Territorial Governance. A Comparative Research of Local Agro-Food Systems in Mexico

Gerardo Torres-Salcido and Javier Sanz-Cañada
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Gerardo Torres-Salcido: Latin American and Caribbean Research Center, National Autonomous University of Mexico (CIALC/UNAM), Torre II de Humanidades, Piso 3, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Javier Sanz-Cañada: Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography, Spanish National Research Council (IEGD/CSIC), Albasanz 26, 28037 Madrid, Spain

Agriculture, 2018, vol. 8, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: The article attempts to provide a theoretical discussion on territorial governance by presenting both the neo-institutionalist position and the De Sousa Santos’ alternative models, with a view of highlighting the dimensions that can be relevant to understanding the territorial dynamics of Local Agro-food Systems (LAFS). The paper aims to build up a system of indicators, structured in four dimensions, concerning the territorial governance of LAFS: (i) multi-level coordination; (ii) democratic participation and accountability; (iii) cooperation among producers and other stakeholders and (iv) relationships with the environment. We verify, as a hypothesis, that the typology of markets to which the identity-based products are directed plays a decisive role in the way that processes of territorial governance of LAFS are constructed. The results of an empirical research, developed in four LAFS in Mexico, are presented: prickly pear cactus in Morelos, blackberry in Michoacán, cuitlacoche (corn smut) in Tlaxcala and coffee in Veracruz. Two types of territorial governance of LAFS may be distinguished: those that can be strengthened by the geographical and organisational proximity of the markets and the action of local stakeholders and governments—prickly pear cactus and cuitlacoche—versus those which are devoted to export and are conducted by large companies in which marketing networks involve certification mechanisms and a large number of institutions—coffee and blackberry.

Keywords: territorial governance; Local Agro-food Systems (LAFS); Mexico; multi-level coordination; accountability; cooperation; environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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