A Case Study of Onion Production in the Tipajara Watershed, Mizque Bolivia
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A CASE STUDY OF ONION PRODUCTION IN THE TIPAJARA WATERSHED, MIZQUE BOLIVIA By FRANKLYN B. ARAGONA submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2003 i The thesis: “A Case Study of Onion Production in the Tipajara Watershed, Mizque Bolivia” is hereby approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY. School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences Signatures: Thesis Advisor:__________________________ Blair Orr Dean:__________________________________ Glenn D. Mroz Date:__________________________________ ii The geologists, the earth’s scientists, have given us a beautiful and elaborate picture of the planet’s formation and development; they have constructed a time scheme with which they can diagram, as with an overlay, each evolutionary step in the long process. But all that, I maintain, is merely information. It is not knowledge; even less is it understanding. Knowledge and understanding, though based on information as an essential component, require more, namely, feeling, intuition, physical contact—touching, and sympathy, and love. It is possible for a man and woman to know and understand one another, in this complete sense. It is possible to know, though to lesser degree, other living things—birds, animals, plants. It is even possible to know, through love, a place, a certain landscape, a river, canyon, mesa, mountain. From Abbey’s Road by Edward Abbey My Thesis as an Onion (Variedad Mizqueño) Once upon a time there was a peasant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and did not leave a single good deed behind. The devils caught her and plunged her into the lake of fire. So her guardian angel stood and wondered what good deed of hers he could remember to tell to God; 'She once pulled up an onion in her garden,' said he, 'and gave it to a beggar woman.' And God answered: 'You take that onion then, hold it out to her in the lake, and let her take hold and be pulled out. And if you can pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is.' The angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her. 'Come,' said he, 'catch hold and I'll pull you out.' He began cautiously pulling her out. He had just pulled her right out, when the other sinners in the lake, seeing how she was being drawn out, began catching hold of her so as to be pulled out with her. But she was a very wicked woman and she began kicking them. 'I'm to be pulled out, not you. It's my onion, not yours.' As soon as she said that, the onion broke. And the woman fell into the lake and she is burning there to this day. So the angel wept and went away. From The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES…………………………….……………………………. v LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………… vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………… . viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION…………………………………………… 1 CHAPTER II STUDY OBJECTIVES…………………………………….… 3 CHAPTER III COUNTRY BACKGROUND……………………………… 4 CHAPTER IV STUDY AREA BACKGROUND…………………………… 18 CHAPTER V METHODS AND DATA ……………………………………. 33 CHAPTER VI RESULTS AND DISCUSSION FOR TENURE AND LAND USE…………..……………………………………………………………… 46 CHAPTER VII ONIONS………………………………………………………. 68 CHAPTER VIII RESULTS AND DISCUSSION FOR ONION PRODUCTION 90 CHAPTER IX CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS …………… 112 LITERATURE CITED…………………………………..……………………. 118 APPENDICES……………………………………………...…………………. 121 iv LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 3.1 MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA …………………………………………5 FIGURE 3.2 THE NINE DEPARTMENTS OF BOLIVA…………………………...6 FIGURE 4.1 TIPAJARA WATERSHED DELINEATION AND DRAINAGE……19 FIGURE 4.2 DISCHARGE OF WATER, TIPAJARA RIVER………………….... 18 FIGURE 4.3 PHOTO OF TIPAJARA WATERSHED...………..…………………..20 FIGURE 4.4 WATER BALANCE TIPAJARA WATERSHED……………………21 FIGURE 4.5 TEMPERATURE CATEGORIES TIPAJARA WATERSHED…….. 22 FIGURE 4.6 SOIL SERIES BY SUBGROUP IN THE TIPJARA WATERSHED…..…………………………………………………………………...24 FIGURE 4.7 NUTRITIONAL STATE OF CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS, TIPA TIPA………………………………………………………………………...…25 FIGURE 4.8. PRE-COLOMBIAN ZOOMORPHIC FIGURES NEAR THE TOWN OF MIZQUE………….………………………………………………………..…….26 FIGURE 4.9 COLONIAL BRIDGE BETWEEN MIZQUE & COCHABAMBA….28 FIGURE 4.10 THE CATHEDRAL IN MIZQUE…..……………………………….29 FIGURE 5.1 STUDY COMMUNITIES BY NUMBER…………………………….39 FIGURE 6.1 TRADITIONAL CORN SILOS……………………………………….48 FIGURE 6.2 A TRADITIONAL BAND IN TIPA TIPA……………………………49 FIGURE 6.3 LAND TENURE AND INFRASTRUCTURE, TIPA TIPA 1961…....54 FIGURE 6.4 GALERIA FILTRANTE, TIPA TIPA………………………………...58 FIGURE 6.5 IRRIGATION CANAL, TIPA TIPA………………………………….58 FIGURE 6.6 INFRASTRUCTURE TIPA TIPA 2002………………………………60 FIGURE 6.7 LAND USE AND LAND COVER, TIPA TIPA 1961………………..62 FIGURE 6.8 LAND USE AND LAND COVER, TIPA TIPA 2002………………..64 FIGURE 6.9 ERODED HILLSIDE LANDS, TIPA TIPA…………………………..65 FIGURE 7.1 ONION SEEDBED IN TIPA TIPA…...………………………………71 FIGURE 7.2. CHICKEN MANURE………………………………………………...72 FIGURE 7.3 THE YUNTA…………………………………………………………...73 FIGURE 7.4. TRANSPLATING ONIONS………………………………………….74 FIGURE 7.5. THE THAMIDA……………………………………………………….75 FIGURE 7.6 HARVESTING ONIONS………………………..……………………76 FIGURE 7.7. THE PRIMARY INPUTS FOR ONION PRODUCTION……………78 FIGURE 7.8 ONION PLANT TISSUE DAMANGED BY MILDEW AND LEAF BLIGHT……………………………………...………………………………………80 FIGURE 7.9. ONION CROP AT THE ONSET OF A CLADOSPORIUM ATTACK…………………………………………………………….……………....81 FIGURE 7.10. TYPICAL LESIONS OF ALTERNARIA…………………………....82 FIGURE 7.11 THE MARKET DISTRIBUTION NETWORK FOR ONIONS…….87 FIGURE 8.1 IRRIGATED CROPS , TIPA TIPA JULY 2002……………………...91 FIGURE 8.2 INCOME LINES FOR YIELD OF 15 TN/HA……………………....101 FIGURE 8.3 INCOME LINES FOR YIELD OF 20 TN/HA………………………102 FIGURE 8.4 INCOME LINES FOR YIELD OF 25 TN/HA………………………102 FIGURE 8.5 INCOME LINES FOR YIELD OF 30 TN/HA………………………103 v FIGURE 8.6 RESULTS OF TUKEY TEST FOR DIFFERENCE IN USE OF TOTAL LABOR BY PARCEL SIZE CLASS……………………………………..104 FIGURE 8.7 RESULTS OF TUKEY TEST FOR DIFFERENCE IN USE OF OXEN BY PARCEL SIZE CLASS………………………………………………...104 FIGURE 8.8 RESULTS OF TUKEY TEST FOR DIFFERENCE IN USE OF SEED BY PARCEL SIZE CLASS…………………………………………………104 FIGURE 8.9 RESULTS OF TUKEY TEST FOR DIFFERENCE IN USE OF N BY PARCEL SIZE CLASS……………………………………………………...105 FIGURE 8.10 RESULTS OF TUKEY TEST FOR DIFFERENCE IN PRODUCTION COST BY PARCEL SIZE CLASS……………………………….105 FIGURE 8.11 RESULTS OF TUKEY TEST FOR DIFFERENCE IN YIELD BY PARCEL SIZE CLASS…………………………………………………………….105 FIGURE 8.12 CURING ONIONS IN THE FIELD………………………………..106 FIGURE 8.13 CURING ONIONS IN BURLAP BAGS………………………...…107 FIGURE 8.14 PLASTIC SACKS TO IMPROVE MARKETING………………....108 FIGURE 8.15 ONION CROP BEING DESTROYED BY DISEASE……………..111 vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE 3.1 CENSUS DATA BY GENDER AND AREA FOR 1950, 1976, 1992, &2001…………………………………………………………………………………8 TABLE 3.2 POPULATION DENSITY BY DEPARTMENT 1992 & 2001 CENSUS……………………………………………………………………………....9 TABLE 4.1 USDA SOILS ORDERS AND GROUPS FOR THE TIPAJARA WATERSHED……………………………………………………………………….22 TABLE 4.2 CHARACTERISTICS AND DISTRIBUTION OF DOMINANT SOIL SUBGROUPS IN THE TIPAJARA WATERSHED…….………………………….23 TABLE 5.1 SAMPLE SIZE BY COMMUNITY……………………………………38 TABLE 5.2 PHYSICAL INPUTS FOR ONION PRODUCTION IN THE TIPAJARA WATERSHED…………………………………………………….……43 TABLE 5.3 ECONOMIC INPUTS FOR ONION PRODUCTION IN THE TIPAJARA WATERSHED………………….……………………………………....43 TABLE 5.4 ECONOMIC INDICATORS FOR ONION PRODUCTION IN THE TIPAJARA WATERSHED………………………………………………………….43 TABLE 5.5 DEMOGRAPHIC AVERAGES PER HOUSEHOLD IN THE TIPAJARA WATERSHED…………………………………………………...……..44 TABLE 5.6 MEAN NUMBER OF ANIMALS PER HOUSEHOLD IN THE TIPAJARA WATERSHED………………………………………………………….44 TABLE 6.1 LAND TENURE ANALYSIS AND LAND DISTRIBUTION FOR 1961, 2002, AND FUTURE GENERATIONS……………...………………………57 TABLE 8.1. PEARSON CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS NOT INCLUDED IN REGRESSION MODEL…………………………………………………………..…93 TABLE 8.2 VARIABLES FOR ONION YIELD REGRESSION…………………. 94 TABLE 8.3 PEARSON CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS FOR VARIABLES INCLUDED IN REGRESSION MODEL………………………………………...…94 TABLE 8.4 REGRESSION MODEL FOR LOSING FARMERS…………………..97 TABLE 8.5 REGRESSION MODEL FOR WINNING FARMERS………………..97 TABLE 8.6 PARCEL SIZE CLASSES FOR TUKEY TEST……………………...103 TABLE 8.7 PRICE PER BAG AND # OF FARMERS APPLYING IMPROVED MARKETING TECHNOLOGY BY SIZE CLASS ONIONS, TIPAJARA WATERSHED…………………………………………………………………...…109 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful and fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with my advisor Blair Orr. His constant support and guidance greatly contributed to the quality of this work. Blair’s tireless effort to assist Peace Corps students in the field is a direct benefit to those that most require his assistance: poor families in developing countries. He is an inspiration to us all. I would like to thank the members of my graduate committee: Brad Baltensperger, David Flaspohler, and Casey Huckins. I am also thankful for Anne Maclean’s help with the GIS and image processing required for this project. Thank you friends and family for supporting and assisting me as I traipse around the world. Special thanks to my mother and father. Quiero agradecer a la comunidad de Tipa Tipa, por su apoyo en mis trabajos y por hacerme sentir como un miembro de la comunidad. Agradecimientos a Toribio Maygua y Mario Huanca por sus trabajos, por lo que caminaron tanto en el sol he podido realizar el estudio. Extiendo mis sinceros agradecimientos a los miembros del Comité Agropecuario de Tipa Tipa: Moisés Jiménez, Wilfredo Claros, y Noel Castro. Ellos me apoyaron en todo y me hicieron sentir como un hermano. Por fin, le agradezco a Don Filiberto Rojas, compartía sus conocimientos con todo gusto, y siempre me trataba con cariño y respeto. viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION In August of 2000, I arrived in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia to begin my two-year service as a Peace Corps volunteer (PCV). After three months of technical and language training, I was assigned to a small rural village in the Province of Mizque called Tipa Tipa. My job description was vague, but encouraging, as I was sent to help farmers with soil and water conservation.