Complementary Agriculture (AgriCom): A Low-Cost Strategy to Improve Profitability and Sustainability in Rural Communities in Semi-Arid Regions

Fernanda Díaz-Sánchez, Jorge Cadena-Iñiguez (), Víctor Manuel Ruiz-Vera, Héctor Silos-Espino, Brenda I. Trejo-Téllez, Alberto García-Reyes, José Luis Yagüe-Blanco and Julio Sánchez-Escudero
Additional contact information
Fernanda Díaz-Sánchez: Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí. Iturbide #73, Col. Centro, Salinas de Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí 78600, Mexico
Jorge Cadena-Iñiguez: Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí. Iturbide #73, Col. Centro, Salinas de Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí 78600, Mexico
Víctor Manuel Ruiz-Vera: Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí. Iturbide #73, Col. Centro, Salinas de Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí 78600, Mexico
Héctor Silos-Espino: Tecnológico Nacional de Mexico, Instituto Tecnológico El Llano Aguascalientes, Km. 18 Carretera Ags-S.L.P., El Llano 20330, Mexico
Brenda I. Trejo-Téllez: Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí. Iturbide #73, Col. Centro, Salinas de Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí 78600, Mexico
Alberto García-Reyes: Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus San Luis Potosí. Iturbide #73, Col. Centro, Salinas de Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí 78600, Mexico
José Luis Yagüe-Blanco: Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica Alimentaria y de Biosistemas, Campus Ciudad Universitaria, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Av. Puerta de Hierro, # 2-4, Comunidad de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Julio Sánchez-Escudero: Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Montecillo, Km. 36.5 Carretera Mexico-Texcoco, Montecillo, Texcoco 56264, Mexico

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: The rural population in semi-arid areas of Mexico suffers from poverty levels that hinder a dignified life, leading to migration and abandonment of their resources. This is exacerbated by climate change (droughts and high temperatures), which negatively impacts crops. While farmers attempt to adapt, their strategies are insufficient. A low-cost Complementary Agriculture (AgriCom) model was designed, using local resources to produce prickly pear ( Opuntia ficus-indica Mill.) and corn ( Zea mays L.), while simultaneously conserving regional germplasm of Opuntia spp. A randomized block design with three replications was used. Each block included seven varieties, with 125 plants per variety. Corn was grown as a monocrop in the same experimental site. Graphical analysis, analysis of variance with mean comparison test in RStudio, a profitability analysis, and a Land Equivalent (ELU) analysis were performed. The varieties Verdura, Atlixco, and Rojo Liso showed higher yield, internal rate of return, and net present value; their benefit–cost ratios were 7.97, 6.35, and 6.82, respectively. The ELU was greater than 1.0 when combining the prickly pear varieties. Agroclimatic conditions did not allow the corn to complete its phenological cycle, and its ELU was zero. Seventy prickly pear genotypes, with three replicates each, representing eight Opuntia species, were collected and integrated into the periphery of the production unit. This model was accepted by the Climate Action Platform for Agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean (PLACA) for implementation in other communities.

Keywords: AgriCom; sustainable production; agricultural profitability; ELU; rural communities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/21/9481/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/21/9481/ (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:17:y:2025:i:21:p:9481-:d:1779171

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 ().