INSTITUTIONAL DIVERSITY AND VALUE ADDITION IN THE BAMBOO PRODUCTION CHAIN

Códigos JEL: P, P5, P51, R5

Abstract

The activities and relationships that are generated between the actors of the agricultural production chains show disparity in conditions in terms of access to resources, scope of participation and decision-making power. The theory of Institutional Diversity proposed by Elinor Ostrom (2005) allows a study aimed at identifying and proposing solutions to the critical points in the addition of value in agro-productive chains. In Ecuador, projects have been developed to strengthen the bamboo chain, which include in their objectives the addition of value through the linking of producing communities in the execution process. The main objective of this work is to analyze, under the institutional diversity approach, the value added in the bamboo production chain considering the diversity of actors and the cooperative actions outlined by public-private projects for the development of this chain. An analysis of the information was carried out following a descriptive-inductive methodology with an incursion into the design of action research. It is concluded that the addition of value in the bamboo production chain requires strategies that consider: 1) institutional diversity and diverse actors; 2) the powers granted to them based on their role and scope of participation and 3) the management of cooperative actions to achieve objectives such as the cultural and economic identification of communities with bamboo, and equitable access to this resource for sustainable and sustainable use and usufruct.