Pesticides and Social Inequality in Nontraditional Agriculture

From Cultivating Crisis by Douglas L. Murray

What is Nontraditional Agriculture?

• Oriental vegetables– Fuzzy squash, long beans, Japanese eggplant,

bitter melon, etc…• Specialty crops grown for Asian population in

the U.S., Canada and elsewhere• Grown as a cash crop, sold to many exporters,

and in exchange would provide credits, inputs, or technical assistance

Why Central America?

• Cotton crisis in the 1970s caused a peak in social inequality and political instability– Want to stabilize economic region, and encourage

new agricultural techniques• Kissinger Commission Act recommended

nontraditional agriculture to solve the economic problems

The Great Promise of Nontraditional Agriculture

1. Labor intensive– Reducing unemployment

2. Grown on small parcels of land– Available to small land owners

3. Highly valued– Improve flow of hard currency into region

Case Study 1: Dominican Republic & Oriental Vegetables

• In the beginning, nontraditional agriculture was very successful

• Satellite/Outgrower farming systems predominant– Two to three thousand small-scale producers would

sell to exporters offering best price– Exporters would have little knowledge of or control

over producer cultivation practices– Farmers bore much of the financial risk because they

dealt with weather, pests and transportation

Pesticide Use by Producers

• “Cocktails” were a mixture of several chemicals (illegal in the U.S.) purchased from local merchants– Applied frequently on a calendar schedule

• Often used in excess for protection, and to insure an exportable crop

• In 1987 and 1988, Dominican Republic was known as having the highest rate of illegal pesticide residue in crops shipped to the U.S.

Cons of Pesticide Use

• Illegal pesticide residue on the exportation of crops cause rejections and the FDA closely monitoring all food coming to the U.S.

• Pesticide Treadmill: pest resistance increases and so does pesticide use

• Helpful insects die, causing resistant secondary pest outbreak which leads to quarantine of produce

Case Study 2: Honduran Melons

• Melons, like cantaloupe and honey dew, could provide local economic growth.

• Small producers were either under contracted arrangements or a plantation system

Same Pesticide Problem…

• Pesticides were used excessively to meet the standards of the U.S.

• Extreme application causes secondary pest outburst

• Lack of resources and knowledge was blamed on the small-scale farmers for problem

Response to Control Pesticide Use

• Technical Package Contracts provided– Seed, fertilizer, pesticides and regular visits by

company technicians• Exporters refuse to purchase produce not

under contract• Private agricultural technicians were

employed to fight against pests• Independent melon producers were

eventually squeezed out of the market

The End of the Small-Scale Farmer

• Not capable of earning enough from crops– Didn’t have resources like large companies did• Pest control

– Large companies didn’t want to buy from them• Banks limited credit because debts were not

being paid back• Switching crops would do no good because of

small profit margin

Case Study 3: Guatemalan Industry

• To fix pesticide problem– USAID worked with primary exporters and large-

scale producers– Workshops, meetings and field visits from FDA – Private specialist knowledge used in pest control– FDA stresses the importance of quality control and

causes producer consolidation

Conclusion

• Intensive pesticide use creates a huge ecological crisis that fuels economic and social problems

• Although the true intensions of nontraditional agriculture was to create more jobs thus reducing unemployment mainly, it seemed to add to the social inequality because of the consolidation of small-scale farms into large companies.

• Large producers will often leave or abandon a site and find “disease-free” land

• ‘Comparative advantage’: an economic region collapses, reduces land and operating costs at the expense of the locals