Abstract

COPPENS, Hélène. Agroforestry System in Tarata - Bolivia: an adoption depending on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of farmers in relation to the implementation of a new system. RevActaNova. [online]. 2014, vol.6, n.3, pp.268-287. ISSN 1683-0789.

Bolivia is the country of South America with the highest percentage of subnutrition in spite of the fact that a great part of the population is related to agriculture. Furthermore, it is necessary to underline that most of the farmers and ranchers live in regions with soils of weak (and even no) potential which lead to cases of extreme poverty conditions. The region of Tarata studied in this article has to face environmental problems and society changes that put the families in even more vulnerable situations. The implementation of an agroforestry system that is being developed in the some farmers’fields, tries to respond to these problems. Nevertheless, agroforestry is not a system normally practiced in the region and the farmers do not initially understand well its functioning. This article tries to analyze the agroforestal system from the farmers’ point of view. From the ones who are part of the project but also from some neighbors who did not have any sensitization to the system. With the study of the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of the farmers it is possible to understand specific problems found in relation with the new system but also the evolution in their comprehension of the agroforestry. This allows understanding why the system can be more or less adapted to the farmers and which are the obstacles in relation with the KAP as for the implementation of the system.

Keywords : Agroforestry; agroforestal systems; semiarid region; knowledge; attitudes; practices.

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