Intensive agriculture and agricultural practices

Agricultural activity has a direct impact on the quality and ways of life of peasants, production systems are influenced by the modernization policies of the agricultural sector, the development projects of governments, industrialization, the excessive growth of urban areas and other processes of societies in progress (^{González et al., 2007}). Agricultural knowledge and practices that have originated and adapted throughout history have been the cause of development; knowledge that has been passed from generation to generation, from parents to children, forming an accumulation of riches that allow to adapt and organize, in the best possible way, the work of the agricultural field.

Among these are knowledge about the environment and agriculture, about the use of water, soil, rain, among others (^{Pérez-Sánchez et al., 2014}). Researchers such as ^{Tamayo-Manrique et al. (2016}) emphasize that traditional knowledge of agriculture is already from the past for today’s producers, pointing out that this type of activity has been gradually forgotten, because it was replaced by the application and use of new technologies. The incorporation of technology coupled with conventional agricultural practices and the use of agrochemicals have led to soil desertification, air and environmental pollution, among others (^{Chalán, 2019}).

According to ^{Castillo-Valdez et al. (2021}), ‘soil management practices alter its properties, especially when energy inputs to the soil-plant system are less than outputs, or its resilience is unable to return it to the pre-intervention state’. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines the manual of good agricultural practices as a group of activities and/or actions that will give rise to acting under principles, standards and technical recommendations that can be adjusted to the systems of production, processing and transport of foods in order to preserve, in the best possible way, human health, take care of the environment and society (^{FAO, 2012a}).

Given the climatic variability experienced today, good agricultural practices are an indispensable tool for risk management. Its application, however, involves promoting innovation, increasing knowledge and providing a holistic view to the interested parties, particularly small producers, so that they can improve their production systems, increase their resilience and ensure their sustainability (^{Díaz et al., 2017}).

At present, agricultural practices continue to give something to talk about and are a factor of analysis for researchers who identify themselves within the lines related to the care of the environment and the well-being of society. It is very common for groups of farmers and peasants to implement a series of agricultural activities with which they seek to adapt to the properties of each unit of soil, such properties generally show negative changes such as a deterioration of this important resource, a situation that is caused by the inappropriate, prolonged or and/or intensive use of agrochemicals. (^{Zinck et al., 2005}). For their part, ^{Castillo et al. (2020}) point out that intensive agricultural activity coupled with common agricultural practices, such as monocultures and the application of agrochemicals, has generated problems in soil quality.

The quality of the soils are the attributes or characteristics that make it be in one way or another; that is, suitable or not for certain activities. Here, soil quality is understood as the characteristics, attributes or properties, for example, the physicochemical and microbiological ones that allow the soil to be fertile and produce healthy products (^{Andrade et al., 2021}). Therefore, the quality of soils is a determining factor in the production of healthy foods, so its deterioration affects the environment, the economy and social well-being. These problems have been generated by the lack of social awareness that has been observed in recent decades, coupled with the lack of solid laws and regulations that regulate and monitor the proper use of this resource in the activities where it is most exploited, leading to the wear and impoverishment of soils in countries such as Mexico (^{Cámara de Diputados and CEDRSSA, 2019}).

Rural development, sustainability and soil quality

There is a huge gap between the achievements of the urban areas of a region and what has been achieved by the rural areas of the same, we refer to the development aligned with the quality of life, to which the different social groups of these places can have access. Analyzing rural development means addressing evolutionary and unidirectional ideas of rural territory development, in the same way, rural areas are characterized with a type of institutionalized development, where the State and some social actors play a very important role (^{Herrera-Tapia, 2013}).

Sustainable rural development is related to the correct management of a term known as agroecosystem, within which social, environmental and natural systems interact, generating an activity under a socioeconomic dynamic with phenomena related to the efficient use of resources. ‘Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without reducing the ability of future generations to meet theirs’ (^{ONU, 1987}).

Contrary to what was proposed by various authors and organizations, such as ^{Altieri and Nicholls (2000}); ^{Sotomayor et al. (2011}); ^{Altieri (2012)}; ^{Guzman et al. (2016}); ^{CELAC (2017)}; ^{ONU (2019)}, that point out that sustainability in agricultural production systems, as well as agroecology, will be fundamental to redirect the events of the rural peasant sector, helping to mitigate the problems that, in their research, point to soil degradation, water and air pollution, among others, a study carried out by ^{Martin et al. (2018}) states that, in 20 years of intensive agricultural exploitation, the fertility properties of the soils were maintained (increased pH, CEC, K₂O, P₂O₅, Ca and Mg of the soil).

^{Ramirez-Mocarro (1998}) highlights the importance of adopting new approaches and patterns of rural development as a guide to reduce socioeconomic inequalities and conditions, improve territorial integration between communities to face and solve environmental problems and support sustained and sustainable economic growth. According to the Office of Agricultural Studies and Policies (^{ODEPA, 2016}), sustainability and development aligned with this factor have been added to the international political agenda of nations, managing to position themselves in the political discourse, within which agriculture and its production patterns have stood out; however, it has been observed that this activity has caused significant soil degradation.

The Law on Sustainable Rural Development of the State of Sinaloa (2013) aims to promote the sustainable rural development of the state, in one of its sections, it refers to the design and promotion of productive practices with orientation to the conservation and improvement of the conditions of natural resources, such as soil and water, biodiversity, food safety and environmental services of the countryside. It can be seen that sustainable development is promoted from the laws, but not in the regulated activities, the sufficiency in this area does not make the difference, the facts in the various contexts speak for themselves and are, for many, devastating, where the activity of the agricultural sector is no exception.

Rural areas are among the most vulnerable to primary exploitation, not only because of the characteristics of the environment in terms of its main activity, but also because of the elements that characterize its population and the lack of support from the authorities (environmental governance), who are the ones who must encourage joint participation with rural society and the search for suitable development for these areas, sometimes, they are forgotten by society. Thus, the first role of agriculture is to maintain ecosystems; thus, changing agriculture from a source of degradation to a driver of ecosystem restoration and health (^{ONU, 2017}). This same organization points out that resources such as soil should be managed in a more coordinated and efficient way.

In the case of the study area, the challenges are not minimal, rural spaces definitely presents delays that in these places it can be felt that there are many, if we focus on what is related to sustainable development and its relationship with the productive factors in agricultural activity (exploitation of resources such as soils and water), we will be able to realize that what has been done for decades has not been the right thing to do by any of the actors involved, public or private, at least not mostly, especially in those who destine their activity to economic benefit and not to family consumption.

In such a way that the sustainable development of Sinaloa’s agricultural sector represents one of the main challenges for the actors involved in it, because its activity is intensive and its production patterns are a mixture of traditional and modern management, which, although they have been decisive for economic activity, has also been characterized by the great environmental problems that this activity has originated. But how can sustainable development be defined or conceptualized? How important is this term today for the well-being of regions and society? Especially for settlements or groups of people who live in rural areas and who have agriculture as their main economic-productive activity.

Moreover, why are many of the regions of the world in the constant search, at least in the political discourse, to achieve such development? What effects does overexploitation and inappropriate use of soil generate on natural resources such as this one? Perhaps the answers to this series of questions can be found in studies and research of different academics, in sources of information of studies of government institutions, in reports of international organizations, etc.; however, the ideal responses are in rural communities, in their daily local events, in the needs that are not met by the agricultural producer, who, with their traditional knowledge, puts into practice an activity as noble as agriculture, lacking technological infrastructure and financing for a better activity, but doing part of their work as an economic and social agent, that in turn, often deeply ignores the effects that may be generated from the inappropriate practice of the activity, due to the lack of knowledge or, simply leaves it aside, because they have no other option to subsist and cover their needs and those of their family.

In this way, farmers in the region studied have used, for decades, technological methods that, in their own opinion, are seen more as strengths, but it is important to note that such methods and ways of practicing agricultural activity also translate into regional ecological imbalances, which are supported by the green revolution and bioengineering (^{Aguilar-Soto and Aguilar-Aguilar, 2008}). A clear example of the impact of inappropriate agricultural practices and the negative externalities of the activity to its own environment is the irreversible damage caused to soils. The national territory has 21 of the 25 types of soils that exist in the world; 10 of them cover 90% of the national territory, and among the most important the following stand out (Table 2).

With data extracted from the interview, the predominant soil types in the plots of farmers in Guasave, Sinaloa, are as follows (Table 3).

Figure 1 describes the main problems that farmers mentioned having at the time of agricultural practice, for the analysis of the result, only the positive responses were taken into account for each component studied, where it is found that 25.93% has problems of loss of fertility in the soil, 59.26% considers that input costs are a predominant problem (purchase of fertilizers, agrochemicals, among others), 10.49% answered that their plot has salinity, 74.7% do not know the type of soil of their land and 43.21% has carried out some type of study to the soil, with the purpose of knowing the quality of these for crops.

As can be seen, the loss of fertility in the soils is a fact and is accompanied by the salinity in them, if to this are added variables such as not knowing the predominant soil in the plot and that most farmers do not carry out soil studies to know the problem they face directly, even though 43.21% of the interviewees consider that it is very important to carry out studies of the land to know its degree of quality, this makes the problem even greater and the action of the peasant is still based on their experience and not on applying technological strategies and science to their activity within the sector and their agricultural farm.

Figure 1 Main problems that the farmer had for the development of agricultural activity. 

For the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT, for its acronym in Spanish) and the College of Postgraduates (CP), in Mexico, the most important process that causes soil degradation is water erosion, the states most affected by salinization caused by chemical degradation that is represented within traditional agricultural practices, and in these areas are Sinaloa with 3.5%, Guanajuato with 3.3% and Tamaulipas with 2% of the area (^{SEMARNAT-CP, 2003}).

Table 4 shows data from the agricultural census of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (^{INEGI, 2007}). It can be seen that agricultural practice is mainly based on fertilization, use of chemical herbicides and insecticides, leaving natural fertilizers with less importance in application.

In this sense, farmers were asked under what criteria they used or implemented activities such as those described in the previous table, 56.79% of the interviewees comment that they request the help of an agronomist, 51.85% do so based on empirical knowledge (experience), while 16.67% seek the help of another farmer and 12.35% receive help from sellers; if the empirical knowledge and the help between farmers are added, this gives 68.52%, which indicates that the experience remains the basis of the farmer’s behavior in their agricultural practice.

As can be seen, if the problems derived from inappropriate agricultural practices that affect the sustainability of soils were few, to this is added what is caused by climate change, effects that for many can be devastating, starting with the low production and impact on the food security of the millions of people who inhabit this planet Earth, but that is the subject of another research paper, it is only mentioned as part of a domino effect.