Sustainability of Smallholder Livelihoods in the Ecuadorian Highlands: A Comparison of Agroforestry and Conventional Agriculture Systems in the Indigenous Territory of Kayambi People

Raúl Córdova, Nicholas J. Hogarth and Markku Kanninen
Additional contact information
Raúl Córdova: Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI), Department of Forest Sciences; University of Helsinki, Latokartanonkaari 7, P.O. Box 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Nicholas J. Hogarth: Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI), Department of Forest Sciences; University of Helsinki, Latokartanonkaari 7, P.O. Box 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
Markku Kanninen: Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI), Department of Forest Sciences; University of Helsinki, Latokartanonkaari 7, P.O. Box 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland

Land, 2018, vol. 7, issue 2, 1-31

Abstract: Smallholder farming constitutes an important but marginalized sector, responsible for most of the world’s agricultural production. This has a significant influence in the land use/cover change process and agrobiodiversity conservation, especially in mountainous regions of the developing world. Thus, the maintenance of sustainable smallholder farming systems represents a key condition for sustainable land management and to safeguard the livelihoods of millions of rural households. This study uses a combination of biophysical and socioeconomic data based on household interviews to compare 30 highland agroforestry systems and 30 conventional agriculture systems, to determine which system provides better conditions to support sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers. The interview data is based mainly on the perceptions of Kayambi indigenous farmers who use these farming systems to support their livelihoods. Independent-Samples t Test and descriptive statistics were applied to analyse the data from 60 farms. The results indicate that agroforestry systems contain greater agrobiodiversity; more diversified livelihoods; better land tenure security and household income; more diversified irrigation sources and less dependency on rainfall than conventional systems. These findings highlight the role of agroforestry systems in supporting sustainable livelihoods of smallholder farmers in mountainous areas.

Keywords: agroforestry and conventional farming systems; smallholder farmers’ perceptions; sustainable mountain livelihoods; agrobiodiversity; indigenous people; tropical highlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (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)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/7/2/45/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/7/2/45/ (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:jlands:v:7:y:2018:i:2:p:45-:d:140451

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

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