Agricultural Marketing Networks in the Southern District of Cot!!Abamba, Bolivia
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Agricultural Marketing Networks in the Southern District of Cot!!abamba, Bolivia by George Gray-Molina November 1991 IDA Working Paper No. 78 This paper is produced by the Institute for Development Anthropology and reports on work supported by the Cooperative Agreement on Systems Approach to Regional income and Sustainable Resource Assistance (SARSA) No. DHR 5452-A-00-9083-00, at Clark University, State the Institute for Development Anthropology, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University, funded by the U.S. Agency fo International Development, Bureau for Science and Technology, Office of Rural and Institutional Development, Division of Rural and Regional Development. The views and interpretations herein are thoie of the authors and should not be attributed to the Agency for International Deveiopment or to any individual acting on ts behalf. Table of Contents 1. Marketing Networks ........................................ 1 2. General Background . ....................................... 2 A. Agroecological Zones ................................... 3 B. Population .......................................... 4 C. Land Tenure and Use ................................... 5 3. The Regional Marketing System ................................. 5 A. Marketing Intermediaries ................................. 7 B. The Feria Network .................................... 8 (1) The central place market: Aiquile ......................... 11 (2) Intermediate ferias: Raqaypampa and Mizque ................ 11 (3) Peripheral ferias ................................. 12 C. The Transportation Network ............................... 12 (1) The Aiquile group ................................ 12 (2) The Mizque group ................................ 13 (3) The Omereque group .............................. 14 4. Prices and Marketing Margins .................................. 17 A . Potatoes ........................................... 17 B . Maize ....... .. .. .. .. ...... ... .. ... 17 C . Wheat ........... ......................... ..... ... 18 D. Onions ............................................ 23 E. Tomatoes .......................................... 23 5. Summary and Conclusions: Patterns of Trade and Extraction ............... 25 6. Bibliography ............................................. 29 List of Tables Table 2.1. Estimated Population of Mizque and Campero Provinces ............ 4 Table 2.2. Agricultural Production in MIizque and Campero ................. 6 Table 3.1. Weekly Feria Calendar ................................ 9 Table 3.2. Market Stalls at Local-Level Ferias ......................... 13 Table 3.3. Aiquile Truck Owners ................................ 15 Table 3.4. Mizque Truck Owners ................................ 16 Table 4.1. Papa Runa: Market Destinations in 1990 and Average Wholesale Prices in July 1990 ...................................... 18 Table 4.2. Maiz Amarillo: Market Destinations in. 1990 and Average Wholesale Prices in July 1990 .................................. 21 Table 4.3. Wheat: Market Destinations in 1990 and Average Wholesale Prices in July 1 90 ........ .. .. .. .. ... ... .. .. .. .. .. .. ... ... 21 Table 4.4. Onions (Cebolla Blanca): Market Destinations in 1990 and Average Wholesale Prices in July 1990 ............................. 23 Table 4.5. Tomatoes: Market Destinations in 1990 and Average Wholesale Prices in July 1990 ............................................ 25 List of Maps Map 2.1. Southern District Production Zones .......................... 3 Map 3.1. Cochabamba: The Southern District Feria System ................. 10 Map 3.2. Major Transportation Groups in the Southern District ............. 14 List of Charts Chart 4.1. Marketing Margins for Papa Runa ......................... 19 Chart 4.2. Wholesale Prices for Papa Runa in 1988 ...................... 19 Chart 4.3. Marketing Margins for Maiz Amarillo ....................... 20 Chart 4.4. Wholesale Prices for Maiz Amarillo in 1988 .................... 20 Chart 4.5. Marketing Margins for Wheat ............................ 22 Chart 4.6. Wholesale Prices for Wheat in 1988 .......................... 22 Chart 4.7. Marketing Margins for Cebolla Blanca ....................... 24 Chart 4.8. Wholesale Prices for Cebolla Blanca in 1988 ................... 24 Chart 4.9. Marketing Margins for Tomatoes .......................... 26 Chart 4.10. Wholesale Prices for Tomatoes in 1988 ....................... 26 ii 1. Marketing Networks The collapse of landlord controls over agricultural production and distribution channels in the high valleys of Cochabamba, following the Bolivian National Agrarian Reform of 1953, led to the consolidation of a unique trading system based on rural networks of periodic marketplaces (ferias). Although ferias had developed in the early nineteenth century to serve the regional trading needs of small landowners (piqueros)and sharecroppers (colonos), the.post reform marketing system emerged pimarily as an arena for outward expansion.' Where landowners had once monopolized the outward flow of agricultural goods to urban and mining centers, a new class of local marketing intermediaries arose to provide a highly differentiated chain of marketing services linking smallholders to regional and national markets.' The present-day organization of marketing networks has cvolved considerably since the early period of agricultural expansion and explosive marketing of the i950s. CochabambL.'s urban and semi-urban growth during the past two decades, including the phenomenal emergence of a "coca economy" during the 1980s, has encouraged the development of a wcll-organized hierarchical trading system centeied around networks of rural marketing intermediaries. Truckers, bulkers, wholesalers, and retailers have sustained and enhanced their degree of marketing power over the years, often at the expense of further feria network growth. In fact, most of the cash crops commercialized in Cochabamba today bypass the rural feria system altogether, flowing (via wholesalers) directly from fatmgates to urban marketing centers.3 The case study presented throughout this paper focuses on the current characteristics of ferias and intermediary networks operating in the southern district of Cochabamba. Over the past ten years, ferias in the southern district have become increasingly effective at organizing the inward flow of commodities and services, while transportation networks have specialized in organizing the outward flow of goods. The resulting system has sustained an uneven pattern of marketing development, efficient at extraction but notably inefficient at providing rural producers with the potential benefits of full-scale commercialization (a more productive division of labor, opportunities for capital accumulation, and a reliable market for foodstuffs). Some of the key questions posed uy present initiatives for economic growth in the southern district relate directly to the functioning of the internal marketing system. The southern district, encompassing Mizque and Campero provinces, has been an important producer of grains, fruit, and cattle for urban markets, as well as a key labor reservoir for lowland agriculture. 'The renewal of interdepartmental highways and the integrated rural development 'For an in-depth historical analysis of the agrarian history of Cochabamba and the early impact of capitalist market relations, see Larson (1988). 2 For analyses of regional trade since the Agrarian Reform see the CERES Cochabamba Series: Laserna (1984); Blanes and Flores (1984); Calder6n and-Rivera (1983). Also see CIPCA publications: Ustariz and Mendoza (1982) and Michaud (1990). 3 See CEFOIN (1990); Abt Associates (1990); Paulson (1990). efforts of USAID's Associated High Valleys Project will undoubtedly continue to transform the food and labor markets of the district throughout the 1990s.' Whether smallholders and sharecroppers, who make up the vast majority of farming units in the associated high valleys, expect to benefit from future increases in production, will depend as much on their marketing power within the trading system as on their terms of trade for urban consumer goods and productive inputs. Within the context of integrated rural development it will be particularly important to ask what role producers, truckers, bulkers, wholesalers, and retailers will play within the regional chain of marketing distribution. It will also be important to assess to what degree wholesale and retail prices of agricultural goods fluctuate in rural and urban marketing centers throughout the year. In the following pages I suggest tentative answers to some of these questions, by noting the most important characteristics of the southern district's marketing system. The first chapter presents a general background of the region, describing its agroecological diversity, population characteristics, and land tenure regimes. The second chapter focuses on the networks of ferias and intermediaries that provide arenas for commercial exchange throughout the district. Finally, I report on the price behavior of five agricultural commodities during 1989, and on marketing margins for intermediaries at different steps of the distribution chain. 2. G:neral Background The southern district comprises Mizque and Campero provinces, the southernmost provinces of the department of Cochabamba. Their combined area is 8.280 square kilometers, approximately 15 percent of the department.5 The capital of Campero province, Aiquile (also the central place of the southern district), is located