Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Florencia Fossa Riglos (UBA), Eugenia Muzi (UBA), Valeria Hernandez (IRD)
SUMMARY: This work analyses the relationship among climate factors, agricultural producers productive practices and their strategies to mitigate climate impacts. We will analyze climatic vulnerabilities and mitigation
strategies of different kind of agriculture producers. The needs of expert knowledge on climate are related to the socio-productive profile and local context of each farmer. The ways in which this knowledge is integrated by
producers in their mitigation strategies are also mediated by cognitive, material and symbolic factors. The emphasis will be placed on the conditions to elaborate mitigation strategies to reduce vulnerability and climate change
adaptation plans which are able to integrate expert knowledge needs according to different kind of social actors.
INTRODUCTION: The way in which climate factor information is incorporated by farmers in their productive practices is a complex process, in which myriad factors take part on. From producers own features (place of
residence, education level, local relations network, etc.) to environmental conditions (climate variability, soils, etc.), and structural conditions (macroeconomics, agricultural social structure, etc.) and contextual factors
(infrastructure, presence/absence of public policies, articulation with local climate expert community, etc.) Due to this diversity , we have applied an anthropological approach that allows us to address this complexity from the
ethnographic practice.
Ethnographic fieldwork has been performed in two contrasting agro-ecological regions of La Plata Basin (Argentina): Junn, in Buenos Aires Province, and San Justo Department, in Santa Fe Province. These ethnographies
extended from 2009 to 2011.
METODOLOGICAL APPROACH
We have applied the ethnographic method on two case studies, which allowed us to to reveal the point of view of each of the actors involved in the territories (agriculture producers, local politic authorities, and civil society)
trough individual interviews and participant observation in local collective interaction spaces. In both cases we settled for a long stay of approximately 10 months (between 2009 and 2010) and in the main city of each
productive zone selected. Then, during the rest of 2010 and 2011, we performed visits of variable lengths The cooperative relations with local actors were the result of a permanent interaction, based on the proposal of
generating knowledge from and for the actors of these territories. We call this dynamic a Co-production of socially meaningfull knowledge, which envolves diverse genres of knowledge (scientific, productive, social,
institutional, etc.), interests (economic, political, knowledge) and actors, all convoked to participate in the interaction space opened by means of the ethnography.
Our unit of analysis was the urban zone and the adjacent agriculture zone, area which we call agrocity. The agriculture seasons of reference were mainly 2008/09 and 2009/10; and secondly 2010/11.
Others/No data
1%
Dairy
Soybean 1
Corn
10%
Sunflower
17%
2,74%
0,00%
16,75%
Produced by tenants
1,72%
6,61%
50,93%
TS 2009
42,80%
42,43%
100% Agriculture
Others
0,28%
0,06%
100% Livestock
Wheat
54%
Others/No data
Mixed (Agriculturelivestock)
Soybean 2
15%
0,13%
0,00%
31,91%
5,27%
51,06%
51,87%
Produced by owners
62,19%
CNA 2002
TS 2009
CNA 2002
Results of the quantitative territorial scan on land use and tenure performed with local actors.
To evaluate the evolution of these variables we compared them with CNA 2002 data:
6%
4%
Soybean
9%
Sorghum
Sunflower
9%
Corn
Wheat
72%
Others
1,1%
0,00%
Forestall
0,1%
0,00%
Dairy
1,5%
0,00%
Agriculture-Livestock
100% Agriculture
0,51%
Others 0,00%
Surface in mix exploitation
39,6%
21,62%
13,56%
11,06%
19,5%
100% Livestock
21,08%
77,11%
TS 2009
46,41%
38,2%
1,26%
39,52%
CNA 2002
TS 2009
67,86%
CNA 2002
The charts above allow to observe the acceleration of agriculturalization process (more surface destined to agriculture) and the productive concentration by land tenants.
Along with soybean expansion, livestock activities were abandoned or gradually displaced towards nearby departments with less aptitude for agriculture.
Rainfall and yiels by crop (San Justo)
1800
Kg/ha
8000
1200
1000
6000
800
4000
600
400
2000
200
0
1969/70
1970/71
1971/72
1972/73
1973/74
1974/75
1975/76
1976/77
1977/78
1978/79
1979/80
1980/81
1981/82
1982/83
1983/84
1984/85
1985/86
1986/87
1987/88
1988/89
1989/90
1990/91
1991/92
1992/93
1993/94
1994/95
1995/96
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
Agricultural season
Soybean
Corn
Wheat
Sunflower
Mm r ainfall
1400
Mm rainfall
9000
2000
8000
1800
7000
1600
1400
6000
1200
5000
1000
4000
800
3000
600
2000
400
1000
200
0
Year
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
1600
10000
Kg/ha
12000
Mm r ainfall
Linen
Wheat
Corn
Sunflower
Soybean
Sorghum
Mm rainfall
Climatic Event
Agribuisness capitalized producers
Traditional practices and/or low capitalization producers
Draught (Impact according to Productive diversification relying on cattle (more
They didnt sow and waited for humidity accumulation on the ground
expensive and less profitable than soybean )
productive diversification)
Livestock: animal migration, geographic
Scarce or nule geographical diversification "nothing else to do"
Floods (Impact according to diversification
Agriculture: posibility of stocking wet grains on "grain-bags"
Little capital to manouver technological investments
land location and
Vulnerability to private channels construction and the drainage of the
geographical diversification) Private channels construction, no territorial
planification, differential appropiation of the territory water into their lands
Machinery Owner: prioritize their engament with bigger producers
Machinary
Owner:
flexibility
of
sowing
schedule
Frosts (Impact according to
over their own fileds labour schedule
farming schedule flexibility)
Machinary Contractee: priority over contractors and Machinary Contractee: conditioned by contractors schedule built
according to profit possibilities.
small producers (due to profitability)
Nio/Nia Cycles
Impact relativity:
Agroecological, socio-structural and symbolic factors interacting within a productive unit:
Kind of farming techniques and kind of crops.
Exploitation features: tenure, size, localization, kind of soil, etc.
Capitalization on infrastructure and machinery.
Climatic information available.
Representations, habits.
Family cycle and social capital.
INTEGRATED STRATEGIES
Complexity of actor's appropriation, which is central at the moment of
designing strategies to mitigate diverse climatic events impacts.
CONCLUSIONS
Extreme climatic events highlight structural social tensions inherent to modern agriculture productive model, which are not evident in times of high yields, economic benefits and in the absence of this climactic events. If, as
forecasted, there is an accentuation on the occurrence of such events, then socio-economic gaps among the current rural world different productive profiles will express more vigorously , which will introduce a social conflict
dynamics. In this context, State, trough the design of sectorial public policies that incorporate this complex analysis, integrating climatic, agro-ecological, social, economic, political and symbolic issues, could anticipate and regulate,
these inherently controversial trend.