Factores determinantes de la sostenibilidad de las agroempresas asociativas rurales

Abstract

This research aimed to propose a multidimensional approach to analyze associative agribusiness sustainability. Sampling was used selecting four support programs to strengthening rural associativity, carried out in four states in Colombia: Antioquia, Cauca, Nariño and Valle del Cauca. Data was collected through 79 semistructured interviews with various actors and subsequently analyzed using factor analysis. The study allowed to build up an approach to the associative agribusiness sustainability analysis from identifying 50 variables that were grouped in two components and three sub-components: Socio-organizational (Social capital, Organizational planning and Territorial Integration) and Enterprise (Economic, Productive-technological and market orientation), to define an associative rural agribusiness sustainability index (Isoar). The Isoar calculation allows to identify productive-technological and market orientation sub-components as the less prominent in the studied cases, while social capital and territorial integration were the most prominent in the successful cases. It is concluded that the associative agribusiness sustainability approach, supported in a multidimensional model, is a contribution to public policy.