From peasant community to production co-operative: An analysis of recent government policy in Peru
Titel:
From peasant community to production co-operative: An analysis of recent government policy in Peru
Auteur:
Long, Norman Winder, David
Verschenen in:
The journal of development studies
Paginering:
Jaargang 12 (1975) nr. 1 pagina's 75-94
Jaar:
1975-10
Inhoud:
Discussions concerning rural development in Peru since the military coup of 1968 have focused mainly on the large-scale land reform programme under which the coastal estates and many of the livestock and agricultural haciendas in the highlands have been expropriated [Petras and Rimensnyder, 1970, Quijano, 1971, and Hobsbawm, 1971]. This has tended to deflect interest from other important aspects of rural development policy. It would be wrong to assume that, prior to the latest reforms, the Peruvian scene consisted almost entirely of latifundia agriculture, for a substantial proportion of the productive agricultural land in both the highlands and coastal valleys was, and remains, in the control of smallholder farmers, or is held under communal ownership by peasant communities. In an attempt to incorporate these non-hacienda zones into the plan for national development [Plan del Peru: 1971-1975], the government is encouraging the expansion of smallholder commercial production, the establishment of new, or the improvement of existing, marketing and servicing co-operatives, and is promoting a re-organisation of peasant communities with the long-term objective of transforming them into modern production or multipurpose co-operatives. This paper outlines recent legislation aimed at reforming these peasant communities and examines the social consequences of the new policy, particularly as it affects smallholder regions. We address ourselves mainly to two problems: Firstly, we wish to assess the effectiveness of the policy in transferring the benefits of community resources to the poorer strata of the rural population, a central aim of the reforms; and secondly, we want to isolate the factors which inhibit the emergence of viable modes of co-operative organisation and which limit the role that community institutions can play in promoting local development. It is necessary in a paper of this length to confine ourselves mainly to an analysis of the situation in one district of the Mantaro Valley of Central Peru—that of Matahuasi—for which we have detailed data; although many of our conclusions, we believe, raise problems of general significance for interpreting the types of development strategies and priorities favoured by the present government.
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