Sustainability of agricultural, livestock, and cocoa production units in the Pedernales canton, Manabí, Ecuador

This research was conducted in Pedernales, Ecuador, with the primary objective of evaluating the sustainability of cacao and cattle farms and identifying limiting factors and potential resources in the study area. Ecuador has a cacao production area of 5 056 hectares (ha) and a population of 115 069 cattle, making these two productive sectors predominant in the Pedernales canton. To achieve the proposed objective, the multicriteria methodology of Sarandon (2002) was used, establishing indicators and sub-indicators in economic, socio-cultural, and environmental variables. Based on this criterion, 79 cacao farms (53.40 %) meet sustainability conditions, while the remaining 69 farms (46.6 %) do not fulfill sustainability criteria. The General Sustainability Index (ISGen) is 1.83, determining that the production systems in cacao farms in Pedernales, Ecuador, are not sustainable. From the sample of 148 cattle herds, it was found that 2 % of the herds are sustainable, 21 % are moderately sustainable, and 77 % are not sustainable. However, the Economic Indicator, with a rating of 2.21, exceeds the weighting of 2 and is the only one that meets the sustainability criterion. The values of the Socio-cultural Indicator (1.82) and the Environmental Indicator (1.57) do not reach sustainability levels, according to Sarandon (2002). The General Sustainability Index (ISGen) for cattle farms is 1.87, determining that the production systems of cattle herds in Pedernales, Ecuador, are not sustainable, even though the Economic Indicator exceeded the minimum sustainability value. The overall assessment of cacao and cattle farms reveals strengths and weaknesses across the three sustainability domains, identified through sub-indicators. These elements will facilitate the development of an improvement plan with sustainable criteria aimed at increasing the productivity of cacao and cattle farms, as well as preserving agroecosystems.