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

ABSTRACT

Unsustainable production systems can exacerbate the negative consequences of deforestation and land use change, increasing the vulnerability of local populations to environmental or economic crises. We developed and applied a participatory method to assess the sustainability of agricultural production systems in the Chaco region of Northern Argentina. We used a combination of theoretical, methodological, and analytical approaches. The theoretical foundation of our study was Elinor Ostrom's general framework for analyzing the sustainability of social-ecological systems (SESs). Our main methodological tool was a participatory, empirical, semi-quantitative multi-criteria decision making methodology based on expert meetings, field trips, and semi-structured interviews. We also made use of a political ecology approach to situate our case study and put our empirical results in perspective by relating them to issues of power and environmental justice. Our findings suggest that local farmers perceive their production systems as barely sustainable, with variables such as type of activity and farm size, among others, clearly influencing their sustainability estimations. Sustainability seems dependent on the skills and organization abilities of local farmers, with the State failing to provide sufficient basic infrastructure and enabling services. Our method could inform policy making aimed at improving the sustainability of agricultural practices in the region.

KEYWORDS:

• Agricultural sustainability
• farming systems
• political ecology
• resilience
• sustainability indicators

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by CONICET, ANPCyT (Agency of Scientific and Technological Promotion of Argentina), and INTA through projects PICTO Native Forests 2014-0049 and PNNAT 1128031. We acknowledge funding by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through project PASANOA (Pathways to sustainable land management in Northern Argentina, 031B0034A) and the European Union through project EUROCLIMA+ (Project Forests, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems). We are particularly grateful to the respondents of the surveys. Insightful comments and suggestions from the editor and reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Lucas Seghezzo is a researcher of the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research of Argentina (CONICET). He holds a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University (the Netherlands). His current research focuseson sustainability assessment, land use change processes, and the global production network of agricultural and mining commodities.

Laura Liliana Huaranca is an environmental engineer from the National University of Salta (UNSa). She is a Ph.D. candidate with a scholarship from CONICET. Her research topics include sustainability indicators, ecosystem services, and landscape ecology in the Chaco region.

Mónica Liliana Vega is an environmental engineer from UNSa who did her graduate thesis on the assessment of the sustainability of differenttypes of agricultural farms in the Chaco region of Salta. She is currently working in the renewable energy sector and the food industry asenvironmental and safety consultant.

Gabriela Virginia Jeckeln is an environmental engineer from UNSa. Her graduate thesis was a followup on the work done by Mónica Liliana Vega on the sustainability of agricultural farms in the Chaco region. She is currently with the forestmanagement service of the government of the northern province of Jujuy.

Marcela Andrea Avalos is an agricultural engineer working in the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA). She is currently based at the INTA office in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, where she isworking on sustainability indicators. She is currently finishing her M.Sc. thesis on the sustainability of agricultural farms in her research area.

Martín Alejandro Iribarnegaray graduated as environmental engineer and holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from UNSa. He is a researcher with CONICET. His research relates to the governance and sustainability of water and sanitation management systems in urbanand peri-urban settings. He also works on the water-energy nexus, water safety plans, and the governance of natural resources.

José Norberto Volante is researcher at INTA based in Salta, Argentina. He coordinates the National Program of Natural Resources and Environmental Management and several projects on land use and land cover changes using remote sensing techniques. He holds a Ph.D.from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

Federico Hernán Mónico Serrano is an agricultural engineer with vast experience in the Chacoregion. He has been working for decades with large- and small-scale producers as head of the Extension Agency of INTA in Joaquín V.González.

Matías Mastrangelo graduated in Biological Sciences from the National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina. He holds a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. He is a researcher with CONICET. His research focus is on the development of conceptual and methodological tools to improve our understanding of ecological and social changes in rural landscapes.

Zhanli Sun was trained as a cartographer in college and received a Ph.D. degree in Geography from the Chinese Academy of sciences. His research is focused on land system change with various analytical and simulating models, including agent-based modeling, systemdynamics and Bayesian networks. He joined the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO) as a senior researcher in the Department Structural Change.

Daniel Müller is Deputy Head of the Department Structural Development of Farms and Rural Areas (Structural Change) at IAMO and lecturer at the Geography Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The overarching goal of his research program is to advance the understanding of land-system change, including its repercussions on human welfare, foodproduction, carbon balance, and biodiversity.

Notes

1 Newspaper ‘La Gaceta’, Salta, 5 April 2017. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

2 See also: https://es.climate-data.org/america-del-sur/argentina/salta/las-lajitas-146151/. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

3 Newspaper ‘El Tribuno’, Salta, 31 March 2017. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

4 Newspaper ‘La Gaceta’, Salta, 4 April 2017. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

5 See: https://www.greenpeace.org/archive-argentina/es/noticias/Las-inundaciones-que-sufre-Argentina-se-deben-a-la-deforestacion-y-al-cambio-climatico/. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

6 Newspaper ‘La Gaceta’, Salta, 5 April 2017. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

7 Newspaper ‘Nuevo Diario de Salta’, Salta, 6 April 2017. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

8 See: http://municipalidadsalta.gob.ar/prensa/index.php/salta-se-capacito-para-trabajar-como-ciudad-resiliente/. Last accessed 28 November 2018.

9 See: www.granchacoproadapt.org. Last accessed 28 November 2018.

10 Newspaper ‘Nuevo Diario de Salta’, Salta, 23 October 2018. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

11 National News Agency ‘Télam’, Buenos Aires, 27 October 2018. Last accessed 7 December 2018.

12 See: https://viapais.com.ar/salta/661696-en-tres-dias-llovio-en-apolinario-saravia-el-70-de-lo-que-llueve-en-el-ano/. Last accessed 22 April 2019.

13 Data adapted from: www.monitoreodesmonte.com.ar. Last accessed 29 October 2018.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by CONICET, ANPCyT (Agency of Scientific and Technological Promotion of Argentina), and INTA through projects PICTO Native Forests 2014-0049 and PNNAT 1128031. We acknowledge funding by the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) of Germany through project PASANOA (Pathways to sustainable land management in Northern Argentina, 031B0034A) and the European Union through project EUROCLIMA+ (Project Forests, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems) (Expertise France 16DDU0C116).