Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Therefore, in order to allow for their livelihoods to prosper, it is crucial for the
campesinos
to have access to sufficiently large parcels of land. Beyond the import-
ance of land tenure, however, lie hallenges to the economic viability of peasant agri-
culture production. Here, again, modern intensive agriculture practices are adversely
affecting the
campesinos
' livelihoods, in terms of both subsistence farming and pety
trade of surplus production. A MOCASE-VC member explains:
A greater hallenge that we have is to produce, and of great concern to us is
the issue of transgenic crops that make you fail year after year, and one can de-
nounce [it to the authorities but] the judiciary does nothing, only reacts for the
system, for the agro-exporting model, whih is installed for about 20 years here
in the area where we live, whih is an area that for many years was not being
taken into account because [the soils] were not fertile. But since these new genet-
ically modified seeds [arrived] soils are fertile, and today they come for territory,
for the land, and they don't care about the disasters they cause, like knoking
down millions of hectares of woods, forest, native forest.
Focus Group 2, MOCASE-VC, interviewed 20.3.2010
In only a few sentences, this
campesino
-turned-activist captures muh of the es-
sence of the
campesinos
' struggle in Santiago del Estero above and beyond the issue
of land tenure. That is, he emphasizes the advancement of the agriculture frontier in-
to previously marginal land, the severe consequences of this process for local people
and the protection the agribusiness sector has from the authorities. He then added
that:
What we have to do is to expel all that soybeans system, this agribusiness, and
start producing for the market; producing healthy foodstuffs. We are capable
of producing food, but what happens is that the system limits you. First is the
lak of land, the territory that they take away from you. Second, the food mar-
ket whih is controlled by big multinationals that prevent you from puting a
product on the market.
Focus Group 2, MOCASE-VC, interviewed 20.3.2010
That is, the path toward sustainable development for the
campesinos
in Santiago
del Estero is simple: producing organic foodstuffs for the market. However, while the
issue of land tenure and its importance for peasant livelihoods is clear, the second
point here is more often overlooked. Provision of products for the formal market
is being increasingly restricted and regulated. While the public health reasoning
