Strengthening of the Rural Community and Corn Food Chain Through the Application of the WWP Model and the Integration of CFS-RAI Principles in Puebla, México

Strengthening producer groups, the rural community, and agri-food chains are important actions to help solve the problem of food poverty, improve the living conditions of producers and promote sustainable development in rural México. It is necessary to seek new ways to improve decision-making by producer groups and establish some principles to strengthen the different links in agri-food chains. The objective of this study was to analyze the integration of the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture (PRIA) in the corn agri-food chain in order to assess its strengthening. A study was carried out in three cases based on the application of the “Working With People” (WWP) model as well as interviews with key actors. It was found that cooperating groups with a higher degree of application of the WWP model and PRIAs have a higher degree of stability and sustainable development and strengthen the integration and cooperation of local action groups. These groups have the technical component better organize the agri-food processes and better incorporate the PRIAs and improve their economic, social, and environmental development compared to other groups that do it in a traditional way.