Resumen

HASANG-MORAN, Edwin Stalin et al. Sustainability of the corn production system, in the province of Los Ríos (Ecuador), under the multi-criteria methodology of Sarandón. J. Selva Andina Biosph. [online]. 2021, vol.9, n.1, pp.26-40. ISSN 2308-3867.  https://doi.org/10.36610/j.jsab.2021.090100026.

In Ecuador, the sowing area of hard yellow corn is 383399 ha, concentrating the production in the province of Los Ríos 45.4 %. One of the main problems that affects the productivity of this grass is in the sowing systems used, especially the monoculture that reaches 42.3 %, which causes vulnerability of the agroecosystem, mainly due to soil degradation, erosion and nutrient extraction, resulting in more aggravating the burning of residues which is a very common practice in this agricultural system, which implies the loss of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and populations of microorganisms. The sustainability of this production system must be based on increasing yields that allow improving the quality of life of corn farmers, without affecting the functions and diversity of agroecosystems. This sustainability study was carried out in the main corn-producing areas of the Los Ríos province (Ventanas, Quevedo, Montalvo, Babahoyo, Vinces, Palenque, Baba, Mocache and Pueblo Viejo), considering a total of 16899 UPA, having carried out 165 surveys, with questions in the social, economic and ecological fields, whose results indicated the unsustainability of the maize agricultural production system, by showing two of the three evaluated indicators, values less than two according to the Sarandón scale.

Palabras clave : Corn; multi-criteria methodology; production; sustainability.

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