Sustainability indicators in the evaluation of the agroecological reconversion process of potato production in the Marajabú community, Trujillo state

Abstract

The state of the potato production system in the region of the Venezuelan Trujillanos Andes evidenced bad
management practices and the consequent degradation of agroecosystems. Through participatory action research, the Association of Producers of Marajabú, together with researchers from the National Institute of Agricultural Research, began a process of agroecological reconversion in Potato Production Systems, with the objective of establishing and measuring the change in some sustainability indicators. Two workshops were held, the first to identify the baseline, there were established indicators associated to factors: social, environmental, and technical / productive. The values obtained were plotted using a multidimensional amoeba figure, to facilitate the analysis. A second workshop, after fifteen months of starting the work, changes in the initial indicators were evaluated, analyzing and establishing the critical points during the time of the investigation. Among the social indicators highlighted the exchange of experiences with other organizations and teamwork; progress in communication and strengthening the group’s capacity to take decisions. The technical / productive indicators
showed progress in the management of production under protected conditions, the environmental indicators highlighted the decrease in the use of agrochemicals and the use of alternative practices. Sustainability indicators
were key elements to understand the progress of this transition towards agroecological production. The importance of participatory research and permanent reflection in the training process in Agroecological reconversion for the sustainability of future generations was demonstrated.