Kuautlali, parcela para agricultura sustentable. Respuesta ante depredación de la naturaleza en el Sur-Jalisco, México

Agriculture in Southern Jalisco, Mexico, is highly influenced by the production of high value-added crops, especially avocado and berries. They are destined for international markets. These crops, whose production demands intensive agro-industrial models, have caused severe damage to the region's natural environment, such as depletion of aquifers, deforestation and pollution. Because of that, small-scale farmers, university researchers, and students have promoted since 2013, a research plot in the University, which they experiment with various agroecological farming techniques to produce regional foods, which protect natural resources, generate economic options for farmers and allow the reproduction of species of regional historical importance. This article aims to share these experiences forged in just over eight years of work aimed at disseminating the advantages of agroecology in a region strongly influenced by industrialized agriculture.Under the revalorizing participatory action research methodologies and peasant to peasant, the research plot has generated viable proposals for the regional population, recovering the fraternal relationship between humans and nature. However, advancing in these objectives implies, on the one hand, understanding and working with the existing limitations in agro-industrialized environments and, on the other hand, multiplying the installation of agroecological plots in the communities, under the direct responsibility of the producers. Only in this way agroecology can become a viable option for the majority peasants and farmers in this region. We have been working on this since 2020, with the pilot installation of five agroecological plots in peasant farms of two communities in southern Jalisco, as well as others in the states of Nayarit and Chiapas. In these plots, not only the participation of producers will be involved, but also women and children, since agroecology implies a complete integration of the community. Likewise, alternative and solidarity-based exchange processes will also be promoted, as well as the socialization of local knowledge. In subsequent stages, these parcel models may be replicated in other communities in Mexico.