DIFFERENTIATION AND COMPLEXITY IN AGROECOSYSTEMS OF THE MEXICAN SUB-HUMID TROPICS

Abstract

Background. In Mexico, the transition from a welfare state to a minimal state in the eighties generated a change in public policies that affected the poorest farmers in the country. Objective. This study analyzes the transformation of agroecosystem management practices in an area of the Mexican sub-humid tropics as a result of government abandonment of this productive sector. Methodology. This research is qualitative and requires techniques such as in-depth interviews and fieldwork. Thirty-seven (37) interviews were conducted with farmers over 60 years old. Participants were identified based on an intentional sample using the "snowball" technique. These findings are theoretically interpreted through Luhmann's complexity paradox. Results. The change in public policies, as well as the reduction in public spending assigned to the agricultural sector, led to changes in the management practices of agroecosystems, especially among producers with fewer resources that led to a process of differentiation between them and, at the same time, the existence of multiple interdependencies between them, as a way of dealing with the complexity derived from the conditions imposed by the predominance of a market economy, the abandonment of the government and, in recent years, the uncertainty in the behavior of the main agroclimatic variables. Implications. This work is qualitative and carried out in a local context but provides highlights on changes in areas relatively similar to the study area. Conclusion. The process of differentiation and interdependence among agroecosystems is based on the use of various technical-productive strategies, in addition to the use of collective work and social trust as social resources that help producers with fewer resources to deal with a complex problem.