Professional Documents
Culture Documents
315
Article
Abstract
The continuous dispossession of the peasantry has been essential for
the implementation of neoliberal reforms in the Chilean agricultural
sector. This article focuses on Chiles experience as an extreme case
of neoliberal transformations. After describing the main reforms and
public policies impacting peasants, their own response is discussed. The
main argument is that despite such reforms, it is possible to observe
new forms of peasant organization and production. In this sense, seve-
ral organizational and productive experiences are briefly outlined. It
concludes that this recent experience indicates a necessary and possible
break with the dominant agribusiness arrangement, but apparently not
sufficient to pursue a structural transformation of the food system.
Keywords
Peasantry, Chile, dispossession, reorganization, reproduction
Introduction
After decades of marginalization and the predominance of welfarist
policies, the peasantry in Chile is demonstrating new forms of social,
political and economic organization. The date 11 September 2013
marked 40 years since the military coup. The violent disruption of
democracy and the massive violations of human rights that occurred
Marxist concepts with the persistence of the peasantry. They have been
termed marxistpeasantism (marxocampesinismo) by Schejtman
(1981) or chayanovistmarxist (marxismochayanovista) by Lehmann
(1980).
In the last decade, Latin America has experienced significant changes
in the agrarian social relations of production, characterized by a reduc-
tion in agricultural employment, an increase in the employment of
women (especially in non-agricultural activities), an increase of salaried
employment versus a drop in self-employment, and the increase in agri-
cultural workers with urban residence (ECLAC, FAO and IICA 2012:
15). Kay (2005) concludes that the dominant tendency in Latin America
is one of diversification and semi-proletarization.
Nevertheless, although the scenario in the region has changed, the
persistence of the peasantry against its subordination to capital is still
vindicated (A. Bartra 2006, 2010; Dominguez 2012; Paulino and
Aparecida 2010; van der Ploeg 2008). By the inclusion of peasants into
family agriculture, the end of the peasantry is described in more subtle
ways today (Abramovay 2007; Berdegu and Fuentealba 2011). In the
region, the label of family agriculture is strongly promoted by inter-
national institutions, such as the Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Regional Office for Latin
America and the Caribbean of the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO). Schneider (2012) argues that family agricul-
ture is not a concept but rather a normative and classificatory definition.
The same international institutions variably substitute family agriculture
with peasant family agriculture. The term remains contested. The main
danger is that family agriculture is emptied of relational meaning in the
process of production, at the same time as it gains space in public policy.
With the aim to identify, quantify, and reduce family agriculture to the
size of landholdings, the peasantry may be effectively eliminated. For
our purposes, the importance of the definition resides in the role of this
category in the dynamics of agrarian production.
Although the agrarian characteristics found within and between
countries vary, there are some characteristics that are present across
Latin America. Since colonialism, the disputes over land have been
central to the socio-economic development of the region and the
configuration of political power. Today, the region is the most unequal
in terms of land concentration, which has worsened since the 1960s,
Government Response
From the perspective of public policy, peasants have been recognized
mainly as a population at persistent risk of poverty and not as an essen-
tial part of the food system. The fact that the peasants are critical for
domestic food supply is hardly considered as relevant. Thus, public
policy focuses on peasants as part of rural poverty-reduction strategies,
which is in line with the dominant discourse of international institutions
operating in the continent.
In terms of rural poverty reduction, public policies have been centred
on two efforts, as mentioned above: integration in the agribusiness food
chain and promotion of small-scale entrepreneurships. The first is seen
entirely from the agribusiness perspective, which does not consider
peasant agriculture as part of an alternative or complementary local food
system. As large companies have the flexibility to source among differ-
ent small producers, they are able to set the terms of negotiation and
contract, including price, type, and day of payment and quality require-
ments. In this way, they transfer the risk of loss to the peasants. In
addition, there are also intermediary agents who reduce even further
the profits for peasants. Accordingly, power imbalances are in favour of
large buyers and against weak peasant producers. The second policy
emphasizes the role of the individual entrepreneur and centres on market
niches to lift peasants out of poverty. It typically entails market studies
and training of basic management skills. Both policies usually consider
credits which are used to allow small-scale farmers to improve produc-
tion and investments. However, the result in most cases is long-term
debts, which eventually force peasants to sell their lands and migrate to
the city.
Policies with a focus on local market development and production for
community consumption are not implemented. Peasant production is
aimed to supply food markets and not to transform the current food
system, or to position peasants as actors of their own development.
Public policy is thus supportive of the reproduction of peasants within
the ongoing process of transferring the surplus from peasant agriculture
to agribusiness. If peasants do not produce food for the domestic market,
the export-driven model of agribusiness would be hardly sustainable.
Chiles trade marketing strategy is carried out under the slogan Chile
a Food Power, which underlines the current faith in the export food
follows, the article analyzes the response of the peasantry, with a focus
on its organizational and economic dimensions.
Reorganization of Peasants
After many years of repression under the military junta and lack of con-
sistent support under the ensuing socialdemocratic governments, today
it is possible to speak of a re-articulation of peasant organizations. They
present diverse organizational structures, either formal or informal, and
have as their common goal the promotion of the well-being of their
members. Although most affiliate to lager regional or national federa-
tions, the new base organizations are increasingly specific in terms of
their membership and geographic location. As such, it is possible to
differentiate types of organization, some with a long history, but
many created in the last 10 years: (a) cooperatives; (b) unions and
federations; (c) organizations of indigenous peasants; (d) organization
of rural women; and (e) rural communities.
Perhaps one of the most traditional organizational expressions is that
of cooperatives. These have a long history in Chile, with origins closely
related to those of social movements (Radrign, Del Campo and Rubio
1998). After the military coup of 1973, the cooperative movement was
almost completely abolished. With the return to democracy and decisive
pro-cooperative state support, the number of peasant cooperatives rose
strongly, only to decline again sharply from the end of the 1990s, upon
the reduction of government support. For the period 200912, the
number of active peasant cooperatives was 236 (Nayan, Encalada and
Seron 2012). According to the Chilean Economic Development Agency
(CORFO, acronym in Spanish), the successful peasant cooperatives
were able to create close to 9000 jobs (Bazaes Merino 2009). In terms
of economic significance, dairy, wine and pisco (a traditional grape-
based alcoholic beverage) are the most important sectors. There exists
an enormous variety of cooperative organizational structures. They
range from an integrated individual profit-seeking logic to one based
on a social vision and solidarity. The decline of peasant cooperatives
at the end of the 1990s, for the most part due to reduction in govern-
ment support, apparently triggered new and more autonomous peasant
organizations.
Concluding Remarks
Chiles peasantry is embedded in a specific form of capitalist accumula-
tion and state management in the re-democratization period, all part of a
Chilean way of neoliberalism. Under adverse conditions, peasants still
supply approximately 40 per cent of food for domestic consumption
and much of the low-wage labour for agribusiness. Large corporate
agro-export capital accumulation has come at the expense of peasants.
State responses are generally subordinated to the expanded reproduc-
tion of capital. Peasants are regarded mainly as potential links in
the agribusiness chain or future entrepreneurs, or otherwise people in
risk of poverty, to be targeted by welfare policies. Upon the withdrawal
of the state from the promotion of peasant cooperatives in the late
1990s, peasants have been founding new organizational structures. The
new experiences of peasant economies and organizations show the
viability of a different food system, based on local provisions, less
export dependence, and sensitivity to environmental sustainability and
peoples needs.
It is questionable to what extent public policies are able to contribute
positively to peasant autonomy, as such interventions do not aim to
change the food system as such. Although it makes sense to use state
benefits and to push for further progressive measures, the reliance on the
state may have a paralyzing impact on the long-term goals of peasants,
and must be regarded with caution.
The recent experiences signal a necessary and possible break with
the dominant mode of production and accumulation, even though
they are not sufficient to pursue an emancipatory food system. The
problem is not just the dominant food system, understood as an isolated
dimension, but the institutions and policies which sustain the system.
Therefore, it is not certain that a permanent project of social transforma-
tion for the peasantry is possible parallel to the dominant agribusiness
structure. However, the new forms of production, distribution, consump-
tion, and knowledge-building have intrinsic normative implications for
collective behaviour and social relationships. In this way, the new expe-
riences indicate positive evidence of possible structural transformation
in the food system.
Notes
1. It is not the objective here to account for the specific socioeconomic devel-
opments which led to the socialist coalition government in 1970. For more
information, see Landerretche (2011), for a recent account; and Maspero
(1974), Nohlen (1973), Oficina de Planificacin Nacional (1971), Pinto
(1964) or Villanueva (1976), for a more historical review.
2. It is not the aim of the article to develop an exhaustive review of the agrarian
question in Latin America. For the historical discussion, the present paper
draws mainly on Kay (2005).
3. They include: Coordinadora Campesina de Chile (CCCH), Asociacin
Nacional de Mujeres Rurales e Indgenas (ANAMURI), Confederacin
de Cooperativas Campesinas (CAMPOCOOP), Movimiento Unitario
Campesino y Etnias de Chile (MUCECH), Confederacin Nacional La Voz
del Campo and Unin Nacional de Agricultura Familiar de Chile (UNAF).
4. The Fair Trade principles, as defined by the WFTO (2013), are: (a) creat-
ing opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers; (b) transpar-
ency and accountability; (c) fair trading practices; (d) payment of a fair price;
(e) ensuring no child labour and forced labour; (f) commitment to non-
discrimination, gender equity and womens economic empowerment, and
freedom of association; (g) ensuring good working conditions; (h) providing
capacity building; (i) promoting fair trade; and (j) respect for the environment.
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