Relevance of local knowledge in decision-making and rural innovation: A methodological proposal for leveraging participation of Colombian cocoa producers

摘要

The local knowledge is constituted in the basis for decision-making and is an important part of the livelihood of rural families. Knowledge of cocoa crop management practices takes an essential role in the producers' resilience capacity to face and adapt to changing environments in the productive, social and environmental level. It was carried out a study in the Macarena-Guaviare region, Colombia to evaluate the level of knowledge of cocoa producers, to analyze how this knowledge is affected by familiar, organizational or productive variables, and to determine the formation needs. To determine the level of knowledge, it was proposed a methodology called "Cacota test" which was applied and validated by cocoa producers (n = 189). It was evaluated the knowledge about the links (a. Crop design, b. Clones, c. Soil fertility, d. Pruning, e. Pests and diseases management, f. Good agricultural practices, g. Harvest, h. Post-harvest, i. Transformation, j. Marketing, k. Associativity, l. Institutionality). By means of a cluster analysis, producers were typified according to their level of knowledge and it was made a principal component analysis (PCA) to visualize the relation between the links and types of producers. It was elaborated a Cocoa Knowledge Index (CKI) and the links with greater and lesser strength regarding management level were identified. Also, the variables which influence the CKI were identified using a linear regression model. Positive correlations were found between the links: a. Clones and Soil fertility, b. Pruning and good agricultural practices, c. Pruning and pests and diseases management. The typologies were affected by the level of education, level of associativity and cultivated area. The local knowledge was not significantly related to age and gender. The proposed methodology made possible to determine the level of local knowledge of cocoa crop management practices. The institutions or people responsible for the formation of cocoa producers in the Macarena-Guaviare region should focus on crop design, clones, soil fertility, harvest, post-harvest and transformation links.