Günter Mertins
(1996):
Land Tenure Regulations and Land Tenure Forms in Latin America:
2.3.2 Types of small land holdings
The common term in Latin American countries for all small
land holdings is minifundio, which include the owned and leased small farms, as well as
those of illegal origin (see illus. 2). A minifundio is usually understood as a small land
holding decimated, through inheritance division, into small or tiny farms (types 1, 3 and
4 in illus. 2), which occupies an environmentally unfavorable location, is traditionally
intensively cultivated, although largely suffering from earth gradations (erosion
damages!), and have no capital and hardly any machinery at their disposal. [FN 7] It is often a matter of farms from which the
younger generation have migrated away from (types 1-3; illus. 2), but which also
constantly represent potentially destitute farms, due to their size, the damaged landscape
(small yields), and the debts created thereby.
Illustration 2: Types of Minifundios in Latin America
| |
Criteria |
|
Type |
Forms of
land tenure |
Economic
form /goal |
Problem
fields |
| 1. traditional minifundio
(minifundio tradicional intensivo) |
Private holdings, partially
leased
(partial lease) |
traditional-intensive;
self-provided (subsistence) |
- reduction through inheritance division
- farm size usually not enough for secure subsistence,
additional occupation necessary, otherwise relinquishing of farm and migration
- land degradation (erosion) through intensive cultivation,
especially on inclinations
-
|
| 2. minifundio bound to large
land holdings |
leasing
(working and partial lease) |
agricultural-intensive, pasture
economy-extensive; self-providing, often as an additional occupation on large farms |
- abandonment of land use through termination of the leasing
contract and the following danger of migration
- land degradation (erosion) through intensive cultivation,
especially on inclinations
|
| 3. small
"plantations" (minifundio tradicional de plantación) |
private holdings, partially also
leased (partial lease) |
intensive, use of pesticides and
artificial fertilizer; oriented toward world and
national market (coffee, tobacco, citrus; partially fruits and vegetables in the close
agglomeration) |
- reduction through inheritance division
- sufficient credits, cultivation advice
- effects of world market price fluctuation
|
| 4. additonal occupation
minifundio |
private holdings |
semi-intensive,
horticultural-like; self-providing; often weekend
residence (with guards) |
- reduction through inheritance division
- less interest from the owner and selling
|
| 5. colonization-minifundio (minifundio
de colonización) |
without legal rights, i.e.
illegal occupation (squatting) of public or private lands |
at first: traditional,
self-providing; later (eventually after the
improvement of the transportation situation): orientation on regional marktets, more
intensive capital |
- no access to formal credits
- distance to market (lack of or poor transportation
connections)
- ecologic damage through slash and burn and a continued
burning of the secondary vegetation
- "Expulsion" through advancing large and middle
farms
|
G. Mertins (1996) from Garcia (1967), Schejtmann (1980) and
other sources
The most important types of minifundios in Latin America are
listed in illus. 2. The representative description applies especially to the many,
strongly dominating, traditional minifundio (type 1). The other types of minifundio,
including small land holdings, clearly differentiate themselves from them (see illus. 2).
Still, the major problems, with the exception of some small leased farms, are identical:
- further reduction ("atomization") through
inheritance division, therefore the necessity of
- part-time employees, often as day-laborers, seasonal migration
workers etc. or
- giving up farms and migrating, whereby the fields do not
necessarily lie fallow, instead being left to the usage of neighboring farms (for
compensation paid in kind or in money);
- high erosion damages or dangers through intensive traditional
cultivation, especially on inclining fields.
The criteria listed in illus. 2 organize the small holders
(campesinos) in three general groups, according to SCHEJTMAN
(1980, pp.133), from an economic point of view:
- poor small farmers (campesinos pobres), by whom the income
from the small farm is insufficient to maintain their subsistence and are therefore
dependant upon part-time jobs (especially types 1 and 2, also type 4 of illus. 2, which is
to be judged differently); this is the campesino-segment in Latin America with the highest
growth rate;
- "stabilized small farmers" (campesinos
estabilizados): the farm’s income is adequate to support the family and to purchase
items necessary for the next cultivation period (especially types 3, 5, partially type 4
of illus. 2), as well as
- wealthy small farmers (campesinos ricos, often with special
cultures, also tobacco or coffee), whose farms make a profit which can, in many cases, be
invested, which then makes a higher standard of living possible (especially type 3, also
type 5 of illus. 2).
Primarily the minifundio types 1-3 and 5 are the subjects of
rural regional-developmental projects. Still, they often vary greatly in their regional
characteristics and difficulties.
|
