Resumo

SANCHEZ MORALES, Primo  e  ROMERO ARENAS, Omar. Evaluation of sustainability of the milpa system in the Tlaxcala State, Mexico. Revista Col. San Luis [online]. 2018, vol.8, n.15, pp.107-134. ISSN 2007-8846.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the sustainability of comparative way between two corn production systems: (a) traditional milpa system, and (b) system of maize in monoculture. For strengths and weaknesses we calculated the sample size (n=380) from the population of corn producers N=29.828. The methodology was built from an agroecological perspective; applied the Framework for the Assessment of systems of Natural Resource Management incorporating sustainability indicators, and considered the time scale cross-spring-summer 2014 in the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico. 15 indicators were established in which covered the dimensions: social, economic and environmental. The results show that only in an economic indicator, the system monoculture obtained higher value; in two indicators values are similar (supply/demand balance of grain and grass, and impact of agricultural policies); in the remainder, the results favored the milpa system. In three of these, the difference is more than 35 percentage points: cost-benefit ratio, efficiency in use of fossil energy, and agrobiodiversity. It is concluded that in the milpa is favorable the association of crops and takes advantage of best way the space and fossil fuels employees and produces greater diversity of human food; however, there is a need to integrate other crops and practices that make both more sustainable production systems.

Palavras-chave : corn; polyculture; monoculture; indicators; MESMIS.

        · resumo em Espanhol     · texto em Espanhol     · Espanhol ( pdf )