Sin Suelo Sin Comida: Utilizing Participatory Action Research and Farmer Perspectives to Evaluate the Role of Soil Health In Improving Food Security for Smallholder Farmers in Northeastern El Salvado

Smallholder farmers make up a significant portion of the world's population, with approximately 450-500 million smallholder farmers worldwide, representing 85% of the world's farms. Moreover, smallholder farmers are thought to represent half of the world's hungry. Thus, the fate of smallholder farmers is tied to reducing poverty and hunger worldwide and achieving global food security. Despite years of technological advances and millions invested in research and education, hunger and malnutrition are prevalent, food insecurity is increasing globally and environmental degradation on farmland continues. There is growing consensus that the industrial food system model has been destructive for rural communities and smallholder farmers in developing countries. The production methods advocated by conventional agriculture disrupt traditional livelihoods and accelerate indebtedness while increasing the risk of the small farmer. Moreover, agricultural outreach and education programs for smallholder farmers have been cut in many countries and research has shifted to focus on large-scale export crops and breeding programs, further marginalizing smallholder farmers. Thus, much of the current agricultural research and extension programs are not benefiting the smallholder farmer in developing countries.;Sustained improvement to the livelihoods of poor farmers in developing countries, many located in tropical regions, requires a different type of approach and focus in agricultural research.;The overall objective of this dissertation research was to utilize a participatory action research process to evaluate strategies to improve food security and production for smallholder farmers in northeastern El Salvador through the following research objectives:;I. Determine the current household food security rates, production practices, and perceived agroecological barriers to improving production and food security in northeastern El Salvador.;II. Evaluate the baseline soil health status for smallholder farms in northeastern El Salvador and assess three different soil health assessments as potential tools for use in smallholder farming communities.;III. Evaluate the relationship between soil health on farms and household food security in smallholder farming communities of northeastern El Salvador.;IV. Apply Participatory Action Research principles to agroecological field trials and utilize both farmer and researcher perspectives to evaluate organic fertility and soil conservation treatments on corn yield.;Overall, this research demonstrated that household food security is a significant struggle for many smallholder subsistence farmers in northeastern El Salvador. Both the months of inadequate household food provisioning (MIAHFP) and Escala Latinoamericana Y Caribena de Seguridad Alimentaria (ELCSA) methods of assessing food security appear to be valid for assessing food security in smallholder farming communities of Central America. Total area land farmed, especially area planted in beans, and increased diversity of crops seem to positively impact food security. Access to improved seed and nitrogen fertilizers do not seem to impact household food security or yields, but farmers perceive lack of fertilizers to be a barrier to improving production. In addition, soil health is significantly correlated with increased food security. Our results demonstrate that a farm's soil health may directly impact the household food security. As for assessing soil health on smallholder farms, the three soil health assessments demonstrated clearly different overall soil health scores, especially the CATIE and CASH methods, in regards to both overall scores and individual indicators. Future research should examine how to better integrate the three different assessments and adapt them to specific situations.;Finally, in the participatory on farm field trials, results from both the farmer evaluations and researcher data demonstrate that the soil conservation treatment improved whole ear weight of corn. Furthermore, farmers chose the organic fertility and soil conservation techniques as their treatments and were part of the research process and evaluation, demonstrating new ways to evaluate farm trial from a farmer perspective. Our study demonstrates that agroecological field trials can be done with full farmer participation using a PAR methodology and provides a model for future PAR agricultural research.