Characterization and evaluation of the sustainability of the organic cashew (Anacardium occidentale) production chain in the Bajo Lempa region, department of San Vicente, El Salvador

Abstract

When implementing agricultural production systems that seek social and economic benefit for the population, renewable and non-renewable natural resources are affected, reduced, modified and sometimes destroyed. In this context, this research evaluates the sustainability and characterization of the organic cashew (Anacardium occidentale) production chain. The objective was to carry out a comparative analysis of the sustainability of organic and conventional cashew management systems, considering environmental, economic and social dimension, in the communities of the Bajo Lempa region. This region has an approximate territorial extension is 92.6 hectares and it is located in the counties of Pacún, Las Anonas, San Carlos Lempa and Las Mesas, in the municipality of Tecoluca, department of San Vicente. The methodology used was the Evaluation Framework of Natural Resources Management Systems, with the incorporation of sustainability indicators, known as MESMIS. This system proposes a flexible structure, adapted to different levels of information and technical capacities. It has a practical orientation based on a participatory approach that promotes discussion and feedback between evaluators and evaluated. In addition, it provides an interdisciplinary vision to comprehensively understand the limitations and possibilities of sustainability in management systems that arise from the intersection of environmental processes in the social and economic sphere. A comparison was made between current management systems and alternative systems, a procedure that allowed, firstly, to examine the effectiveness of the sustainability of social, economic and environmental systems, and secondly, to identify critical sustainability points in order to propose changes that improve the sustainability of the systems. Ninety percent of this region comprises plots between 1 to 5 hectares (ha); 71% of the selected producers have agriculture as their source of income, and of these, 94% are dedicated to the cultivation of cashew. The most sustainable attributes of the evaluated production systems were determined. A proposal for an organic production system model was generated, based on implementing the activities of each of the best evaluated attributes, regardless of age of the cashew plantations, as it is not a determining factor in achieving sustainability. It is concluded that organically managed production systems are more sustainable in economic, social and environmental dimensions, compared to conventionally managed systems