Agroecology and rural livelihoods : desirable or real effects on food security among smallholders in the Peruvian Andes?; preliminary report of a household survey (annex 1 of final technical report)

Draft of paperIn Peru, agroecological production is smallholder based. Research focused on effects of agroecological practices in rural livelihoods with emphasis on food security. Findings suggest that over time, agroecological farmers have achieved better results than conventional farmers in terms of food availability and variety. There was a strong negative relationship between the number of food deficit months and agricultural innovation (i.e., the least secure households were making few farming practice changes). Conventional farmers report higher proportions of exhausted soils (72.6%), erosion (39%) and dependency on rainfall (43.5 %)