Abstract

Mauricio Perea Peña, Angélica Espinoza Ortega, Ernesto Sánchez Vera and Encarnación Ernesto Bobadilla soto

Science and technology are important for countries’ development, however in order for smallholder (campesino) producers to make use of knowledge, it is necessary to understand social capital and the influence of gender on technological innovation in agricultural systems. This article contributes to an understanding of agricultural technological innovation, using smallholder systems of sheep production in Michoacan, Mexico as a case study. It is an initial theoretical-practical attempt to determine the influence of social capital on innovation. Furthermore, it facilitates understanding how these processes directly affect technological change and lifestyles in smallholder production systems. The capital has an important role in the processes of technology transfer and innovation within systems, social networks, are the aspects that favor further the adoption of innovations through information flows between actors network. Understanding the various factors that influence the transfer of technology and can serve as a basis for the establishment of public policies for the rural agricultural population.