Trust networks and agroclimatic risk in agricultural technical assistance, Colombia

Abstract

The objective of this research was to analyze the changes in the networks of technical trust of agricultural technical assistants (ATA), after a process of management and diffusion of a culture of agroclimatic risk over a period of two years in the departments of Cundinamarca, La Guajira and Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Interviews with ATAs were conducted in two moments of observation: at the beginning (2015) and at the end of the intervention of the agroclimatic adaptation and prevention models project (2017). The social network analysis was used as an analysis and an intervention tool, this permitted to identify the structure of the network and the actors with greatest coverage of information diffusion in the departments. The intervention of the MAPA project led to structural changes in the networks of technical trust of the ATAs and their perception of the importance of the agroclimatic risk issue in the provision of extension services. In Cundinamarca and La Guajira, the ATAs decreased the size of their network (p< 0.05), however, the intermediation indicator increased significantly (p< 0.05). It is concluded that, by intervening in the trust networks of the agricultural technical assistants through the design of a communicative strategy and the identification of key actors to disseminate the issue of agroclimatic risk, a greater linkage, access, exchange and scope of information was favored.