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Smallholder land use in the southern Yucatan: how culture and history matter

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Abstract

A longitudinal survey was applied to 499 smallholder agriculturalist households in Mexico’s southern Yucatán region to determine whether different cultural expectations had led to the formation and coexistence of different types of human–environment interactions. A three center cluster analysis was used, and two agricultural adaptive strategies were found to coexist: a diversified subsistence strategy built largely by individuals who were smallholder agriculturalists in their place of origin, and one generated mostly by non-agriculturalists who migrated to the southern Yucatán to make agriculture their business during the last agrarian reform. Each strategy followed unique family trajectories and established distinct human–environment interactions. The findings suggest that those who emphasize commercial agriculture have a better standard of living. Nevertheless, their improved on-farm livelihoods—judged by material, physiological, and educational indicators—comes at the cost of higher risks to their adaptive system and adverse environmental consequences.

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Acknowledgments

I first want to thank the people of Calakmul who opened their houses for us in 1999 and continue to do so today. My hope is that what we accomplish working with them will ultimately be to their benefit. I also want to acknowledge the work of ECOSUR, Unidad Campeche’s Ecological Anthropology research laboratory personnel and students who have made this work possible. I am particularly indebted to Armando Alayón and Dolores Molina who have been by my side since the beginning and have been involved as students, colleagues and have directed their students to contribute to this effort. Finally, I would like to thank B. L. Turner II and an anonymous reviewer for the candid and innumerable commentaries that have allowed me to change this paper for the better. Core funding for the Southern Yucatán Peninsular Region project from 1997 to 2009 was provided by NASA’s LCLUC program (NAG 56046, 511134, 06GD98G) and NSF’s BCS program (0410016). Funding for the research reported in this paper was provided by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Mexico grant 29264-H. The views presented in this paper are the exclusive responsibility of the author.

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  1. Investigador Titular B., Departamento de Población y ambiente, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur-Unidad Campeche, Calle 10 No. 264 Col. Centro, C.P. 24000, San Francisco de Campeche, CAM, Mexico

    Francisco D. Gurri

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Gurri, F.D. Smallholder land use in the southern Yucatan: how culture and history matter. Reg Environ Change 10, 219–231 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-010-0114-8

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