Territorial governance and institutional protection for the development of Localized Agri-Food Systems (LAFS). Analysis of two ancestral Latin American crops: Quinoa from Bolivia and cocoa from Mexico

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze, from the territorial governance, the effects of Appellation of Origin (AO) on social actors of the Localized Agri-Food Systems (LAFS). To achieved that, the cases of LAFS of Bolivia’s Royal quinoa (AO granted in 2014) and LAFS of Grijalva’s coca in Mexico (AO granted in 2016) were analyzed. The case studies were complemented by semi-structured interviews with LAFS actors. It is possible to conclude that these institutional protections constitute a first step in recognition of the sociocultural, agronomic and productive values of the crops. However, the effects of the AO in the mentioned LAFS are different due to the formalization degree that these figures have in each case. In Bolivia’s quinoa case, we faced an established but perfectible AO that requires greater systemic integration; meanwhile in the case of cocoa in Mexico, this AO is merely an incipient case. These two study cases provide points of convergence and divergence, as well as lessons in territorial governance for the exploitation of these institutional protection figures.