The municipality and the community organization

The municipality of Oxchuc (Figure 1) is located within the region of the “Chiapas Highlands” and belongs to the Tseltal ethnic group. In its 147 localities, there are 43 350 inhabitants of which 21 844 are men and 21 506, with an average of 103.7 inhabitants per km² and 16 043 economically active inhabitants. Its territorial extension is 418 km² (^{INEGI, 2010}). The limestone substrate predominates and the karst geoforms with soils of types: cambisol, latosol and rendzina (^{Mariaca, 2007}). The altitude varies from 1000 to 2500 m. In altitudes of 1000 to 1500 m, climate A(C) (m) is present, and in altitudes higher than 1500 m the climate type is (A) Cw. In the low zone, coffee plantations are interspersed between the milpa, and in the high zone there are maize and fruit trees.

Figure 1 Municipality of Oxchuc. 

The families of this municipality have resorted to many alternatives to produce food. For hundreds of years, maize production under the milpa system supported the family unit. However, in a study of the Chiapas Highlands region, ^{Parra and Moguel (1998)} found that there was a food supply crisis since the decade of the 1970s. This moment of crisis opened the door to variation; that is, to the search for options to secure their foods.

The change in agricultural systems could be observed clearly in the zone where the physical and environmental conditions allowed the establishment of the coffee plantations, process supported by the Mexican Coffee Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Café, INMECAFE). However, this did not happen in the whole municipality; in the cold lands, producers intensified maize production, and the lands were parceled out for young people to have access to them. Likewise, temporary migration allowed the producers to explore new crops and test them in the plots, as was the case with some fruit trees (^{Ramos et al., 2009}).

The situation worsens with regard to the use of land; the World Bank (1999) has documented that in the Mexican agricultural sphere only 44 % of the total income is strictly speaking agricultural and livestock production. ^{De Janvry and Sadoulet (2000)} report that, without income foreign to the plot, at least 25 rainfed hectares would be required to come out of poverty within the institutional conditions and current prices. The ECLAC (^{CEPAL, 1999}) mentions that in México families that have less than two hectares of land for agricultural production obtain annual income of which only 10 % comes from agricultural activities. From INEGI’s statistical data, it is estimated that in 2008 a producer in Oxchuc had access to half a hectare of farming land for production.

In each one of the localities in the municipality of Oxchuc, there are characteristic forms of organization and appropriation of the territory (^{Sántiz, 2012}); one of them, the lineage², gives sense to the individual and collective actions within the spaces of local action. In this manner, in the communities there are several lineages and each one receives the name of Ts´umbal and is represented through a Tseltal last name and an ancestor who gives origin to the appropriation of spaces in the territory. The lineage land is named k´inal. Therefore, in the localities there are several lineages (ts´umbal), each one with their territory (k´inal). In the same sense, the community assigns “posts” to various people, a practice that allows the organization of tasks and the definition of the spaces of interaction of the lineage with government offices. Within the lineage there are people called Wolwanej, who have the function of managing, experimenting and validating actions that have an impact on the management of the livelihoods of the lineage. This level of organization is hardly known and recognized by the government offices, and it is not considered for the implementation of public policies.

The process of socio-environmental innovation

In the third edition of the Oslo Manual (^{Gómez, 2013}), the concept of innovation is defined as “the introduction of a new, or significantly improved, product (good or service), of a process, of a new commercialization method or of a new organizational method, into the internal practices of the company, workplace organization or foreign relations. (…) It is a series of efforts, where there is an attempt to do it well the first time, but which is not always achieved; many efforts are failed, but they are all thought out, analyzed, planned; innovation contains some moments of creativity but they should not be confused with it”. And there is a socio-environmental character because it recognizes the elements of the social, cultural and natural environment of the actors.

In the locality of Oxchuc, this process began at first with the opportunity of impacting the political agenda of the elected municipal president in 2007, when he requested the Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) to elaborate a municipal agricultural and livestock development plan. For this purpose, the collaboration between the academic group Livelihoods and Territorial Innovation (Modos de Vida e Innovación Territorial, MOVIT) of the ECOSUR, graduate students from Universidad Autónoma Chapingo and ECOSUR, and the direction of productive projects of the City Council of Oxchuc was arranged. At the same time three Master’s thesis studies were developed that had the objective of understanding in depth the functionality of the Oxchuc families.

Once the collaboration agreement was signed between participants, there was a movement towards the next phase of the political cycle: the elaboration of a municipal diagnosis. For this purpose, the decision was made to carry out micro-regional diagnostic workshops with the livelihoods approach, where representatives from the localities participated. Therefore, representatives from the communities identified the cultivation of Hass avocado and peach fruit trees of the Diamond variety as “ideas of change”. The political and academic opportunity was established to implement a process of socio-environmental innovation, which contemplated during the 2008-2014 period, the following stages: participative planning; training and follow-up; training for abilities and human resources (thesis students); management of resources for continuity, and exchange of local and national experiences; and evaluation of the process.

To activate the process, the Local Action Group (LAG, defined as the group of actors who were organized to make decisions with particular tasks and goals, and who encourage the population to work for a common objective) agreed to carry out an exercise of decision making among municipal authorities, the direction of productive projects in the municipality, representatives from localities chosen by the municipal president, and researchers. For this purpose, the actors mentioned carried out exchanges about experiences with successful producers in the region, as well as visits through the zones to characterize the region, based on an analysis of agroclimate potential for these crops.

From this, the town council approved the realization of a Productive Diversification project and contributed a part of the necessary resources, the LAG negotiated with the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, CDI) the financing for technical assistance and purchase of Hass avocado and Diamond peach plants.

Livelihoods in the k´ulub lineage

A livelihood is made up by the assets (natural, physical, human, financial and social) as well as the access to them (mediated by institutions and social relationships), which as a whole define the lifestyles of individuals or the household (^{DFID, 1999}). Specifically, the livelihoods are integrated by assets made up of five types of capital: natural (which is made up of natural resources like local water, soil, vegetation, fauna and flora, which, as a whole, are taken advantage of or provide services to the communities), human (set of abilities, knowledge, aptitudes, attitudes, culture and good health), social (social networks, organizations, institutions, community rules, relationships of trust and power), physical (infrastructure such as houses, roads, schools, hospitals, warehouses and basic services: electricity, drinking water, drainage, roads, among others), and financial (money available in form of savings, loans, credits, financing, remittances, pensions, etc.).

Mutual influence between the assets, within a context of vulnerability, and the regulating and normative action of the transforming structures and processes, lead to the definition of a series of strategies whose results are the goals or achievements that define the livelihood of the families and local communities. These goals and achievements can vary with the priorities and needs of the rural population (DFDI, 1999). Therefore, livelihood is an economic, cultural, social and historical category that represents the vital, socialized and systematic activity that human beings carry out to satisfy their needs at their different levels of social and group (non-individual) interaction, conditioned by the prevailing socioeconomic formation (^{Gonzáles, 2005}).

Human capital

The way that abilities are transmitted within the lineage goes through the inheritance and selection of attributes of service of many members at different moments to maintain the functionality of the ts´umbal families through assignment of posts. To attain the Wolwanej post, candidates should comply with a series of criteria that are observed during the growth of the person: to be honest and just, to have ease in communication, and to fulfill the tasks that belong to the posts assigned inside the community, such as policeman, president of the board of education, roads or health, and municipal agent, among others. When a person satisfactorily fulfills all the community posts, he is considered a principal, who has the function of counseling the community and assigning future posts.

The k´ulub lineage has reproduced its social system through the formation of new families, as is shown in the following genealogy reported by ^{Gómez (2011)}. According to this author, three members³ of Ts’umbal K’ulub mentioned that more than 100 years ago there were three to four Mamaletik (ancestors) ‘of age’ who came to inhabit the Tzay location. This indicates that the Ts’umbal K’ulub does not come from one Wol naj but from several Wol naj (one Wol naj is integrated by a couple, man and woman, and their children); therefore, they do not come from the same ancestor although they share the last name in Tseltal and Spanish. The members of this Ts’umbal are known as the K’ulubetik in Tseltal, or the Gómez in Spanish, and this identifies them with regard to another Ts’umbal inside and outside the El Tzay location (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Genealogical Tree of Ts’umbal K’ulub. 

This Ts’umbal has its own norms and regulations, which are similar to those of other Ts’umbaletik; one of them is related to the transmission of inheritance and the non-marriage between men and women of the same Ts’umbal, and the non-sale of lands to members of another Ts’umbal. The transmission of inheritance in the Ts’umbal K’ulub happens in a single line, for only the male sons can inherit land. However, when the male sons migrate to other places, they can lose their right over the land.

Stemming from the already mentioned process of socio-environmental innovation implemented in the community, the Wolwanej from the Ts’umbal K’ulub has transmitted to his family the abilities and knowledge that he has acquired through his participation in the project of productive diversification in Oxchuc, and his relationship with the institutions to try to respond the main preoccupation, which is: How to produce better living conditions for members of the ts´umbal K´ulub and to generate the livelihoods that children would need to reproduce their lifestyle, facing the lack of lands to replicate an extensive production model?

Education is one of the essential components of human capital. Therefore, the income from coffee, avocado and vegetable production, in addition to the government transfers, are used in the search for access to preschool, primary, tele-secondary and high school education, since the objective pursued is for the educated members of the family to have non-agricultural employment. The intercultural university is located in the municipal township, offering the opportunity of continuing with further studies; however, the economic possibilities to sustain university studies of the children are rather limited. Therefore, the Wolwanej has set out the objective of empirically training his sons to generate paid work linked to the land and to obtain the necessary income in that way (^{Ortiz et al., 2013}).

Natural capital

As has been mentioned before, one of the main problems that the K´ulub lineage faces is the lack of lands; in average an economically active person can have 0.5 ha (^{Ramos et al., 2009}). Therefore, we observe that under the current conditions it is impossible to maintain a type of agriculture such as slash-and-burn, which was functional when the “milpa walked” and the restoration processes of the fallow lands were long term. Thus, the new and restrictive conditions gave way to the intensification.

In general terms, the extension of the K’inal of the K’ulubetik, according to Don Manuel K’ulub who is 80 years old, and who lives in the municipal township, adds up to 600 ha (^{Gómez 2011}). The K’inal is located at between 1300 and 1400 m, so it is characterized as a temperate zone (K’ixin K’inal in the Tseltal language). Currently, the land has been divided and the members of the 5th and 6th generation of the Ts´umbal k´ulub se have taken over the territory, dividing it and giving diverse uses to the land. This is the space of action of the Wolwanej (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Territory of the K´ulub lineage, 5th and 6th generation. 

Ensuring the ownership of the reproduction means of the lineage and strengthening the exercise of governance are crucial for its reproduction, according to ^{Munro (2012)}. For the k´ulub lineage, its adhesion to the norms of communal goods of Oxchuc is vital, since they establish strong regulation systems that allow maintaining the productive strategy at the same time that they make possible its change.

The norms that have been established between the different ts´umbales are the following: the limits between individuals and communities are clearly defined, and in the community there is the figure of community agent and at the municipal level the agent of communal goods, who solve the problems when a limit is not respected; a committee designed by the community participates in the definition of the rules that regulate the community, and these are approved in the assembly, although only members of the cooperative participate for the decision of their application; and when there is a fault committed by a person, a council/group gathers which decides the sanction; likewise, in face of any grave conflict, the community council gathers and depending in the magnitude of the problem the municipal or state authorities are notified; therefore, the local organization forms and the regulations applied are respected and supported by the external government authorities.

Facing the lack of space for the new generations, a process of intensification of land use has begun. For this purpose, new land management practices have been incorporated, such as the construction of terraces, which has allowed retaining soil for the Hass avocado and Diamond peach fruit trees, as well as well as having a favorable medium for the introduction of vegetables. Likewise, rain water capture systems have been incorporated to provide auxiliary irrigation to the crops.

The incorporation of the sons’ work to intensification processes requires greater technical knowledge in the management of crops; in view of this, experience exchanges between peasants are successful, but they do not satisfy the actual technical needs. Therefore, an option generated inside the ts´umbal is migrating to obtain work in the production of one of the vegetables of interest, as is the case of tomato; this allows the young man to learn the activity practically and to obtain resources to purchase lands in the locality. ^{D´Amico et al. (2013)} report how the domestic units, once they have satisfied their daily needs, establish their social reproduction, build territory and thus configure a network that is articulated around the family.

Social capital

Facing the privatization and possible loss of land originated by global processes such as migration and climate change, the organization of the lineage into Ts´umbales continues to be the preferential option in the whole territory (K’inal) of Oxchuc.

Thus, the leader of the lineage becomes the link with the outside and constitutes the fundamental social basis; in this manner, the network of relationships with the exterior begins to be articulated and the opportunity of exchanging or acquiring knowledge, resources, merchandise, counseling, experience and rights is fostered. Because of this, the main actors who interact in the ts´umbal are of crucial importance to mobilize the resources and gain access to financing.

In the community and in the ts´umbal k´ulub we observe that the external actors who collaborate most closely with the community are the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples (Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, CDI), an office that in recent years has been the main financer. ECOSUR also appears at this level, an organization that has participated in the training for community abilities and skills. In a second level, the actors who allow maintaining intra-community relationships are shown: the education committee, the municipal auxiliary agent, and SEDESOL with productive projects and the payment of Oportunidades. With actors at this level, the Wolwanej negotiates and establishes relationships with the exterior to obtain the resources that strengthen their livelihoods. In a third level (actors who participate circumstantially and are not so close), we find the Technological Institute in Comitán, which has participated in the technical accompaniment, and the CONCAFE with projects of community nurseries and renovation of coffee plantations when they are exposed to blight. In a fourth level (actors who participate intermittently and from far away), there is SAGARPA through payment of PROCAMPO and supports for coffee production. And in the last level, the Town Council (2012-2015); in this case the community did not get on well with the elected municipal president, which meant its exclusion. The National Institute of Social Economy (Instituto Nacional de Economía Social, INAES) is also in this group, whose representatives has approached the community, but have not reached any kind of collaboration.

Physical capital

The physical capital becomes an instrument to improve the productive quality and to increase the intensity of production. The k´inal has been modified to gain access to processes of territorial intensification. Since 2010, the program from the CDI went into operation for the improvement of infrastructure with paving, in two stages (2011 and 2013), of the road that connects to the municipal township; likewise, the community authorities have negotiated the installation of a high school (Colegio de Bachilleres); other complementary programs form SEDESOL have been firm floors and roof construction. In the first stage of the year 2014, the CDI, through its program for infrastructure improvement, introduced tanks for rain water capture for human consumption; all of these works have been accompanied by management by the Wolwanej.

These modifications have represented for the k´ulub lineage the opportunity to equip the production systems to maintain a more intensive use of production, using ferrocement tanks for the auxiliary irrigation of fruit trees and vegetables. Likewise, the Wolwanej is currently negotiating resources to have instruments to allow them to build new works for territorial design through terraces, equipment for drip and microspray irrigation; all of this, as a whole, is allowing the articulation of the territorial physical capital with the production means and the ts´umbal k´ulub family workforce.

Financial capital

The availability of financial capital allows obtaining land, tools, inputs, foods and goods and services for the basic needs of health, education and dress. If the government delivers the supports in kind, it is sold to acquire what the producer really needs; therefore the function of the lineage agent has the main objective of negotiating with the government. By the year 2008, the community of El Tzay was immersed in a condition of food poverty and was strongly dependent on government transferences and migration for its survival (^{Ramos et al., 2009}). The income in the last five years from coffee sales (Table 1) has showed a growing trend; by 2014, the yield decreased and the price increased from problems with borers; it is considered that by 2015, the yields would be diminished.

Table 1 Coffee price for the El Tzay community. 

For the case of avocado producers in El Tzay, in the year 2008 the innovation costs per producer were $2617.00, from the combination of resources between the CDI and the municipality. If the costs of training and follow-up during the years 2008 to 2011 are added to this ($138.10 per producer), a total cost of $2756.00 to introduce the innovation per avocado producer is obtained; if this value is compared with the income from avocado production in the first trial year 2013, of $6000.00, it can be concluded that this production, with its technical and market limitations, paid the costs of the project investment since the first year.

The income for the lineage for 2013 was made up mostly (Figure 4) from government transferences (43.33 %); the agricultural income reached 35.15 % and the income from workdays and loans amounted to 21.52 %. The agricultural income has increased above 10 %. Under the perspective of the FAO, the families have possibilities of increasing their income from processes of intensification of land use and without increasing the surface. On the other hand, the possibility of obtaining a better quality and price of the avocado production can increase the productive income; for example, the prior estimation was carried out with the sales price of the fruit in the community, of 3 pieces for 10 pesos, when the regional average per kilogram is $35.00 (each avocado weighs in average 350 g), that is, selling in regional markets has the potential of tripling the income.

Figure 4 Productive and annual income in the El Tzay community 2013. 

Change of strategy

The predominance of development models directed at the entrepreneurial sector, the liberalization of the markets and the new forms of competition in the food sector have originated substantial changes in the economic and social life of small communities, generating their marginalization (^{Marañon, 2013}). Currently in many of the small rural communities the following is perceived: predominance of agro-industrial models of production, recurring crises in small-scale agriculture, concentration of productive resources in few actors, proletarianization of the workforce, diversification of productive activities and sources of income for the families, growing population mobility, temporally and permanently, redefinition of the rural scope beyond its identification with agriculture, as well as changes in the consumption preferences and practices (^{Macías, 2013}).

Under this context, socio-environmental innovation in the small farms of Oxchuc recognizes the common property of the lineage as the basis of the organization and management of natural resources. A robust ownership of their livelihoods allows the management of ecosystems through the sustainable use of their assets and generates a development process based on the intensification of land use. This strategy of the K´ulub lineage of Don Salvador Gómez, based on maize and coffee production, in the following way: an innovation process took place, based primarily on the acquisition of knowledge peasant to peasant. For this purpose, the exchange of experiences at short and long distance was fundamental (^{Sántiz, 2012}; ^{Ramos et al., 2009}; ^{Parra, 2012}). Strengthening of their capitals and a high investment in family work (^{Pool, 1997}; ^{Dixon et al., 2001}) translated into detailed actions that intensified the use of natural resources, such as the construction of terraces, rustic greenhouses and irrigation systems. Likewise, the cultivation systems were diversified with the introduction of fruit trees and vegetables, which generated the enrichment in terms of capitals, that is, the change in strategy.

Agriculture for auto-consumption, in crisis since many years ago, increasingly demands the sale of workforce and the purchase of inputs from the outside to satisfy the family needs, especially those of food. Betting on production for the international market is not the solution, since it generates problems of dependency and greater abilities and technologies are required in order to be competitive. In face of this, the local sale has greater possibilities of attaining sustainability. In the case studied, Salvador has solved his problems through a diversified local sale with products such as cabbage, tomato, broccoli, cauliflower, avocado and peach, which has impacted the increase of their income from production. In 2008 the sale of coffee and the production for auto-supply from his milpa represented 15 %, and by 2013 the agricultural income was 35.15 % (18.01 % from coffee, 4.34 % from milpa and 12.8 % from fruit trees and vegetables). The latter contributed an almost equivalent amount to the income from coffee sales in one hectare of surface in the year 2008. This makes evident that the change in strategy has opportunities to contribute improvements in the living conditions in exchange for an increase in the investment of workforce from the Ts´umbal.

Development policy or welfare policy

The Neoliberal approach for development excludes small-scale producers since, to begin with, the operation rules and mechanisms to gain access to financing require the ability to write a project or an executive summary, condition that is difficult to fulfill for indigenous people who barely have the level of primary school and who, therefore, must resort to getting support from a professional services provider or a specialized firm.

On the other hand, the assistentialist approach allows families to have annual income from government transferences that range, for the case of the k´ulub lineage, between 40 % and 50 %. This dependency is reflected in a strong investment of time from the Wolwanej to manage all the resources and social supports possible like OPORTUNIDADES, PROCAMPO, compensation for the coffee price, among others. Thus, the assitentialist approach, although attempting to alleviate the food problem does not solve it and does, instead, promote dependency.

As has been mentioned already, for the Wolwanej from the group to be chosen, he must have the ability to relate with the actors who offer resources to the community. In the case of El Tzay, the Wolwanej has also managed works for benefit of the community, such as roofing of the civic plaza; the construction and improvement of roads, and the implementation of a COBACH in the community; also, concomitantly with community management, the Wolwanej from the k´ulub lineage seeks the resources for the production and capitalization of his own. Therefore, Don Salvador favors this strategy, whose successful solution will be that the innovations that he has introduced, directed at productive diversification, function, that a certain amount of resources manage to be capitalize, and as consequence, for the lineage to reduce its dependency on the government.

Vulnerability

There are several specific factors that affect the vulnerability of the families in the community and the lineage; these are caused by the fluctuating trends in the international coffee prices, which are reflected in the lack of certainty in the purchasing price; likewise, the prolonged periods of drought decrease the possibilities for production; in the contrary case, the humid years generate the ideal conditions for the development of blight, which, at the beginning of 2014 strongly affected the coffee plantations.

In light of this, the community innovations have allowed generating a greater adaptation to global changes, since introducing rain water capture systems for human consumption and irrigation has allowed them to face with greater security the moments of drought and to take advantage of the rains that range in average around 2000 mm annually. The diversification of coffee plantations with other productive alternatives has allowed maintaining other options for income in face of the problems caused by blight, since one fourth of a hectare with fruit trees and vegetables can generate productive income greater than one hectare of coffee; this acquires much importance, since for the coffee harvest in 2015, the diversity of crops would allow withstanding better the problems caused by the lack of production originated by blight.