Land Degradation in Honduras

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Jon Hellin. To cite this Article Hellin, Jon'Land degradation in Honduras: A challenge to an ecological Marxism?', Capitalism Nature. Socialism, 10: 3, 105 — 125.
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Land degradation in Honduras: A challenge to an ecological Marxism? Jon Hellin

To cite this Article Hellin, Jon'Land degradation in Honduras: A challenge to an ecological Marxism?', Capitalism Nature

Socialism, 10: 3, 105 — 125 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/10455759909358877 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10455759909358877

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Land Degradation in Honduras: A Challenge to an Ecological Marxism?" By Jon Hellin

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1. Introduction There has been much debate in recent years surrounding the response of the Marxist camp to the challenge of political ecology. There are plenty of examples worldwide which support the ecological Marxist argument that capitalism is a crisis-ridden system that selfdestructs by impairing or destroying its own natural and social conditions. The more contentious issue is the argument that socialism is the answer to the ecological crisis. Land degradation in Honduras, exacerbated by Hurricane Mitch that struck Central America at the end of October 1998, is, in part, a test of this thesis. The environmental crisis in Honduras has largely been caused by a system that guarantees inequality in access to human and natural resources. Following the ideas of Paulo Freire,1 three case studies focus on the issue of empowerment as opposed to sustainable agriculture per se. The premise is that development is a question of empowerment through which people build up the skills, knowledge and self-confidence necessary to shape their environment in ways which foster progress towards goals such as sustainable economic growth, equity in income distribution and political freedom. The case studies demonstrate that the economic and environmental crisis can, at least in the short-term, be mitigated in a variety of ways that simultaneously support and refute the idea that solutions can only be found in an ecological Marxism. They are, therefore, a contribution to the debate engendered by James O'Connor's second contradiction of capitalism thesis.2 * This publication is an output from a research project partly funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID. R6292CB Forestry Research Programme. The author is very grateful to two anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. 1 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Penguin Education, 1968), p. 153. 2 James O'Connor, "The Second Contradiction of Capitalism," in Ted Benton, ed., The Greening of Marxism (New York: Guilford Publications, 1996).

CNS 10 (3), September, 1999

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2. Extent of Soil and Land Degradation in Central America In the developing world, as populations grow and inequalities in land distribution continue, the amount of cultivable land per capita will fall. In Central and South America, the decrease will be from 2.0 to 1.17 hectares (ha) per capita by the year 2025. 3 The majority of the developing world is therefore faced with the need to increase production from land already in use and this requires maintenance of the productive potential of this resource as a fundamental element in sustainable land use.4 One of the challenges in the tropics and subtropics is therefore to intensify the output from the land without destroying the soil resource upon which it all depends.5 Oldeman defines soil degradation as a process which lowers the current and/or future capacity of the soils to produce goods or services.6 By definition, soil degradation results in a loss in soil productivity. Two categories of soil degradation processes are recognized. First, soil erosion, which is the displacement of soil material either by water or by wind, and second, chemical, biological or physical soil deterioration insitu. Land degradation is a composite term describing the aggregate diminution of the productive potential of the land, including its major uses (rainfed arable, irrigated, rangeland, forestry), its farming systems (e.g., smallholder subsistence), and its value as an economic resource. In terms of human-induced soil degradation, one of the most affected areas is Central America where 21 percent of the total land area 3

D. Norse, C. James, B.J. Skinner, and Q. Zhao, "Agricultural Land Use and Degradation," in: J. Dooge, ed., An Agenda of Science for Environment and Development into the 21st Century (Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), cited in Michael Stocking, "Soil Erosion and Land Degradation," in T. O'Riordan, ed., Environmental Science for Environmental Management (Essex: Longman Scientific and Technical; New York: Copublished in the U.S. with John Wiley, 1995). 4 C. Pieri, J. Dumanski, A. Hamblin, and A. Young, Land Quality Indicators, World Bank Discussion Papers, 1995. 5 T.F. Shaxson, "Conservation-Effectiveness of Farmers' Actions: A Criterion of Good Land Husbandry," in E.E. Baum, P. Wolff, and M.A. Zobische, eds., Acceptance of Soil and Water Conservation: Strategies and Technologies. Topics in Applied Resource Management in the Tropics. Vol. 3 (Wiltzenhausen: German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture, 1993). 6 L. R. Oldeman, "The Global Extent of Soil Degradation," in D.J. Greenwood and I. Szabolcs, eds., Soil Resilience and Sustainable Land Use (Wallingford, Oxon: CAB International, 1994).

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and 75 percent (28 million ha) of total agricultural land has been degraded. 7 Water erosion is by far the most important type of soil degradation and in Central America, a total of 46 million ha of land has been thus affected.8 The region is particularly prone to soil and land degradation because much of it falls into the category of steeplands and rainfall is often heavy and intense.0 Leonard states that the hilly and highland zones in each of the five Central American Republics make up between 73 percent (Costa Rica) and 95 percent (El Salvador) of the total area. 10 Downloaded By: [Oxford Brookes University] At: 09:39 8 December 2009

3. Causes of Land Degradation In the last 15 years there has been a growing recognition that land degradation is a social, economic, political and technical issue. The concept of human-induced soil degradation implies by definition a social problem. 1 1 It is rare for production problems to be amenable to technical solutions alone. More often, many factors contribute to the perceived constraint, comprising a complex natural and social system.12 Advocates of a multi-disciplinary interpretation of land degradation reflect the growth of post-modernism, the partial rejection of scientific rationality, and the search for "new" interpretations of society. In the case of agricultural and environmental issues, many of the holistic interpretations and perspectives can be grouped under the umbrella of political ecology. Political ecology emerged in the 1980s, and is an integration of human/cultural ecology (with its broader vision of bioenvironmental relationships) and political economy (with its insistence on the need to link the distribution of power with productive activity). 13 Political ecology is one of the major frameworks used to understand environmental degradation in the developing world.14 7

Ibid. 8 Ibid.

9

E. Lutz, S. Pagiola, and C. Reiche, "The Costs and Benefits of Soil Conservation: The Farmers' Viewpoint," The World Bank Research Observer, 9, 2, July 1994.

10 H.J. Leonard, Natural Resources and Economic Development in Central America: A Regional Environmental Profile (International Institute for

Environment and Development, 1987), p. 279. 11Oldeman,op. cit. 12 P. Sillitoe, 'The Development of Indigenous Knowledge," Current Anthropology, 39, 2, April 1988. 13 J. B. Greenberg and T.K. Park, "Political Ecology," Journal of Political Ecology, 1, 1994. 14 Piers Blaikie, "Explanation and Policy in Land Degradation and Rehabilitation for Developing Countries," Land Degradation and

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A political ecology approach recognizes that the impact of human populations upon the environment is mediated by cultural and political economic forces. 15 Among them are the social relations within and between populations, whose institutionalized form (for example, in Latin America), guarantees inequitable access to resources. According to Durham, 1 6 the result of this basic inequality is environmental destruction caused by two intrinsically linked pathways: capital accumulation, e.g., the capitalization of agriculture (see below) and impoverishment through the accelerating scarcity of land for smallholder agricultural production. These two pathways are evident in Honduras and support the argument of those in the Marxist camp who, responding to the challenge of political ecology, argue that the environmental crisis is a consequence of the specifically capitalist form of organization of economic life.17

4. Capitalization of Agriculture, Functional Dualism, and the Reproduction Squeeze An analytical framework of environmental degradation outlined by Piers Blaikie18 demonstrates that an explanation of soil erosion and land degradation in general involves a wider political economy and a complexity of non-technical issues.19 Many resource-poor farmers have been forced to farm hillsides as a result of the capitalization of agriculture in lower-lying areas. The links between the capitalization of agriculture, labor and land shortages, rural impoverishment, and land degradation have been summarized by Blaikie in his discussion of "functional dualism" and the "reproduction squeeze."20 Farmers who are less poor have less need to "mine" their farm land by emphasizing present consumption over future consumption. In addition, farmers who are less poor will have more resources, including labor time, to adopt soil and water conservation practices and to invest in productivityimproving technology. Rehabilitation, 1, 1989 and Piers Blaikie and H. Brookfield, Land Degradation and Society (London and New York: Methuen, 1987), p. 296. 15 W.H. Durham, "Political Ecology and Environmental Destruction in Latin America," in M. Painter and W.H. Durham, eds., The Social Causes of Environmental Destruction in Latin America (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995). 16 Ibid. 17 Ted Benton, "Introduction to Part I," in Benton, op. cit. I8 Blaikie, op. cit. 19 Stocking, op. cit. 20 Blaikie, op. cit.

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Capitalization of Agriculture in Honduras In the 1950s and 1960s, parts of Honduras, such as the department of Choluteca in southern Honduras, were for the first time drawn intimately into national, Central American and U.S. markets. During the 1960s, the U.S. government, World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank helped fund a variety of projects in Honduras designed to increase "non-traditional" agricultural exports such as cotton, sugar and beef.21 Since the early 1980s, declines in the prices of most agricultural exports led many large landowners to switch from labor intensive crops such as sugar to much less labor intensive and more land extensive alternatives such as cattle production where the employment ratio per hectare of pasture during the 1980s was five to six person days per annum.22 In the 1990s, exports of shrimp and fresh melons from southern Honduras have increased in importance in comparison with beef.23 As a result of the capitalization of agriculture and an inequitable land distribution system, farmers have been forced to cultivate marginal areas such as hillsides. Only 25 percent of the land area in Honduras, approximately 2.8 million (m) ha are classified as agricultural land although almost four m ha are farmed. The difference of 1.2 m ha largely consists of the appropriation of hillsides.24 Inappropriate usage of land is associated with the fact that 90 percent of the land in Honduras designated as agricultural is in the hands of 10 percent of the producers.25 Many resource-poor farmers in Honduras now depend on steeplands for their subsistence. Josua Posner and Malcolm McPherson state that 21

Susan Stonich, "Development, Rural Impoverishment, and Environmental Destruction in Honduras," in M. Painter, and W.H. Durham, eds., op. cit.; S. Stonich and B. DeWalt, "The Political Economy of Agricultural Growth and Rural Transformation in Honduras and Mexico," in S. Smith and E. Reeves, eds., Human Systems Ecology: Studies in the Integration of Political Economy, Adaptation, and Socionatural Regions (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989). 22 P. Utting, The Social Origins and Impact of Deforestation in Central America. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Discussion Paper 24, 1991. 23 Stonich, 1995, op. cit. 24 S. Humphries, Land Use in Humid Tropical Hillsides: Migrant Farmers in the Atlantic Littoral Area of Northern Honduras (Draft working document prepared for the Hillsides Program, CIAT, 1994, p. 69.) 25 Secretaría de Coordinatión, Planifcación y Presupuesto SECPLAN — Honduras, Perfil Ambiental de Honduras (H. Daugherty, ed., 1989.)

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steep slopes contribute between 50 and 75 percent of staple food crops for tropical America. 26 In Honduras, 73 percent of annual crops (predominantly corn, beans and sorghum) are produced on cleared hillsides,27 hence these lands are the foundation of food production in Honduras.28

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Functional Dualism Alain de Janvry developed the concept of "functional dualism."29 In this relationship, sub-marginal peasants are obliged to work as parttime wage laborers to make up shortfalls of staples and cash requirements for household goods, as well as to pay for implements and other inputs for the production process itself on their own farms. Employers in this instance accumulate super-profits by paying less than the cost of reproducing the peasant household. The peasant farm makes up the shortfall. Peasant household production acts as a subsidy to wages since part of the subsistence cost of semi-proletarian households is borne by household labor.30 In Latin America, a number of case studies have linked the existence of functional dualism to labor and capital scarcities faced by smallholder farmers, thereby depriving them of the resources for adequate land management. Posner and McPherson recognize that instead of migrating, most farmers have adapted to hill farming by supplementing their income with off-farm activities.31 Analyses of household budgets indicated that off-farm incomes contributed from 2060 percent of total farm incomes in selected communities in southern 26

J.L. Posner and M.F. McPherson, "Agriculture on the Steep Slopes of Tropical America: Current Situation and Prospects for the Year 2000," World Development, 10, 5, 1982. 27 Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA) and La Dirección de Planeamiento, Programación, Proyectos y Auditoría Técnica (DIPRAT), Honduras — Diagnóstico del Sector Agropecuario, IICA, 1995.

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A.S. Toness, T.L. Thurow and H. Sierra, "Sustainable Management of Tropical Hillsides: An Assessment of Terraces as a Soil and Water Conservation Technology," United States Agency for International Development — Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program/Texas A&M University, Technical Bulletin, No. 98-1, 1998. 29 Blaikie, op. cit., cites A. De Janvry, The Agrarian Question and Reformism in Latin America (Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press, 1981). 30 A. de Janvry, E. Sadoulet, and L.W. Young, "Land and Labour in Latin American Agriculture from the 1950s to the 1980s," Journal of Peasant Studies, 16, 3, 1989. 3 Posner and McPherson, op. cit.

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Honduras and that farm size was inversely related to the degree of household dependence on off-farm income.32 Employment opportunities, however, in both agriculture and rural areas have grown slowly and are inadequate. The peasantry, although increasingly dependent on non-farm sources of income, is unable to find sufficient employment opportunities to either migrate and abandon agriculture or to depend fully on wage earnings for its subsistence.33 Honduras is typical of many Latin American countries where the number of poor has increased both in percentage terms and in absolute numbers compared to the situation before 1960, countries where poverty remains concentrated in rural areas. Reproduction Squeeze The "reproduction squeeze" postulated by Henry Bernstein34 and cited by Blaikie 35 demonstrates a process of impoverishment of smallholder farmers and peasants through the development of terms of trade unfavorable to them, e.g., governments ensuring artificially low prices for agricultural producers. Typically a smallholder farmer has to purchase commodities for consumption and production by producing primary products for sale.36 A decreased return to agriculture per unit of land frequently comes about as the result of unfavorable terms of trade and the diminished capacity for production that results from environmental degradation.37 The Honduran government contributed to this trend by placing price ceilings on basic staples as a way of maintaining cheap food for city dwellers. Between 1970 and 1981, real farm prices for corn, beans, rice, sorghum, eggs, milk, chicken, pork, and a variety of other crops declined in spite of stagnating production.38 Additionally in 1997, the main corn harvest in August/September (the primera) was reduced as a 32

Susan Stonich, "Rural Families, Migration Incomes: Honduran Households in the World Economy, Journal of Latin American Studies, 23, 1, 1991a. 33 de Janvry et al., op. cit. 34 H. Bernstein, "Notes on Capital and Peasantry," Review of African Political Economy, 10, 1977, pp. 64-65. 35 Blaikie, op. cit. 36 Ibid. 37 K. Zimmerer, "Land-use Modification and Labour Shortage Impacts on the Loss of Native Crop Diversity in the Andean Highlands," in N.S. Jodha, M. Banskota and T. Partap, eds., Sustainable Mountain Agriculture (New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing, 1982). 38 Stonich and DeWalt, op. cit.

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result of El Nino. Farmers who produced a surplus of corn, and who may have expected high prices for their products, saw the domestic market flooded by the import of cheap corn from the U.S. Some farmers in the department of Lempira in western Honduras, for example, have begun to abandon the cultivation of corn and are seeking greater security from off-farm labor (including illegal emigration to the United States) and/or the cultivation of other crops.39 When the relative value of peasant-produced outputs falls compared with the purchased inputs and purchased household items, a reduction in consumption and/or an intensification of commodity production must ensue.40 The costs of production are raised leading to the exhaustion of land and/or labor. The exhaustion of land and labor go hand-in-hand as more labor is required to work poorer, degraded and more distant soils.41 These soils are often found in steep areas, and slope steepness represents probably the most formidable technical obstacle to the effective cropping of mountainous areas in the tropics.42 Consequences of the Capitalization of Agriculture, Functional Dualism and the Reproduction Squeeze Hillsides are less resilient and more sensitive to degradation.43 The consequence is an increase in soil and land degradation as more marginal lands are brought into production and fallow periods are shortened.44 A concentration of land ownership has led to social differentiation and impoverishment. More recent community level studies have shown that 80 percent of rural highland families in southern Honduras are landless or land-poor45 and that there is a close relationship between access to 39

Jon Hellin, El Sistema Quezungual: Un Sistema Agroforestal Indigena de Lempira Sur, Honduras, Consultant's report to the Proyecto Lempira Sur (Government of Honduras and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1998). 40 Blaikie, op. cit.; J.L. Collins, "Labour Scarcity and Ecological Change," in P.D. Little, M.H. Horowitz and A.E. Nyerges, eds., Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local Perspectives (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1987); W.M. Loker, "'Campesinos' and the Crisis of Modernization in Latin America," Journal of Political Ecology, 3, 1996. 41 Blaikie, op. cit.; Collins, op. cit. 42 S.A. El-Swaify, "Factors Affecting Soil Erosion Hazards and Conservation Needs for Tropical Steeplands," Soil Technology, 11, 1997. 43 Stocking, op. cit. 44 Posner and McPherson, op. cit.; Stonich, 1995, op. cit., Hellin, op. cit. 45 S. Stonich, I Am Destroying the Land: The Political Ecology of Poverty and Environmental Destruction in Honduras (Boulder, CO: Westview Press,

1993).

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land and nutritional status. 46 Hence there have been detrimental consequences for food production and rural sustainable livelihoods. Attempts have been made to reduce degradation via soil and water conservation programs. However, as a result of labor and land scarcities, essential labor time in the creation and maintenance of conservation works tends to be reduced.47 Labor, essential for investment in soil improvement or maintenance of conservation structures, must be diverted to the immediate goal of primary production48 or off-farm activities.49 Labor scarcity is not a cause of rural poverty. It is rather just one of the dilemmas experienced by rural households as they confront larger structural problems of declining terms of trade, land scarcity, competition with commercial farmers and oppression by rural elites. Douglas Southgate argues that, given the market conditions and government policies small hillside farmers face, reducing erosion is not in their best interests.50 To the contrary, the best way to respond to declining prices for crops and livestock, policy-induced shortages in rural financial markets, and attenuated property rights is to depreciate farm assets, especially land, as a prelude to exiting the agricultural economy. 5. Capitalism and the Inevitability of Land Degradation Class and Power The current crisis in farming communities in Honduras has its origins in the historical neglect of this sector by the national 46

S. Stonich, "Lands and People in Peril: Ecological Transformations and Food Security in Central America and Mexico," in A. Ferguson and S.

Whiteford, eds., Harvest of Want: Food Security in Central America and

Mexico (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991b), cited in Stonich, 1995, op. cit. 47 Blaikie, op. cit.; N.W. Hudson, "A Study of the Reasons for Success and Failure of Soil Conservation Projects," Soils Bulletin, 64, 1991 (Rome: FAO. ISBN 92-5-103087-1); K. Johnston, E.A. Olson and S. Mandahar, "Environmental Knowledge and Response to Natural Hazards in Mountainous Nepal," Mountain Research and Development, 2, 2, 1982.

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Stocking, op. cit. Stonich and DeWalt, op. cit.; Collins, op. cit.; K. Zimmerer, "Soil Erosion and Labour Shortages in the Andes with Special Reference to Bolivia, 1953-91: Implications for 'Conservation-with-Development,'"

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World Development, 21, 10, 1993; de Janvry et al., op. cit. D. Southgate, The Rationality of Land Degradation in Latin America: Some Lessons from the Ecuadorian Andes, Gatekeeper Series No. GK 92-04, 50

London Environment Economics Centre, International Institute for Envrironment and Development (IIED), 1992.

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government. This neglect has been manifested by an industrial bias in development and an export/capital intensive skills bias in agricultural development. These biases in turn reflect prevailing class and power biases. In addition, these biases have been strengthened by the climate of free market, structural adjustment and comparative advantages that has been in vogue for many years. The environmental crisis in Honduras, therefore, does seem to fit into an ecological Marxist interpretation which sees capitalism as a crisis-ridden system in which the combined power of capitalist production relations and productive forces self-destruct by impairing or destroying their own conditions.51 This tendency to self-destruct, however, has been demonstrated across the political spectrum with the "right" and the "left" both favoring large-scale, mechanized, and energy-dependent farms.52 As Victor Toledo points out, the destructive use of natural resources and problems of pollution are also present in the countries of the ex-socialist block.53 The environmental crisis can not, therefore, be seen exclusively as a consequence of the specifically capitalist form of organization of economic life as advocated by some in the Marxist camp. Hurricane Mitch An extreme example of environmental destruction seemingly exacerbated by capitalist agriculture is provided by Hurricane Mitch, which struck Honduras and Nicaragua at the end of October, 1998. Much of the flooding and landslides caused by the hurricane has been attributed to deforestation which in turn has been blamed on cattle ranchers and farmers, the latter having been forced to cultivate hillsides as a result of the capitalization of agriculture (see above). While it is undeniable that deforestation contributed to the damage, there is also evidence that the damage in Honduras occurred irrespective of land use. Much folklore and many myths surround the role of land use and its relation to hydrology. 54 Kenneth Chomitz and Kanta Kumari conclude that basin-wide flooding depends more on intensity of

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O'onnor, op. cit. Loker, op. cit. 53 V.M. Toledo, "The Ecological Crisis: A Second Contradiction of Capitalism," in Benton, 1996, op. cit. 54 I.R. Calder, Water-Resource and Land-Use Issues, System-Wide Initiative on Water Management [SWIM] Paper 3, Colombo, Sri Lanka, International Water Management Institute, 1998. 52

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rainfall than the way the land is used.55 Normally, storms are relatively small and transient. As the storm passes over, individual subbasins flood in sequence rather than simultaneously. Local floods are therefore averaged out over space and time. Only extremely severe and longlasting storms affect all the tributaries of a major river at once. Storms of that magnitude would be large enough to saturate the soil's absorptive capacity and cause rapid runoff even if the land were forested. This may well have occurred during Mitch: rains started in the lower watersheds, moved up to the middle watersheds while continuing in the lower, and then to the upper watersheds while continuing in the lower and middle. Irrespective of land use, the end result was going to be exceptional flooding and landslides.56 The implications of Hurricane Mitch in terms of agricul-ture and development are considered below.

6. Alleviating the Problem of Soil and Land Degradation Ecological Marxism Blaikie recognized that government intervention over a broader spectrum of rural society might provide a better social environment for managing the physical environment.57 Improvements are therefore needed in health, education, transportation and marketing, and so on, rather than just one or two aspects of agricultural production. In his theory of the "second contradiction," O'Connor argued that what is required is a restructuring of the conditions of production in the direction of greater socialization.58 Blaikie recognized that the more radical the explanation of land degradation becomes, the more difficult it is to formulate a policy which is also politically feasible.59 Policies which require substantial structural changes such as land reform, higher prices for primary products and more access to credit are unlikely to be implemented by governments because they represent a threat to a plethora of vested interests and require a fundamental shift in economic and political thinking, which is unlikely as first world and developing world elites are very seldom affected by land degradation. Benton also

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K.M. Chomitz and K. Kumari, "The Domestic Benefits of Tropical Forests: A Critical Review," World Bank Research Observer, 13, 1, February, 1988. 56 Personal communication with J. Smyle, World Bank, Costa Rica (e-mail dated January 6, 1999). 57 Blaikie, op. cit. 58 O'Connor, op. cit. 59 Blaikie, op. cit.

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noted that it is one thing to point out that capitalism is the problem, but quite another to demonstrate that socialism is the solution.60

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Actor-oriented Approach Paradigms of development, underdevelopment and the environmental crisis have tended to emphasis the predominant position of the "core" and have little to say about social and political processes in the "periphery," except that their dynamics are geared to meet the requirements of the "core." This serves to efface the heterogeneity among societies that make up the system61 and to underestimate the innovative nature and resourcefulness of local peoples and their ability to be pro-active in adverse conditions. Increasingly there have been calls for a more "actor-oriented" approach with its concepts grounded in everyday life experiences and understandings of people. This "anthropological" approach facilitates the development of theoretically grounded methods of social research which allow for the elucidation of actors' interpretations and strategies, and how these interlock through processes of negotiation and accommodation.62 The actor-oriented approach does not deny the obstacles to a more sustainable agriculture but it places actors at the center of the stage and rejects linear, determinist and simple empiricist thinking and practice.63 The emphasis is on the ability of the individual actor to process social experience and to devise ways of coping with life, even under the most extreme forms of coercion. The growing emphasis on the subjects of development projects as "actors" has added to ideas about participatory development, the "farmer first" movement and the importance of indigenous knowledge.64 In terms of better land management and human development, more successful outcomes than have been the case to date can be brought about by: active farmer participation as opposed to passive participation through participatory action research;65 a respect for, and incorporation 60

Benton, op. cit. Greenberg and Park, op. cit. 62 N. Long, "Introduction," in N. Long and A. Long, eds., Battlefields of Knowledge: The Interlocking of Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development (London and New York: Routledge, 1992). 63 Ibid. 64 K. Gardner and D. Lewis, Anthropology, Development and the Postmodern Challenge (London: Pluto Press, 1996). 65 Jules N. Pretty, Regenerating Agriculture: Policies and Practice for 61

Sustainability and Self-Reliance (London: Earthscan Publications Ltd, 1995); Jules N. Pretty, "Furthering Cooperation Between People and

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of, indigenous knowledge in development programs; and a genuine multi-disciplinary perspective of, and approach to, land degradation.

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7. Three Case Studies from Honduras Case studies from Choluteca, Guinope and Lempira Sur in Honduras (see Map) demonstrate the complex nature of the causes of environmental destruction, and the diverse means of mitigating the problem. The case studies focus on the issue of development as opposed to the more specific issue of sustainable agriculture. Development can be seen as an increase in people's control over the forces which shape their lives66 and the main objective of development is therefore seen as the fulfillment of the human urge for creative engagement rather than poverty alleviation per se.61 Development is a question of empowerment, based on the need to stimulate and support people's abilities to understand, question and resist the structural reasons for their poverty through learning, organization and action. Too often people are treated as objects to be studied rather than subjects of their own development. Therefore, development results from a long process of experiment and innovation through which people build up the skills, knowledge and self-confidence necessary to shape their environment in ways which foster progress towards goals such as economic growth, equity in income distribution and political freedom. The case studies present a challenge to an ecological Marxism. Two of the case studies (Guinope and Lempira Sur) demonstrate that an actor-oriented approach has led to an empowerment of farmers, which in turn has contributed much to a more sustainable agriculture and greater human development. The third case study (Choluteca) lends itself to the argument that development and a sustainable agriculture can only be achieved by radical social, economic and political change. The case studies are based on three years' research on sustainable agriculture which was carried out in Honduras from 1995-1998. Institutions," in H.-P. Blume, H. Eger, E. Fleischhauer, A. Hebel, C. Reij, K.G. Stenier, eds., Towards Sustainable Land Use: Furthering Cooperation Between People and Institutions (Selected papers of the 9th Conference of the International Soil Conservation Organzation, Bonn, Germany, August 26-30, 1996), Advances in Geoecology, 31, 1998. 66 M. Edwards, "The Irrelevance of Development Studies," Third World Quarterly, 11, 1, 1989. 67 Gardner and Lewis, op. cit.

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f Choluteca The phenomena of the capitalization of agriculture, "reproduction squeeze" and "functional dualism" described above are very evident in parts of Choluteca. The region is one of the poorest in Honduras. In the lower elevations, shifting cultivation used to be common. However, increasing population pressure and enormous inequalities in land distribution have reduced fallow periods and many areas are under

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continuous cultivation. The land tenure situation is complex; some farmers have title to their land (dominio pleno), others have usufruct rights (dominio util) and many rent from larger landowners or squat. Often farmers who rent out land do so in order to have the land cleared so that they can plant pasture. Rather than pay laborers to cut the vegetation, landowners rent out the land for growing subsistence crops by the landless and/or land poor. Part of the rental agreement is that after a specified period (often one to two years) the farmers renting the land sow pasture grasses between the rows of corn (Zea mays) and/or sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) so that when the renter hands back the land it will be ready to graze. 68 There is plenty of evidence of this arrangement in communities where research was carried out. In Choluteca, the dry season lasts from November/December to April/May and during this period moisture is deficient for plant production. The wet season is bimodal and lasts from April/May until October/November. These six months account for approximately 90 percent of the annual precipitation which generally exceeds 2,000 millimeters (mm). The first half of the rainy season is known as the primera and the second half as the postrera. During July and early August there is a marked reduction in rainfall. Farmers normally harvest two crops per annum. Research was carried out in an area where the majority of the farmers cultivate a few scattered plots which generally range from 0.1 to 0.3 ha. The main crops grown are corn, sorghum, and beans (Phaseolus spp.). The vast majority of farmers work off-farm, especially in the sixmonth dry season when, in the absence of irrigation, little agriculture is carried out. Attempts at promoting a more sustainable agriculture have been mixed partly because the emphasis has been on technology-transfer to combat soil erosion rather than a farmer-participatory approach which identifies the problems faced by farmers and then seeks solutions to these problems. Some farmers have diversified agricultural production by growing fruit trees, and so on, but the capitalization of agriculture and the potential benefits from producing export-oriented crops has largely by-passed resource-poor farmers because large multinational fruit farms prefer to buy produce from large-scale suppliers and/or to oversee production on industrial plantations.

68

B. Dewalt, "Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Processes of Agrarian Change in Southern Honduras: The Cattle are Eating the Forest," in B. DeWalt and P.J. Pelto, eds., Micro and Macro Levels of Analysis in Anthropology: Issues in Theory and Practice (Boulder, CO: Westivew Press, 1985).

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Qualitative research (personal observations, semi-structured interviews and focus group meetings) and quantitative research (survey of 104 farmers) demonstrated that there are fundamental political, economic, social and technical obstacles to development. The inequitable land distribution system, pests and diseases and the difficulty of securing credit were identified as priority problems for resource-poor farmers. Many of those interviewed tend to rent land from wealthier farmers and often the right to farm the land is for one or two years and sometimes for only one harvest (the primera or postrera). Many farmers expressed their reluctance to "improve" the land in any way primarily because they were not going to reap the benefits. But another reason was that if the land were "improved" and if yields rose, the owners of the land would actually take the land back earlier than may have been the case if the land had been normally used. Without official titles to land it is also almost impossible for farmers to get rural credit. In addition, very few farmers want to use their land as collateral because production is too risky. Inequalities in access to resources such as land and markets are more extreme in Choluteca than in Lempira Sur and Giiinope. It is highly questionable whether in this context an actor-oriented approach to development could be as successful as it has been in the other two cases. Giiinope The Giiinope region in southern Honduras lies between 500 and 1800 meters above sea level and covers an area of 204 km2. The population is approximately 5,500 of which 80 percent is engaged in agriculture. Annual rainfall is 1100-1300 mm and the main rainy season is from May to October. An impenetrable subsoil underlies the 15-50 cm deep top soil and farming takes place on slopes which are often 15-30 percent.69 Until the 1980s, the main crops cultivated were basic grains (corn, beans and sorghum), and despite a less iniquitous land distribution system than in Choluteca, unsustainable farming practices had led to very low agricultural yields, malnutrition and outmigration.

69 R. Bunch and G. Lopez, "Soil Recuperation in Central America: Measuring the Impact Four to Forty Years after Intervention" (Paper presented at New Horizons: The Economic, Social and Environmental Impacts of Participatory Watershed Development. International Workshop organized by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Bangalore, India, November 28-December 2, 1994.

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In the 1980s the region was the focus of an innovative development project spearheaded by the non-governmental organization, World Neighbors. Although soil and water conservation was the focus of the program, the wider objective was human development. Local people participated in planning and implementation and technologies selected were appropriate to the region. World Neighbors did not lose sight of farmers' needs in the wider development picture. All forms of paternalism were avoided, including subsidizing farmers' activities, and farmers became involved when they recognized that it was in their best interests. World Neighbors promoted productivity-enhancing and conservation-effective technologies such as the use of chicken manure and grass contour strips. While the latter had been promoted in other parts of Honduras, including Choluteca, the use of chicken manure ensured that agricultural yields rose dramatically in the first year. Farmer confidence grew as they saw the benefits of their own labor and recognized that they had the ability to manage their land in a more productive and sustainable manner. Many farmers who had migrated returned to the area. Farmers have diversified their crops and now grow a variety of vegetables that supply some of the growing demand in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Farmers have more importantly taken the initiative and adapted some of the technologies originally promoted. For example, the grass contour strips have been replaced with strips of fruit trees, coffee and sugar cane.70 The products of these species are consumed by the household and/or sold. Farmers still face many problems such as lack of credit but qualitative and quantitative research carried out in the region has demonstrated that the major success of the World Neighbors' program has been farmer empowerment. Numerous farmers stressed that, through the World Neighbors' program, they became aware of the degree to which they could manage their lives, and they have acted accordingly. One of the questions postulated by Benton is whether a regulatory regime can be established that makes capitalist growth itself sustainable.71 The Giiinope case study is an example of where a more sustainable agriculture has been achieved by a process of farmer empowerment and active participation in the capitalist market. It can be

70

Jon Hellin and Sergio Larrea, "Ecological and Socio-Economic Reasons for the Adoption and Adaptation of Live Barriers in Giiinope, Honduras," in H.-P. Blume, H. Eger, E. Fleischhauer, A. Hebel, C. Reij, and K.G. Stenier, eds., op. cit. 71 Benton, op. cit.

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seen as one of those ecologically successful experiences in marketoriented economies highlighted by Toledo and Andriana Vlachou.72

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Lempira Sur The department of Lempira in western Honduras lies between 200 and 1200 meters above sea level. The region is mountainous and the vast majority of farmers cultivate steep slopes of 5-50 percent. Although the area has suffered from much land degradation, there is still a relative abundance of forest and trees in the landscape. Annual precipitation varies from 1400-2200 mm per annum and the rainy season lasts from early May to the end of October. The average annual temperature varies from 17-25 degrees centigrade. During the dry season from early November to later April, strong winds blow from the North and the enhanced evapotranspiration rates cause a severe water deficit until the onset of the rains. Many of the farmers are smallholders with land holdings of fewer than two to three ha. The traditional crops in the area include basic grains and also rice, watermelon and sugarcane. Since 1994, Lempira Sur has been the target of a development project — Proyecto Lempira Sur (PLS) — funded by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The project has, like the World Neighbors' program in Guinope, been guided by an actor-oriented approach. The focus has ranged from soil and water conservation to education and marketing. In the early stages of the project, grain silos were promoted as a way to reduce post-harvest losses. In many villages, food shortages have became less severe partly as a result of better storage conditions and partly as a result of more productive agricultural practices. Lempira Sur borders El Salvador and traditionally farmers have sold surplus agricultural products to El Salvador. Marketing was generally carried out on an ad hoc basis and prices for produce were low. PLS has successfully encouraged farmers to work together to ensure that they receive higher prices from El Salvadorean traders. There are many examples of farmers who, faced with land shortages, have intensified production in a way that does not destroy the natural resource base. This phenomenon of land pressures leading to conservation-effective agricultural intensification was first documented by Ester Boserup.73 An example in Lempira Sur is the spontaneous 72

Toledo, op. cit.; A. Vlachou, "The Contradictory Interaction of Capitalism and Nature," in: T. Benton, 1996, op. cit. 73 E. Boserup, The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change Under Population Pressure (New York: Aldine Publications, 1965).

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spread of an indigenous agroforestry practice called the Quezungual System. 74 The reasons why some farmers intensify production and others abandon the land are contentious. It is clear, however, that the practitioners of the Quezungual System all have customary but not legally-recognized title to their land. This degree of security of access to land is rare in other parts of Honduras such as Choluteca (see above). The longer-term objective of PLS has been human development. It was Freire who argued that people need to develop political consciousness and that the route to this is through pedagogic techniques of empowerment.75 The aim is to create a progressive action-reflection rhythm. Elections were held in Lempira Sur in October 1997. For decades, villages in the region had traditionally returned mayors belonging to the Nationalist party irrespective of whether the party held power at the national level. In 1997, local people increasingly flexed their political muscles and voted for candidates who were seen as those best able to serve the community. In an unprecedented move, mayors belonging to the Nationalists were voted out of office in favor of candidates from the Liberal party. The election results in Lempira Sur are an encouraging contribution to the evolution of Honduras' fledging democratic system

8. Implications of Hurricane Mitch for Rural Development Hurricane Mitch has had, and is likely to continue to have, profound and generally detrimental implications for rural development in Honduras in both the short-and long-term. It is a cruel irony that one of the most affected areas in terms of landslides and flooding was Choluteca. This was partly due to the fact that the area has been heavily deforested but also because five watersheds, that cover 13 percent of the country, converge in this region. Faced with food shortages, basic grains are being supplied to the region as donations and as part of food for work programs. Although there is undoubtedly a need in the immediate and short-term for food inputs, these measures can distort market conditions and undermine the incentives for local producers to produce surpluses. Incentives such as food aid also foster dependency in communities and work against the concept of self-development, which is a critical factor in development. Also with the road networks badly damaged, farmers may find it increasingly difficult to get produce to market (this occurred 74 75

Hellin, op. cit. Freire, op. cit.

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immediately after Mitch in the case of the coffee harvest in areas close to the Nicaragua border). Mitch also not only destroyed stocks of food, it also destroyed a great deal of the productive capital stock such as coffee, banana plants, seeds and hoes.76 Areas affected by severe soil erosion and landslides are unlikely to be productive in the short- and medium-term especially where landslides are deep-seated and where topsoil and humus have been lost. Another problem is that when rivers that had burst their banks receded, they left sand up to two meters deep.77 Larger landowners may therefore be more reluctant to rent out land because of the difficulties they will face in meeting their food needs. Faced with increased land shortages, smallholder farmers may choose to clear remaining forest remnants and/or reduce the time that fields are left in fallow. The latter is likely to increase soil and land degradation and exacerbate the phenomenon of the reproduction squeeze outlined by Blaikie.78 9.

Conclusion

Resource-poor farmers in Honduras face enormous problems. Many have been forced to cultivate steep hillsides because of inequalities in land distribution. These inequalities have existed for decades but have become more pronounced in recent years due to population growth and the capitalization of agriculture. Farmers are increasingly faced with land and labor shortages and many now rely on off-farm income to supplement what they can earn from more traditional agricultural practices. Political, social and economic changes are needed if land degradation is to be halted but debate surrounds how these changes can be brought about. Examples from Guinope and Lempira Sur demonstrate that much can be achieved through an actor-oriented approach where the emphasis is on the empowerment of farmers. The case of Choluteca demonstrates that the inequalities of access to natural resources are much more iniquitous and vested interests are more entrenched. In this case a more radical approach may be needed. It is far from clear, however, how successful such a radical approach might be. An example from Honduras' neighbor to the south 76 International Food Policy Research Institute, "Reconstructing Honduras," IFPRI Report International Food Policy Research Institute, 20, 3, 1988, pp. 5-6. 77 "Honduras and Nicaragua: Farming after the Hurricane," The Economist, February 20, 1999, pp. 67-68. 78 Blaikie, op. cit.

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offers a salutary lesson. Whilst the combination of economic and ecological crisis and political dictatorship did indeed engender a national liberation movement and extensive ecodevelopment planning in Nicaragua in the later 1970s and 1980s, 79 subsequent farmer dissatisfaction with the cooperative movement has forced a reappraisal of the appropriateness of a socialization of the conditions of production. The case studies from Honduras have demonstrated that the economic and environmental crisis can, at least in the short-term, be mitigated in a variety of ways that simultaneously support and refute the idea that solutions can only be found in an ecological Marxism. What remains unclear is whether in the long-term a crisis of capitalism might still emerge out of the ecological problems.80 The case studies are a contribution to the debate surrounding the challenge to reassess critically the Marxian heritage in the face of today's problems, and to further develop what remains defensible in it.81

79 80

81

O' Connor, op. cit. Ibid.; Vlachou, op. cit.

Benton, op. cit.

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