SUMMARY
The development of the agricultural system promoted in various crops has been a source of income for many farmers in Ecuador. At present, coffee production has been going through a period of price instability at the world level, mainly caused by production excesses, large reserves in consuming countries, technological developments in the industrial sector and the speculative variability of their products. markets. All this has had a fundamental impact on the economies of third world coffee-producing countries. To all this economic problem is added the environmental impact that has been generated from the deterioration of coffee ecosystems.
Several years; increasing in the last five; Ecuadorian coffee growing is immersed in this crisis both from an economic, social and ecological point of view, seriously manifesting itself in the Jipijapa canton belonging to the coastal province of Manabí, the country's center of Arabica coffee production. These ecosystems of the formerly called “Sultana del café” have suffered an accelerated environmental deterioration as a result of the multiple impacts to which they are subjected, most of them caused by man and his bad agricultural practices.
In the work, based on the environmental diagnosis made to the studied area, the proposal of an action plan is presented aimed at preventing and mitigating the environmental impacts to which the coffee system of the Pisloy Enclosure of the Jipijapa Parish located in the Canton is subjected aforementioned.
Key Words: Environmental impact, Coffee ecosystems, Restoration of the coffee system
INTRODUCTION.
Throughout history, it is the South American countries with their natural wealth and the strength that they carry in their land that have forged a bridge that is more economically passable in the 21st century, not least in the development of the Anglo countries.
It is precisely in that economy closely linked to a properly ecological and environmental process that coffee has played a very important role in Ecuador for more than a century, being the first in the area used for this crop. This country is among the top ten producers of coffee worldwide and its export is a substantial source of foreign exchange and coffee growing carried out in small agricultural operations (80% of less than 5 ha) is the economic base of 130,000 families nationwide.
Rodríguez (1999), stated that the agricultural process must be managed with techniques and methods that allow benefits and costs for the subsistence of the human habitat of the sector, in addition to the lack of credit means for the reactivation of farmers in the search for new varieties of crops by diversifying its production through organic and ecological work.
From the foregoing, it is the connotation of chimeras that makes the Ecuadorian, Manabita and Jipijapense farmer even more important in the face of a cultivation of efforts and struggles when entering the techniques and methods that make the development of their crops viable.
From this, in recent years, farm yields have dropped considerably, due to natural, anthropic and economic factors, which drastically affects agriculture in the area, causing reductions in production at the local level and low agricultural income for farmers. In Manabí began the consolidation of a small and medium production of coffee for export, this birth dates from the mid-nineteenth century and becomes predominant from the 30s of the twentieth century.
It should not be forgotten how great is the nature that surrounds each sector that is produced, which makes the expectations that human beings have in the effort that the earth is reborn to cultivate in the face of the strong environmental impacts that is latent in the modus vivendis of our society.
Consequently, the breakdown of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989, followed by a fall and instability in world prices, as well as climatic catastrophes (El Niño phenomenon in 1997 and 1998), have accentuated the impoverishment dynamics in which they find themselves. coffee growers, who also see job opportunities disappear in the city due to the strong economic crisis currently hitting Ecuador.
Ecuador has approximately 13,000,000 hectares destined for agricultural production, of which a diversity of crops with short and permanent cycles can be found.
Coffee is produced especially on the Ecuadorian coast and contributes with 65% of the national total, of which the Province of Manabí contributes with 39% of the national total. There are around 350,000 hectares planted throughout the country with a production of 76,000 metric tons and the most important varieties grown are coffee: arabica, robusta, and caturra.
The introduction of more durable cultivation practices as well as an improvement in the quality of the coffee produced are absolutely necessary and unavoidable. This relative diversification will guarantee the economic security of the family. In addition, this economic security must be reinforced by the organization of producers, and the growth of their capacity and power of commercial and political negotiation. (Chauveau, 1999; Ramos and Gaybor, 2006).
What has been described allows us to assert that coffee growing in the world has been going through a period of serious price crisis due mainly to overproduction, large reserves in consuming countries, technological advances in the industry and speculative markets, as well as Environmental damage caused by the loss of coffee ecosystems due to poor production practices and excess pesticides and other chemicals in this crop. As a direct consequence of this situation, Ecuador has lost 50% of its production capacity, foreign exchange earnings from the export of coffee beans and industrialized coffee do not exceed 60 million dollars, which means less than 20% of what was entered in 1994 for this concept.
As can be demonstrated, a large part of the country is submerged in the coffee growing area and Jipijapa is basically based on its enormous foothills: a transition zone between the mountains and the coast: because this is where the coffee sector is located.
Despite the natural activities that Jipijapa has, the problem that most affects the agricultural sector is the insufficient management of its natural resources, so its great environmental challenge consists of finding the balance levels between the biotic factor and the abiotic action. so that the benefits obtained from the activities carried out in natural spaces do not compromise their own existence. (FAO, 2002., Scherr, White and Kaimowitz, 2002).
Mann et, al., (2000) and FAO, (2002) predict that in the next 30 years, the use of water will increase by 50% and that 4,000 million people: half of the world population: will live in conditions of severe water stresses in 2025, due to the desertification of the land caused by degradation to become arid, semi-arid or sub-humid as a result of various factors including climatic variations and human activities.
Faced with this great environmental challenge is the Pisloy Campus, Jipijapa Parish; object of study of this research; located northeast of the cantonal head, where, thanks to the collaboration of its inhabitants, surveys were carried out in order to obtain information on the environmental impacts that have had an impact on the quality of life and environmental quality in that area.
DEVELOPING
The environmental deterioration of the coffee growing area of the Pisloy Enclosure of the Jipijapa Parish of the canton of the same name, is one of the most important objectives of the study, with the concern of the decrease in productivity and the increase in migration of its inhabitants who, by not having economic responses to family support, they choose to seek sources of work in other cities, abandoning agricultural activity.
The environment is characteristically denoted through the ecosystem that surrounds said Precinct since the area requires representativeness in its fauna, flora and vital services such as water and air that are of great importance but are threatened by felling of trees and carelessness of plumbers which generates little presence of biotic components and an anthropic modification is also observed.
To achieve the objectives proposed in this research, the residents of the Pisloy Precinct were surveyed, for which the questionnaire technique was drawn up and with a sample size of 33 people, aimed at residents with more productive experience and who have been with the longest residing in the Precinct. With the results of the survey, we proceeded to identify the agricultural activities and the various environmental problems that cause an environmental impact to the area. The information processing was carried out through the Excel program in order to quantitatively discriminate the research carried out.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Based on the results of the survey, the residents of the Precinct pose as the main causes of the abandonment of agricultural activity the irrentability of the coffee activity, which is linked to the reality that has occurred in Ecuador since the drop in the price of coffee on the world market, as well as the influence of the “El Niño” phenomenon, together with the execution of bad agricultural practices that have caused the deterioration of the quality of the soils and with it the fall of the productive yields of this culture.
As activities that have been assumed when coffee plantations decrease, family agricultural work stands out, from coffee to other crops such as corn, cassava, beans, in short short-cycle crops, as well as the cultivation of bananas, citrus and raising animals for consumption and trade.
According to the respondents, there is a sentiment directed to abandoning the field since the activity to which they have dedicated a large part of their lives has become irrepressible due to the loss of quality of the soils and the decrease in yields in the cultivation of the coffee. They propose as causes of this unfavorable impact the bad agricultural practices that have been applied, such as the excessive use of chemical products, the preparation of the land, deforestation and soil erosion, as well as one of the main causes, all agree in pointing out the fall in coffee prices in the market.
All those surveyed want improvements for their community, especially with regard to drinking water and access routes, since the agricultural activities they carry out are greatly affected by the lack of these services.
The loss of the forest cover due to the felling of trees, and the decrease in agricultural yields are considered by the inhabitants the main environmental effects present in the sector, which have caused the typical deterioration of an area where agriculture has been applied. intensive, accelerated by the use of chemical products seeking to increase yields and to combat pests and diseases, but which ultimately cause erosion and salinization of soils, decreased yields, contamination of surrounding water currents, deforestation and with it The most critical impact of all arises, which is the loss of the quality of life and the migration of the inhabitants of the area, which is what has occurred in the area under study in this research.essentially motivated by the application of a poor agricultural policy.
The socio-productive deterioration in the Precinct has been due to the low prices of the product in the market and the low economic income received by the farmers who have dedicated themselves to this crop.
Agricultural work is their main source of income. It should be noted that the average income is around 150.00 USD, which is below the average salary in Jipijapa, which amounts to approximately 225.00 USD.
The survey respondents consider that there are few governmental and non-governmental organizations that support the coffee sector, which is indisputably a weakness in the present and future projections for rescuing these productive areas.
As a summary of the survey, it can be asserted that the environmental deterioration in the Pisloy Enclosure has been the product of the intensive cultivation of coffee and the deficient agricultural practices in that site, all related to the decrease, and sometimes even the loss, of the genetic diversity. The practice of monocultures (overexploitation of a single crop) has caused serious damage in this regard.
The use of a single type of seed for production, on the one hand, exposes crops to various dangers such as the invasion of some plague that attacks and destroys the entire crop. Another of the effects of this practice is related to the overexploitation of certain soil resources by a single practice, since these plants preferentially extract a certain type of salts and can deplete it in the land. In that case, fertilizers are used, with the consequent environmental degradation.
Reducing agriculture to a few products threatens diversity, many species have disappeared from the planet due to overconsumption of them or because their cultivation is no longer practiced. With such small volumes for sowing, any unforeseen event can completely destroy a certain variety, and the clearing of forests to use these lands for agriculture and grazing causes problems related to climate change, soil erosion, loss ecological niche for many species, the alteration of the gas balance and, finally, the misalignment of the biogeochemical cycles.
The use of pesticides or pesticides and fertilizers are additional elements to understand that it is not only about feeding the 10 billion inhabitants that our planet will soon reach, but about finding ways to make this feasible without sacrificing the environment natural.
To face this problem, as part of the present investigation, the proposal of a technological innovation project is presented whose general objective is to implement a plan of mitigating actions of the environmental impacts present in the Pisloy Campus of the Jipijapa Parish of the Canton of Panama. Among the main actions proposed are:
| ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT PRESENT IN THE PISLOY PREMISES | PROPOSED MEASURES | PERIOD OF EXECUTION | RESPONSABLE |
| EROSION AND SALINIZATION OF SOILS | Decreased use of
chemical products |
From the year 2011 permanently | Producers of the Campus and COFENAC |
| Increased use of green manure and biofertilizers | Permanent as of 2011 | Producers of the Campus and COFENAC | |
| Using Integrated Vector Control | Permanent as of 2011 | Producers of the Campus and COFENAC, UNESUM | |
| Implementation of Good Agricultural Practices (Living barriers, cross furrowing the slope, etc.) | Permanent as of 2011 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, UNESUM | |
| Reforestation of eroded areas | Year 2011 and 2012 | Producers of the Campus and COFENAC | |
| Produce organic coffee in the areas of the Campus | Start in 2011 and achieve it in 2013 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC | |
| Produce Biofertilizers and Vermiculture to guarantee organic agriculture | From the year 2011 permanently | Producers of the Campus and UNESUM | |
| Increase the use of animal traction in the agricultural activity of the Campus | Permanent as of 2011 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, UNESUM | |
| DEFORESTATION | Create a forest nursery with fruit and typical species of the area | Permanent as of 2011 | Producers of the Campus and UNESUM |
| Reduce the levels of indiscriminate logging in the area | Permanent | Residents of the Precinct | |
| Begin reforestation work starting with the areas with the highest degree of erosion and where the coffee plantations have less shade coverage | Permanent as of 2011 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, UNESUM, SENAGUA | |
| PROLIFERATION OF INVASIVE SPECIES IN COFFEE AREAS | Begin the gradual elimination of invasive species, increasing the levels of reforestation, increasing the number of coffee trees per hectare and combating weeds through biological methods | Permanent as of 2011 | Producers of the Campus and UNESUM |
| RIVER WATER POLLUTION | Do not dump solid waste from homes into the river or into the open to be washed away by runoff | Permanent | Producers of the Enclosure |
| Do not dump coffee processing waste into the river | Permanent | Producers of the Enclosure | |
| Take advantage of solid waste from coffee processing for Vermiculture | Permanent | Producers of the Campus and UNESUM | |
| Build a waste treatment system for liquid waste from coffee processing and for household sewage | Year 2012 | Producers of the Campus and UNESUM | |
| Construction of the sewage system for sanitary water and connect to it the discharges of the houses and that this tax to the Wastewater Treatment Plant | Year 2012 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources | |
| Progressive elimination of latrines and blind wells in the compound. Prohibit the construction of new Wells. | Year 2012 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources | |
| Construction of the Sewer system for storm water | Year 2012 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources | |
| UNHEALTHY CONDITIONS IN THE HOUSING | Gradually eliminate dirt floors in homes | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources |
| Undertake a program of repair and maintenance of the home in the Campus | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources | |
| Plant ornamental plants and lawns in the surroundings of the houses | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources | |
| Create the conditions for homes to receive piped drinking water | Between 2011 and 2012 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources | |
| Asphalt the access roads to the Campus and build sidewalks and other facilities that improve living conditions in the community | Between 2011 and 2013 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources | |
| Install public lighting to improve night conditions in the Pisloy Enclosure | Between 2011 and 2012 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, of the Canton and CENEL. | |
| POOR QUALITY OF DRINKING WATER | Execute the Project to bring piped drinking water to the Campus | Between 2011 and 2012 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources |
| Chlorinate drinking water | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Enclosure and the Board of Hydraulic Resources | |
| If the piped water project is not executed, build a purification system to treat the water from the supply wells of the Enclosure | Between 2011 and 2012 | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC, Authorities of the Parish, the Canton and the Board of Hydraulic Resources, SENAGUA | |
| DECREASE IN AGRICULTURAL YIELDS | Introduction of organic agriculture as a productive modality | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM, COFENAC and UNESUM |
| Use of Good Agricultural Practices | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM COFENAC and UNESUM | |
| Recovery of soil quality | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM, COFENAC and UNESUM | |
| Increase in the number of coffee trees per hectare | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC | |
| Reforest cultivation areas and eliminate the presence of invasive species | As of 2011 and permanently | Producers of the Campus, UPOCAM and COFENAC | |
| EXISTENCE OF MICRO LANDFILLS | Establishment of a Program for Solid Waste Management | As of 2011 and permanently | Residents of the Campus, UNESUM and the Parish and Cantonal authorities |
| Placement of collecting tanks throughout the entire enclosure in such a way as to allow the classification and collection of solid waste generated on site | In the year 2011 | Residents of the Precinct, and the Parish and Cantonal authorities | |
| Implement the daily collection of waste by the municipality | As of 2011 and permanently | Residents of the Campus, UNESUM and the Parish and Cantonal authorities | |
| Eliminate existing micro-landfills and properly dispose of these waste | As of 2011 and permanently | Residents of the Precinct, and the Parish and Cantonal authorities | |
| THE VIALS ARE IN POOR CONDITION | Paving the access roads to the Pisloy Enclosure | Between 2011 and 2013 | The Parish and Cantonal authorities of Jipijapa |
| DECREASE OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY IN THE PREMISES | Implement an Environmental Education Program for the Pisloy Campus | As of 2011 and permanently | Residents of the Campus, UNESUM and the Parish and Cantonal authorities |
| Prepare an Environmental Management Plan for the Pisloy Enclosure | Year 2012 | UNESUM and the Environment areas of the Parish and Canton | |
| Prepare a Monitoring and Control Plan to periodically evaluate (at the end of each year of execution) the progress and effectiveness of the Project. | Dec-01
Dec-12 Dec-13 Dec-14 |
Residents of the Campus, UNESUM and the Parish and Cantonal authorities | |
| Promote work relationships and collaboration between the segments, schools, families, labor organizations, with the parish, cantonal and provincial environmental areas. | Permanent | Residents of the Campus, UNESUM and the Parish and Cantonal authorities | |
| Create an information system in the community to publicize the main environmental impacts that affect the community, caused by its own members. | From the year 2011 | Residents of the Campus, UNESUM and the Parish and Cantonal authorities |
The efficiency of the Action Plan executed in the Pisloy Enclosure will be validated five (5) years after the start of its execution, that is, in 2016.
CONCLUSIONS
From the results of the work, the following conclusions are reached:
The cultivation of coffee dates back more than one hundred years in the Canton of Jipijapa, known worldwide as the Sultana of coffee. In recent years, due to the occurrence of climatological phenomena and the intensive cultivation and excessive use of chemical products, the coffee growing areas of Jipijapa have been negatively impacted, causing this environmental deterioration a drastic decrease in crop yields, as well as the deterioration of the quality of life of the inhabitants of the coffee growing areas of the Canton.
The main environmental impacts identified by the residents of the Pisloy Precinct in the responses to the survey to which they were submitted turned out to be the decrease in agricultural yields, erosion and salinization of the soils, deforestation, the proliferation of invasive species in the areas. coffee plantations, poor quality of drinking water, contamination of river waters, unsanitary conditions in homes, decreased quality of life of the site's residents and the general decrease in the environmental quality of the Campus.
The migration of the residents of the Pisloy Enclosure and the drastic decrease in their quality of life and the environmental quality of the site are the most serious environmental, social and economic consequences of the impacts present in that area, being the main causes of the situation of the inhabitants of the site themselves from the poor agricultural practices that they have developed mainly in the last two years.
An environmental action plan is proposed to prevent and mitigate the environmental impacts present in the Pisloy Enclosure, which will materialize through a technological innovation project that will be presented to the competent authorities of the Canton of Jipijapa for financing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY CONSULTED
· Chauveau, Ch. 1999. The crisis of the Jipijapa Canton coffee growing. Agro-economic diagnosis of an old coffee growing region of the Ecuadorian coast. Translated from the French by Dr. Guillermo Baldeón. Original title "La Caféiculture en crise du canton de Jipijapa". p. 1-89 pdf.
· FAO. 2002. Cooperative Agricultural Development: A Manual for Trainers . Roma, 2002. (online) Consulted in February 2010, Available at:
· FAO 2002., Scherr, White and Kaimowitz, 2002
INEC. s / a. National Institute of Statistics and Censuses. Quito, Ecuador.
· Munn, et, al., (2000) and FAO, (2002). The use of FRGS water.
· Ramos, A. and Gaybor, A. 2006. Coffee agrarian dynamics in the northeast of Jipijapa. Jipijapa - Ecuador. p. 1-13 pdf.
· Rodríguez 1999. FRGS agricultural process
· Scherr, SJ, White, A., Kaimowitz, D: (2002). Dynamic sustainable development.
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