Knowledge production in agroforestry systems of South America: Analysis of publications, international cooperation and the influence of funding origin.

R SOLER ESTEBAN; PL PERI; HA BAHAMONDE; V GARGAGLIONE; S ORMAECHEA; L SÁNCHEZ-JARDÓN; MV LENCINAS; G MARTÍNEZ PASTUR

Evora

Congreso; World Congress Silvo-pastoral Systems.; 2016

University of Evora

Information about agroforestry systems has increased sharply in South America during the last years, given its relevance in the development of regional economies. Knowledge production and its direction is influenced by different socio-political factors such as funding assigned by each country (state or private sector), institutions conducting the research and the particularities of the international cooperation (within or with different countries). These factors usually determine where and what research is conducted, and how the results obtained are interpreted and communicated. The objective of this contribution was to evaluate the research in agroforestry systems developed in South America: (i) publication issues, (ii) cooperation among institutions and countries, (iii) provenance founding, (iv) relationships between the provenance of founding and research objectives. We used Scopus database to search for and analyze scientific publications in agroforestry topics from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru, by extracting 25 scientific articles for each country (from 1983 - 2014). Most of them (85%) were published in international journals foreign to South America, such as Agroforestry Systems Journal (30%). In general, the studies were leaded by authors from South America (54%), and were co-authored by >3 people (72%) which impacted in a more interdisciplinary work (different institutions working together). Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile better represented interaction (cooperation) among institutions and countries, but using their own funding. Instead, 56% of the research in Paraguay was conducted by single author belongs toa single institution (81%), while Ecuador and Peru had almost 100% of the studies supported by foreign countries (USA and EU). In addition, countries with greater self-financing generated more long-term studies (>5 years). The objectives were mainly oriented to productivity in Argentina and Chile, conservation in Brazil, productivity and conservation in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and productivity and social topics in Paraguay. Cluster analysis highlighted two clear groups of countries: (i) Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru: where research were supported by external countries investigating conservation and social topics; and (ii) Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia: where research were supported by own countries with high cooperation among institutions investigating mainly productivity issues. The current knowledge about research of agroforestry in South America is heavily influenced by foreign interests, except in those countries where national governments leads and coordinates the national policy on science, technology and innovation.