Heritage and patrimony of the peasantry framework and rural development indicators in rural communities in Mexico

Abstract

The analytical framework "heritage and patrimony of the peasantry" and its recommended implementation theoretically provide an enhancement over previous methodologies to examine rural development. The current paper measures rural development indicators in six Mexican rural territories, and analyses their interaction in the heritages and patrimonies of the peasantry. The principal indicators that affect the patrimonies in these regions were recognised as Pluriactivity, Social Acknowledgment, Biodiversity and Recycling. Based on these outcomes, the indicators that belong to the Human Patrimony define it as the lowest of all the heritages of the Mexican peasantry. The analysis of the results remarks on the fact that the emphasis of public policies on productive concerns has left out complicated social problems such as the loss of identity, diversity and culture. These matters are becoming the strongest threat affecting the Mexican peasantry to improve their quality of life while respecting their human rights.