Agricultural production units (APU’s) at amazon region of Ecuador, Pastaza province and diversified farm as efficient production system  

Abstract

This research makes an analysis of the Agricultural Production Units (APU) in Pastaza province. This is the largest province in Ecuador (12% of the country) and in Amazon Region. In this scenario, 56% of its population lives in rural areas. The 88% of APU in Ecuador are constituted from farming families, defining this term as a farmer group that employs basically family workforce for their activity. In fact, 41% of total productive lands in the country is grown as "family farms", corresponding to a total of 618,685 APUs. However, an important part of agricultural production in Amazon region takes place in the "chakras (farm)", which is the traditional way of Kichwa people to grown their crops. In this area, the family feeding opportunities and the income generation are combined. The crops management in the chakra is natural and is based on the ancient practice of Amazonian Kichwa´s. The chakra also become a family space for knowledge and to keep a high species biodiversity, which sometimes is affected by the increase of the commercial crops surface. At the Centre for Research, Post-degree and Conservation of the Amazonian Biodiversity (CIPCA), belonging to Universidad Estatal Amazónica, a “diversified chakra” is developed in an area of 5000 m2. These researches are focused in the management of a high species diversity based on agroecological principles. The goals are addressed to propose the chakra as a productive model and to spread the results in this Amazonian region.