This is Horacio Luis Villagrán Juárez. I am a Master of Science student, specializing in Rural Development at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala.

I agree with the statement in previous messages, they have the same structural problems in almost all regions of the world, to which the lack of training for proper human development is subject of special significance for a productive enterprise in the short term. With regard to the principles expressed in the synthesis of opening of this enriching forum I would like to expand upon Question 4.2 - What are the current gaps in rural advisory services for smallholder family farms?
In my brief experience in this dynamic, rural stakeholders; having no coverage of basic services throughout life are in a position where it is almost impossible to develop new skills, abilities and knowledge among many other things, which ends up being a strong constraint which makes a difference in the economic growth of each individual within this scenario. This keeps them subjugated to subsistence activities (like selling unskilled labor) which in the juxtaposition of this dynamic does not impede economic growth but complicates the scenario to achieve it. Due to this I agree with the statement by Professor Marisa di Luján Gonnella of Argentina (Message 44), concerning the classification of models of family production within this dynamic. So, extrapolating this to my country of residence with information from the 2003 National Census of Agriculture (CENAGRO) published by the National Institute of Statistics (http://www.ine.gob.gt/sistema/uploads/2014/01/16/cv9H2R2CyhS1n0c1XfKqXVf4pLIxONTg.pdf - 3.8 MB), which made a classification by category production models according to land tenure;
Category

% of producers

Acre (Mz=0.7 hectares)

% of terrain

Average plot size (Mz)

Infrasubsistence
(less than 1 Mz)

45.2

172,412.75

3.2%

0.46

Subsistence
(1- 10 Mz)

46.8

989,790.71

18.6%

2.5

Surplus
(10 - 64 manzanas)

6.1

1,145,318.00

21.6%

22.7

Commercial
(more than 64 Mz)

1.9

3,008,316.31

56.6%

194.4

Here you can consider land tenure as another turning point within the model of Rural Development; so now the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA) resolves its rural extension services through its Family Farming Programme (Programa de Agricultura Familiar para el Fomento de la Economía Campesina (PAFFEC)) which also takes into account the landless, in addition to providing coverage to commercial agricultural activities on the side. And not like a few years ago where advisory services were only offered to those that were included with tenure of land.
You can find the guidelines take this dynamic within my country in the link for the PAFFEC 2012-2015 which can be found at http://web.maga.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/pdf/home/programa_agricultura.pdf (900 KB).
Lic. zoot. Horacio Luis Villagrán Juárez.
Maestrante de Ciencias en Desarrollo Rural.
Especialista en Producción Animal.
Colegiado 1,218.
Asesor en Formulación de Proyectos Agropecuarios con énfasis Ambiental.
Asesor de la normativa ISO 9001:2008.
Consultor Individual Ambiental # 674 DIGARN-MARN.
Analista de Riesgos de Origen Socio Ambiental u Estructural # 1,210-14, INAP-CONRED.
No. de Cel's. (502) 5697-5606 (502) 4101-6639 - (502) 4091-2234.
e-mail: Horaciovillagran (at) gmail.com


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