EVALUATION OF AN ALTERNATIVE SMALL FAMILY AGROECOLOGICAL SYSTEM ALTERNATIVE TO THE PREDOMINANT FORMS OF COFFEE PRODUCTION IN HUATUSCO, VERACRUZ

Abstract

The integration of production systems under agroecological principles allows the generation of new knowledge to achieve Sustainability; and, in a scenario of demographic growth, climate change and degradation of natural ecosystems, agroecology constitutes an alternative that allows more food to be generated and done in a sustainable way. In the context of coffee production in Mexico, coffee growing is important due to the number of producers who are dedicated to it, in 2017 the participation of 500 thousand coffee growers throughout the country was registered, and this is where it lies from the point from a social point of view, the importance of coffee. In the central zone of the high mountains of the state of Veracruz, southeast of Mexico, Arabica coffee is mainly produced and this is a priority crop since it supports economically the great majority of its population; This economic dependence on a single crop produces a harmful effect on the current assets of the region, a period with high income during the harvest (November to March) and a detriment to its financial conditions in the remaining period. The present descriptive case study is presented, the objective of which is to emphasize the importance of smallholder agroecological systems as an alternative for the current management of coffee production systems in the central region of the high mountains of the state of Veracruz. Keywords: Smallholding. Sustainability. Coffee. Agroecology