Alta Verapaz State Is Located in the II Region Or Northern Region of G
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EFFECTS OF LAND LEGALIZATION IN THE AGRARIAN DYNAMICS OF THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES OF ALTA VERAPAZ, GUATEMALA A thesis presented to The Center for International Studies of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Francisco Jose Perez June 2005 This thesis entitled EFFECTS OF LAND LEGALIZATION IN THE AGRARIAN DYNAMICS OF THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES OF ALTA VERAPAZ, GUATEMALA BY FRANCISCO J. PEREZ has been approved for the Program of International Development Studies and The Center of International Studies by Thomas Walker Professor of Political Science Josep Rota Director, Center for International Studies PEREZ, FRANCISCO J. MA. June 2005. Rural Development Effects of land legalization in the agrarian dynamics of the indigenous communities of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala (128 pp) Director of Thesis: Thomas Walker ABSTRACT This study identifies current access to productive services for families whose land titles were legalized by FONTIERRAS with USAID funds between 2002 and 2003 in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. The methodology is developed in two stages: building homogeneous socioeconomic environment and identifying the effects of the land legalization program through types of indigenous rural families. The study identifies three socioeconomic types: Subsistence Families, Poor Peasants with Land and Peasant to Farmer. In general, Subsistence Peasants and Poor Peasants with Land are labor suppliers whose net agricultural income is below the poverty line. It also found that families have been using their land as an asset to obtain external resources. In general, there has been a reduction of credit access since the regularization process due to the credit market terms. Finally, the study recommends supporting the Poor Peasants with Land and Peasant to Farmers based on Agriculture families due to their dynamic economic mobility and vulnerability. Approved: Thomas Walker Professor of Political Science Dedication To: Marina and Gabriel And to Central American peasants, priests, students and professors disappeared, tortured, and killed for dreaming of a democratic and equitable society Acknowledgements My gratitude and indebtedness to the many individuals who have helped me in this professional and academic stage cannot adequately be conveyed in a few sentences. I am grateful to the Fulbright Program which gave me the opportunity to study in the United States. Special thanks go to Mrs. Mayra Vargas in the US embassy in Managua. The LASPAU Faculty Program for grant me this scholarship. Special thanks go to Renee Hahn, Isola Spence and Erin Brownlee. The IIE for located me on the English Training Program. Special thanks go to Andrea Mercean. My gratitude goes also to Ohio University, Center for International Studies for granting me a full tuition waver. Special thanks go to my academic advisers and members of my thesis committee: Dr. Ann Tickamyer and Dr. Elizabeth F. Collins. I want to thank Jill McKinney for her care of the Fulbright grantees. My indebtedness to Dr. Thomas Walker is profound. Dr Walker has devoted his life to building a better understanding of Central America and firmly denounced injustices there, and I had the privilege of having him as my thesis director. I am grateful to the Research Program at the University Rafael Landivar for a summer internship and for allowing me to use data and study cases for this thesis. Special thanks are due to Dr. Peter Marchetti and Maria Aracely Lazo. Special thanks go to Patricia Black for editing my drafts. 6 Table of Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................3 Dedication............................................................................................................................4 Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................5 List of Tables .......................................................................................................................7 List of Figures......................................................................................................................9 Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................................10 I. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................11 II. LITERATURE REVIEW..............................................................................................17 2.1 Rural Development: from Central Planning to Rural Territories ................................17 2.2 Land Legalization and Family Income: the Trigger Effect .........................................21 2.3 Research Questions......................................................................................................25 III. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................26 3.1 Building Rural Territories: Agrarian Zones.................................................................27 3.2 Understanding the Family’s Decision-Making Process: Types of Families................28 3.3 Data Analysis...............................................................................................................33 IV. RESULTS....................................................................................................................35 4.1 The Legalization Process .............................................................................................35 4.2 Localization of Beneficiaries .......................................................................................44 4.3 Types of Benefited Families in the Regularization Program.......................................48 4.4 Access to Rural Credit Market and the Legalization Process......................................77 V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................87 5.1 Conclusions..................................................................................................................87 5.2 Recommendations........................................................................................................91 VI. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................93 Appendix I. Building Rural Territories in Alta Verapaz ...................................................98 Appendix II. Land Price Calculations..............................................................................127 7 List of Tables Table Page 3.1.1 Logic framework of the study effects of land legalization in the agrarian dynamics of the indigenous communities of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala...................26 3.2.1 State of the legalization files in Alta Verapaz ..........................................................28 3.2.2 Distribution of communities by agrarian zone, type of contract and state of payment ................................................................................................30 3.2.3 Communities included in the study by agrarian zone, type of contract, state of payments and ethnicity.................................................................................31 4.1.3 Prices of land fixed by INTA and FONTIERRAS in Alta Verapaz ........................40 4.1.4 Payments of the INTA contracts in Alta Verapaz (2003’s US$)..............................42 4.3.1.a Resources of the subsistence peasants in Alta Verapaz.........................................50 4.3.1.b Agrarian production systems of Subsistence Peasants in Alta Verapaz................51 4.3.1.c Intensity, efficiency and profitability of the subsistence peasants in Alta Verapaz .........................................................................................................53 4.3.2.a Resources of the poor peasant with land in Alta Verapaz .....................................54 4.3.2.b Agrarian production systems of poor peasant with land in Alta Verapaz .............56 4.3.2.c Intensity, efficiency and profitability of the poor peasant with land in Alta Verapaz .........................................................................................................57 4.3.3.a Resources of the interior peasant to farmers based on agriculture in Alta Verapaz ........................................................................................................59 4.3.3.b Agrarian production systems of the interior peasant to farmer base on agriculture in Alta Verapaz..........................................................................60 4.3.3.c Intensity, efficiency and profitability of the interior peasant to farmer, based on agriculture in Alta Verapaz........................................................................61 4.3.3.d Resources of the interior peasant to farmers with cattle production in Alta Verapaz .........................................................................................................62 4.3.3.e Agrarian production systems of the interior peasant with cattle production in Alta Verapaz .........................................................................................................63 8 Table Page 4.3.3.f Intensity, efficiency and profitability of the interior peasant to farmer with cattle production in Alta Verapaz .....................................................................64 4.3.3.g Resources of the cattle producer peasant