1 / 2016-04-07 04:08:22

INNOVATIONS IN FAMILY FARMING TOWARDS COMPETITIVE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS: CASE STUDY FROM ESMERALDAS IN ECUADOR

9732,9729,9731,9730,7438

In Ecuador, Family Farming (FF) is the predominant form of agriculture for food production as it represents 80% of the agricultural employment of the rural population and provides almost the half of consumed basic food. This study deals with identification and characterization of innovations in familial farms and analysis of factors that affect their adoption. It values the strategic importance of the implication of innovations and technologies in FF in Ecuador. Results are based on an online survey applied with professionals from the three micro climate zones in the country; coast, mountain chain and Amazonia in order; to get a general overview and an accurate territorial case study carried out in Esmeraldas based on focus group discussions with farmers. They suggest a set of twenty nine innovations that come to support public policies makers and institutional frameworks in future strategies to let farmers produce competitively. The identified innovations have been classified according to multiple criteria: degree of novelty, nature and technological level. This generates eight types of innovations and an appraisal of fourteen typologies. A wide range of typologies has been evidenced in the field such as RPcG that corresponds to radical, process innovations based on generic technologies which modify profoundly the productive, environmental and economic parameters in production processes using existing technologies outside the local environment. However, to understand the social problematic of the innovations adoption, factors have been pointed out from which the most important are economic, cultural, organizational and lack of technical information. To conclude, it has been evidenced that in FF in the Ecuadorian context, many innovations are considered because they modify and improve a production system and are adapted to territorial conditions. However, they cannot be considered as such in other production systems or territories. Therefore, state or private interventions must adjust to these realities. Furthermore, the application of innovations in FF requires more than action by farmers alone, it involves the public sector, civil society and organizations in an innovation network to lead to a strong, competitive and sustainable FF.