"Characterization of Strategies for Socioecological Persistence and Resilience in Traditional Afrofarms in Padilla-Cauca": engineering at the service of the communities

María Camila Cambindo Mezu, Master´s student in Sustainable Development. Credit: Édgar Bejarano, Communications Office, Faculty of Engineering.

In recent decades, the accelerated expansion of sugarcane monoculture in the southwestern part of the country has caused profound changes in the socioeconomic, cultural and environmental practices of the traditional agricultural systems that make up the flat area of the northern part of the department of Cauca. 

In an effort to integrate engineering into the realm of social justice, a research project aims to analyze the impacts of sugarcane cultivation in Afro-farmers territories and to highlight the strategies through which communities in the North of the Cauca attempt to preserve the legacy of their ancestors. Its findings offer a broad perspective on the diversity and complexity of traditional agricultural systems, which have demonstrated an ability to adapt to the presence of new pests and diseases, climate change, globalization and, more recently, the incorporation of current technologies and trends. 

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Return to the place of origin 

María Camila Cambindo Mezu, an agricultural engineer graduated from the Universidad del Valle, has found in her roots an invaluable guide to apply engineering closer and more relevant to the realities of the communities. Although she was born in the city of Cali, her family is originally from the municipality of Padilla, in northern Cauca. It is in this place where, thanks to his research in the Master in Sustainable Development, directed by the teacher and researcher of the research group IREHISA and coordinator of the Doctorate in Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Natural and Exact Sciences of the Universidad del Valle, Yesid Carvajal Escobar, she has felt completely at home, thanks to the warm welcome from the community. 

The purpose of her research is to characterize and highlight the strategies of persistence and socioecological resilience that Afro-farmers families in the municipality of Padilla, Cauca, have implemented over the last thirty years to conserve and protect the few traditional farms that still survive in the face of the agroindustrial expansion of sugarcane monoculture. This initiative arose from her frequent visits to Padilla, where she was able to directly observe the changes caused by this crop, providing her with a favorable challenge in her environment to carry out her study in the field of sustainability. Her return to the municipality as a researcher was received with enthusiasm. "One feels very welcomed in the town, it is a wonderful community. They greatly appreciate that those who have left the territory return with knowledge, practices and new proposals, because many times this is lacking," says the researcher. 

This interest in putting engineering at the service of the community dates back to her time as an undergraduate student. María Camila remembers taking the elective "Community Participation in Irrigation Projects", taught by Professor Mariela García Vargas of the CINARA Institute, where the social aspect plays a fundamental role. The practices of this subject were carried out in the municipality of Jamundí, and the teacher pointed out to her students -among them María Camila- the importance of understanding and knowing deeply the needs of the community, before generating technological advances. "That was immersed in my mind", recalls María Camila, and adds that, since then, she set the goal of developing engineering projects with a high social and ethnic sense, oriented to be useful and beneficial for the communities that day by day work for the construction of peace in the country.  

To this end, she proposed his research, whose central axis revolves around agroecology, an approach whose contemporary term dates back to the 1970s, although its theoretical and practical foundations are as old as the origins of agriculture. Agroecology proposes alternative practices to the dominant capitalist model, prioritizing the traditional and indigenous agricultural methods of each territory - not only to mitigate climate change, but also to produce healthy food for all humanity.  According to the researcher, "more than a science, it is a practice, a social and political movement. The traditional farm seeks to diversify crops while respecting and promoting the cultural identity of the Afro-farmer families that live there (their stories, traditions and ancestral knowledge that deserve to be valued and preserved)". This has been the cornerstone of her research. 

Working with communities 

Activities carried out in field visits to the municipality of Padilla, Cauca. Credit: researcher's file.

During field visits conducted as part of her research project, María Camila has been able to personally observe the impacts of sugarcane cultivation in the municipality of Padilla, Cauca. These changes are evident in the landscape, the deterioration of communication routes and in the types of crops that now predominate. This last aspect represents a notable change with respect to previous decades in the region. "In Padilla around the 1930s there was a great diversity of crops and a territory rich in fauna and flora. The study is showing that, with the introduction of sugarcane monoculture, all this began to change, profoundly altering the area's traditional agricultural practices," says the master's student.  

For María Camila, traditional farms play a crucial role in the geographic valley of the Río Cauca because, in addition to representing and promoting the diversity of these areas, they promote sustainable agricultural methods for both the inhabitants and the environment. For this reason, these traditional farms become the main focus of her study. Thanks to her proximity to the community, she learned of the existence of an organization that grouped several farms in the region, and immediately sought to establish bridges of communication to work with them.  

The association, called "ASOFINTRA - Asociación de Finqueros Tradicionales de Padilla Cauca", is currently made up of 36 people who own traditional farms in the municipality of Padilla, Cauca, although in the past it had more than 60 members, most of them elderly people. They were the ones who saw in the investigation carried out by the Master's student an opportunity to be heard.  

María Camila conducted her study with this approval provided by the community, using research tools and techniques such as semi-structured interviews, divided into eight themes. 1) general information (which included name, surname, age, location, name of the property, titling documents and composition of the family nucleus); 2) persistence (which established the reasons why the traditional farmers remain in the territory); 3) landscape transformation (which responded to how the population perceives the change exerted on the territory after the arrival of sugarcane cultivation); 4) traditional farm (which perceived the current state of traditional farms with the use of home gardens, native seeds, animal husbandry, cultural practices, distribution of agricultural tasks and use of biopreparations); 5) institutional and organizational aspects (which sought to determine if they belong to any organization and if there is any type of institutional trust between the entities responsible for agrarian and rural issues in the department and municipality); 6) economic (on production surpluses, commercialization flows, availability and demand for day laborers, labor costs and sales); 7) life strategies (which responded to the concern for the future of the traditional farms and generational replacement); and 8) aspects of culinary customs derived from the productive activities generated within the farms. 

The road to this research, however, has not been easy. Given that some of these farms are distant from each other, traveling to these places has become a challenge for the researcher María Camila Cambindo Mezu. So far, 17 people have been interviewed who are part of traditional farms in the municipality of Padilla, Cauca.  

Strengthened ties

Once the fieldwork phase was completed, the research is in the process of systematizing the information, which has already revealed some significant results: "Defending, recovering and conserving the land, the traditional farm and the territory is a precondition for any agroecological process. This is reflected in the political response with which the Afro-farmers communities of northern Cauca create autonomy and communality through collective work, reciprocity, dialogue of experiences and the creation of spaces for gathering," explains María Camila.  

In addition to documenting the impact on the traditional dynamics of the population due to the extensive use of land for the management of sugarcane crops, the researcher identified an urgent need: the lack of an accessible market for these communities (traditional farmers) to market their products. 

"It is very difficult because many of these families live outside the urban center, and do not have their own means of transportation that allows them to travel to the various local markets in the region, either in towns like Puerto Tejada, Miranda or Corinto," explains the researcher, "therefore, it is essential to develop new marketing strategies that allow them to sell their products, without intermediaries, and have the institutional support and preference of local consumers for the products of the traditional farm". 

In this sense, the research work plays a complementary role, which contributes to the strengthening of these processes, and has to do with the visibility of these needs, found as a result of the visits, workshops, interviews, surveys and participatory diagnoses made so far, which is coupled with the recognition by them in their role within the region.  

"The most important thing is their empowerment, to feel proud that they are traditional farmers, that they are doing things in a way that not everyone else does, that they have a different way of thinking, focused on the conservation of the territories and ecosystems," says María Camila, and adds that she is committed to helping the association with the organizational part, so that they can have systematized information for future applications for national and international projects. 

Farmers members of Asofintra at the agroecological market held on Juni 16 in Padilla, Cauca, to present the products of different traditional farms. Credit: researcher's file.

Having done this research in the place where her family is from has strengthened the ties between them. "I feel like one more daughter, one more granddaughter, because many of them are grandparents. The love I have felt from them has been very gratifying for me. I go and their eyes light up, and they receive me with an affectionate hug. The bonds have been based on respect, affection and fraternity", summarizes María Camila. According to her, she is satisfied with the way in which she has bet from her profession to a field of social engineering, since it has been an enriching process both personally and professionally.  

"I have become more sensitive to community issues, to the challenges and struggles of our communities. This project has deepened in me the pain and courage of my people," says researcher Maria Camila Cambindo Mezu.

If interested in being in touch with the Master's student or any further information about the investigation, please write the Faculty of Engineering Communications Office: comunicaingenieria@correounivalle.edu.co.