Small farmer mechanization in Bolivia: a failure of farming systems research?
Thiele, G.
Discussion Paper - Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex Year: 1990 Issue: No. 281 Pages: 41pp. Ref: 48 ref.
1990
บทคัดย่อ
The paper describes how one group of small farmers in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, were able to mechanize annual cropping in the face of a farming systems diagnosis which indicated that this was not a viable development path. The underlying causes of farmer success and diagnosis failure are identified. The study area lies at the southern tip of an Amazonian frontier that runs along the east of the Andes up to Colombia. Since the 1950s, a large number of immigrants from highland areas of Bolivia have moved to the frontier in Santa Cruz. Diagnostic work by the British Tropical Agricultural Mission (BTAM) and the Centro de Investigacion Agricola Tropical (CIAT) led to the elaboration of a general theory of farm development for the area. Farmers initially achieve high returns from slash and burn cropping in high forest. Once high forest is exhausted and the farmer returns to cultivate in bush fallow (barbecho), returns diminish markedly and the farm is trapped in the low incomes of the barbecho crisis. Introducing mechanization is a means of escape from the crisis for farmers. This theory underpinned the farming systems research (FSR) which sought to assist farmers by diversifying away from slash and burn cropping. The decision by BTAM-CIAT to concentrate on avenues of escape from the barbecho crisis stemmed from the findings that whilst the large mechanizing (arado) farmers made low returns per hectare, overall they made reasonable returns because of their operation's size, and that many small arado farmers would do better to return to barbecho cropping and cultivate a smaller area. However, despite severe difficulties experienced during the 1980s, the arado farmers of Chane-Pirai staged a recovery by the end of the decade. Implicit subsidies created a general incentive to mechanize. Farmers helped themselves by their willingness to experiment with new varieties, herbicides and postharvest technology. The uptake of mechanization was linked with the shift from bush fallow but can only be understood in the light of socioeconomic determinants on the farming system. Larger farmer domination of cooperative institutions was of critical importance in articulating mechanization as an objective and in capturing the resources delivered under mechanization programmes. Drier weather, the opening of the River Chane bridge and higher soya price helped farmers considerably.