Pobreza, degradación ambiental y liberalización del comercio: Hacia una intervención de políticas «second best»

Unai Pascual; Roberto Martínez-Espiñeira

doi:10.7201/earn.2006.12.06

Authors

Unai Pascual University of Cambridge
Roberto Martínez-Espiñeira St Francis Xavier University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7201/earn.2006.12.06

Keywords:

Liberalization, Land-use model, Slash-and-burn, Soil degradation, Rural poverty, Mexico

Abstract

Forest based agricultural systems in the tropics are being opened up to international trade at an unprecedented rate.This is the case of tropical agriculture in Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which is also having significant impacts on the decentralized land use decisions of small-scale farmers and on the natural resource base on which they depend. This paper develops a bioeconomic model of a typical forest-land based farming system that is integrated with the non-farm labour sector, as typically found in tropical regions. The data used to generate the simulations were gathered in two communities of Yucatan (Mexico) in 1998-2000. Through a systemdynamics framework, the agro-ecological and farming economic subsystems are integrated and the current situation of price liberalization that is negatively affecting soil capital and income levels is compared to a scenario that precludes an «optimal path to extinction» through careful policy intervention. This second-best case is based on a targeted policy mix that seeks to maintain the system viable for as long as possible above an irreducible poverty level. The policy intervention involves, simultaneoulsy, subsidizing off-farm wage rates, intensification of land use, and the control of households’ rights to the forest commons. The model shows that such policy intervention can result in a large positive discounted net payoff basedon the increased incomes for the farming community after deducting the implementation costs of such intervention.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Unai Pascual, University of Cambridge

Dep. of Land Economy

Roberto Martínez-Espiñeira, St Francis Xavier University

Economics Dep., St Francis Xavier U., Canada.

References

Albers, H. J. and N. Goldbach (2000). «Irreversible ecosystem change, species competition and shifting cultivation». Resource and Energy Economics, 22 (3):261-280. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0928-7655(00)00034-8

Arrow, K., Bolin, B., Costanza, R., Dasgupta, P., Folke, C., Hollig, C., Jansson, B., Levin, S. Mäler, K., Perrings, C. and Pimentel, D. (1995, April). «Economic growth, carrying capacity and the environment». Science, 268 (28):520-521. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.268.5210.520

Bach, N. L. and Saeed, K. (1992). «Food self-sufficiency in Vietnam: A search for a viable solution». System Dynamics Review, 8:129-148. https://doi.org/10.1002/sdr.4260080203

Barbier, E. and Rauscher, M. (1994). «Trade, tropical deforestation and policy interventions». Environmental and Resource Economics, 4(1):75-90. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691933

Barrett, S. (1991). «Optimal soil conservation and the reform of agricultural pricing policies». Journal of Development Economics, 36(2):167-187. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3878(91)90031-P

Benjamin, D. (1992). «Household composition, labor markets, and labor demand: Testing for separation in agricultural household models». Econometrica, 60 (2):287-322. https://doi.org/10.2307/2951598

Bulte, E. and Barbier, E. (2005). «Trade and renewable resources in a second best world: An overview». Environmental and Resource Economics, 30 (4):423-463. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-004-5022-2

Conway, G. (2000). «The doubly green revolution: Balancing food, poverty and environmental needs in the 21st century». In D. R. Lee and C. B. Barrett (Eds.), Tradeoffs or Synergies? Agricultural Intensification, Economic Development and the Environment, pp. 17-33. CAB International. https://doi.org/10.1079/9780851994352.0017

Dasgupta, P. S. (1992). «Population, resources, and poverty». AMBIO, 21(1):95-101.

Dvorak, K. A. (1992). «Resource management byWest African farmers and the economics of shifting cultivation». American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 74(3):809-815. https://doi.org/10.2307/1242600

Ehui, S. K., Hertel, T. W. and Preckel, P. V. (1990). «Forest resource, depletion, soil dynamics, and agricultural productivity in the tropics». Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 18(2):136-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/0095-0696(90)90044-Y

FAO (2002). FAOSTAT agricultural data.

Forrester, J. W. (1961). Industrial Dynamics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Forrester, J. W. (1968). Principles of Systems. Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press.

Grepperud, S. (1996). «Population pressure and land degradation: The case of Ethiopia». Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 30:18-33. https://doi.org/10.1006/jeem.1996.0002

Holden, S. T. (1993). «The potential of agroforestry in the high rainfall areas of Zambia: A peasant programming model approach». Agroforestry Systems, 24:39-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00705267

Kleinman, P. J. A., Pimentel, D. and Bryant, R. B. (1995). «The ecological sustainability of slash and burn agriculture». Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, 52, 235-249. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-8809(94)00531-I

Krautkraemer, J. (1994). «Population growth, soil fertility, and agricultural intensification». Journal of Development Economics, 44:403-428. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3878(94)90050-7

Larson, B. A. and Bromley, D. W. (1990). «Property rights, externalities, and resource degradation; locating the tragedy». Journal of Development Economics, 33(2):235-262. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3878(90)90023-5

López, R. (1997). «Environmental externalities in traditional agriculture and the impact of trade liberalization: the case of Ghana». Journal of Development Economics, 53:17-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3878(97)00015-1

López, R. (1998). «The tragedy of the commons in Côte d’Ivoire agriculture: Empirical evidence and implications for evaluating trade policies». The World Bank Economic Review, 12 (1):105-131. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/12.1.105

Mashayekhi, A. N. (1990). «Rangelands destruction under population growth: The case of Iran». System Dynamics Review, 6:167-193. https://doi.org/10.1002/sdr.4260060204

Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L. and Randers, J. (1992). Beyond the Limits. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Mizrahi, A., Ramos, J. and Jiménez, J. (1997). «Composition, structure, and management potential of secondary dry tropical vegetation in two abandoned henequen plantations of Yucatán, Mexico». Forest Ecology and Management, 96:273-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(97)00008-X

Nokoe, S. (1993). «Quantitative assessment of growth in the tropical rain forests». In: V. Barnett and K. Turkman (Eds.), Statistics for the Environment, Chichester,UK, pp. 379-400. John Wiley & Sons.

Nye, P. H. and Greenland, D. J. (1960). The Soil under Shifting Cultivation. Commonwealth- Bureau of Soils Technical Communication, No 51. U.K.: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.

Pascual, U. (2002). Modelling Labour Supply and Soil Quality in Shifting Cultivation Agriculture. A Case Study from Yucatan, Mexico. Ph. D. thesis, Environment Department. University of York, UK. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.291941

Pascual, U. (2005). «Land-use intensification potential in slash-and-burn farming through improvements in technical efficiency». Ecological Economics, 52:497-511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.09.012

Pascual, U. and Barbier, E. (2006). «Deprived land-use intensification in shifting cultivation: The population pressure hypothesis revisited». Agricultural Economics, 34:155-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0864.2006.00115.x

Pascual, U. and Barbier, E. (2007). «On price liberalization, poverty and shifting cultivation: An example from Mexico». Land Economics, 83(2). https://doi.org/10.3368/le.83.2.192

Saeed, K. (1994). Development Planning and Policy Design: A System Dynamics Approach. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate/Avebury Books.

Salehi-Isfahani, D. (1988). «Technology and preferences in the Boserup model of agricultural growth». Journal of Development Economics, 28:175-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3878(88)90057-0

Sánchez, P. (1996). Introduction. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 58 (1):1-2. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(96)90018-3

Saysel, A. K., Barlas, Y. and Yenigun, O. (2002). «Long term sustainability in an agricultural development project: A system dynamics approach». Journal of Environmental Management, 64:247-260. https://doi.org/10.1006/jema.2001.0488

Singh, I., Squire, L. and Strauss, J. (1986). Agricultural Household Models. Baltimore, USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press, USA.

Sterman, J. (2000). Business Dynamics. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Trenbath, B. (1989). «The use of mathematical models in the development of shifting cultivation systems». In: J. Procter (Ed.), Mineral Nutrients in Tropical Forest and Savanna Ecosystems, pp. 353-369. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Scientific Publications.

Walker, R. (1999). «The structure of uncultivated wilderness: Land use beyond the extensive margin». Journal of Regional Science, 39 (2):387-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9787.00139

Wu, J., B. Y. and Wankat, J. L. (1993). «Effect of patch connectivity and arrangement on animal metapopulation dynamics: A simulation study». Ecological Modeling, 65:221-254. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3800(93)90081-3