Identification of Variables That Cause Agricultural Graduates Not to Return to the Rural Sector in Ecuador. Application of Fuzzy Cognitive Maps

Bélgica Bermeo Córdova, José Luis Yagüe Blanco, Maritza Satama and Carlos Jara
Additional contact information
Bélgica Bermeo Córdova: Department of Agroforestry Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
José Luis Yagüe Blanco: Department of Agroforestry Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Maritza Satama: Department of Agricultural Economics, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Carlos Jara: Department of Agriculture, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito 170520, Ecuador

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: In Ecuador, the factors that encourage agricultural graduates to return to the rural production sector are unknown. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the variables that influence why agricultural graduates do not return to the rural sector. Fuzzy cognitive maps and hierarchical clustering were used to achieve this. Interviews were carried out with academic experts from the rural development field and agricultural planning managers who work across 10 of Ecuador’s provinces. Eighteen categorized variables were identified in the study, of which five were strategies for agricultural development that involve different actors. These were: (1) State policies for rural development, (2) quality academic training, (3) innovation and entrepreneurship training, (4) national research and university extension programs, and (5) associative cooperativism. The identification of these variables supports state authorities and universities in designing strategies that promote the involvement of agricultural graduates in the rural production sector.

Keywords: agricultural graduates; quality academic training; state policies; rural development; fuzzy cognitive maps; Ecuador (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4270/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4270/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:10:p:4270-:d:361795

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().