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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics
Volume 8 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1363744
This article is part of the Research Topic Transforming Food Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: Increasing Sustainability, Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change View all 9 articles

A Methodological Framework Proposal for Managing Risks in Small-Scale Farming through the integrating of Knowledge and Data Analytics

Provisionally accepted
Juan F. Casanova Olaya Juan F. Casanova Olaya *Juan C. Corrales Muñoz Juan C. Corrales Muñoz
  • University of Cauca, Popayán, Colombia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Climate change and weather variability pose significant challenges to small-scale crop production systems, increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. In this context, data modeling becomes a crucial tool for risk management and promotes producer resilience during losses caused by adverse weather events, particularly within agricultural insurance. However, data modeling requires access to available data representing production system conditions and external risk factors. One of the main problems in the agricultural sector, especially in small-scale farming, is data scarcity, a barrier to effectively addressing these issues. Data scarcity limits understanding the local-level impacts of climate change and the design of adaptation or mitigation strategies to manage adverse events, directly impacting production system productivity. Integrating knowledge into data modeling is a proposed strategy to address the issue of data scarcity. However, despite different mechanisms for knowledge representation, a methodological framework to integrate knowledge into data modeling is lacking. This paper proposes developing a methodological framework (MF) to guide the characterization, extraction, representation, and integration of knowledge into data modeling, supporting the application of data solutions for small farmers. The development of the MF encompasses three phases. The first phase involves identifying the information underlying the MF. To achieve this, elements such as the type of knowledge managed in agriculture, data structure types, knowledge extraction methods, and knowledge representation methods were identified using the systematic review framework proposed by Kitchemhan, considering their limitations and the tools employed. Subsequently, in the second phase of MF construction, the gathered information was utilized to design the process modeling of the MF using the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Finally, in the third phase of MF development, an evaluation was conducted using the expert weighting method. As a result, it was possible to theoretically verify that the proposed MF facilitates the integration of knowledge into data models. It serves as a foundation for establishing adaptation and mitigation strategies against adverse events stemming from climate variability and change in small-scale production systems, especially under conditions of data scarcity.

    Keywords: framework, Knowledge Management, data modelling, Risk Management, Agricultural insurance

    Received: 05 Jan 2024; Accepted: 04 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Casanova Olaya and Corrales Muñoz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Juan F. Casanova Olaya, University of Cauca, Popayán, Colombia

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