Land Management Strategies and their Implications for Mazahua Farmers’ Livelihoods in the Highlands of Central Mexico

• Authors: Belina García Fajardo , María Estela Orozco Hernández , John McDonagh , Gustavo Álvarez Arteaga , Patricia Mireles Lezama

Abstracts

EN

This paper presents a case study from a Mazahua indigenous community in the rural Highlands of Central Mexico. It analyses Mazahua farming livelihoods characterised by subsistence agriculture, marginality, poverty and severe land degradation. Mazahua farmers face constrained environmental, socioeconomic and cultural conditions, which influence their local decisions on natural resource management. The results describe the capital assets base used, where land, livestock and crop production are imperative assets to support farmers’ livelihood strategies. It analyses local management practices to achieve livelihood outcomes in the short/long term, and to improve or undermine land characteristics and other related assets. It also presents a farmer typology constructed by local perceptions, a controversial element to drive sustainable development strategies at the local level. Finally, it discusses how local land management practices are adopted and their importance in developing alternatives to encourage positive trade-offs between conservation and production in order to improve rural livelihoods.

Keywords

EN

Rural livelihoods; Mazahua farmers; hillside areas

• Publisher: Wydział Geografii i Studiów Regionalnych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 5-12

Dates

published

2016

Contributors

author

Belina García Fajardo

• Facultad de Planeación Urbana y Regional, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México

author

María Estela Orozco Hernández

• Facultad de Planeación Urbana y Regional, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México

author

John McDonagh

• School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom

author

Gustavo Álvarez Arteaga

• Facultad de Planeación Urbana y Regional, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México
• Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México

author

Patricia Mireles Lezama

• Facultad de Planeación Urbana y Regional, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México

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Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

1035931