SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN CENTRAL AMERICA This page intentionally left blank Sustainable Agriculture in Central America Edited by Jan P. de Groot Department of Development Economics Free University ofA msterdam The Netherlands and Ruerd Ruben Department of Development Economics Wageningen Agricultural University The Netherlands First published in Great Britain 1997 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-40014-0 ISBN 978-0-230-37808-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230378087 First published in the United States of America 1997 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-17555-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sustainable agriculture in Central America I edited by Jan de Groot and Ruerd Ruben. p. em. Papers from the 1995 annual conference of the Association for European Research on Central America and the Caribbean, held Oct. 14-15, 1995, in Paris, France. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-17555-9(cloth) I. Agriculture-Economic aspects--Central America--Congresses. 2. Sustain.able agriculture-Central America--Congresses. I. Groot, 1. P. II. Ruben, Rue rd. Ill. Association for European Research on Central America and the Caribbean. Conference (II th : I 995 : Paris, France) HD 1797 .S87 1997 338.1'09728--dc21 97-9144 CIP Selection, editorial matter and Chapter I ©Jan P. de Groot and Ruerd Ruben 1997 Chapters 2-13 ©Macmillan Press Ltd 1997 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 W1P 9HE. 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 06 OS 04 03 02 OJ 00 99 98 97 Contents Notes on the Contributors vii 1 Introduction and Summary 1 Jan P. de Groot and Ruerd Ruben 2 PART I MACROECONOMIC CONDITIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE 2 Deforestation in Central America: Historical and Contemporary Dynamics 9 Peter Utting 9 3 Macroeconomic Conditions for Sustainable Agriculture in Central America 30 Andy Thorpe 30 PART II SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS 4 Policies Affecting Deforestation for Cattle in Central America 51 David Kaimowitz 51 5 Production Systems in the Humid Tropics of Nicaragua: A Comparison of Two Colonization Areas 67 Jan P. de Groot, Rosario Ambrogui and Mario Lopes Jimenez 67 6 Food Insecurity as a Sustainability Issue: Lessons from Honduran Maize Farming 89 llazelJohnson 89 7 Diversity and the Nature of Technological Change in Hillside Farming in Honduras 108 Kees Jansen 108 PART III NATURAL RESOURCE RESERVES AND PROTECTED AREAS 8 Livelihoods, Land Rights and Sustainable Development in Nicaragua's Bosawas Reserve 129 Sarah M. lloward 129 v vi Contents 9 Alternative Approaches and Problems in Protected Area Management and Forest Conservation in Honduras 142 Michael Richards 142 PART IV AGRARIAN POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABLE LAND USE 10 Land Reform and Resource Management within Agrarian Production Cooperatives in Honduras 159 Ruerd Ruben and Marrit van den Berg 159 11 Land Titling and Prospects for Land Conservation: Lessons from a Case-Study in Honduras 181 Daniel Wachter 181 12 Non-Conventional Rural Finance and the Crisis of Economic Institutions in Nicaragua 191 Johan Bastiaensen 191 13 Rural Lending by Projects: Another Cycle of Unsustainable Interventions in Credit Markets? An Analysis of Case Studies in Central America 210 Harry Clemens and Cor Wattel 210 Index 231 Notes on the Contributors Rosario Ambrogui has a master's degree in environmental economics from the Universidad Nacional (UNA) of Costa Rica; she is a lecturer at the Escuela de Economfa Agricola of the Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Nicaragua, ESECA-UNAN, Nicaragua. Johan Bastiaenen is senior lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Development Studies of the University of Antwerp (UFSIA), Belgium; he has published on peasant production systems and the development of non conventional sustainable rural finance, in particular in Nicaragua, working with NITLAPAN, the research centre for rural development of the Universidad Centroamericana, UCA. Marrit van der Berg is PhD candidate, working at the Department of Development Economics at Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, the Netherlands; she did fieldwork on land evaluation in agricultural production cooperatives in Honduras. Harry Clemens works at the Centro de Desarrollo Rural of the Free University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (CDR-VU) in San Jose, Costa Rica; he has research experience in Panama and Nicaragua, where he worked with the Escuela de Economfa Agricola of the Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Nicaragua, ESECA-UNAN. Jan P. de Groot is senior lecturer and researcher in rural development at the Faculty of Economics, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with a long-time experience in Latin and Central America; he has pub lished on land reform and sustainable agriculture, in particular in the humid tropics. Sarah Howard does her PhD research at the School of Earth Sciences of the University of Greenwich; her field research focuses on conflicts over land and resources in the Bosawas area in Nicaragua. Kees Jansen is PhD researcher at the Department of Rural Sociology of Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; for his dissertation he did fieldwork in a number of rural communities in the north of Honduras. David Kaimowitz was for many years a specialist in the area of science and technology, natural resources and agrarian production at the central vii Vlll Notes on the Contributors office of the Instituto Inter-americano de Cooperaci6n para la Agricultura, IICA, San Jose, Costa Rica; he now works at CIFOR, Jakarta, Indonesia. Mario Lopez has a master's degree in rural development of the Institute of Social Sciewnces, ISS, the Hague, The Netherlands; he is lecturer at the Escuela de Economfa Agricola of the Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Nicaragua, ESECA-UNAN, Nicaragua. Ruerd Ruben is senior lecturer and researcher in agricultural economics at the Department of Development Economics at Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; he has a long-time experience in research and policy formulation in Central America and has published on topics such as land reform, production cooperatives, sustainable agri culture and institutional economics. Andy Thorpe is senior lecturer and researcher in development economics at the School of Economics, University of Porthmouth, England; he was visiting professor in agricultural economics at the Posgrado en Economfa y Planificaci6n de Desarrollo (POSCAE) de la Universidad Aut6noma Nacional de Honduras, UNAH. Peter Utting works at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva, Switzerland; he has published exten sively on the social and political dimensions of resource degradation, in particular in Central America. Daniel Wachter, until recently senior lecturer and researcher at the Geographic Institute of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, is now working at the Swiss Federal Office of Spatial Planning; he has been engaged among others in research on property rights and land titling in relation to sustainability of agrarian production systems. Cor Wattel is coordinator of the Centro de Desarrollo Rural of the Free University Amsterdam, the Netherlands (CDR-VU) in San Jose, Costa Rica; his research in several Central American countries is in particular related to rural finance and institutional development. 1 Introduction and Summary Jan P. de Groot and Ruerd Ruben INTRODUCTION Processes of deforestation, erosion and resource depletion have been par ticularly severe in Central America during the last fifty years. Agricultural development in this region has been based mainly on extensive growth, supported by macroeconomic policies oriented towards the promotion of agricultural exports. Ongoing urbanization has been accompanied by peasant producers becoming involved in commercially oriented agricul ture, and by intensifying pressure to increase the productivity of land and labour. However, access to improved inputs (seed, fertilizers, pesticides) has been limited to a small segment of middle class producers. In recent years, public and private interest in the sustainable manage ment of natural resources and for the improvement of agricultural produc tion systems has been increasing. The establishment of the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (CCAD) reveals the importance of this issue for public policy. Moreover, the large number of local initiatives and ongoing rural development programs from governmental and non-governmental organizations offer considerable experience on practical alternatives for sustainable resource management. The contributions in this reader offer a comprehensive review of the current prospects for sustainable agriculture as assessed from state policies and local action, For this, trade-offs between macro-economic policies and environmental objectives are determined, and the socio-economic condi tions for the establishment of sustainable production systems in different eco-regional settings (hillsides, humid tropics, frontier areas) are identified. Special attention is given to the various institutional arrangements that are used to guarantee the conservation of nature areas. Finally, the policy instruments available to improve property rights, and the management regulations and financial mechanisms available to enhance sustainable resource use are discussed. The salient conclusion that emerges from the contributions indicates that in Central America there is still a long way to go before effective coordination between the state and private initiatives may permit the process of resource depletion to be effectively controlled.