Abstract

CONTINO-ESQUIJEROSA, Yuván et al. Adoption of new agroecological practices in three basic units of cooperative production. Pastos y Forrajes [online]. 2018, vol.41, n.1, pp.56-63. ISSN 0864-0394.

The study was conducted in order to determine which new agroecological practices were adopted in the reconversion process of three basic units of cooperative production (UBPC, for the initials in Spanish) of the center and East of Cuba. They were located in Las Tunas (UBPC Maniabo), Camagüey (UBPC Primero de Enero) and Ciego de Ávila (UBPC La Estrella) provinces. Their social objects were animal production (milk and meat), and fruit, citrus and food crop production. The agroecological practices were quantified at the beginning, and the percentage of adoption of the new practices was compared after four years. The proportion comparison analysis was used, and the data were processed through the statistical package SPSS® version 11.5.1 for Microsoft Windows®. The UBPCs Estrella and Primero de Enero incorporated 30 and 24 new practices, respectively; while Maniabo incorporated only 13, because it already had implemented 36 from the recommended ones. The most introduced practices were the establishment of agroforestry systems, biological pest control and crop rotation. It is concluded that in all the UBPCs under study diverse agroecological practices were implemented as consequence of the reconversion process. The conception of the increase of biodiversity and complexity of the productive system conditioned the development of agroecological reconversion in the entities under study.

Keywords : alternative agriculture; biodiversity; food security.

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