Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the capital that potentially circulated in banana-growing areas, but shed
little light on growers' ability to accumulate capital.The most convincing
circumstantial evidence that the banana trade was perceived to be lucra-
tive was the increase in the number of producers through the end of the
nineteenth century.
Unfortunately,the1899surveydidnotrecordinformationaboutland
tenure, but most of the farms were probably located on ejidos,municipal
lands leased to local residents. Local governments promoted banana cul-
tivation by revising zoning regulations in order to restrict the movement
of free-ranging cattle that were capable of destroying crops. For example,
inTela,an1887ordinanceestablishedan''agriculturalzone''inwhichlive-
stock were not allowed to roam. The rule, which established monetary
finesforviolators,wasstronglyworded:''Inordertoavoiddamagecaused
bylivestock,itisnecessarytoimposeseriousmeasuresandpenaltiesgiven
the experiences and cases that have been di
cult to remedy due to the
resistance of certain persons who respect neither the law nor property.''
27
The municipal acts for subsequent years provide few clues as to how well
the zoning codewas honored orenforced inTela, but the minutes from an
1895 council session suggest that local cultivators continued to push for,
and receive, additional lands forcrops.
28
Cattle ranchers also found them-
selves losing ground in El Progreso, Trujillo, and San Pedro Sula.
29
These
policies—what we might think of as local expressions of liberal economic
doctrines—helped to ensure that land was generally available for banana
cultivation.
Labor may have been harder to come by than land in the late nine-
teenth century. An 1882 letter from US consul and investor William Bur-
chard described four kinds of ethnic laborers, including Garífunas, two
indigenous groups of Honduran Mosquitia, and ''the common 'mozo' or
peon of the interior,'' described as the ''most numerous'' of the laborers.
Burchard indicated that mahogany loggers utilized forms of debt peonage
with mixed results. He also noted that vagrancy laws compelling ''tramps
and idlers'' to work could be invoked in times of labor shortage. Five
yearslater,Burchardreportedthata''wantofreliablelaboroffersaserious
drawback'' to the development of agriculture. Unfortunately, his reports
make no specific references to banana farms; whetherexport banana pro-
duction was inhibited by an absence of labor or contributed to the labor
shortage by providing lucrative livelihoods for small-scale cultivators is
unclear.
30
In addition, frequent armed conflicts disrupted labor supplies
by causing men to flee towns and farms in order to avoid impressment.
Scattered concerns about labor shortages on the North Coast persisted
