Agricultural Activity in Rural Localities in Conurbation Processes: An Approximation Using the Ishikawa Diagram

Abstract

The objective of this work was to analyze the changes that agricultural activity undergoes in a rural town that is under a conurbation process. This through an innovative methodology that used tools such as the Ishikawa diagram and interview guides, which served to reinforce and reaffirm the numerical data of the results obtained. Santa María Texcalac, Tlaxcala, is a town that has these characteristics. Its main economic activity, agriculture, has undergone significant changes as a result of this type of process. To obtain this information, a mixed methodology was used, applying 85 questionnaires to a representative sample, six in-depth interviews were carried out with key informants and an Ishikawa workshop was held with local characters. The results reflect an agricultural activity in danger of extinction, a significant loss of area for cultivation due to a change in land use, an increasingly weak demand for support to the countryside and an increasingly strong job creation, a discouragement to remain peasants and a search for another economic activity for the children.