Analysis of a Climatically Variable Production Season

Analysis of a small agropastoral community in Bolivia during a climatically vulnerable year, provided insight into how households diversify and change productions strategies in order to secure income and food consumption. Twelve independent variables that identified distinct production strategies were analyzed according to how well they estimated total income. A subset selection process determined the best combination of variables, or production strategies. The four variables chosen were food plots, shared land, off farm income and number of native animals. These variables characterize traditional farming practices and have social and human capital embedded within them. It is important to understand how households mitigate and cope with climatic risks, in order to best develop methods that can help households during risky production seasons.