Abstract

ALBINO CARGUA, José Iván. The Cocoa Production Systems of the Shushufindi Canton and their Resilience to Climate Change. Letras Verdes [online]. 2020, n.27, pp.90-114. ISSN 1390-6631.  https://doi.org/10.17141/letrasverdes.27.2020.4147.

In Shushufindi canton, cocoa (Theobroma cacao) has become an important part of the economy, and the most representative crop within the productive systems of families. Given the economic dependence created, this condition confers a greater risk in the face of environmental disturbances. The objective of this investigation is to evaluate the climatic resilience of the cocoa production systems through the methodology of evaluation of resilience and climatic variability in agroecosystems. Ten production systems, five monocultures (MN) and five agroforestry (AF) were analyzed. Forty-six resilience indicators were evaluated, grouped into 11 evaluation criteria. The production systems and all their components were georeferenced by means of GPS control points on aerial photographs. A 24x24m sampling plot was selected per system for collecting data on plant diversity and soil organic matter. Each indicator was initially scored on a scale of 0 to 5 and then multiplied by a weighting coefficient. AF systems showed greater resilience than MN in 10 of the 11 criteria analyzed, however, in both types of systems there is a need to potentialize key aspects that improve their capacity to adapt and transform to climate change.

Keywords : agroforestry; climate change; cocoa; production systems; resilience.

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