La Sustentabilidad Agrícola De Las Chinampas En El Valle De México: Caso Xochimilco

The aim of this investigation is to show the sustainability features of the chinampa practice in the Valley of Mexico: Xochimilco, applying a FODA diagnosis in order to reveal the environmental transcendence of this particular agricultural model. It is possible to determine that the development of the chinampa has basically two components: the native and social. The first one constitutes the local ecosystem composed by shallow water lakes that are included in a great surface across the valley of Mexico. The second one concerns to the social aspect; which is how the work gets organized, the cultural practices and the implementation of methods and agricultural technologies that are the result of the thousand-year-old wisdom of the autochthonous groups of the chinampa zone. Which has helped to support the integration of the members of the family, as well as providing self-employment and a self sustained source of food, these features show that this system of agricultural production is sustainable in the environmental, social and economic aspects. Nevertheless the chinampa production is affected by diverse aspects as the development of modern agriculture technologies, the urban growth and pollution of the water.