En este artículo se abordan los programas institucionales im-plementados en contextos locales y la acción colectiva para el desarrollo de alimentos con arraigo territorial, desde el enfoque de los Sistemas Agroalimentarios Localizados (Sial). Se analiza el caso de un programa piloto para la producción de cuitlacoche (Ustílago Maydis sp.) en el estado de Tlaxcala, México, y dos microempresas familiares involucradas en la producción de ese hongo utilizado en la alimentación huma-na. Se parte de la hipótesis de que los apoyos a la agricultura familiar empresarial y a las microempresas rurales dedicadas a la producción de alimentos ligados al territorio pueden con-solidar los Sial. Se concluye que esto puede ser posible con la condición de que se conjunte una malla institucional de los tres niveles de gobierno y la acción colectiva en el territorio.

The prickly pear cactus is a source of food with strong bio-cultural anchorage in Mexico. This is due to at least three factors: 1) the nature and heritage of cacti; 2) cultural heritage; and 3) the socio-cultural relationships with historical and symbolic roots that have facilitated knowledge of how to cultivate it and how to use it. The aim of this article is to put factors of territorial anchorage and its historical transformation in context by examining the case of the municipality of Tlalnepantla in the state of Morelos, Mexico. This community has experienced accelerated change due to the exchange of traditional crops for the prickly pear cactus and the integration of farming, commercialization and agro-transformation. Our hypothesis is that the market, internal conflicts and a lack of socio-institutional coordination have put social organization into crisis, favoring the territorial spread of the prickly pear cactus and making the Local Agro-Food Systems (LAFS) of Tlalnepantla less competitive. The conclusions highlight important economic and social advances whose roots lie in the strengthening and anchorage of the territory-product. However, circumstances both internal and external to the community persist, such as intra-community conflicts, the international market and cultural paradigm shifts that affect the producers and put consolidation of the LAFS at risk.

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