Assessment of sustainable livelihoods and the application of community capitals: Case study of cattle families from El Doncello, Caquetá-Colombia

Abstract

Introduction: Bovine cattle raising is the most important line of the economy of Caquetá department and El Doncello municipality, according to the figures given by the Departmental Committee of Cattlemen there is a herd of 2,175,065 cattle heads in the region, many of the rural families depend on said economic activity to generate their income; To do this, the life analysis methodology examines the assets that communities have which are called community capital, and the approach they use to meet their fundamental human needs.

Objective: To assess sustainable means and the application of community capital in cattle rancher families in the municipality of El Doncello, Caquetá (Colombia).

Materials and methods: For the collection of information the producer families of the municipality of El Doncello were assessed; based on the sources of the Departmental Committee of Cattlemen, for this purpose families were surveyed and participatory workshops were carried out using the livelihood methodology framing the community capitals (human, natural, financial, physical and social) using 36 variables for the assessment of them, and the fundamental human needs (basic of the person, the environment and of action) that grouped 15 analysis variables; Subsequently, the interpretation and analysis of the data was made through a principal component analysis-PCA relating the typologies and each of the variables assessed in this study; all the data were run in the InfoStat Program.

Results: It was found that 939 families base their economy on livestock production in the municipality of El Doncello, the human capital of these families was distributed in 72 men representing 15.55 %, 81 women (17.49 %), 143 boys (30.89 %) and 167 girls (36.07 %), finding three types of families: Typology 1: families with <50 bovines on their farms; Typology 2: between 51 and 100 bovines, and Typology 3: >101 bovines, where financial capital is the one that represents the greatest contribution given its characteristics of income generation and well-being for families. The principal component analysis-ACP carried out for social capital divided according to the first principal component-PC1 with a contribution of 62.3 % to Family Typology 1 (families with <50 head of cattle) to the positive end of said component strongly associated with the variables greater participation in projects and organizations to which they belong, with the particularity of having a greater number of members at home; from Typology 3 to the negative end of said component associated with the variables greater number of shared spaces in which they participate and greater level of family participation. In the same way, for natural capital, a separation was observed between Family Typology 1, associated with the variables greater number of water sources, mainly due to the fact that a large part of these producers were in the mountain range zone, greater area in stubble, greater number of spaces used and more activities for consumption, such as plantations of plantain, cocoa, cassava and other subsistence crops and Family Typology 2 strongly associated with the variables greater number of trees in pastures and greater percentage of natural products.

One of the most important capitals within the producers is the financial one, for which the following was observed: the first principal component-PC1, with a contribution of 43.7%, separates Typology 1 from the positive end of said component associated with the variable income from daily wages and income from subsidies, these families are the ones that generate the least amount of assets and through which they diversify their income that are not only dependent on livestock production as such, but also on other types of economic activities, of the Typology 2 to the negative extreme associated with the variables income from transfers, credits, income from formal employment and income from the sale of processed products, such as cheese. The second main component-PC2, with a contribution of 24.4 %, groups Family Typology 3 strongly associated with the

highest income from the sale of space-use products, These families, by owning a greater number of cattle heads, base a large part of their economy in said activity, but they diversify it with other types of income such as rubber crops, cocoa, pineapple, plantain, cassava, among others. Finally, the fundamental human needs-FHN can be defined as very similar for the three types of families studied, with slight adjustments in the basic needs for Typology 1, where food, health, shelter and security are classified as bad and regular. Although the situation does not vary much for Typology 2, but it does look better for Typology 3 in which satisfaction is good, except for security, everyone has the same perception, this is mainly due to the presence of certain illegal armed groups in the region. Regarding the needs of the person, the environment and action, there are no variations between the different types.

Conclusions: Finally, it was possible to observe a high cultural tie that cattle ranchers have for this economic activity that is evidenced in human capital, where we see the number of people who directly depend on livestock and its derivatives. Also, in terms of financial capital, it can be observed that there is a great diversification of the income of families that not only depend on livestock, but also on income from formal employment, daily wages, loans and sales of other crops such as plantain, cassava, rubber and cocoa; In terms of social and natural capital, a good sustainable appropriation of environmental care and the participation of rural communities are observed. Finally, a low contribution to the fundamental human needs of the producing communities is denoted, this mainly due to the social and economic conditions of the region; In this sense, this study has repercussions as a first diagnosis in the management of the livelihoods of rural cattle-raising communities in the department of Caquetá.