Person: Hellin, J.
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Hellin
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Hellin, J.
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0000-0002-2686-80655 results
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- Maize landraces and adaptation to climate change in Mexico(Taylor & Francis, 2014) Hellin, J.; Bellon, M.; Hearne, S.
Publication - Productivity differences and food security: a metafrontier analysis of rain-fed maize farmers in MasAgro in Mexico(AIMS Press, 2017) Donnet, M.L.; López, I.; Black, R.; Hellin, J.Rain-fed maize production in Mexico includes approximately 6 million hectares which variation in productivity represents huge challenges to meeting the sustainable intensification goals of the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro) program. We use the information available from farmers participating in this program to investigate the differences in productivity and the effects of the promoted practices and technologies in seven defined rain-fed maize regions. We do this by applying metafrontier analysis to measure the technical efficiency and the technology gap. The results show a range of technical efficiency from 70 to 100%, which indicates the gains that can be achieved through improved management of the current inputs and practices of farmers in the program, and a range of the environment–technology gap between 32 and 82%, which indicates the limitations of the production environment which would require innovations in technologies and policies particularly adapted for the dry, the tropical and the more traditional regions. Furthermore, the results show that the use of hybrid seed and selling into maize markets have the largest impact in increasing maize yields in all regions. The difference between the MasAgro farmers and the average farmers in each region suggest that scaling the project will contribute to increasing maize production and Mexico’s food self-sufficiency.
Publication - The evolution of the MasAgro hubs: responsiveness and serendipity as drivers of agricultural innovation in a dynamic and heterogeneous context(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Camacho Villa, T.C.; Almekinders, C.; Hellin, J.; Martinez Cruz, T.E.; Rendon-Medel, R.; Guevara-Hernandez, F.; Beuchelt, T.D.; Govaerts, B.Little is known about effective ways to operationalize agricultural innovation processes. We use the MasAgro program in Mexico (which aims to increase maize and wheat productivity, profitability and sustainability), and the experiences of middle level ‘hub managers’, to understand how innovation processes occur in heterogeneous and changing contexts. Design/methodology/ approach: We use a comparative case study analysis involving research tools such as documentary review, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and reflection workshops with key actors. Findings: Our research shows how a program, that initially had a relatively narrow technology focus, evolved towards an innovation system approach. The adaptive management of such a process was in response to context-specific challenges and opportunities. In the heterogeneous context of Mexico this results in diverse ways of operationalization at the hub level, leading to different collaborating partners and technology portfolios. Practical implications: MasAgro experiences merit analysis in the light of national public efforts to transform agricultural advisory services and accommodate pluralistic agricultural extension approaches in Latin America. Such efforts need long-term coherent macro level visions, frameworks and support, while the serendipitous nature of the process requires meso-level implementers to respond and adapt to and move the innovation process forward. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the debate on how to operationalize large programs by showing that the innovation support arrangements enacted in the field should allow for diversity and have a degree of flexibility to accommodate heterogeneous demands from farmers in different contexts as well as continuous changes in the politico- institutional environment.
Publication - Impact pathways of trade liberalization on rural livelihoods: A case study of smallholder maize farmers in Mexico(Universidad de Zaragoza. Cátedra de Cooperación para el Desarrollo, 2012) Hellin, J.; Groenewald, S.; Keleman, A.Research assessing the impacts of trade liberalization on poor rural populations can be divided into two categories: more quantitative research, assessing relationships between specific, measurable variables (such as changes in the macroeconomic environment and their impact on farmers? income levels); and more qualitative research, which takes trade policy as a context and provides broad, descriptive data about dynamic livelihood strategies. In this paper, we outline a framework that could be used to integrate these two approaches by unravelling the macro-micro linkages between national policies and responses at a household level. Using the Mexican maize sector as an illustration, we trace the pathways through which trade liberalization (including the North American Free Trade Agreement) has interacted with changes in government institutions, and thereby impacted on farmers? livelihood strategies. We identify three pathways through which trade policy affects households and individuals: via enterprises, distribution channels, and government, and we link these to a five-category typology of smallholders? strategies for escaping rural poverty: intensification, diversification, expansion, increased off-farm income and exit from agriculture. Based on a case-study from Chiapas, Mexico, we report on farmers? responses to post-liberalization agricultural policies. Data suggest that farmers have intensified maize production, sought more off-farm employment or have exited agriculture altogether. The potential for smallholders to escape poverty by diversifying farms or expanding their land-holdings or herd-size has been largely unrealized. We provide a conceptual framework for linking the impacts of liberalization to farmers? livelihood strategies and suggest that this framework is useful in the context of agricultural modernisation initiatives that seek to increase agricultural production and productivity.
Publication - Manejo de semillas y diversidad del maiz(Asociación Ecología,Tecnología y Cultura en los Andes, 2007) Hellin, J.; Bellon, M.México es el centro del origen y diversidad del maíz. Según la evidencia arqueológica, su cultivo en Mesoamérica es de aproximadamente 6.000 años, pero los datos genéticos indican cerca de 9.000. Entre la población nativa la planta de maíz representa el origen mismo de la vida. Principalmente se utilizan dos de sus tipos: maíz de grano blanco para el consumo humano directo y maíz de grano amarillo para el consumo indirecto como uno de los componentes de la alimentación del ganado y animales menores, la mayor parte en la producción de aves de corral, huevos y carne de cerdo. Los usos secundarios incluyen: los tallos de maíz como cercos, las hojas de la planta como forraje y las hojas o pancas que cubren la mazorca del maíz para envolver alimentos tradicionales, como los tamales. Las prácticas tradicionales de manejo de las semillas de maíz incluyen la utilización de semillas guardadas de la última cosecha u obtenidas de familiares o amigos. Esto contribuye a introducir nueva diversidad genética al sistema, proporcionando de esta manera rasgos que los agricultores consideran importantes, por ejemplo, rendimiento, facilidad de manejo y sabor. Muchos agricultores mantienen diversas variedades locales de maíz dentro de un mismo sistema de cultivo. Esta es una manera de lidiar con el estrés y los altos riesgos que implica la producción agrícola en ambientes marginales.
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