Redes de inovação e capital social: análise de vínculo, ligação e interface na agricultura

The structure of social relations plays a crucial role in the learning, diffusion of innovations and construction of social capital in agriculture, both within the communities (bonding) and outside (bridging and linking), so it is desirable to build this type of linkages. The objective was to analyze the pattern of producers' social ties and their influence on the management of social capital, the adoption of innovations and their impact on agricultural production. A survey was applied to 28,233 corn producers in Mexico. Learning networks were constructed using affiliation matrices and the radiality node indicator was calculated. The findings revealed that only 3% of producers effectively manage the three forms of social capital (bonding, bridging and linking) obtain above average yields (p ≤ 0.05) of up to 1.8 t ha-1, compared to those who do not report access to any form of social capital. In addition, a positive association was identified between the adoption of innovations and different forms of social capital. It is concluded that agricultural extension should encourage the building of relational capacities to improve management in agricultural production.