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In the rural context, a geographic region is an area suitable for analysis of agricultural systems. In this area, environmental factors, agricultural practices and use of resources are analyzed. Besides, it is possible to see local initiatives and social organization that value the area. This descriptive study was carried out in the province of La Convención, Cusco -- Peru. The objective was to delimit a geo-economic unit and to identify homogeneous production zones in it. Secondary sources of information and the cooperation of local actors through participative research were used to describe the geographical area. Alto Urubamba was identified as a geoeconomic unit which is typical of the high forest and constitutes a geographic region between the Andes and the Amazonian plain. Biophysical characteristics of soils, climate, physiographic units, geodynamics, vegetation, micro-basins and socio-economic aspects with emphasis on agricultural production were described. Finally, four homogeneous production zones were identified: low, medium, high and mountainous, according to the altitude and the predominant crops of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted in the province of La Convencion, Cusco - Peru, in a geographical region of the high jungle known as Alto Urubamba. This research aims to evaluate the farm characteristics and measure their sustainability through local adapted indicators. Field data were collected both in biophysical and socio-economical terms and analyzed in selected variables from a database using programs such as SPSS, MINITAB and Cluster Analysis. The results show that the average farm area is 12.38 ha and that there is a diversified production in the region with a pattern of prevalent crops such as coffee, cocoa, tea, coca and tropical fruits that are destined for sale, accompanied by annual crops and livestock for subsistence. The economy of the farmers is critical; the average income in the area is below the official numbers. There are ecological problems such as wildfire (21.7%), deforestation (15.1%) and prolonged droughts (15.1%). The land-use pressure is moderate, subsistence production systems represent 46.2%, while semiintensive production systems destined for sale represent 53.8%. According to the sustainability evaluation, sustainable farms are those that produce mango (2.87), cocoa (2.82), banana (2.80), citrus (2.63) and papaya (2.57), and unsustainable farms are those that produce coca and tea which do not reach minimum values (2). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]