Content uploaded by Javier Becerril
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Javier Becerril on Sep 10, 2014
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Pobreza, agrodiversidad y nutrición en el Yucatán rural, 2010
Abstract
In Mexico, 45.50% of the population lived in extreme poverty in 2012. In addition, the assessment of nutritional status of the population over 20 years old in the same year reported combined prevalence of overweight and obesity in women 73%, and men 69.40%. Paradoxically, Mexico is a country of great biological richness, one of the 12 megadiverse countries. This phenomenon motivates depth study, in order to elucidate causality and send signals to the design and implementation of public policy. Yucatan is important from the cultural and ecological standpoints; nonetheless, most rural residents live in extreme poverty. Additionally, Yucatán is undergoing a transition process where the population experiences an unexpected increase in the rates of overweight and obesity, both in rural and urban areas. Our findings report that there is a direct relationship between consumption of local agricultural diversity and weight and height in range, but unfortunately, with high poverty rates. Education contributes significantly to reducing obesity in 1.20% for each additional year of formal education. Transmission of globalization to rural areas via cell phone use, home refrigerator and proportion of spending on food of animal origin increases the likelihood of obesity in 9.70%, 10% and 7.90 %, respectively. The study analyzed 390
rural households in 20 villages in the seven socioeconomic regions of Yucatan. The analysis is based on the consumer theory, from the attributes of consumer goods and services. Consumption is a function of its income constraints.
... Mexico is considered the 12th most megadiverse country in the world (Becerril et al. 2014). As in the rest of the country, the biological diversity of the Yucatecan region has interacted and co-evolved with its cultural richness over thousands of years as its inhabitants have transformed entire landscapes and domesticated a wide array of plant and animal species (Moreno-Calles et al. 2014). ...
... However, similar to many other developing regions, Yucatán faces the paradox of having substantial biological and cultural richness as well as a population suffering from high levels of deprivation and malnutrition (Pingali 2007;Becerril et al. 2014). According to official statistics, 48.9% of the Yucatecan population lives in poverty, and 27% of the households face moderate to severe food insecurity (Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública 2013; Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social 2012). ...
Home gardens are recognised in the literature for their contribution to food security, yet the process by which agrobiodiversity and household characteristics mediate this relationship is less well understood. This paper contributes to fill this research gap by drawing on a multi-site case study in the Yucatán region in Mexico. By applying regression analysis, the significance of the association between home garden diversity and food security is confirmed. Plant diversity is found to have a positive association with food consumption scores and the frequency of vegetable intakes. The number of animals used for food purposes is also found to have positive and significant associations with food consumption scores and frequency of meat intakes. However, the dimension and the significance of these positive associations were found to vary among communities and quantiles of the distribution of food security measures. In the households studied, younger individuals and better-educated people, males and Spanish speakers were more likely to engage in jobs in urban areas. Engagement in urban jobs was found to involve complementarities with the overall plant diversity of home gardens, but also trade-offs with the diversity of vegetables and other herbs used for food purposes and with the abundance of animals raised for food purposes.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-021-01148-w.
... The first element concerns the social characteristics of households that practice milpa polyculture. Namely, they preserve their native language, and they have older members with lower education levels than households without milpa polyculture (Ashwell, 2008;Becerril et al., 2014;Birol et al., 2007;. There are two types of households: the traditional household that practices milpa polyculture and the young adult household without milpa polyculture. ...
The Maya milpa is a complex system integrated by the maize, beans, and squash polyculture as well as complementary economic activities, such as growing crops and maintaining livestock in family-owned backyard gardens, forestry, and beekeeping. Although there is evidence that the milpa system has existed for over three centuries, its economic importance has been increasingly questioned. This paper addresses questions regarding the economic value of the milpa system as well as the socioeconomic differences between households with and without milpa polyculture. This is done by means of an analysis of 265 surveys gathered from households located in six different communities in the east and southwest of Yucatan, Mexico. The results show that the economic value of the milpa system can vary from US2234 (adjusted to 2019 dollars) when on-farm consumption, including the feeding of animals and friends and family transfers, is considered. 73.4% of the surveyed households have a cost–benefit ratio of milpa polyculture lower than 1. However, households with and without milpa polyculture system receive similar annual income, showing that milpa polyculture system is as productive as wage labour in this region.
... Muchos estudios se han centrado en el análisis de la participación de los hogares en mercados laborales para medir la magnitud de los impactos económicos y sociales que tienen estas actividades en el desarrollo económico y en el bienestar de las familias (Delgado y Gavira, 2006;Becerril, Castañeda y Solis, 2014). No obstante, no se ha indagado específicamente sobre el tipo de trabajo realizado en el medio rural y su relación estrecha con el trabajo verde. ...
The growth of non-agricultural economic activities and the increasing integration into urban geographical areas have led to a situation where "rural" can no longer be used as a synonym for "agricultural". Therefore, in order to understand the current situation of the rural economy and to outline strategies for achieving local development, it is necessary to analyze labor markets and the income composition of rural households. For this reason, this study aims to quantify in monetary terms the contribution of agricultural green work (TVA, for its Spanish acronym) to household income and to identify the factors that contribute to this type of activity. Using a quantitative and cross-sectional approach, a probabilistic dichotomous regression analysis was carried out to determine the participation of southern Yucatan rural households in agricultural green work. The results show that the contribution of the TVA to household income is moderate and that variables such as age, education and the number of adults in the household positively affect it. Overcrowding in the home and having equipment such as a gas stove and radio have a negative impact on household participation in the TVA, reflecting the ambivalence surrounding rural development.
... En este orden de ideas, para impulsar la disminución de la pobreza, aumentar las oportunidades de ingreso y mejora del bienestar humano en zonas rurales, el trabajo verde en la economía rural funge como un elemento central que permite a su vez, aumentar la productividad de los recursos y el trabajo, reduciendo al mínimo la degradación del medio ambiente (ILO, 2017). En términos generales, el trabajo verde son todos los empleos que contribuyen a preservar y restaurar el medio ambiente, ya sea en sectores tradicionales o en nuevos sectores emergentes como el de las energías renovables o de eficiencia energética, por lo tanto, su potencial funge como un fin y como un medio para alcanzar los objetivos mundiales de desarrollo y consolidar el desarrollo rural sustentable (OIT, 2010, p.11) Muchos estudios se han centrado en el análisis de la participación en mercados laborales de los hogares para medir la magnitud de los impactos económicos y sociales que tienen estas actividades en el desarrollo económico y bienestar de las familias (Delgado y Gavira, 2006;Becerril, Castañeda y Solis, 2014), no obstante, no se ha indagado específicamente sobre qué tipo de trabajos son los que se realizan tanto en la ciudad como en el medio rural. ...
The growing high cost of opportunity in the rural areas of Yucatan has promoted the diversification of work as well as different migration phenomena to the main cities and intermediate cities. In general, the jobs performed in these destinations are disconnected with the systems and traditional ways of life which are closely linked to nature and have characterized these communities for decades, generating the creation of a new social relation. On the other hand, the jobs that have been replaced are closely linked to the promotion of cultural services and environmental services in the communities, that is, jobs such as agriculture through the milpa agro-ecological system, the management of family gardens and farm animals backyard on the site, as well as the beekeeping that in its operation involve knowledge, traditions and elements of the biocultural heritage, which by appropriating and making use of natural resources are promoted elements such as biodiversity, carbon capture, and sink of resources, essential categories to guarantee local sustainable development. From the neoclassical economy and green economy approach, the present study of quantitative and cross- sectional approach identified that agricultural green work represents about 30% of the total income corresponding to the rural labor market, among which the highest income reports is the milpa with 50% total, followed by beekeeping (23.4%), backyard animals (18.5%) and finally the family garden (7.9%). Among the factors that promote the probability of the household in the realization of the TVA are the age and education of the head of the household, and the number of adults within the household; on the other hand, the factors that reduce participation in the TVA are the realization of activities related to handicrafts, and the possession of goods such as the radio, gas stove and overcrowding, in other words, elements that on the one hand denote economic growth of the household and, on the other, elements related to extreme poverty. The foregoing reflects the duality of the problem and the importance of its study.
... En el Estado de Yucatán existen altos índices de pobreza y hambre-49% y 21%, respectivamente (ver Cuadro 1). Asimismo, según datos del 2012 de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutrición (ENSANUT), existe paradójicamente, una prevalencia de sobrepeso y obesidad-síntoma de una nutrición desbalanceadatrayendo consigo un serio problema de salud pública con enfermedades silenciosas, como problemas cardiovasculares, diabetes, cáncer y obesidad, entre otras (Becerril García, Castañeda, & Solís, 2014 Por ejemplo, Martinez-Alier (1999) denomina como "ecologismo de los pobres" al intento de conservar, a través de movimientos sociales, el acceso de las comunidades rurales a los recursos naturales y a los servicios ambientales en países pobres. No obstante, este acceso se ve amenazado por el sistema generalizado de mercado o por intereses del Estado (Martinez-Alier, 1999). ...
Objetivo:
Analizar la diversidad, uso y manejo de raíces y tubérculos comestibles, a través del análisis del índice de valor de uso (IVU) y el nivel de uso significativo TRAMIL.
Metodología:
Se aplicaron cuestionarios a 60 personas de la comunidad, así como seis entrevistas y observación etnográfica con informantes clave.
Resultados:
Se encontraron 6 especies y 27 variedades. El 49.9% de los encuestados señaló conocer todas las variedades descritas y se registraron cinco categorías de uso: alimento humano, alimento animal, medicinal, ritual/ceremonial y ornamental. El camote (Ipomoea batatas), el makal (Xanthosoma yucatanense) y la yuca (Manihot esculenta) presentaron un valor de uso más alto (0.06), mientras que la jícama (Pachyrhizus erosus) mostró el menor valor (0.05). Ocho variedades presentaron un nivel de uso significativo mayor al 20%: la yuca blanca (88.3%), la jícama sak chikam (86.66%), el camote con las variedades sak iss (75%), maay muula (71.6%) e xk’an iss (68.3%). Finalmente, la yuca amarilla (41.6%), y el makal con dos variedades xka’ aben makal (28.3%) e x´mejen sak makal (31.6%).
Limitaciones:
Es un estudio de caso, donde en la milpa, además de los policultivos tradicionales, frijol, maíz y calabaza, se cultiva tubérculos que son importantes para la alimentación y que sería enriquecedor ampliar el área de estudio y la permanencia en las comunidades mayas para documentar y revalorar la reincorporación del cultivo de las raíces y tubérculos en la milpa maya.
Conclusiones:
La milpa y el solar siguen siendo los sitios en donde estas plantas se cultivan, por lo que constituyen los reservorios donde pueden conservarse. Diversos factores influyen en los cambios en la dieta y el cultivo de dichas especies, de la comunidad maya de Xocén, siendo la migración, y el cambio climático los más relevantes.
Objetivo:
Describir la relación que se establece entre el fenómeno de la migración pendular y la seguridad alimentaria de las familias asentadas en la comunidad semiurbana de Cheuman, municipio de Mérida, Yucatán.
Metodología:
La información se obtuvo a través de la entrevista a 22 familias de la localidad de Cheuman, municipio de Mérida, Yucatán, la cual se basó en información general de la familia, frecuencia de consumo de alimentos y abastecimiento, seguridad alimentaria y migración; para medir la seguridad alimentaria se siguió el procedimiento propuesto por EMSA y una prueba de Chi cuadrada para verificar la independencia entre dicha seguridad y la migración.
Resultados:
El 82% de las familias, realizan la migración pendular con el fin de obtener un empleo e ingresos para la subsistencia. Solo un 27% de dichas familias presentan seguridad alimentaria y las demás (56%) muestran un grado de inseguridad alimentaria.
Limitaciones:
La mayor parte de los informantes no estaban presentes en la comunidad cuando se realizaban algunas visitas y, la falta de transporte público, fueron solo algunas dificultades que prolongaron más el trabajo de campo.
Conclusión:
No se encontró evidencia para afirmar que la migración pendular favorece la seguridad alimentaria de las familias en la comunidad de Cheuman; la calidad de vida de los habitantes se ve afectada por la presencia de enfermedades crónico-degenerativas asociadas a los malos hábitos alimentarios. El acceso a los productos alimenticios es únicamente a través de su compra, ya que éstos no se producen en la milpa, el traspatio o en el huerto familiar.
The Maya milpa is an ancient agrarian system extended along Mesoamerica, widely known for the slash and burn practices and the polyculture of maize, beans and squashes. Although the Maya milpa has more than three centuries of history, there are several challenges that must be tackled in order to promote the preservation of the system. The aim of this paper is to settle a new starting point in Maya milpa research through a synthesis around the analysis Maya milpa concept, its main lines of research, and its environmental, social, and economic effects in the Yucatan Peninsula. Our research methodology consisted of two different phases: a) the review and analysis of secondary information (169 documents) by means of automated-curation of information (text mining methods) and manual inspection, and b) the design, application, and analysis of 12 interviews using Yucatan Maya milpa researchers as informants. Based on the results we propose some basic elements to consider for an integrative definition of the Maya milpa, we highlight the information gaps described by researchers and checked by wordclouds, and we reveal the most positive and negative impacts of the Maya milpa in terms of environmental, socio-cultural, and economic aspects.
This book examines the challenges faced by farmers trying to maintain crop biodiversity in developing and transitional economies. Using a collection of empirical case studies of farmers and crop scientists across a range of agricultural economies and income levels, it presents economic tools and methods for valuing and managing crop biodiversity. It discusses the economic benefits of crop biodiversity for farmers and suggests ways in which crop biodiversity can be supported by national policies. The book provides an indispensable 'tool kit' for all those concerned with the development of strategies to facilitate sustainable management and conservation of crop genetic diversity for future generations.
The objectives of this chapter are threefold: (1) to evaluate the effect of reforms and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in agricultural production and food security on the rural economy and the livelihoods of the population of Mexico with special attention to maize (the major staple food of Mexico), (2) to reflect on the future of food security and the livelihoods of Mexicans, and (3) to draw lessons from the Mexican experience for other ‘emerging economies’. Section°6.2 of the chapter presents a summary of the main market-oriented reforms applied to agriculture, pointing out their expected effects. Section°6.3 presents the tendencies of agricultural trade and production, with special attention to Mexico’s basic crops (major grains and oilseeds). In Sect. °6.4, the author studies the structure of crop production and its changes, assessing the role of agriculture by farm size in food security and the livelihoods of the Mexican population. Section°6.5 proposes hypotheses that explain why, contrary to expectations, the production of grains—non-competitive crops under NAFTA—has not collapsed. Finally, based on the author’s research, the conclusion presents policy options for the Mexican State while drawing lessons that the Mexican experience can provide to other emerging economies on food security and livelihoods. © Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) 2015.
The 7th International Food Data Conference “Food Composition and Biodiversity”, from 21–24 October 2007, was organized and convened by the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Department of Food Science and Experimental Nutrition of Pharmaceutical Science School of USP, the Brazilian Network of Food Data Systems (BRASILFOODS), and FAO, in conjunction with the FAO International Expert Consultation “Nutrition Indicators for Biodiversity” and the 9th National Congress of the Brazilian Society for Food and Nutrition. The scientific program had 55 oral presentations in the plenary sessions and 87 abstracts presented as posters. The complete articles (18) related to some of the presentations are being published in this issue. This conference was a unique opportunity for interaction between renowned researchers and participants from several countries, several international organs, Brazilian regulatory organs and government agencies, industries, nutritionists and other health professionals. This conference allowed us to exchange experiences and knowledge, structure new partnerships and discuss aspects that may improve the food composition area.
