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The availability and quality of water resources for agricultural irrigation are being increasingly compromised by different factors. In this context, the installation of rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems for use in agricultural holdings can contribute to mitigating this problem. However, the use of these systems by farmers continues to be very low. This paper analyses the factors that influence a farmer's decision to adopt these systems to take advantage of rainwater. Greenhouse agriculture in southeast Spain is the case studied. For this, a binary logistic regression model based on a survey administered to farmers was used. Among the variables found to be significant, the most important variables are the quantity of water in the pond, the pond capacity and environmental awareness. The variables that least affect the adoption decision are age, education level and income. These results have allowed the development of the main lines of action for policy-makers to intervene in order to promote the adoption of these systems. These measures focus on enhancing the training of farmers, providing them with financial support and boosting their environmental awareness. The results of this study lead to improved research on farmers’ behaviour and sustainable management of water resources in agriculture.

In many production areas, water is the main limiting factor for agricultural development. The consequences of global climate change, population growth, changes in land use and overexploitation due to economic growth have caused water resources to be subject to severe degradation. As the main consumer of water resources, water use in this sector is of great importance. However, the wide variety of stakeholders and the need for food supply make the management of agricultural systems very complex. In this context, it is necessary to incorporate water management practices and technologies that contribute to the sustainability of agricultural activity. To ensure the success of these practices, their choice and adoption must take into account the interests of different stakeholders. Therefore, the first objective of this work is to identify the sustainable water management practices that are best suited to the context of the study area, as well as the main barriers and facilitators to their incorporation. For this purpose, several qualitative research tools are used in consecutive phases (literature review, in-depth interviews, Delphi method and workshop). The results show that the most suitable practice for mainstreaming is rainwater harvesting (RWH). Facilitators for the adoption of this practice include the existence of farmer networks and access to the necessary technology, while installation costs and certain characteristics of the study area and farms act as main barriers. The second objective of this work was to identify the factors affecting farmers' decision to adopt RWH systems to use harvested water for agricultural irrigation. For this purpose, farmers in the study area were surveyed and a binary logistic regression model was carried out. The variables found to be significant in explaining farmers' behaviour were age, educational level, farm size, pond capacity and volume, income and level of environmental awareness.

The socio-cultural valuation of forest ecosystem services is a useful tool to generate knowledge and help balance the different interests of stakeholders with respect to the management of these services. The aim of this study is to analyse the evolution of global research on the economic valuation of forest ecosystem services through a review of the existing literature on this topic. The results show that socio-cultural valuation has gained importance in recent years. There is a wide disparity between the countries conducting the research and those being studied. Inconsistency has been observed in the definition and classification of services provided by forests, as well as a lack of unanimity on the reference framework to be applied. The main methodological approaches in the socio-cultural valuation of forest services are participatory mapping, social media analysis, the Q method and free listing. For the collection of primary information, the dominant methodologies are focus groups, semi-structured interviews and online surveys. Finally, this study demonstrates that socio-cultural valuation has great potential to improve the legitimacy of forest ecosystem management decisions and to promote consensus building.

In a global situation where water constraints are a daily concern and expected to worsen in the upcoming years, finding new water alternatives to guarantee its supply is of critical importance. Against this background, reclaimed water has proved to be a sustainable alternative that recycles wastewater from a circular economy approach, thus enhancing water availability for key sectors such as agriculture. In such a context where public policies should encourage the implementation of this sustainable resource that helps reduce climate change by allowing wastewater reuse, there is too often a lack of knowledge of farmers’ perceptions, thus resulting in them being ineffective. In this sense, studying and analyzing agriculturalists’ perceptions is of interest for the development of appropriate policies that truly foster reclaimed water use in agriculture and enhance its shift from waste to resource. For this research 231 farmers, both long-time users of reclaimed water and non-users, were surveyed to find common and differing attitudes and perceptions. Results show how once farmers start irrigating their crops with this alternative resource there is a marked improvement in their opinion. The high price is the most widespread barrier, which can be tempered with public subsidies that absorb part of this cost. The insights obtained from this research may be of interest to other regions, especially for those in arid and semi-arid climates where water scarcity is a critical problem and sustainability a growing concern.

El objetivo del presente trabajo es mostrar cual es la situacion actual del mercado mundial de la almendra a partir del analisis de la oferta y la demanda. Para ello, en primer lugar, se analizan las magnitudes mas relevantes de los principales paises productores y se realiza una comparativa entre ellos. En segundo lugar se estudian cuales son los mercados consumidores mas importantes y sus preferencias. Y en tercer lugar se exponen las previsiones de evolucion futura de este mercado. Las tendencias muestran que para los proximos anos la demanda mundial de almendra superara a la oferta, de manera que se preve un incremento de los precios y de las inversiones en nuevas dotaciones productivas, tanto en las zonas tradicionales como en las que estan surgiendo en los ultimos anos.

espanolAndalucia es la primera Comunidad Autonoma en superficie cultivada y produccion de almendro pero su cultivo presenta importantes deficiencias y sus explotaciones un elevado nivel de heterogeneidad. En este trabajo se realiza una caracterizacion del cultivo del almendro en secano en Andalucia y se determinan cuales son sus principales carencias. Adicionalmente, se estudian las posibles estrategias de reconversion de las explotaciones, las preferencias de los agricultores ante diversas alternativas propuestas y el coste economico de las lineas de actuacion seleccionadas. Para ello, se han llevado a cabo una encuesta a cien agricultores seleccionados mediante un muestreo estratificado en funcion del numero de hectareas de almendro cultivadas en secano. Los datos obtenidos se han analizado mediante tecnicas estadisticas de clasificacion y, en particular, se ha utilizado un analisis cluster. Los resultados muestran un predominio de explotaciones marginales y la existencia de importantes deficiencias que hacen que mas de un tercio de los agricultores se plantee el abandono del cultivo. Las opciones de mejora del cultivo preferidas por los agricultores son la reconversion varietal y la conversion al cultivo ecologico. El analisis de los resultados permite ademas concluir que es necesario tener en cuenta las preferencias de los agricultores para una correcta implementacion de los instrumentos de politica agraria EnglishAndalusia is the first Spanish Autonomous region in terms of almond cultivated area and production. Nevertheless, almond crops show relevant deficiencies and their farms a high degree of heterogeneity. This work characterises the Andalusian unirrigated almonds farms and establishes the main shortcomings. In addition, the potential strategies for farms reconversion, farmers’ preferences towards the proposed alternatives and the economic costs of the selected actions are analysed. To do that, a survey of one hundred farmers was conducted using a stratified sample approach based on the number of unirrigated cultivated almond hectares. Gathered data was analysed by classification statistical techniques, in particular, by a cluster analysis. Results show the dominance of marginal farms and the existence of important deficiencies and therefore, one third of the interviewed farmers are considering the option of giving up the cultivation of almond. The crop improvement options preferred by farmers are based on variety reconversion and the conversion to organic production. Furthermore, results indicate that it is necessary to take into account farmers’ preferences in order to implement the appropriated agriculture policy tools

En este trabajo se presenta un proyecto de valoración de los servicios de los ecosistemas provistos por los agroecosistemas áridos del sureste español, para cuya realización se toma como caso de estudio el cultivo del almendro en el altiplano de Andalucía Oriental. El objetivo de la investigación es ofrecer una valoración holística de los servicios suministrados por este tipo de ecosistemas. Para su consecución, los enfoques valorativos a emplear incluyen tanto el biofísico (a través de la valoración de expertos mediante una metodología participativa) como el socioeconómico. English The valuation of ecosystemics services of almond tree cultivation in the plateau of Eastern Andalusia». This paper presents a draft valuation of ecosystem services provided by arid agroecosystems in southeastern Spain, for whose realization is taken as a case study the almond cultivation in the highlands of eastern Andalusia. The objective of the research is to provide a holistic assessment of services provided by these ecosystems. For which, the evaluative approaches employed include both the biophysical (expert assessment through a participatory methodology) as the socio-economic.

El estudio de los servicios provistos por los ecosistemas es un área de investigación de un gran dinamismo. La valoración de estos servicios es muy importante tanto para el diseño de políticas de conservación como para la gestión de los ecosistemas. En este trabajo se presenta una panorámica de la evolución que ha seguido la investigación en valoración de ecoservicios provistos por agroecosistemas en España. Se han analizado los artículos incluidos en la base de datos del Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) entre los años 2002 y 2015. Los resultados indican que la mayor parte de los trabajos se centra en la agricultura extensiva, que el enfoque económico ha sido el más utilizado, que el agroforestal ha sido el agroecosistema más valorado junto con la agricultura de regadío, y que entre los métodos de valoración más utilizados destacan el análisis coste-beneficio, la valoración contingente y el método del coste de viaje. The study of the services provided by ecosystems is a research area of great dynamism. The valuation of these services is very important for the design of conservation policies and the management of the ecosystems. This paper provides an overview of the evolution that has followed the research about the assessment of the ecosystem services provided by agroecosystems in Spain. We analyzed the published papers indexed in the database of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) between 2002 and 2015. The results indicate that most studies focuses on extensive agriculture, the economic approach has been the most used, agroforestry has been the agroecosystem most valued along with irrigated agriculture and between the valuation methods most commonly used include the cost-benefit analysis, the contingent valuation and the travel cost method. L'étude des services fournis par les écosystèmes est un domaine de recherche d'un grand dynamisme. La valorisation de ces services est très important pour la conception de politiques et de gestion des écosystèmes conservation. Cet article examine l'évolution et l’état de l’art de l'évaluation des services fournis par les écosystèmes agricoles en Espagne. Nous avons analysé les articles incluses dans la base de données de l'Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) entre 2002 et 2015. Les résultats indiquent que la plupart des travaux se concentre sur l'agriculture extensive, l'approche économique a été le plus utilisé, que l'agroforesterie a été le agro-écosystème le plus précieux de l'agriculture irriguée, et que parmi les méthodes d'évaluation les plus couramment utilisés comprennent la méthode d'évaluation contingente, the coûts-avantages et l'analyse des coûts de voyage.

El estudio de la valoración de los servicios de los ecosistemas es un área de investigación reciente en España pero que ha cobrado un fuerte impulso durante las últimas décadas. El carácter multidimensional de estos servicios, la diversidad de beneficiarios y partes interesadas, y los diferentes enfoques valorativos existentes hacen que su valoración resulte compleja. En este trabajo se presenta el marco conceptual para la valoración de los servicios provistos por los ecosistemas y una descripción de las metodologías más utilizadas, aplicado a los agroecosistemas españoles. Para ello se ha realizado una búsqueda en la base de datos del Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), dando como resultado una muestra de 101 trabajos. La metodología utilizada para su análisis ha sido de tipo cualitativo. Los resultados obtenidos muestran como el grueso de los trabajos de valoración de ecoservicios provistos por agroecosistemas en España se ha publicado durante los últimos cinco años y que entre las metodologías económicas más utilizadas destacan el análisis coste-beneficio, la valoración contingente y los experimentos de elección.The study of the valuation of ecosystem services is a recent area of research in Spain but has gained strong impulse during the last decades. The multidimensional nature of these services, in addition to the diversity of related beneficiaries and actors, and the different approaches make their evaluation is complex. This paper presents the conceptual framework for the assessment of services provided by ecosystems and a description of the methodologies most used, applied to Spanish agroecosystems. To this end, it has conducted a search in the database of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), resulting in a sample of 101 papers. The methodology used for the analysis was qualitative. The results show how the majority of the proyect on valuation of ecosystem services provided by agroecosystems in Spain has been published for the past five years and between the most used economic methodologies include the cost-benefit analysis, contingent valuation and choice experiments.