Socioeconomic and environmental factors that impact vegetable production

Abstract

Objective: Analyze the factors that are contributing to the reduction of vegetable production in the Ejido San Vicente Chicoloapan.

Design/methodology: To obtain data, a survey was applied to 60 ejidatarios out of a total of 150 who produced vegetables in the year 2022. The producers surveyed were those who were found in their plots and agreed to be surveyed; so the sampling was by coexistence.

Results: The ejidatarios have an average of 1.47 agricultural ha, with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5 ha, considering irrigation and rainfed. Of the studied sample, 43.3% sold their land and currently, there are housing units and new houses; 38.3% cultivated their own land or those they rented; and 18.3% rented your land. The ejidatarios suffer from theft of vegetables and the most coveted are pumpkin (45.0%), artichoke (31.7%), onion (13.3%), chard (8.3%) and cabbage (1.7%).

Limitations/implications: It was not possible to obtain the register of ejidatarios to design a random sample. It was not possible to estimate the harvested surface nor the volume of production to estimate the yields, since the producers introduce several crops in their plots in addition to vegetables.

Findings/Conclusions: The production of vegetables in the Ejido San Vicente Chicoloapan, State of Mexico, is at risk of disappearing due to economic and social reasons and lack of support. The ejidatarios who still plant vegetables have tried to alleviate these problems, however, they do not have much of a future in production, and the elderly are opting for the sale of their lands and the destination of these are for the construction of houses.

Keywords: Vegetables, polycultures, sale of agricultural land, change of land use, peri-urban agriculture.