environmental advantages that allow to establish productive, sustainable and environment-friendly agroecosystems, and it is also an alternative income source for the sale of timber or seed (Olivares-Pérez et al., 2018).

With regards to polycropping and crop rotation, the UBPCs La Estrella and Primero de Enero, with emphasis on fruit production, barely used any of the practices associated with the evaluated indicators; however, at the end of the reconversion process they had introduced between three and four practices, respectively, which was related to the beginning of a planned diversification process of their plant production and intercropping in areas of fruit plantations and vice versa.

In this regard, García-González et al. (2015) observed that crop rotation and polycropping are developed in order to stimulate the natural fertility of the soil, control pests, restore the productive capacity and obtain higher land equivalent use (LEU), for which these practices can increase yields in most of the economically important crops.

In the efficient land use, crop associations constitute the fundamental part and are used to stimulate the natural fertility of the soil, control pests and restore the productive capacity (Espinoza et al., 2012). Nevertheless, the high degree of specialization of the UBPC La Estrella in previous years did not allow that during the studied reconversion process a high degree of productive diversification was achieved (it introduced six of the 14 recommended practices to improve the LEU).

The production of organic fertilizers constituted the least achieved practice during the agroecological reconversion process. The UBPC Maniabo was the only one that produced these fertilizers at the beginning of the study, mainly compost and humus, from cattle manure; however, the other entities based their fertilization on chemical products.

After four years of evaluation, the UBPC Maniabo had not introduced any other practice and the others used four agroecological practices from the six recommended ones, for 66,6 % of adoption, for which they wasted the advantages of these organic products that minimize or eradicate the imports of chemical fertilizers and improve long-term soil fertility (Latifah et al., 2017).

The introduction of new agroecological practices in the farms of the UBPCs allowed the cooperative members to start producing  with higher biological, productive, economic, energy and environmental efficiency (Funes-Monzote, 2009); and thus obtain healthy and abundant foodstuffs from the rational use of inputs, which propitiates higher incomes in the farm and improvements in the workers’ welfare.

Table 5 shows the adoption percentage of the agroecologcal practices at the beginning and end of the evaluation, with highly significant differences (p < 0,001) in the three UBPCs. The UBPC La Estrella stood out, which had implemented 15 practices at the beginning of the evaluation from the 66 recommended ones, and with the reconversion process 30 of them could be included. In the other UBPCs an increase of the use of new agroecological practices was shown, although it is necessary to clarify that they started an agroecological reconversion process with a higher diversification level than the former.

The increase of the use of new practices in all the units was influenced by the empowering of local actors and training activities carried out throughout the agroecological reconversion process.

In general, a reconversion process was observed in all the UBPCs, because at the beginning the adoption percentage varied between 22,7 and 54,5 %, and at the end, between 68,2 and 78,8 %, which proved that in spite of the short period of study the motivation of local actors for the adoption of these good practices was achieved.

The way in which the reconversion process was carried out in the farms of the UBPCs fulfilled the foundations and considerations expressed by Gliessman et al. (2007) about the development of transitional processes of conversion from conventional systems to diversified systems of low management intensity, in which the progressive elimination of agrochemical inputs, through the rationalization and improvement of the efficiency of external inputs through the strategies of integrated management of pests, weeds, soil and water, becomes indispensable.

In this sense, diverse reports of literature emphasize the importance of establishing higher biodiversity in the farms, to obtain agroecological production based on the conservation of nature and the respect to the environment, which also contributes to the organization of farmers to sustainably face input scarcity.

During this study work was done on the motivation and training of 1 759 farmers, professors, technicians, students and decision-makers (1 024 men and 735 women) on topics of agroecology, management, popular education, communication, crop technologies, animal husbandry technologies, among others. Nine national training workshops were also carried out, with the participation of 58 women and 96 men, mainly focused on the formation and updating of multipliers (Llanes et al., 2014).

In that sense, Santos-Gómez (2009) refers that these processes are effective methodological elements to establish a dialog between experts and farmers, and that they also facilitate the collective construction of knowledge and guarantee the inclusion of agroecological principles in the technological activity of reconversion.

Elizondo (2013) stated that training must contribute to the change of mentality to the improvement of the administrative management and to the increase of the capacities of men and women in the agricultural sector in the search for new sustainable alternatives for local food security.

It is concluded that in the three UBPCs diverse agroecological practices were implemented as consequence of the reconversion process, with emphasis on the ones related to the establishment of agroforestry systems, biological pest control and crop rotation. Likewise, the diversification of the productive system conditioned the higher adoption of agroecological practices during the reconversion process of the entities.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the work team of the Biomathematics Research Department of the Institute of Animal Science (ICA) –Mayabeque, Cuba–, for the organization and processing of the data generated by the results of this study; and also Onelvis Barrero Hidalgo, Oscar Ramírez Falcón and Lupe Anacario López Sosa, presidents of the UBPCs Maniabo, Primero de Enero and La Estrella, respectively, for the contribution of the necessary information for writing this paper.

In addition, the European Union, HIVOS, SDC and MINAG, for the financial support and collaboration in the execution of the international project «Agroecological articulation-design of sustainable alternatives for local food security», of ACTAF.

 

 

Received: April 27, 2017
Accepted: February 14, 2018

 

 

*This result corresponds to the execution of the international project «Agroecological articulation-design of sustainable alternatives for local food security», of the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forestry Technicians (ACTAF), co-funded by the European Union, HIVOS, SDC and the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG).