Farming together, learning together, and improving together: the socio-technical trajectory of the development of the inter-cooperative fish-farming projects in Argentina

Abstract

Through the second half of the twentieth century, within both developed and underdeveloped countries, several social movements sought to produce technological alternatives in order to encourage the development of environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive dynamics. In last two decades, different international agencies encouraged the development of pro-poor aquaculture projects among small rural producers, in order to reduce poverty. However, in many cases, they exhibit limitations in terms of infrastructure; deficient services; troubles to get supplies and financial sources; and poor organization. Solving these limitations represents a big technological and cognitive challenge, but the public policies implemented were inspired by mainstream models of innovation with poor results. This paper aims to analyse how these key actors, such as cooperatives, can strengthen inclusive innovation and local development processes. It asks the following question: How cooperative rationalities can operate in inclusive innovative dynamics?.