Tipologías de medios de vida rural y dinámica de la frontera agropecuaria en la Amazonía colombiana

Abstract

Farming systems are the main land use following the frontier advance in the Ama- zon. We conducted a study of 134 farms in a scarcely studied region of the Colom- bian Piemonte, colonised 80 years ago. We aim to characterize the colonization process in this area. We observed that the process is still on-going. We also noticed an important diversity of farming systems. Even if the economy of the region stud- ied is based mainly on the product of ranching systems, family farming emerges as an economically efficient movement. Particularly, agroforestry, even if in a low scale, emerges as an economically viable activity for small farming.