Abstract
Estimates of rates of return on investments in cattle among the Tawahka and Miskitu Amerindians of the Patuca river in Honduras are presented. Internal rates of return and net present values produced similar rankings. The median internal rate of return is 9% and the median net present value is 224 Lempiras (U.S.$33). Positive rates of return suggest cattle is a viable way of saving and smoothing consumption across time. The use of animals as savings may increase neotropical deforestation by indigenous populations until financial institutions step in to provide alternative and secure approaches to savings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Downing, T. E., Hecht, E. S., Pearson, H. A., and Garcia-Downing, C. (eds.) (1992).Development or Destruction. The Conversion of Tropical Forest to Pasture in Latin America. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
Hecht, S. B. (1993). The logic of livestock and deforestation in Amazonia.BioSciene 43(10): 687–695.
Helms, M. W. (1971).Asang. Adaptations to Cultural Contact in a Miskito Community. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.
Jarvis, L. (1986).Livestock in Latin America. Oxford University Press, New York.
Jenkins, G. P., and Harberger, A. C. (1993). Manual of Cost-Benefit Analysis of Investment Decisions. Manuscript, Harvard Institute for International Development, Cambridge, MA.
Loker, W. (1993). The human ecology of cattle raising in the Peruvian Amazon: The view from the farm.Human Organization 52(1): 14–24.
MacDonald, T. (1981). Indigenous response to an expanding frontier: Jungle Quichua economic conversion to cattle. In Whitten, N. Jr. (ed.),Cultural Transformations and Ethnicity in Modern Ecuador. University of Illinois Press, Urbana, pp. 356–386.
MacDonald, T. (1992). From reaction to planning: An indigenous response to deforestation and cattle raising. In Downing, T. E., Hecht, S. B., Pearson, H. A., and Garcia-Downing, C. (eds.),Development or Destruction. The Conversion of Tropical Forest to Pasture in Latin America. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, pp. 213–341.
Mosquita, P. (1992). Informe bi/anual. Tegucigalpa.
Pichón, F. J., and Bilsborrow, R. (1992). Land-Use Systems, Deforestation and Associated Demographic Factors in the Humid Tropics: Farm-Level Evidence from Ecuador. Paper prepared for the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population Seminar on Population and Deforestation in the Humid Tropics, Campinas, Brazil, November 30th to December 3rd, 1992.
Repetto, R., and Gillis, M. (eds.) (1988).Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Schmink, M., and Wood, C. H. (1992).Contested Frontiers in Amazonia. Columbia University Press, New York.
Schneider, R. (1993).Land Abandonment, Property Rights, and Agricultural Sustainability in the Amazon. The World Bank, Latin America Technical Department, Environment Division, Dissemination Note #3, Washington, D.C.
Wilbert, J. (1972).Survivors of El Dorado. Four Indian Cultures of South America. Praeger Publishers, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Godoy, R., Brokaw, N., Wilkie, D. et al. Rates of return on investments in cattle among Amerindians of the rain forest of Honduras. Hum Ecol 24, 395–399 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02169396
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02169396