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Export agriculture, ecological disruption, and social inequity: Some effect of pesticides in Southern Honduras

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Abstract

Pesticides remain an integral part of development efforts to renew economic growth in Central America and lift the region out of a severe economic crisis. This paper analyzes the implications of the continued reliance on pesticides for heightening economic and ecological problems in the agrarian sector.

Relying on a case study of export melon production in Choluteca, Honduras, the author argues that current development strategies, which rely heavily on pesticides, are generating ecological disruption that creates conditions biased against small producers. Lack of knowledge of the hazards inherent in the technology and the resulting emergence of pesticide resistant pests, crop losses, environmental contamination, and public health problems, pose serious obstacles to the survival of small-scale producers. Meanwhile transnational and other flexible, large scale operations often adapt to such conditions, and on occasion may even turn such problems to their benefit. The author concludes that economic growth may only be sustainable when questions of social equity and ecological viability are brought to the forefront of U.S. development strategies.

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Authors
  1. Douglas L. Murray
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Additional information

1. The author acknowledges the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Program for Peace and International Cooperation. Funding was also provided for field research on this article by the Fulbright Program, Central American Republics Research Program. Helpful comments on various drafts were offered by Michael Conroy, Brad Barham, Peter Rosset, David Kaimowitz, Jefferson Boyer, and Lorena Lastres.

Douglas L. Murray is a Visiting Scholar and Research Associate at the Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University. He has worked on pesticide-related health, environmental and production problems in Latin America for over a decade, and is currently writing a book:Cultivating Crisis: Pesticides and the Development of Latin America.

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Murray, D.L. Export agriculture, ecological disruption, and social inequity: Some effect of pesticides in Southern Honduras. Agric Hum Values 8, 19–29 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01530651

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