Who does technology serve? A critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities, practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south-western Colombia
This article offers a critical approach towards adopting new technologies as a mitigation strategy. It provides a comprehensive analysis that helps illuminate the adoption process and the sociocultural factors intersecting and informing it. Using a capability approach lens and qualitative and partic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Bristol University Press
2024-07-01
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| Series: | Global Social Challenges Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2024D000000018 |
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| author | Marcela Ramos Natalia Triana Stefan Burkart Jhon Freddy Gutiérrez Diana María Gutiérrez-Zapata Alejandro Ruden Lady Sepúlveda Brian Barrett |
| author_facet | Marcela Ramos Natalia Triana Stefan Burkart Jhon Freddy Gutiérrez Diana María Gutiérrez-Zapata Alejandro Ruden Lady Sepúlveda Brian Barrett |
| author_sort | Marcela Ramos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article offers a critical approach towards adopting new technologies as a mitigation strategy. It provides a comprehensive analysis that helps illuminate the adoption process and the sociocultural factors intersecting and informing it. Using a capability approach lens and qualitative and participatory data collection methods, this study presents and analyses the testimonies of smallholders living on Colombia’s Pacific coast, currently exposed to a series of interventions that promote changes in production decisions to contribute to reducing national greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, improved forages, silvopastoral systems and new practices, such as the implementation of rotational pasturing, have been promoted as relevant new approaches. The results show that access to new technologies generates new capabilities, for instance the ability to plan for the challenges imposed by climate change or to develop new strategies to allow the soil to recover naturally. However, these new possibilities are unevenly distributed, creating disadvantages for groups that generally experience conditions of vulnerability, such as young farmers and women. The testimonies also show that many of the promoted initiatives emphasise the need for adaptation and change on the part of smallholders without considering the limitations of technology, the gender issues that affect the inclusion of women and the dynamics that set barriers to young smallholders due to economic restrictions or power issues. Therefore, the study contends that, when understanding technology adoption, it is not only a question of what farmers do or do not do but of what they can be and do in increasingly demanding contexts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8830fdeef0040f581a5e30993b624f9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2752-3349 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-07-01 |
| publisher | Bristol University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Social Challenges Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8830fdeef0040f581a5e30993b624f92025-01-20T03:32:44ZengBristol University PressGlobal Social Challenges Journal2752-33492024-07-013310.1332/27523349Y2024D000000018gscj-03-03-335Who does technology serve? A critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities, practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south-western ColombiaMarcela Ramos0Natalia Triana1Stefan Burkart2Jhon Freddy Gutiérrez3Diana María Gutiérrez-Zapata4Alejandro Ruden5Lady Sepúlveda6Brian Barrett7University of Glasgow, ScotlandInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), ColombiaInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), ColombiaGanso, ColombiaInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Colombia University of Antioquia, ColombiaInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), ColombiaUniversity of Antioquia, ColombiaUniversity of Glasgow, ScotlandThis article offers a critical approach towards adopting new technologies as a mitigation strategy. It provides a comprehensive analysis that helps illuminate the adoption process and the sociocultural factors intersecting and informing it. Using a capability approach lens and qualitative and participatory data collection methods, this study presents and analyses the testimonies of smallholders living on Colombia’s Pacific coast, currently exposed to a series of interventions that promote changes in production decisions to contribute to reducing national greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, improved forages, silvopastoral systems and new practices, such as the implementation of rotational pasturing, have been promoted as relevant new approaches. The results show that access to new technologies generates new capabilities, for instance the ability to plan for the challenges imposed by climate change or to develop new strategies to allow the soil to recover naturally. However, these new possibilities are unevenly distributed, creating disadvantages for groups that generally experience conditions of vulnerability, such as young farmers and women. The testimonies also show that many of the promoted initiatives emphasise the need for adaptation and change on the part of smallholders without considering the limitations of technology, the gender issues that affect the inclusion of women and the dynamics that set barriers to young smallholders due to economic restrictions or power issues. Therefore, the study contends that, when understanding technology adoption, it is not only a question of what farmers do or do not do but of what they can be and do in increasingly demanding contexts.https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2024D000000018technology adoptionsustainable capabilitiesclimate changecapability approachcolombia |
| spellingShingle | Marcela Ramos Natalia Triana Stefan Burkart Jhon Freddy Gutiérrez Diana María Gutiérrez-Zapata Alejandro Ruden Lady Sepúlveda Brian Barrett Who does technology serve? A critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities, practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south-western Colombia Global Social Challenges Journal technology adoption sustainable capabilities climate change capability approach colombia |
| title | Who does technology serve? A critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities, practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south-western Colombia |
| title_full | Who does technology serve? A critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities, practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south-western Colombia |
| title_fullStr | Who does technology serve? A critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities, practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south-western Colombia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Who does technology serve? A critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities, practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south-western Colombia |
| title_short | Who does technology serve? A critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities, practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south-western Colombia |
| title_sort | who does technology serve a critical analysis of sociocultural factors shaping opportunities practices and barriers faced by a smallholders in south western colombia |
| topic | technology adoption sustainable capabilities climate change capability approach colombia |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1332/27523349Y2024D000000018 |
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