Strategies to achieve collaborative and innovative environments aimed at promoting agroindustrial markets

Abstract

The agricultural sector is one of the potential pillars of the Colombian economy that is strengthened from the interest of the public and private sectors for the development of actions aimed at transforming the countryside, increasing the well-being of peasant families and their family nucleus, dedicated to their majority to the production and transformation of products in the region. However, there are pronounced gaps that do not allow the progress of innovation ecosystems towards the promotion of agro-industry. The objective of this article is to analyze the type of strategies that must be deployed to achieve collaborative and innovative environments aimed at promoting agro-industrial markets that contribute to territorial competitiveness. For this, a qualitative, descriptive investigation was carried out directed at 40 small producers and 21 peasant associations in charge of guiding productive units located in the municipality of Timbio in the department of Cauca, Colombia, an eminently agricultural region. As a data collection technique, a semi-structured questionnaire was used, as well as the realization of four peasant markets and an agro-business fair, allowing the use of observation and diagnostic tools for research, data also processed by the Atlas.ti software. The results expose the contributions for the development of innovation ecosystems from four operating guidelines: a) The formulation of a competitive strategy, b) the promotion of fair trade and c) the promotion of networking, useful indications for public entities and private companies in charge of carrying out support processes for the sector, as well as for agricultural associations that lead the strengthening of the peasant community, becoming a benchmark for the strategic direction of the rural business fabric, being extrapolated to other sectors with similar characteristics.