Vol. 3, Issue. 1 January - December, 2018 Mango as a Source of Income for Families in Magdalena by implementing the Research as a Pedagogic Strategy1 El Mango como Fuente de Ingresos Económicos para Familias del Magdalena implementando la Investigación como estrategia pedagógica DOI: https://doi.org/10.17981/ijmsor.03.01.07 Research Article - Reception Date: May 14, 2018- Acceptance Date: August 19, 2018 Sergio Pérez, Samir Mendoza, Liset Mantilla, Elvira Martínez and Juliana Peláez Armando Estrada Flores School, Zona Bananera, Magdalena (Colombia). [email protected] To reference this paper: S. Pérez, S. Mendoza, L. Mantilla, E. Martínez & J. Peláez “Mango as a Source of Income for Families in Magdalena by implementing the Research as a Pedagogic Strategy”, IJMSOR, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 38-44, 2018. https://doi.org/10.17981/ ijmsor.03.01.07 Abstract-- The mango industry in the Caribbean region has Resumen-- El sector productivo del mango en la región del displayed poor and deficient performance in recent years, Caribe ha tenido un desempeño pobre y deficiente durante los which has led to wasting large amounts of this fruit in Magda- últimos años, ocasionando el desperdicio de grandes cantida- lena. The purpose of this study was to transform mango into des de este fruto en el Magdalena. El propósito del estudio fue a source of income for families in Magdalena by implementing transformar el mango como fuente de ingresos económicos para the research as a pedagogic strategy (IEP by its acronym in familias del Magdalena implementando la investigación como spanish). The methodology of the study was qualitative, using estrategia pedagógica (IEP). La metodología se orientó bajo el an active research approach, based on a descriptive and ex- enfoque cualitativo, utilizando el tipo de investigación acción, ploratory design. The techniques used included participative desde un diseño descriptivo, exploratorio. Se utilizaron técnicas observation and use of a field journal. The study’s participants como; observación participante y diario de campo. Se contó con were forty (40) members of the educational community at the cuarenta (40) participantes de la institución educativa Armando Armando Estrada Flórez School, Pantoja Campus. The study’s Estrada Flórez, sede ERM Pantoja. Los resultados arrojaron la results identified the different varieties of tropical mango that identificación de diferentes tipos de mango propicios para estas are suitable for this strategy and the causes that prevent its estrategias y las causas que impiden su desarrollo. La conclu- development. The conclusion focuses on the need to transform sión estuvo enfocada en la necesidad de transformar la menta- the community’s way of thinking about the mango in order to lidad de la comunidad en torno al mango para luego convertirlo turn it into a source of income for families in the municipality. en fuente de ingreso económico para las familias del municipio. Keywords-- mango, income, research as a pedagogical strat- Palabras clave-- mango, ingresos económicos, investigación egy como estrategia pedagógica. 1 This study is derived from the Program to Strengthen Citizenship and Democratic Culture CT+I through the IEP supported by ICT in the Department of Magdalena (CICLON) © The author; licensee Fundación para la Investigación, el Desarrollo y la Innovación I+D+I. IJMSOR vol. 3 no. 1, pp. 38-44. January - December, 2018 Barranquilla. ISSN 2539-5416 Online Vol. 3, Issue. 1 January - December, 2018 I. Introduction quantities of the fruit end up in piles on the streets, producing pests and pollution in the region. The Eating fruit is one of the healthiest habits you can large number of mango piles on roads in Magdalena have in order to maintain a rich and balanced diet. is because the collection trucks fail to arrive to pick Each type of fruit has its own particular properties. them up due to the poor road conditions, so they end Mango (Mangifera indica) is a tropical fruit that up being abandoned and unused, as well as produc- stands out for its particular taste and smell, and it ing pests and bad smells in the region. enjoys widespread acceptance, growing demand and Nationally and internationally, it has been tradi- reasonable prices in international markets. Even tionally considered a difficult to handle crop in im- though its exact origin it unknown, it is probably provement programs. Some of its negative aspects native from the lower mountain forests of eastern include [7]: India, Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma), between 1. Long development stage 16° and 28° North latitude [1], [2]. Others believe 2. High level of heterozygosity that its natural distribution included the wooded 3. Production of only one seed per fruit forest of central and southeastern India, Thailand, 4. Low level of fruit congealing and retention Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Malaysian pen- 5. Polyembryony insula [3] 6. Large extensions of land are required to evaluate Mango has been grown for 4,000 years in South hybrids and Southeast Asia and is frequently mentioned in 7. Low level of knowledge on the inheritable traits early Sanskrit literature in India. In the fifth and and genetic relationships of its various producti- fourth centuries BC, Buddhist monks took mangos ve characteristics. from India to the Malaysian peninsula and other re- 8. Strong interaction between the genotype and the gions of Southeast and South Asia [4]. In general, environment. the most suitable planting season is as the start of the rainy season. When mangoes are planted in Also, even though many municipalities in the other seasons, they may require frequent watering. department of Bolívar produce mango, over 50 % In the tenth century AD, the Persians took it of planted hectares and harvest yields are concen- from India to the Middle East. In the sixteenth cen- trated in only 5 municipalities. Also, these 5 munici- tury it was taken from Goa (India) to eastern and palities are located in the most productive regions, western Africa by Portuguese traders. Its distribu- which display harvest yields that are above the tion in the rest of the world is relatively recent, and national average. Additionally, the main cause for it reached the new world following its discovery in wasted production is poor road conditions in plan- the 15th century. The Portuguese took it to the Af- tation areas. Improved roads would enable greater rican continent and Brazil, and from there it was frequency of collection vehicles, thereby reducing distributed to the rest of the American continent. waste percentages. Also, if rainy seasons are as The Spaniards introduced the plant directly from strong as or worse than in recent years, the amount the Philippines to Mexico in 1779 and from there to of production losses will grow even more. Florida in 1883 [5]. Currently the mango is grown In Colombia, the mango is considered one of the throughout the world in tropical and sub-tropical most promising first-generation exportable products conditions, and is one of the most important fruits because of its high level of sales. At the national lev- in the world because of its widespread acceptance el, the department of Magdalena is the tenth-largest for human diet, and it is planted in all tropical and mango producer, accounting for 8% of national pro- sub-tropical areas of the world. duction. Planted areas in the Department have been Mango belongs to the Anacardiaciae family, and growing faster than other north coast departments. its species is the Mangifera Indica. Varieties include Figure 1 below displays mango production statistics the “bauno” Mangifera caesia Jack, “Kuwini” Man- at the national level. gifera odorata Griff, and the cross-breed between Areas and Production the “Bauno” and “Kuwini” produces fruit of excel- lent quality. The mango belongs to the Anacardia- ceae family, which includes 64 genera, including the P r cashew (Anacardium occidentale). The Mangifera odu cti o n genus includes a variety of species, some of the best Area known of which are: Mangifera altissima, M. caesia, M. odorata, M. indica, all of which are commercially planted. [6] In the Magdalena region large quantities of mango have always gone to waste due to the poor Production Area road conditions in the area. Also, the low cost of pro- Fig. 1. Mango production statistics ducing it affects its price, and for this reason many Source: [8] growers decide not to sell it at all. As a result, large 39 MANGO AS A SOURCE OF INCOME FOR FAMILIES IN MAGDALENA BY IMPLEMENTING THE RESEARCH AS PEDAGOGIC STRATEGY This study involves the microeconomics and This type of learning is based on eight prin- macroeconomics of the Magdalena region, de- ciples: fined by Colombia’s Central Bank (Banco de la 1. The main goal of education is to develop the República de Colombia) as the distribution of re- capacity to resolve problems sources among various potential uses, and the 2. Education in heuristics is much more impor- analysis of the individual decisions of households tant that delivering contents without meaning and companies. Macroeconomics takes a general 3. The method of discovery is the path to tea- perspective of the economy, abstracting from the ching the curricular contents details of individual agents, to study the interre- 4. When learning is achieved through discovery, lationships between the various economic sectors what is learned is organized in an effective so as to achieve the full use of resources.”[9] manner There is currently a wide variety of proposed 5. Verbal knowledge is the key for any transfer methodologies and approaches based on research, 6. Discovery is in itself the basis for self-confi- understood as the form of materializing what is dence and a source of motivation done and the manner in which it is implemented, 7. Discovery ensures retention in memory which leads to innumerable methodological ap- 8.