Adopción de tecnología y agroempresas asociativas rurales: un análisis desde el capital social territorial

Abstract

Rural agribusiness associativity is considered a strategy for competitiveness. These organizations must adopt various practices, both technological and non-technological. In this adoption process multiple studies have demonstrated social capital effects as a set of relationships that have a localized territorial character. The purpose of the study was to comparatively analyze the adoption of technology in rural associative agribusinesses in two municipalities from a territorial social capital approach generated through trust networks. Two rural associative agribusinesses located in rural municipalities of Sonsón and San Vicente, in the Department of Antioquia (Colombia), were approached from the Hass avocado production chain. 94 semi-structured interviews with producers were conducted. Participation in events and observation complemented the information collected. The technology adoption index was calculated, and social network analysis was used to estimate social capital. Spearman’s correlation test allowed to analyze adoption, and trust networks at the territorial level. The agricultural companies presented different adoption percentages and the organization and administration categories presented the lowest percentages. Only the rural agribusiness association in Sonsón municipality achieved a statistical correlation with trust networks. These highlights the role of located links in geographic space.