Intercropping fruit trees to milpa system (MIAF)

agroecological evaluation ten years after their implementation in Chamula, Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

The goal of this research it to evaluate the Milpa system interspersed with Fruit Trees (MIAF, by their acronyms in spanish) during a productive cycle (2020-2021) in Icalumtic village, Municipality of Chamula, Chiapas, a local community that has developed a ten-year experience with this agroforestry system. An agroecological sustainability evaluation method proposed by Altieri and Nicholls (2002) was used using 30 quantitative and qualitative indicators, which were defined with the community in a participatory manner. These indicators were categorized into three axes of sustainability: ecological-technical-productive axis, socioeconomic axis and socio-political-cultural axis, approached from the concepts of sustainable agriculture and agroforestry systems. The questionnaire was applied to eight men and eight women and in each plot area samples were made in squares of 5x5m. The results were systematized in excel sheets, to be analyzed with ameba graphs, for which a scale from 0 to 10 was used to rate the sustainability of the system according to the proposed indicators, 0 for the least sustainable and 10 for the most sustainable. Descriptive statistics and discourse analysis were also used for the analysis of the results of the samplings in plots and the questionnaires. Results and discussion: Based on a general average and by means of the analysis of the radial graphs, we found an average of 8.16 for the productive technical ecological axis, of 7.23 for the sociopolitical-cultural axis, both within moderately acceptable sustainability; for the socioeconomic axis it was 4.04, within unacceptable sustainability.