Agrarian Policies in Central America

221 Pages·2000·3.69 MB·English

by  Wim Pelupessy, Ruerd Ruben (eds.)

Agrarian Policies in Central America
Also by Wim Pelupessy
THE LIMITS OF ECONOMIC REFORM IN EL SALVADOR
ECONOMIC MALADJUSTMENT IN CENTRAL AMERICA (editor with
John Weeks)
PERSPECTIVES ON THE AGRO-EXPORT ECONOMY IN CENTRAL AMERICA
(editor)
Also by Ruerd Ruben
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN CENTRAL AMERICA (editor with
Jan P. de Groot)
Agrarian Policies
in Central America
Edited by
Wim Pelupessy
Senior Lecturer in Development Economics
Tilburg University, The Netherlands
and
Ruerd Ruben
Senior Lecturer in Development Economics
Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands
First published in Great Britain 2000 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-41312-6 ISBN 978-0-333-98270-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780333982709
First published in the United States of America 2000 by
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Agrarian policies in Central America / edited by Wim Pelupessy and
Ruerd Ruben.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Agriculture and state—Central America. 2. Agriculture–
–Economic aspects—Central America. I. Pelupessy, Wim. II. Ruben,
Ruerd.
HD1798.A36 1999
338.1'8728—dc21 99–33838
CIP
Selection, editorial matter and Chapter 1 ©Wim Pelupessy and Ruerd Ruben 2000
Chapter 2 ©Wim Pelupessy 2000
Chapter 6 ©Ruerd Ruben and Jos Vaessen 2000
Chapter 8 ©Ruerd Ruben and Harry Clemens 2000
Chapters 3–5, 7 ©Macmillan Press Ltd 2000
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-333-75386-6
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written
permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P0LP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained
forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
Contents
List of Tables vi
List of Figures viii
Notes on the Contributors ix
Preface xi
1 A Critical Appraisal of Agrarian Policies in Central America 1
Wim Pelupessy and Ruerd Ruben
2 Institutional Constraints and Internal Dynamics of Land
Reform in El Salvador and Taiwan 17
Wim Pelupessy
3 Comparative Advantage of Food Crops under Structural
Adjustment in Nicaragua 44
Richard Eberlin
4 Agrarian Policy Responsiveness of Small Farmers in Costa Rica 76
Peter C. Roebeling, Fernando Saenz, Edmundo Castro and
Gerardo Barrantes
5 Towards Sustainable Land Use at the Agrarian Frontier in
Nicaragua 103
Jan P. de Groot
6 Soil Conservation Practices and Farmers’ Adoption
Strategies in Costa Rica 127
Ruerd Ruben and Jos Vaessen
7 The Impact of Financial Reform on Rural Credit in Central
America 144
Arie Sanders and Cor J. Wattel
8 Rural Off-Farm Employment and Food Security Policies in
Honduras 170
Ruerd Ruben and Harry Clemens
Bibliography 189
Index 203
v
List of Tables
2.1 Pre-reform distribution of landholdings in El Salvador and
Taiwan 22
2.2 Achievements of land reform in El Salvador and Taiwan
(ten years) 31
2.3 Agricultural average annual growth rates in the reform
period in El Salvador and Taiwan 34
2.4 Pre- and post-reform distribution of landholdings in
El Salvador and Taiwan 37
3.1 Policy analysis matrix 52
3.2 Basic structure of the PAM 56
3.3 Nicaragua: regional distribution of maize and beans samples 59
3.4 Weights of sale of harvest of maize and beans in Nicaragua 60
3.5 Beans as exportable in Nicaragua 63
3.6 Maize as importable in Nicaragua 66
4.1 Cultivated area and production in the Atlantic Zone of
Costa Rica 79
4.2 Farm stratification in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica (1984) 80
4.3 Average annual resource endowment for small farm type
in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica 82
4.4 Actual and base run indicators for the small farm household
in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica 94
4.5 Farm household response multipliers for different
agricultural policies in Costa Rica 96
5.1 Nicaragua: Nueva Guinea colonization area, number of
farms and farm size distribution, 1990 112
5.2 Nicaragua: Nueva Guinea, farm types and information on
farming systems 114
5.3 Nicaragua: production costs, gross and net returns
per hectare for cocoyam (quequisque), 1995 116
5.4 Nicaragua: production costs, gross and net returns
per hectare for ginger (jengibre) in low- and high-input
cropping systems, 1995 117
5.5 Nicaragua: production costs, gross and net returns for maize
without and with mucuna–maize rotation, 1995 120
5.6 Production costs, and net returns in subsistence
crop – livestock farms in Nueva Guinea, Nicaragua 124
vi
List of Tables vii
6.1 Soil conservation adoption intensity in Costa Rica (averages
for users and non-users, and tests of association) 136
6.2 Factors influencing adoption behavior of soil conservation
practices in Costa Rica (logistic regression functions) 139
7.1 Context variables of financial markets in Central America 158
7.2 Costa Rica: distribution of credit supply among surveyed
households in 1987 159
7.3 El Salvador: number of households with access to credit:
distribution of contracts and loans 161
7.4 Access to credit in Honduras 162
7.5 Macroeconomic indicators (ratios) of Central America 163
7.6 Microeconomic indicators of rural household access to
credit in Central America 164
8.1 Income composition of rural households in Honduras 179
8.2 Honduras: composition of gross income of small basic
grains producers 1987–8 181
List of Figures
3.1 Macro, meso and micro levels of economic policy measures
and analysis 46
3.2 Nicaragua: agricultural cycles of beans and maize 53
3.3 Prices of white maize in Nicaragua 1991–6 57
3.4 Prices of beans in Nicaragua 1991–6 61
3.5 Exchange rates, Nicaragua 1991–6 71
4.1 Schematic presentation of the farm household model 84
7.1 Costa Rica: monetary indicators 1981–94 153
7.2 El Salvador: monetary indicators 1981–94 154
7.3 Honduras: monetary indicators 1981–94 155
7.4 Central America: credit absorption of the agricultural sector
as percentage of total credit supply (1981–94) 156
8.1 Honduras: apparent consumption of basic food products
(1975–94) 173
viii
Notes on the Contributors
Gerardo Barrantes is a researcher at the International Center in
Economic Policy for Sustainable Development (CINPE) of the Universidad
Nacional Autónoma, Costa Rica.
Edmundo Castrois a researcher at the International Center in Economic
Policy for Sustainable Development (CINPE) of the Universidad Nacional
Autónoma, Costa Rica.
Harry Clemens is a researcher at the Centro de Estudios para el
Desarrollo Rural (CDR) of the Free University of Amsterdam in San
José, Costa Rica.
Richard Eberlin is a researcher at the Department of Agricultural
Economics of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich,
Switzerland.
Jan P. de Groot is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of
Development Economics of the Free University of Amsterdam, The
Netherlands.
Wim Pelupessy is Senior Lecturer in Development Economics in the
Faculty of Economic Sciences of Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
Peter C. Roebeling is a researcher at the Wageningen Agricultural
University, The Netherlands.
Ruerd Ruben is Senior Lecturer in Development Economics in the
Department of Economics and Management of Wageningen Agricultural
University, The Netherlands.
Fernando Saenzis a researcher at the International Center in Economic
Policy for Sustainable Development (CINPE) of the Universidad Nacional
Autónoma, Costa Rica.
Arie Sandersis a researcher at the Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo
Rural (CDR) of the Free University of Amsterdam in San José, Costa Rica.
ix