Agricultural land grabs and reconfiguration in Ixcanelco through socio-cultural practices

Abstract

In Ixcanelco, Veracruz, the agricultural territory has been reconfigured by the introduction of monocultures for commercial purposes promoted by external agents, without considering the socio-cultural dynamics of the community. The technological packages that have reconfigured the territory are related to the cultivation of tobacco and citrus fruits, as well as extensive livestock. These productive systems have not been economically viable or ecologically sustainable; moreover, they have generated biocultural erosion by modifying peasant agricultural practices such as the association of crops in the maize field. However, there is a cultural richness and a biological diversity, for the configuration of a new agricultural territory with socio-environmental relations, according to the interest of the rural actors. For this, a sustainable production system with agroforestry techniques is proposed. The territory is the concept that allows the structuring of interdisciplinary reflections, methodologically disaggregated from a qualitative analytical perspective to be reconstructed as a whole that culminates in the formulation of a proposal for Ixcanelco. It is concluded that in the rural area of the country, native culture and the response of local actors are important to rescue and reorient territories that have been disrupted by technologies promoted by the federal government and transnational corporations.