Understandings of Risk and Perceptions of Change

Through a case study of small-scale Kaqchikel Maya farmers involved in non-traditional export agriculture (NTAX) in the Central Guatemalan highlands, this article examines the tensions between the mostly positive perceptions of farmers and the negative assessments of many who study NTAX production. In a context of severe political-economic structural inequalities and potentially high social and cultural costs, quantitative household survey results demonstrate a modest decrease in concentration of land in favour of Maya smallholders; more gender-egalitarian relations of production than expected; and largely positive local perceptions of economic and social change. Qualitative analysis interprets these findings in light of Maya-affective ties to land, preferences for continuity in traditional labor organization and subsistence maize production, perceptions of risk, and the transfer of traditional marketing skills. We find that Kaqchikeles are shaping alternative modernities as they deal with new sets of political-economic and social constraints. This article examines the socio-economic, gender, and cultural impacts of non-traditional export agriculture for Kaqchikel Maya farmers in the central Guatemalan highlands. Unlike many other agricultural export regimes, the export-oriented production of fruits and vegetables (primarily broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower, and berries) has been dominated by small-scale growers in this region for over twenty years. A number of studies have exposed the high costs—economic, environmental, and social—of non-traditional agricultural export (NTAX) production for smallholding farmers, while others have examined market imperfections and policy failures that limit the potential of small-scale production to alleviate poverty. Yet, we find that Maya farmers largely view NTAX production as a positive step toward economic advancement (one that works more to their advantage than against it) and as an opportunity to use their lands and labor in ways that preserve community and reinforce key elements of their cultural heritage. GUATEMALAN AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS 83 This article also explores the contradictions between the mostly positive perceptions of Maya farmers and the negative assessments of many who study the political economy and ecology of NTAX production in Guatemala. We also explore tensions within local perceptions, as farmers evaluate both their relatively successful production histories and current and anticipated constraints to expansion. We base our analysis on quantitative household surveys and ethnographic field work conducted in the Kaqchikel region from 1998 to 2001. The paper begins with an overview of NTAX production in Guatemala, followed by a general description of the case study communities, and of the place of NTAX production in local household economies. The following three sections present quantitative and qualitative results concerning the distributional effects of NTAX production. Results show that NTAX production has contributed to a somewhat more egalitarian distribution of land ownership and that women have shared in production decision-making and benefits to a greater degree than expected. We interpret these results in the context of Maya-affective ties to land, preferences for traditional patterns in labor organization, and the transfer of traditional gendered marketing skills. The next section presents a brief analysis of local agrochemical use, a risk to sustainability that is viewed differently by social scientists and Maya farmers. Next, we present quantitative and qualitative findings concerning the perceived economic and social changes accompanying NTAX adoption at the individual, household, and community levels. These data show that both producers and nonproducers largely view NTAX production as a positive addition to available economic strategies, while also noting perceived constraints. In our conclusion, we discuss these findings in the contexts of the social and cultural capital that support Maya success in a risky market and the broader political-economic structures that challenge Maya NTAX expansion projects and other forms of rural development. SNOW PEA AND BROCCOLI PRODUCTION IN HIGHLAND GUATEMALA: POTENTIALS AND PITFALLS Small-scale producers in the Kaqchikel region of highland Guatemala began growing non-traditional agricultural export crops in the mid1970s. Starting with snow peas, cauliflower, and broccoli, and expanding in the 1990s to French beans, mini-zucchinis, berries, and other exotic crops, non-traditional production has become one of Guatemala’s top export earners. Today, approximately half of all farmers in the area grow non-traditional crops. While NTAX production has been controlled by large-scale operations in much of Latin America, Maya small landholders dominate production in the Central Guatemalan highlands. In this region, both climate 84 Latin American Research Review and the availability of family labor contribute to a favorable environment for the small-scale production of labor-intensive fruit and vegetable crops. Just as important, many Maya farmers embrace these new markets as potentially lucrative outlets for their productive capacity and as a means of maintaining an agrarian-centered lifestyle. During the early years of small-scale NTAX production in Guatemala, adopters of these crops were able to increase family incomes while offfarm employment in packing plants and other operations also dramatically increased (von Braun, Hotchkiss, and Immink 1989). At the macro level, small-scale production of NTAXs contributed to rapid growth in export earnings and share of the U.S. market (Thrupp, Bergeron, and Waters 1995, 58–61). Nonetheless, a growing body of literature has documented the production and marketing constraints that challenge the potential poverty-reducing and distributional benefits of NTAX production. Liliana Goldin (1996) found a close link between upward socioeconomic mobility and the adoption of non-traditional crops in a small K’iche’ Maya community. While such mobility may bring trickle-down benefits to the wider community, it often accelerates class differentiation in a way that threatens traditional social cohesion. Other studies similarly concluded that the benefits of non-traditional production were likely to be concentrated in a small echelon of local landholding elites, and that NTAX production threatened subsistence bases while increasing socioeconomic inequality (Goldin and Saenz 1993; Lee 1993; AVANCSO 1994, Carletto 1996). Benefits of NTAX production may be distributed unevenly within households as well as among households. Some analysts have found that male-biased NTAX market structures threatened to deepen gender inequalities within producing households as women’s unpaid agricultural labor increased while men retained control of household agricultural production and enjoyed membership in cooperatives and related organizations (von Braun, Hotchkiss, and Immink 1989; Katz 1995). Contracting with exporters has been viewed as a threat to the cultural traditions and effective independence of small-scale producers, as production practices may be dictated by exporters (Green 1998). Access to capital and exposure to risks are key problems facing smallscale agriculturalists (Barham, Carter, and Sigelko 1995; Immink and Alarcon 1993; von Braun, Hotchkiss, and Immink 1989). In contrast to large-scale producers who plant up to 100 percent of their land with NTAXs, farmers with less than four hectares are likely to plant only around one-third hectare with these crops (Barham, Carter, and Sigelko 1995). Such small-scale producers are constrained by the lack of production credit and the need to self-insure against stochastic shocks such as catastrophic crop losses and price drops. They do this by diversifying their crop mix to include less-remunerative crops destined for domestic and other Central American markets and by growing basic foodstuffs GUATEMALAN AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS 85 (von Braun, Hotchkiss and Immink 1989; Immink and Alarcon 1993). The expected return on these crops is only a fraction of the value of NTAX production, but the market outlets are more stable and familiar. The most serious constraints arise from a highly unequal distribution of land (documented by the most recent [1979] Agricultural Census [INE 1983]). A mere 2 percent of the population controls 65 percent of arable lands; Guatemala’s land distribution Gini coefficient, a measure that ranges from 0 in hypothetical situations of perfect equality to 1 in cases of perfect inequality, is 0.85 (Carter, Barham, and Mesbah 1996, 52). In some areas, farmers with very little land have achieved sufficiently high incomes per area planted with NTAX crops to permit the purchase of additional land from larger-scale producers (Carter, Barham, and Mesbah 1996; Carletto, de Janvry and Sadoulet 1999). However, soil depletion— associated with rising land pressure in imperfect markets and with high levels of agrochemical use—limits the potential for growth in NTAX production and incomes (Carletto, de Janvry, and Sadoulet 1999; see World Bank 1995, 25 on political land market imperfections). The overuse and misuse of pesticides has resulted in decreasing crop yields and product quality and U.S. rejections of produce contaminated with pesticide residues (Thrupp, Bergeron, and Waters 1995). The potential for long-term growth in the small-scale NTAX sector is also threatened by increasing price uncertainty in maturing niche markets for some crops, and by the uneven distribution of information and technology that enable producers and their marketing arms to avoid product rejections. Altogether, these political, economic, environmental, and social constraints pose formidable challenges to small-scale NTAX producers and to the role of NTAXs in rural economic development and poverty alleviation. It is not surprising that most analysts, who focus on structural inequalities and market risks, tend to view small-scale production of non-traditional export crops as having little potential for broadly sustainable development. SURVEY RESEARCH COMMUNITIES Xenimajuyú (population 1,151) and Xeabaj (population 917) are predominately Kaqchikel Maya communities located on or near the Pan American Highway in the municipalities of Tecpán and Santa Apolonia. Non-traditional crops were first adopted in Xenimajuyú in the early 1980s and in Xeabaj in the late 1980s. Quantitative analysis is based on a 1998 probabilistic-sample survey of 141 households and a follow-up 2001 survey of 214 men and women from a randomized subsample of 113 households. Ninety-four percent of the sampled population self-identified as Kaqchikel Mayan were nearly all bilingual in Kaqchikel and Spanish. Households were divided fairly evenly between Roman Catholic 86 Latin American Research Review and Protestant affiliations. Two-thirds of households were comprised of nuclear families; 9 percent were headed by single women. Our statistical analysis of survey results is contextualized with qualitative ethnographic data based on interviews and observations carried out in Xenimajuyú, Xeabaj, and neighboring communities from 1998 to 2001.1 The local economy is agriculturally-based. In 1998 over 80 percent of male household heads reported household agriculture as their primary occupation and half of all households included members who earned wages as agricultural laborers. Two-thirds of households sold animals during the year of the survey and 7 percent ran agricultural wholesale businesses. Nonagricultural income sources included services, textile and earthenware artisanry, and storekeeping. Of the 95 percent of households that planted crops, around one-third planted only maize and other crops for household consumption. Half of all farmers (sixty-six) planted non-traditional export crops, primarily snow peas and broccoli. An additional twenty-three farmers planted crops such as potatoes, strawberries, and cabbage and marketed in domestic and other Central American markets; many NTAX producers also planted these crops. The 2001 survey showed that, during the production cycles that began in July 2000, seventy-two households (64 percent of the total sample) planted snow peas and fifteen (13 percent) planted broccoli. The increase in proportion of NTAX producers between 1998 and 2001 reflects the entry of first-time producers into the market. NTAX producers were younger and more likely to be Protestant than others in the communities; education levels did not differ between producers and nonproducers. Most NTAX producers planted less than one-fourth hectare with non-traditional crops, devoting their other lands to subsistence and additional market production. Non-traditional export production provided considerable employment in Xenimajuyú and Xeabaj. In 2001, 69 percent of survey respondents said that at least one person in their families had worked in 1. Research was carried out under the auspices of the Integrated Pest Management Collaborative Research Support Program, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (agreement no. LAG-4196-G-00-5001-00 and grant no. LAG-G-00-93-0005300). This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the agency. Survey design and data collection were carried out by Estudio 1360, directed by Linda Asturias de Barrios, in consultation with Hamilton and Liliana Goldin (Asturias et al. 1999). We would like to acknowledge the fine work of Dr. Asturias de Barrios and Estudio 1360 members Brenda Tevalán, Luisa María Mazariegos, Cecilia Skinner-Klee, Flor Mencos, Mónica Berger, and Hugo Alfaro. Lic. Berger and Lic. Alfaro also conducted qualitative field research. Qualitative research was further funded by grants to Fischer from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research; Christopher Jones and Peter Benson provided invaluable assistance