Participatory research in agroecology: a tool for sustainable development

Agriculture is in crisis in the European Union and worldwide. This crisis stems from a complex plot of social (unemployment, rural population ageing.), economic (increasing production costs, agrarian income losses.), and ecological (water and air pollution, soil erosion.) problems. In this context, Agroecology is presented as a scientific paradigm that effectively improves agricultural sustainability. Therefore, researchers need methodological tools of systemic nature to mobilise rural population in order to solve such problems. In this respect, two complementary methodologies stand out within the researching realm of Agroecology: the MESMIS methodology, framed within the Analysis of Agrarian Systems, and the Participatory Action Research. The contributions of the first one mainly materialize at farm or management unit scale, whereas the second one is a methodological framework that articulates different hierarchical levels -farm, local society and major society-within a process of change that introduces time dimension in the analysis. In this article, we present and discuss the origin, contributions and limitations of both methodological proposals, offering numerous bibliographical references to study these themes in depth.