Assessing the social dimension of agriculture in mountain contexts: A case study of strawberry cultivation in the Andean

Abstract Background : The integrated assessment of social and agronomic dimensions in mountain production systems remains limited. This gap is evident in understanding the interaction between advanced technologies and rural farming economies. In this context, this study presents an application of the FAO’s SAFA (Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems) sustainability framework to an emerging mountain agriculture production system, focusing on the case study of traditional and aeroponic strawberry ( Fragaria × ananassa ) systems in the Andean region of Imbabura, Ecuador, with two main objectives: (i) to characterize agronomic attributes in the mountain region; and (ii) to quantify social sustainability. Methods : SAFA defines values between 0 and 1 as unacceptable and values between 4.1 and 5 as optimal. An equal number of semi-structured interviews were conducted in each production system, and the data were analyzed with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA, Infostat v2.0). Results : The aeroponic system doubled seedling density, reaching 59,553 plants/ha compared with 29,934 plants/ha in the traditional systems. Regarding social sustainability, aeroponics achieved an optimal value of 4.46, with 100% of indicators rated as optimal. In contrast, the traditional system obtained 2.64, with 16.7% of the indicators optimal, especially with deficiencies in human health and safety. The PCA confirmed significant differences with 50% of the variance explained by the first principal component, associating the aeroponic system with all dimensions of social performance. Conclusions : The results demonstrate the usefulness of the SAFA framework for assessing social sustainability in mountain farming systems and show its applicability to productive innovations such as aeroponics in the Andes. However, the adoption and scalability of such technologies may depend on socio-economic conditions and institutional support in smallholder farming systems.