Aspects, strategies and challenges for banana producers in Mexico towards sustainable cultivation

Resumen

Objective: to analyze the strategies and challenges faced by banana producers in southern Mexico, from the key aspects that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Design/ Methodology/ Approach: from a cross-sectional descriptive design, a survey was applied, with five sections and 40 items, to 42 banana producers. As well as in-depth interviews (according to the snowball technique) with key informants from three localities in the municipality of Tecpan de Galeana, in the state of Guerrero, Mexico.

Results: most producers operate in small family units and only 33% have some formal training, the rest learn empirically and develop productive activities by trial-and-error. A wide gap was identified between sustainable practices (best management) and practices applied in the field, which were related to the key aspects analyzed. These are training, biosecurity measures, waste management, use of traditional cultivation techniques, and water management for irrigation activities. With the information collected and these determinants, differences in the agricultural practices of the producers interviewed were identified in the three localities.

Limitations/ implications of the study: the size of the interviewed population was small due to the restrictions of the CovID-19 pandemic, during the period in which the study was conducted. In addition, it was identified that the state does not have an official registry of banana producers; although its annual production is estimated at the state scale.

Findings/ Conclusions: hereby the proposed strategies we highlight are the promotion of composting practices, use of organic fertilizers and improvements in irrigation infrastructure. As well as the intervention with a non-formal environmental education program to raise awareness and transfer knowledge that promotes more sustainable agricultural practices.