Family farming and digital platforms in the context of COVID-19. South American initiatives

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present some initiatives developed in South American countries, aimed at supporting and strengthening family farming in the context of the pandemic generated by COVID- 19. These initiatives are taken into account because, specifically, they are related to the use and appropriation of digital platforms, such as digital social networks, instant messaging systems and web pages. It is considered that these experiences can be approached from the perspective that claims the processes of social appropriation of information and communication technologies (ICT) since, in a context of crisis and complexity such as that generated by COVID-19, Actors of different nature such as family farmers, small farmers, university extension centers, governments, multilateral organizations, among others, have used ICT devices in their production processes, promoting synergies that aim at the socio-economic sustainability of groups on the stage raised, they could be considered as vulnerable. This work is based on a research design divided into two phases: exploratory-descriptive, supported by a search in secondary sources to approach the subject and, theoretical-reflexive, for the analysis of the findings. The results are preliminary, but it is considered that they provide relevant indications for the study within the field of social studies of science as well as for the analysis of techno-scientific policies, always rescuing a non-deterministic perspective on a subject as complex as the one presented