Evaluación de la rentabilidad económica de granjas agroecológicas campesinas del cantón Pedro Moncayo-Ecuador

Abstract

The economic performance of agroecological farms has been a topic of great interest for producers and owners of these plots who focus their productiononlocal sales and self-consumption. In order to determine whether or not thereis abenefit from sustainable production and its costs, this research aimed to evaluatethe performance and economic profitability, demonstrating the sustainabilityof three peasant systems. Instruments adapted to the reality of agroecological producers from three farms were created: “Jardín de Flores,” “La Rakacha,” and“Mushuk Pacha,” which were conveniently selected for their outstanding qualitiesin agroecological production, their size, and their high performance. These threeunits were surveyed based on the MESMIS methodology to evaluate sustainability, a second survey to determine the costs associated with production, and finally, achecklist and data record to calculate performance. The results showedthat “Jardín de Flores” has a general sustainability index of 7.1, corresponding toahighdegree of sustainability, while “La Rakacha” and “Mushuk Pacha” achieved indicesabove 9, indicating that these plots are highly sustainable according totheMESMIS methodology. The calculation of production costs of the three plotsproved to be lower than the total benefit, as the economic profitability inall thefarms exceeded 85%. The SPSS statistical method was applied to compare resultsthrough ANOVA analysis, which showed no significant differences (p = 0.305) between the evaluated farms, demonstrating the benefit of agroecological systems in the Andean chakra in terms of performance and economic profitability.