Search

There are different theoretical models on innovation processes, but little has been studied on the actual practices of researchers in these processes. This paper describes the role played by researchers in the framework of innovation and rural development processes by analyzing tensions between real and ideal practices. Fifteen researchers from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology in the northeastern region of Argentina were interviewed. The results show that models of innovation coexist in the real practices and in the ideal role described by the interviewees. The importance of generating spaces for reflection to rethink their role to enhance innovation processes is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to point out the advances in political ecology studies on hydroelectric power plants. For this purpose, a systematic review methodology of scientific literature was used, resulting in important reflections on four topics: accumulation processes linked to the development of hydroelectric projects; socio-environmental conflicts originated in disputes over rural territories; resistance mechanisms of affected rural communities; and institutional governance to manage conflicts. It is concluded that it is necessary to address territorial inequities of structural origin, which are deepened by the implementation of hydroelectric projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the importance that agro industrial innovation systems are gaining in developing countries, such as Colombia, a territory with an agricultural vocation by nature. Based on the above, first this paper presents an approach to the concept, Second, the document also presents the importance of intermediary agents in their synergy, who facilitate the processes of knowledge and technology transfer between the different actors of academia, industry, government and civil society, opening the way to possible alternatives, aiming at strengthening sectoral innovation systems from the economic, social, political and even environmental approaches. Taking into account the above, a literature search was conducted in Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science, focused on studying the role of intermediary agents in the innovation processes related to agroindustry from the perspective of a sectoral innovation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor inactivity, especially among women belonging to rural populations, is an artificially homogeneous concept in which habitualness and transience coexist. This paper analyzes the inactivity in the rural women and their decision-making routes, how their contributing role is render invisible, and the cultural norm influencing this issue. While taking care of the family is one of the main reasons refraining them from working, a strong presence of potentially active women is reported. This fact accounts for the transience and relevance of the cultural context in the woman's decision-making sphere, reinforced by her educative capital, her partner and her age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of honey is one of the most unresearched topics in Colombia. The bibliographic review in this paper identified the physical-chemical characteristics of the honey that must be considered to establish the honey quality. It was found that the parameters acidity, pH, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), ashes, electric conductivity, sugars, moisture, among others, are the most frequently used. In this review 60 articles were selected based on criteria like geographic origin, publication recentness, and research topic relevance. At the end, some potential non-traditional applications for the honey are set out that, in turn, would open new spaces for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a prioritisation of primary and secondary factors that critically affect the implementation of a programme of good agricultural practices (GAP) among small fruit and coffee producers working in the department of Huila in Colombia. The paper uses the methodology of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with two decision-making groups; it reveals that the main obstacle in implementing a GAP programme is the lack of necessary investments in infrastructure with a relative importance of 21.8%, supported by the secondary critical factor 'high costs in investment', with a relative importance of 10.7% - which is without a doubt indicative of how far behind small producers are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies territorialities and contemporary rural dynamics in the south of France and the north of Spain based on the impact of intra-European rural migrations. Its methodology is based on: 1) the understanding and the practise of categories and classifications such as fields of knowledge and relation; 2) fieldwork data as the starting point for developing an ethnography based on observations, interviews and maps. Furthermore, secondary information was considered in order to measure the global significance of this phenomenon. Consequently, the paper highlights the existence of conflicts and negotiations between immigrants and local people, theoretical concepts applicable to similar situations, and the extension of the thematic corpus on rural migrations -studies which, in Europe, have focused on migration in southern continents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organizational system associated with the development of rural tourism in the department of Antioquia tends to establish informal networks. The purpose of this paper is to study the flow of information and the interdependence between stakeholders in Eastern and Southwestern networks, with the aim of understanding their impact on governance as a condition of development. Social Network Analysis is adopted in this paper. The results show two phenomena: first, information can flow faster in the Eastern network thanks to its density. Second, it is in the Southwestern network where public-private relations and public non-governmental actions determine the governance of the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a critical revision of conceptual frameworks that have analyzed the nature of the relationship peasant-ecosystems. This need arises from the acknowledgement that rural space and -particularly the peasants inhabiting it- currently undergo a sociopolitical resignification that stems from the revalorization of ecosystem services in the face of the global environmental crisis. Such issues call not only to deconstruct traditional frameworks that have explained this problem, but also to analyze the new meanings that different social actors give to this interaction. Drawing upon a framework based on critical sociology and political ecology, the paper proposes the concepts of "ecosocial solidarity" and "ecosocial project" in order to grasp the rationale leading the practices carried out by peasants in relation to ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present article is to prove that climate by-products can be used as agricultural insurance protection against climate unexpected, particular events in an incomplete market. Transferring risk to the market is an effective way of having protection when facing risks of diverse nature. An analytical model, as well as climate by-product pricing in the j region of Colombia, has been examined. Historical data of the region above mentioned in order to evaluate the relationship between agricultural productivity of Prx, Pry, Prz products and specific climate events such as R —rain or atmospheric precipitation— and H —temperature. Later on, a variety of call and put options will be considered based on heat and rain climatic risks in order to evaluate them theoretically. This paper thoroughly and particularly studies the analytical model in order to listen to the response from labor federations and academic groups. The present study has been framed within the field of risk and climate. The first document was presented at the International Symposium of Costa Rica in early 2009, where it obtained first place as best article in its session. At the time, conceptual guidelines were included to build an evaluation model for a climate by-product (Cruz, J. and Vargas, C. 2008). As mentioned earlier, this paper contains an analytical specification at model level, including an innovation to the model presented initially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural world in Latin America provides today an interesting scenery of social, economic and cultural transformations due to globalization. This process reflects on heterogeneous constitution processes of social subjects in the rural world. Therefore these processes can no longer be studied on the basis of conceptual frameworks that lie in urban and rural dichotomy. The rural question opens an encouraging space of debate that allows the discussion of theoretical categories and methodological tools, traditionally used to intervene in the rural world. In this paper we concentrated our reflection in the organization of domestic labour between impoverished rural producers that must incorporate non agrarian practices as a way to guarantee their social reproduction. We believe that in the rural development studies some obstacles are being experienced when trying to analyze the heterogeneity which characterizes the constitution processes of this "rural" social subjects. This paper propose a case study conformed by small rural producers that participates in a community forestry project carried out by an NGO in Formosa province, in Argentina. This allowed us to evidence the existing tensions, between a "domestic" and a "technical" logic in the practices and representations that are at stake in the workforce organization of this groups activities and their role in the construction of a "domestic productive project" of this units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the poverty - environment relation as observed in the rural communities living next to the tourist development called Bahías de Huatulco, located to the south of Oaxaca, in the poorest zone in Southeastern Mexico. The information presented was gathered throughout five years of work of various institutions; the methodology applied was that of participative rural research and continuous improvement techniques, that allowed the conformation of work groups in which family and community members of San Isidro Chacalapa, Santa María Xadani, Petatengo and Playa Grande were involved. In the paper, variables that are affected by the poverty - environment relation are defined, and some indicators that serve to identify such relation in the work zone are described. In rural communities, the preservation of natural resources is strongly determined by conditioning factors and family behavior. In production activities, family organization for work and rural people's attitude towards change and innovation have a negative impact on the quality and quantity of the natural resources available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at presenting a critical view of urban agriculture, which is seen as the empirical expression of the emergence of new rural practices. In search of arguments to explain the occurrence of transformations, the paper begins with a reference to the classical distinction between rural and urban affairs and then introduces the concepts of urban and city-outskirts agriculture. The discussion is then focused on the following questions: Is urban agriculture different form rural agriculture? How does the urban expansion process encourage agricultural and livestock practices in cities? What role does direct agricultural production play as an activity incorporated into urban dynamics? Finally, a classification of urban agriculture according to the reasons behind it is proposed, and some final considerations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural areas face a range of global challenges as a result of current economic and social transformations. The contribution of cooperatives, as collective companies with a strong territorial affiliation, has led them to be considered in some countries as a pillar of rural policies. This paper analyzes a successful public initiative released almost thirty years ago: cooperatives for regional development. Their function as promoters of the cooperative movement in Quebec is critical for corporate diversity and employment in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Ecuador and Colombia there are indigenous and peasant communities that still grow three Andean tubers: Ullucus tuberosum, Oxalis tuberosa and Tropaelum tuberosum. This paper, supported by a local ethnoecological analysis of the agricultural knowledge, explains the determinants for preservation in situ in both countries by means of cultural practices and beliefs associated with these species. It shows how existing laws, institutions, migration and land uses directly affect their planting areas and cultivation techniques. However, the persistence of beliefs about its uses stands out due to the prevalent memory of the adult population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of rural tourism in San Juan Atzingo, state of Mexico, has been promoted by diverse international organizations, federal government agencies, private sector companies and even some civil society organizations. However, the activity has not been established and it is generating contradictory results on the components that determine the peasants' lifestyle and production. The paper identifies the socio-territorial impacts of the project Tlahuica Community-based Ecotourism (ECT), and it uses the commonality proposal as a methodological framework for analyzing the implications for the territory, the resources, the weakening of the organizational structures, the dynamics of labor, reciprocity, and even the transformation of typical cultural elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines food security in two rural areas of Antioquia: Andes and Santa Fe de Antioquia. To this end, the concept of food system and the conceptual and methodological approach of social network analysis (SNA) were adopted. Results: In Andes there are high levels of conflict, lower levels of cooperation and coordination, high levels of intermediation and centralization; in Santa Fe de Antioquia there are more cooperation and coordination relations, and power is concentrated in few actors. In conclusion, the networks' methodology made possible the development of a relational analysis between actors from a qualitative and a quantitative point of view. Additionally, the food system worked as a structural framework in which these relationships are embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the role of the policies that support organic agriculture in the sector promotion, from the case of Andalucia in Spain, the largest in area and number of operators in the country. To do this, in the first place, key policies at regional, national and supranational levels that have potentially affected the supply of the sector are identified. Then, the evolution of the main variables related to it is illustrated (surface, producers, demand, etc...). Based on the foregoing, it is concluded that the existence of a relationship between the aids to organic production and the sectoral development could be presumable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the territory management process regarding a succinct property of the public policy, its territorialization. The methodological basis takes criteria and factors that deal exclusively with territorial development, and segregate two qualities to the territory: as a central focus of public policy and as a management unit. All in all, the interactions that make up social networks are analyzed and a proposal on the convergence structure for territorial management is presented. The results show the methodological feasibility in a case study, the District/Regional Councils of Sustainable Rural Development (CD / RDRS) in Central Mexico. It is concluded that the methodologies are coherent for reasoning the condition or situation of territorial development, and based on that propose solutions to the problems that arise from the management process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the reflection on the link between disaster risk management and gender equity. It is presented a case study on perceptions about climate change and institutional abilities regarding risk management in four locations of the state of Yucatan, Mexico. In order to know the local social perceptions, surveys and interviews were administered to key informants, and the results account for the existence of serious problems in municipal institutions in charge of both disaster risk management and the promotion of processes to generate greater gender equality. Additionally, a lack of knowledge about the factors that cause climate change was recorded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small farmers in Zapotlán El Grande, Mexico, are living through important changes in their production and consuming practises, as a result of the structural modification of Mexican economy and its impact on agriculture, as well as Ciudad Guzmán's urban growth. The present paper shows how these changes are of such a different nature that they reveal a rural world which was completely different from the model which took shape in rural sociology. Thus, the concept of new rural living is a pertinent one, as it underlines the fact that rural-agricultural dichotomy, as opposed to urban-industrial dichotomy, reflects, more than ever, real life in small communities, or their relationship with cities and the global world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biased contracting in machinery services have had an important historical role in the process of expansion and intensification of agricultural activity in the Pampas region. The purpose of the present paper is to analyse the evolution of biased contracting in machinery services during the period 1988-2002, as well as its main characteristics. With this scope special reprocessing of the National Agricultural Censuses (CA 1998 and 2002) were used in order to quantify some variables that allow us to further understand their evolution and characterisation. Results mainly show the heterogeneous nature of biased contracting both between provinces of the region and between deciles of agricultural area in the worked land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Businesses use their resources and abilities to maximise their efficiency, and the implementation of innovative tactics has become common in recent years. Based on the evaluation of a performance model based on the variables of the Cobb-Douglas production function, the present paper intends to empirically confront the ways in which Spanish agribusinesses and farming companies, particularly the ones located in the Murcia region, can improve their management through their efficiency and their relation to innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico many socioeconomic dynamics are being put in motion within rural communities, the purpose of which is to regain control over natural resources and creating Communal Forestry Companies that support an inclusive and participative type of progress. The object of the present paper is to analyse the case of San Pedro El Alto in Mexico in terms of local endogenous development, Víctor Toledo's (1996) contribution to the study sustainable communities and post-farming appropriation (Barkin y Rosas, 1996; Rosas, 2011). This study proposes a transition from subsistence agriculture to a type of production that would increase quality of life. A participative methodology was used, including semi-structured interviews to key informants and documental information. Data will be showed demonstrating that San Pedro El Alto has achieved a certain degree of development due to the creation of the Communal Forestry Company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on recent changes in the food industry, both at a global and national level, the reactivation of traditional food products is turning into a good alternative for promoting rural development. The present paper intends, by way of a qualitative methodology, to research on the process of the reactivation of wine from Berisso Coast and to identify the main factor which favoured it, with the purpose of creating information useful for other similar ventures. It was observed that factors can be classified under three categories: local and national context; product characteristics, considering it is a traditional product; and the organisation of producers, interacting with technicians from the Faculty of Agrarian and Forest Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the importance of technologies of scientific origin in the evolution of Latin American agrarian capitalism during the past three decades. From the perspective of dialectic materialism as a method and epistemological positioning the following is concluded: the package of the green revolution left the process of agrarian salary distribution unresolved. On the contrary, new technologies aiming at productivity in the global market do allow a) to partially detach agriculture from the constraint of its natural rhythms, b) to substantially increase production capability in work and in the soil, c) to invigorate surpluses under the structure of agribusinesses, d) to free workers from rural economy and the food industry itself, and e) to guarantee salary relations as the predominant way of generating value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the production system of Oxalis tuberosa, Ullucus Tuberosus and Tropaeolum tuberosum in the province of Sugamuxi, Boyacá. Using random sampling, polling, interviews and rural diagnosis it was established that production areas present limitations for agriculture. 84.4% of production is destined for personal consumption. 46.8% of producers are senior adults whereas young adults are less interested in agriculture. 72% of people interviewed in establishments selling food could not identify the different tubers and despite the deep roots of tradition in older people, there is a risk these species will be lost. Contrary to this tendency, the Republic of New Zealand, where demand for tubers is increasing, is encouraging their genetic enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertainty is the natural state in which farmers make decisions. This paper studies attitudes towards risk among small-scale pineapple producers in the department of Santander, Colombia. For this purpose a random sample of 194 small-scale pineapple producers form the towns of Girón, Lebrija and Rionegro was taken. In order to determine attitudes towards risk a medium utility - non linear standard deviation approach was chosen. Results indicate that small-scale pineapple producers in Santander are reluctant to risk and show an increasing absolute reluctance and a decreasing relative reluctance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to identify the determining factors of the agrarian crisis in Mediterranean Spain and the solutions agricultural cooperatives could provide. The methodology consists of the application of the Delphi Method through a questionnaire presented to experts in 2011. The conclusion of this study is that agricultural cooperatives represent an appropriate formula for facing threats and weaknesses in this sector. Implementing a competitive differentiation strategy based on quality is compatible with strategies to reduce production prices through the concentration of agricultural supply. Strategic alliances have the power to set up strategies aimed at improving professionalisation in management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic downturn of primary activities in rural Mexico has brought about a shift of productive activities into a service economy, and the land is now the place for non-agricultural activities such as tourism which not only affects ecosystems but has transformed rural areas into a dense fabric full of infrastructures and equipment for providing services to tourists. The aim of this paper is to conduct a theoretical reflection on the configuration of rural areas as a result of the process of capitalist domination through tourism, a historic process formed by two main dynamics: the appropriation of space and strategic resources for tourism, and the increase in value of such space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to study the social construction of one of the mechanisms for the social reproduction of domestic groups, known as multi-activity work and carried out by members of rural or urban domestic units (DU). This mechanism is the result of implementing local solutions to the problem of social reproduction in domestic groups and is related to the creation or expansion of economic activities other than agriculture and the establishment of local job markets and social agreements, all of which have been taking place continuously since the seventies in the Municipality of Nealtican, in Puebla, Mexico. The results presented are attained by means of Complex Systems methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to show convergent processes and existing contradictions in rural areas (RA) in the southeast of the Argentinean Pampas in order to interpret and explain the different trajectories (according to contexts of time and space) that the actors follow in order to join a multi-scale environment that is both exclusive and changing. The study was carried out by means of methodological triangulation. Part of the results show that hegemonic dynamics take control over natural resources and delocalise local connections in order to favour foreign ones. Under this scheme, socio-territorial conflicts arise in the form of the exclusion of actors from territories and institutional decay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this paper is to analyse changes in the collective imaginary regarding Spanish rurality from 1940 to the present. For this purpose a historical-sociological methodology was used that allows for the differentiation of three different phases in the evolution of this imaginary. These phases are: 1) conservative mystification of rurality; 2) contempt and disdain for rural life; 3) current tendencies towards the revalorisation of rural areas, which came about simultaneously with growing consideration for rural areas as places for leisure and tourism. The study of these transformations shows that the Spanish collective imaginary on rurality is not intrinsic and indifferent to time and context, but the product of a social construction in constant social and historical change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the social and symbolic boundaries of the new winemaking configuration of Mendoza, Argentina, which resulted from its restructuration and globalization from the nineties onwards. We analyze the tensions and asymmetries that the new model generates, particularly from the perspective of wine producers, based on the so-called “east" of the province, which appears as a subordinate region in the current scenario. Our methodological approach combines elements of anthropology and sociology, based on extensive qualitative and quantitative field research and aiming to account for both the views and native categories of actors, and the structural dimensions in which they are inserted. The main results are linked to the increased social-productive vulnerability and the competitive difficulty of small wine producers in the face of new investments, and to the identification of internal borders in the sector, from what we call the quality/quantity tension that runs through it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to show the origins, development and meanings of the social struggles that the Peasant Association of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC) has been conducting for over a decade as an exercise in organization of the peasant community in the midst of Colombia's social and armed conflict. The use of ethnographic methods allowed developing a deep understanding of collective action through access to the archives of the Association and through in-depth interviews. The research results focus on the idea that this Association represents an example of local development building and transformation of regional conflicts through collective action, which advocates for the communitarian autonomy and the food sovereignty of the peoples of the Magdalena Medio. This peasant association reinvents itself as a collective for the defense of human rights, as well as a civil and political subject with inclusive and democratic regional projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a context of territorial expansion of the capital, the paper deals with the persistence of peasant farmers in northern Patagonia by developing various adaptive strategies as a form of resistance to expulsion. Changes are examined not only in households but also in the areas of life and work of those who call themselves breeding producers "crianceros" in two regions of extensive herd-oriented export of wool and hair, mohair. The cases show that the territorial expansion of capital involves social dynamics that go beyond production and institutional transformations; they show increase of multi activity in peasant households. Spatial mobility due to production and labor is more complex, and also generates changes in other levels of rurality, in rural habitat, and the enlarge of rural towns. These social settings lead to rethinking territory and understand the changes and continuities from and between the positions of the actors that contribute to maintain or transform the structure of social space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous authors have pointed out the importance of recuperating and giving its due worth to peasant and aboriginal knowledge when rural development initiatives emerge. Nevertheless the problem area related to the local knowledge concept continues presenting some dark points. Therefore, with the purpose of contributing to the topic, this paper analyzes local knowledge dynamics, particularly its value increase and reconfiguration based on the involvement of technical advancement and scientific knowledge. Keeping in mind the said purpose, this article presents the results of a research curried out in a peasant community of the Northeastern part of Argentina, where small producers' knowledge and lack of it were studied, as well as local knowledge invention, circulation, and consolidation processes from a historical perspective. Thus the dynamics involved are conceptualized with the support of frames of reference originated in social psychology, and a comprehensive model destined to describe and explain communal processes for inventing knowledge and the relationship between local knowledge and scientific knowledge has been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is one of the results of the research project: "Manual eradication of illegal crops and forced displacement in Meta and Guaviare departments". The project studied the social, political and economical effects of eradication process implemented in the influence zone of PNN Macarena. Different perspectives about the situation were investigated: The view of social groups affected by eradication, and the view of government employees involved at situation. The first section, offers a geographical context as well as an overview of the particular social, political, economical and biological features of the region. Next, it presents and evaluates the different eradication strategies implemented: fumigation, manual eradication and alternative development. Finally, cases of Macarena, Puerto Concordia and Vista Hermosa show eradication impacts at local level: economical crisis, land expropriation, alternative development failure and forced displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Payments for environmental services (PES) schemes have been promoted as an efficient instrument in water resource management. Some authors go as far as to affirm that this tool will enable the alleviation of rural poverty. The present paper proposes a conceptual model which facilitates the implementation of PES through reducing transaction costs, using tools developed in other disciplines. Finally, the logic implicit in current literature on PES concerning the property rights of environmental services is refuted, and ensuing effects on rural poverty are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon a case study the paper analyses how resource-poor farmers observe some of the technologies related with industrial agriculture, and what kind of impact these technologies have on their current socio-productive reality. The research uses qualitative-research methods and focuses on the study of farmers who currently are (or have been) growing tobacco in Misiones (Argentina). The findings suggest that these technologies show some problems when are used in the farming systems of resource-poor farmers. Firstly, some of them have problems to understand its underpinning logics, because industrial-agriculture technologies have been devised departing from a kind of technical knowledge that confronts their cognitive frameworks. Secondly, the socio-productive context in which some of these technologies are actually used is not appropriate for many modern technologies, especially those related to industrial pesticides. Thirdly, these technologies generate externalities that negatively impact environment and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses, from a theoretical perspective, the morality of the social protection system operating in rural Mexico. From this approach, the morality of social protection deals with the moral values, norms and conventions that govern social institutions, both of governmental and civil nature, and control the access to such a protection. Morality is seen as a factor that influences the interaction amongst people in order to determine what individuals deserve support under adverse circumstances, and which are the rights and duties of the actors involved in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable Tourism (ST) has been seen at the national and international arena as a promising activity for rural areas from the environmental, economic and social perspectives. However, TS approaches, its categories of analysis and particularly the role that should perform for delivering Territorial Rural (TRD) development may incorporate different considerations according to the views of the institulion promoting it. Most of the times the orthodox ST approach refer to the activity's environmental sustainability; other refers to the economic perspective while the latest approaches include social, cultural and even political considerations. This paper explores from a systemic territorial approach the transformations and meanings of the "sustainable" adjective in the main ONU conferences on the subject in the last ten years, also examines the Colombia ecotourism promotion policy, but furthermore search for insights and the implications of ST for Territorial Rural Development (TRD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The community tourism is developing in the world as an alternative to the traditional trips. This way, this type of tourism allows a major contact with the local community and the experimentation with new sensations. In this paper we present a study realized in an area of Nicaragua about the perception that have the residents to develop, across the local community, a tourist destination based on the important resources of ecological character of the zone and on the hospitality of his inhabitants. The used methodology is based on a work of field realized in the above mentioned zone during September to November, 2008. As principal results we emphasize the perception on the part of the local community that the tourist development can generate wealth and create jobs, at though for it a technical training previous is necessary on the part of different public and private organizations, standing out the NGOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a Colombian experience which contributes to the ongoing debate on local development understood as a process that drives forward a community that chooses to generate development in association with support organizations. The case in study: Management, dynamics, and practice in a local development experience in Colombia: Our research on Fundación San Isidro's experience was based on the question: How to articulate and sustain local development practices in a community? Summing-up, the case in study shows that local development aimed by any particular community is sustained by: 1) The long term systemic articulation and steadfast management of development strategies, 2) the implementation of the relevant strategies by the local leaders with the help of locally created support organizations, and 3) the community's creation of their own concepts of both development and strategy together with fitting practices to carry them out. All these elements should be thought of as long term projects and ultimately end in the creation of the community's own development model, model which in this paper we refer to as "emerging development model". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an analysis of the scientific output of the journal Cuadernos de desarrollo rural ("Rural Development Notebooks") published between 1979 and 2008. The paper's main goal is to ponder the scientific production of the journal over its thirty years of uninterrupted publication, and to show, via bibliometrics and resorting to socio-scientific networks, the editorial project's behaviour and evolution. Readers will see a transition and evolution from an institutional and endogenous periodical to a publication now accepted by an increasingly wider international community thus reflected in its degree of internationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of the Microfinance Institutions as a tool to fight poverty, mainly in rural areas, has increased during the last decade, in part due to the support of international institutions such as The World bank. In this paper I make a review of the literature in order to assess where we stand. The main conclusion is that microcredit has positive effects on the income of poor families as well as on their empowerment, but its role in the fight against poverty should not be overestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the strategies of reproduction of the Peasant Domestic Unit (PDU) in the Valley of Puebla, Mexico, with the objective of identifying its responses to the structural adjustment policies and to the globalization, which have caused not very favorable conditions for the development of the rural agriculture due to the reforms that involved the deregulation of the trade because of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). According to the results, the rural agriculture has begun an alteration process with the production of vegetables, fruits and forages, which has brought better economic incomes. However, the reconfiguration of the agricultural activities is insufficient to guarantee the socioeconomic reproduction of the PDU, so its members have had to carry out extrafinca activities which are not antagonistic with the agriculture but complementary. The economic logic of the PDU is guided toward the achievement of the maximum economic revenues on the base of its resources and means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a study on the predominant production systems in two selected communities (Tomoporo de Tierra and San Roque) made in the northern zone of Motatán River Plain (Coasts of Lago de Maracaibo in Venezuela). The study was developed from an anthropological and sociological perspective (development anthropology) and it tried to account for the general characteristics of culture systems, cattle-raising systems, organization of labor and relations between producers and intermediaries. To do so, a survey and several open interviews were undertaken to research the totality of producers of the two communities. This strategy allowed for conjugating quantitative and qualitative analyses. The conclusion is that the predominant production system is supported by permanent cultures, the raising of cattle, labour organization, gender division of work tasks, and the contracting of outside manual labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1997, in Lagunillas, a municipality of Atemajac de Brizuela, south of Jalisco, Mexico, a Sustainable Rural Development project was put into effect via the Manejo Integral de Microcuencas (Comprehensive Management of Micro-Basins) program under the coordination of the Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (IMTA). This intervention was based on two premises: 1) institutional attendance and the participation of the local population in the proper management of natural resources, and 2) the development of alternative means to increase production and improve the quality of life but sustaining the basin's functioning as an ecosystemic unity. The following paper presents parts of the results compiled in the authors' PhD theses worked out from February 2004 to January 2007, where they analyze the experience of Lagunillas in order to document the sustainable rural development practices therein implemented, particularly those aspects which have to do with the participatory processes of the local inhabitants, the lessons learned, and the pending challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a study on the predominant production systems in two selected communities (Tomoporo de Tierra and San Roque) made in the North zone of Plain of the Motatán River (Coasts of Lago de Maracaibo in Venezuela). The study was developed from an anthropological and sociological perspective (development anthropology), it tried to give account of the general characteristics of culture's systems, raising systems, organization of labor and relations between producers and intermediaries. To do so it was applied a survey and several opened interviews to the totality of producers of the two communities. This strategy allowed to conjugate quantitative and qualitative analyses. The conclusion is that the predominant production system is supported on permanent cultures, raising of cattle rising, labour organization and gender division of work tasks and the subhiring of familiar manual labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]