Sustainable farmers, deficient State? Self-reported agricultural sustainability in the Argentine Chaco region

SEGHEZZO, LUCAS; HUARANCA, LAURA LILIANA; VEGA, MÓNICA LILIANA; JECKELN, GABRIELA VIRGINIA; AVALOS, MARCELA ANDREA; IRIBARNEGARAY, MARTÍN ALEJANDRO; VOLANTE, JOSÉ NORBERTO; SERRANO, FEDERICO HERNÁN MÓNICO; MASTRANGELO, MATÍAS; SUN, ZHANLI; MÜLLER, DANIEL

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY

EARTHSCAN

Año: 2020 p. 1 - 19

1473-5903

Unsustainable production systems can exacerbate the negative consequences ofdeforestation and land use change, increasing the vulnerability of local populationsto environmental or economic crises. We developed and applied a participatorymethod to assess the sustainability of agricultural production systems in the Chacoregion of Northern Argentina. We used a combination of theoretical,methodological, and analytical approaches. The theoretical foundation of our studywas Elinor Ostrom?s general framework for analyzing the sustainability of socialecologicalsystems (SESs). Our main methodological tool was a participatory,empirical, semi-quantitative multi-criteria decision making methodology based onexpert meetings, field trips, and semi-structured interviews. We also made use of apolitical ecology approach to situate our case study and put our empirical results inperspective by relating them to issues of power and environmental justice. Ourfindings suggest that local farmers perceive their production systems as barelysustainable, with variables such as type of activity and farm size, among others,clearly influencing their sustainability estimations. Sustainability seems dependenton the skills and organization abilities of local farmers, with the State failing toprovide sufficient basic infrastructure and enabling services. Our method couldinform policy making aimed at improving the sustainability of agricultural practicesin the region.