Food systems sustainability and complexity: Case of indigenous and peasant communities in southern Colombia

Álvaro Acevedo-Osorio, Carlos Andrés Triviño, Alejandra Lizeth Álvarez Alvear, Anyi Paola Muñoz Umaña, Amada Vanneza Lucero Lara, Sara Eloisa Del Castillo Matamoros

Abstract


Background: The conventional food system has responsibility to the global socio-ecological crisis. A simplistic approach to food issues fails to understand the complex dimensions of the problem. Objective: To analyze the food systems sustainability from a complex perspective. Methodology: A process of characterization, creation of a sustainability analysis framework, prioritization of critical aspects, construction of variables, evaluation, and generation of transition pathways to improve sustainability in two intercultural territories in southern Colombia was performed. Results: Limitations were found in variables such as climate change mitigation, integrated water management, and capacity building for project development. The need to promote the participation of women and youth and to connect with local stakeholders is highlighted. Implications: The study has limitations in terms of scale, given that it was designed as a case study in a community; however, it allows the analysis of territorialized food systems, based on the dimensions and attributes of sustainability to address current socio-environmental challenges. Conclusion: The interaction between attributes and dimensions of sustainability, with the functions of the food system, allows for a three-dimensional analysis that generates representative variables to estimate sustainability at a territorial scale.

Keywords


sustainability appraissal, territory; sustainable agricultura; co-creation; shagra; Agroecology.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Acevedo Osorio, A. and Angarita Leiton, A., 2013, Metodología para la evaluación de sustentabilidad a partir de indicadores locales para el diseño y desarrollo de programas agroecológicos – MESILPA, Bogotá : Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios. Facultad de Ingeniería.

Anderson, M.D., 2015. The role of knowledge in building food security resilience across food system domains, Journal of Environmental Studies, 5, pp. 543–559. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-015-0311-3

Argueta, B., Mason, N., Steadman, S., Robertson, M., Watson, C., Imbach, P., Zamora, A., Bouroncle, C. and Skrinjaric, T., 2024. What is the status of climate-resilient development in small-scale agrifood systems?. In Making finance flow to adaptation in small-scale agrifood systems: The role of the third long-term goal of the Paris Agreement (Article 2.1(c)), pp. 13–17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep59414.9

Congreso de la República de Colombia, 1961. Ley 1961 de 15 de diciembre, sobre reforma social agraria [en línea]. Disponible en: https://www.funcionpublica.gov.co/eva/gestornormativo/norma.php?i=74153

Congreso de la República de Colombia, 2010. Ley 1413 de 11 de noviembre, por medio de la cual se regula la inclusión de la economía del cuidado en el sistema de cuentas nacionales con el objeto de medir la contribución de la mujer al desarrollo económico y social del país y como herramienta fundamental para la definición e implementación de políticas públicas. [en línea]. Disponible en: https://www.funcionpublica.gov.co/eva/gestornormativo/norma.php?i=40764

Cortés, C., Vieli, L. and Ibarra, J.T., 2023. Family farming systems: An index-based approach to the drivers of agroecological principles in the southern Andes. Ecological Indicators, 154, pp. 110640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110640

Cuéllar-Gálvez, D., Aranda Camacho, Y. and Mosquera-Vásquez, T., 2018. A Model to Promote Sustainable Social Change Based on the Scaling up of a High-Impact Technical Innovation. Sustainability, 10, pp. 4532. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124532

DANE, 2020. Cuenta Satélite de Economía del Cuidado – CSEC. Disponible en: https://www.cepal.org/sites/default/files/presentations/colombia-dane-cuenta-satelite-economiacuidado-colombia-csec.pdf

Del Castillo, S., Lizarazo, J. and Garzón, N. https://periodico.unal.edu.co/articulos/la-pandemia-empeoro-crisis-alimentaria-de-los-colombianos

Ehrenreich, N. and Lyon, B., 2011. The Global Politics of Food: A Critical Overview. The University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, 1, pp. 1–43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23339443

El Bilali, H., Strassner, C. and Ben Hassen, T., 2021. Sustainable Agri-Food Systems: Environment, Economy, Society, and Policy. Sustainability, 13, pp. 6260. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116260

Ericksen, P.J., 2008. Conceptualizing food systems for global environmental change research. Global Environmental Change, 1, pp. 234-245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2007.09.002.

Gaitán-Cremaschi, D., Klerkx, L., Duncan, J. et al., 2019. Characterizing diversity of food systems in view of sustainability transitions. A review. Agronomy Sustainability, 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-018-0550-2

Gomes, S.G., Martins Carvalho, A., Silva Cantalice, A., Ramalho Magalhães, A., Tregidgo, D., Batista de Oliveira, D.V., Barros da Silva, E., Menezes-Neto, E. J., da Silva Maia, J.K., Farias de Gusmão, R.G., de Moura Brito Júnior, V., Moura Chaves, V., Albuquerque, U.P. and Medeiros Jacob, M.C., 2024. Nexus among climate change, food systems, and human health: An interdisciplinary research framework in the Global South. Environmental Science & Policy, 161, pp. 103885. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103885.

Hebinck, A., Zurek, M., Achterbosch, T., Forkman, B., Kuijsten, A., Kuiper, M., Nørrung: B., Veer, P.V. and Leip A. , 2021. A Sustainability Compass for policy navigation to sustainable food systems. Global Food Security, 29, pp. 100546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100546.

IPES-Food and ETC Group. 2021. Un movimiento de largo plazo por la alimentación: transformar los sistemas alimentarios para 2045. Disponible en: www.ipes-food.org/pages/LongFoodMovement

Jacobi, J., Mukhovi, S., Llanque, A., Augstburger, H., Käser, F. ,Pozo, C., Ngutu Peter, M., Delgado, M.J.F., Kiteme, B., Rist, S. and Ifejika Speranza, C., 2018. Operationalizing food system resilience: An indicator-based assessment in agroindustrial, smallholder farming, and agroecological contexts in Bolivia and Kenya. Land Use Policy, 79, pp. 433-446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.08.044.

López Cortés, O., 2019. Significados y representaciones de la minga para el pueblo indígena Pastos de Colombia. Psicoperspectivas, 3, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.5027/psicoperspectivas-Vol17-Issue3-fulltext-1353.

McGreevy, S.R., Rupprecht, C.D.D., Niles, D. et al., 2022. Sustainable agrifood systems for a post-growth world. Nature Sustainability, 5, pp. 1011–1017. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00933-5

Moghayer, S., Manouchehrabadi, B., Tiboldo, G., Ferrer-Pérez, H., Kozicka, M., van Dijk, H., Farina, G., Castellari, E., Moro, D. and Philippidis, G. , 2024. A scoping review of food consumer aspects in transitioning to a safe and just agrifood system. Q Open, qoae030. https://doi.org/10.1093/qopen/qoae030

Molero Cortés, J., López García, D. and Arroyo, L. (Eds.). 2018. Salud y Derecho a la Alimentación. Bienestar, equidad y sostenibilidad a través de políticas alimentarias locales. Valladolid: Fundación Entretantos y Red de Ciudades por la Agroecología.

Mottet, A., Bicksler, A., Lucantoni, D., De Rosa, F., Scherf, B., Scopel, E., López-Ridaura,S., Gemmil-Herren B., Bezner Kerr, R., Sourisseau, J-M., Petersen, P., Chotte J-L.; Loconto, A., and Tittonell, P., 2020. Assessing Transitions to Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems: A Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE). Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.579154.

Observatorio de Género Nariño., 2020. Mujeres y Hombres: Brechas de Género en Nariño. Recuperado de: https://observatoriogenero.udenar.edu.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Documento-MHBGN-V01.pdf

Parajuá, N.; Tello, E. and Duncan, J., 2025. A research framework to investigate food systems at a national scale. Ecological Economics, 227, pp. 108428. https://doi.,rg/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108428.

Petersen P. 2022. Agroecología política: crítica de la ecología política al capitalismo agroalimentario. Montevideo: Agrociencia.

Ravi Kiran, B., Majeti Narasimha, V. P. and Venkata Mohan, S., 2023. Farm to fork: sustainable agrifood systems. In: Vara Prasad, M.N.; Smol, M., eds. Sustainable and Circular Management of Resources and Waste Towards a Green Deal, pp. 25-38. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-95278-1.00012-7.

Sánchez-Hernández, J.L. 2024. Agrifood Systems. In: Warf, B. (eds) The Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25900-5_45-1

Smit, B. and Wandel, J., 2006. Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Global Environmental Change, 3, pp. 282-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2006.03.008.

Story, M., Hamm, M. and Wallinga, D., 2009. Food Systems and Public Health: Linkages to Achieve Healthier Diets and Healthier Communities. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 3-4, pp. 219-224.

|

Tonolli, A.J. and Ferrer, C.S., 2018. Comparación de marcos de evaluación de agroecosistemas. Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems, 21, pp. 487 - 504. http://dx.doi.org/10.56369/tsaes.2519

Torres Soler, L.C. and Vargas Sánchez, G.G., 2021. ¿Por qué y para qué el pensamiento complejo?. Bogotá: Universidad El Bosque.

Zarbà, C., Gravagno, R.M., Chinnici, G. and Scuderi, A., 2025. A systematic review of the SAFA framework in the literature: An approach to assess sustainability in agri-food systems. Cleaner Environmental Systems, 16, pp. 100267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100267.

Zurek, M., Ingram, J., Sanderson Bellamy, A., Goold, C.; Lyon, C., Alexander, P., Barnes,A., Bebber, D., Breeze, D., Bruce, A., Collins, L., Davies, J., Doherty, B., Ensor, J.; Franco, S.; Gatto,A.; Hess, T.; Lamprinopoulou,C.; Liu, L.; Merkle, M.; Norton, L.; Oliver, T.; Ollerton, J., Potts, S., Reed, M. Sutcliffe, C. and Withers. P., 2022. Food System Resilience: Concepts, Issues and Challenges, Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 47, pp. 511–34. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-112320-050744




URN: http://www.revista.ccba.uady.mx/urn:ISSN:1870-0462-tsaes.v29i2.67079

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.56369/tsaes.6707

Copyright (c) 2026 Álvaro Acevedo-Osorio

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.