Conceptual bases for the design of the agricultural and livestock sustainable development model

Currently there is greater awareness of the importance that activities in the rural environment and good management of natural resources have for all. The concept of rural development exceeds today the economistic approach, as has been stated by the Commission of the European Union, out of a whole economic and social tapestry, with a set of diverse activities: agriculture, small-scale craft-making, small and medium industries, trade and services; in other words, people who seek to work to obtain a value, “a price in the market”. In addition to being constituted by social dimensions, the rural environment is an essential regenerating and buffering space for environmental equilibrium (^{Durand and Rivero, 2010}), although at the same time agricultural/ livestock and forestry activities can generate pollution and environmental deterioration (^{Foley, 2014}).

Sustainable agriculture and livestock production are forms of development that arise as a response to the preoccupations about the impact on the environment that emanate from the practice of agribusiness; impacts such as environmental degradation (soil erosion, water scarcity, pollution from pesticides), social problems (closing of family businesses, concentration of land, resources and production, and migration), and the excessive use of natural resources. These new forms of development in the primary sector have given rise to the need to seek options in innovation and technology that allow stopping these environmental effects without reducing the financial income of rural families.

According to the new development approach, sustainable agriculture can be differentiated from conventional agriculture because it has objectives such as: i) improving the health of producers and consumers (dietary innocuousness, organic agriculture); ii) maintaining the stability of the environment (biological fertilizing and pest management methods); iii) ensuring earnings in the long term for farmers; and iv) producing taking into account the needs of current and future generations (^{Tommasino, 2005}). And, as ^{Altieri et al. (1999)} declare, agriculture does not adjust to an era with environmental and energetic problems, but rather to the need of progress towards a self-sufficient, economically viable, energetically efficient agriculture, that conserves the resources and is socially acceptable, premises that must be followed when planning and creating business models for people who have the countryside as the basis of their economic support.

We consider it a priority for México to redirect the role of the countryside in national development. It is vital to recognize new processes applied to rural families to overcome the current difficulties of backwardness and stagnation. Within the framework of public policies, it has been sought to foster the development of the social fabric through the Sustainable Rural Development Law, but this law still needs to be expressed in an operative policy that is implemented effectively in the population to crystallize actions, supports and strategies within the rural communities.

This study gathers part of the creation of operative strategies and advances achieved in sustainable development by international organizations, with the aim of creating a proposal that allows taking up again these advances for their possible incorporation in support of local producers.

In order to achieve this and to have the characteristics and policies under which the agricultural and livestock sustainable model is based, the document Informes de Avances, issued by FAO in June, 1997, has been revisited. Chapter 14, titled “Fostering agriculture and sustainable rural development”, identifies main problems for the development of new business and growth schemes for peasants, which are: 1) crystallizing initiatives of sustainable agricultural and rural development with farmers; participative criteria centered on the producers must be adopted, which should take up and carefully evaluate native technologies and knowledge; 2) fostering sustainable intensification; that is, using environmentally rational technologies to increase production in lands that are already exploited and not converting fragile marginal lands into low-productivity agricultural ones; 3) promoting crop rotation and the use of organic materials in agricultural systems of low inputs; 4) incorporating machinery and technological advancements; 5) determining again the priorities for the conservation and use of agro biodiversity; and 6) fostering the transition towards alternative sources of energy in rural zones (^{FAO, 1997}). To this, we may add: 7) changes in the diet, substitution or reduction of consumption of certain foods, such as beef, by others with lower environmental impact, such as fish obtained from fish farming; and 8) waste reduction, particularly through optimizing the transport and storage processes, and through the reduction of portions for individual consumption; for example, luxury and child consumption, particularly in the cities. This allows suggesting the priorities to determine the model (Figure 1). For this purpose, customs and usages must be respected, and the resources available in the community should be taken into consideration.

Figure 1 Model leading to sustainable rural businesses. 

Initially, the current of thought which will be taken as basis to understand the elements included in the model must be identified. The suggestion of this study is based on the school of thought called “Limited ecological and social sustainability (environmental conservation plus economic growth)”. That is, those who consider that, in addition to addressing the environmental problematic, the concept must be linked to the socioeconomic problematic. This group is basically represented by the visions of international organizations, such as FAO, the UN and the World Bank. In these organizations, the relationship between poverty and environmental deterioration is recognized (^{Foladori and Tommasino, 2000}).

Principles of the Model

The model is based on three basic principles:

Aspects of production

Once the principles of the model have been covered, there should be a move towards the fundamental aspects of production. Entrepreneurs in sustainable systems must change the land use of their terrains, that is, leave aside monocrops in order to create small-scale ecosystems capable of producing various satisfiers, animals, plants, fruits, woods, energy and water. However, during the first stage of the change the apparent reduction in production of the crops must be contemplated.

When it is understood that production is the key area of the transition, necessary and adequate strategies and tools for each family unit must be sought, which allow the efficiency of the natural capital. The keys in the choice will depend on considering points such as technological innovation, technical assistance, and opening of markets.

Tools and strategies

The purpose of the tools and strategies is to seek:

Sustainable integration

The result from applying a sustainable model within the family units will have as a result an improvement in their sustainability, through: i) environmental conservation, ii) economic development, and iii) social development.

In the sphere of environmental conservation, the good use and exploitation of the air, soil and water resources should be looked after. As ^{Daly (1997)} mentions, the use of renewable resources should not exceed the level that is needed for their regeneration; the consumption of renewable resources should not exceed the level it needs for regeneration; the consumption of renewable resources should surpass biocapacity; the polluting emissions should not exceed the capacity of assimilation of the environment; and the human population should be kept at levels that allow for the three prior conditions to take place.

In the sphere of economic development, it has been sought to fulfill a better distribution of wealth and changes in the work roles to attain equity within the family unit, in addition to the exploitation of the financial resources for a greater production and consumption by members. The strategies and tools used according to the characteristics of each family unit will give the opportunity to identify the form in which it will adapt its scarce resources to the needs of the region through processes of production, distribution, substitution, consumption and exchange, with the aim of achieving their growth and economic development.

The dimension of social development goes beyond attaining a greater amount of money to be able to consume; it is about the development of human resources and basic needs, such as health, education, housing and security. That is, social development considers factors like human liberty, dignity, and the importance of human beings as the means to achieve their own development; it is a process of broadening of options for people and not solely a question of increasing income, but the question is whether we are ready and able to implement these changes and, even, which would be their impacts at the macroeconomic level.

Environment

The family units must understand and, to a certain degree, depend on the policies that are implemented and affect the environment where they work. The families with primary activity that participate in a model of sustainable management will be influenced by the regulations issued by the government, which fulfill the guidelines imposed by the international organizations in the issue.

International environment

In the international sphere, what happened in the 1992 World Summit should be analyzed specifically, as well as the document derived from it, named Program 21, which presents the action lines for each zone where the human being influences the environment and as its successor Rio + 20 which took place in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, and the conclusion in the document “The future we want”. These action lines are present in the strategies to be followed by the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

National environment

In turn, the national sphere enters the theme of sustainable development in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, where the World Summit was celebrated. México committed to adopting national and global measures in matters of sustainability and for this purpose participated as one of the 21 voluntary countries in the program of Action for Sustainable Development, better known as Agenda 21. Since then and until now, there are eight federal laws in force that are part of the sustainability regulations and which impact through the various ministries the rural family units; they are: i) Federal Law of Ecologic Equilibrium and Environmental Protection (1988); ii) Law of Sustainable Rural Development (2001); iii) General Law of Sustainable Forest Development; iv) Law of Sustainable Development of Sugar Cane; v) Law of Organic Products; vi) Law of Sustainable Fishing and Aquaculture; vii) Law for Sustainable Exploitation of Energy; viii) Federal Law of Environmental Responsibility; and ix) General Law for Sustainable Forest Development.

Although these laws consider sustainability in its own denomination, they are not the only ones that will lead México to sustainable development; the regulations have permeated in one way or another into the rest of the Mexican laws and their government organisms.

Market

The viability of a successful implementation in sustainable management will depend on contemplating that the production of the family units is subject to the mechanisms of the national and international market. The national markets look for the diversification of agriculture, not with a vision of a good management of the environment, but rather with the aim of exporting which gives rise to the displacement of grains of local use. Implanting a model of sustainable management in the family units should take up again the needs of supplying, firstly, the local and regional markets, and of paying attention to reaching opportunities of direct trade chains; that is, eliminating intermediaries. The diversification in production of the family units allows an opportunity for food security programs that could help to counteract poverty and to allow a more equitable development within the community.