Irrigation in an urbanizing area
A case study on the water users’ viewpoints and practices in Córdoba, Argentina
MSc. Thesis Jurrian Wilmink December 2014 Water Resources Management group
The top cover page picture shows the skyline of Córdoba (Wikipedia 2014), the other cover page pictures were made by me during my fieldwork, going clockwise: the first picture is one of the naves in Mercado de Abasto, the second is a Bolivian farmer who cleanses his harvest, the third is a plot with zapallito plants, the last is an irrigation canal in Colonia Caroya Irrigation in an urbanizing area
A case study on the water users’ viewpoints and practices in Córdoba, Argentina
Master thesis Water Resources Management submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Science in International Land and Water Management at Wageningen University, the Netherlands
Jurrian WIlmink
December 2014
Supervisor: Dr.ir. M.Z. Zwarteveen Drs. H.E. Claringbould Water Resources Management group Corepage Wageningen University www.corepage.nl The Netherlands www.wageningenur.nl/wrm
Local Supervisor: Prof.dr.ir. S.M. Reyna Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales Universidad Nacional de Córdoba www.efn.uncor.edu
ABSTRACT The horticultural irrigation system Cinturón Verde has shrunk with almost 70 % in area since its design, 25 years ago. The main reason for this is water shortage due to an increased water use of the growing city Córdoba. The cultivated crops can’t grow in this climate without the addition of irrigation water. To provide the water users with extra water, a plan was made to use the effluent from Córdoba’s central treatment plant, Bajo Grande, as an extra source of irrigation water for Cinturón Verde Norte. This research analysed the different water users in Cinturón Verde Norte and sought to predict what consequences the (not) pursuing of this plan has for these water users.
The water users were categorized in groups, using the axes of gender, ethnicity and work hierarchy. With a literature study and interviews, information was gathered about the appreciation, use and access of users’ current sources of water. This information was combined with the water users’ viewpoint on treated wastewater from Bajo Grande. Together, this information was used to make a prediction on how the future would look like, when the effluent of Bajo Grande will be connected to Cinturón Verde Norte or not.
The majority of the interviewed water users were using the diminishing source of river water from the Suquía River. A minority was using groundwater, which is mostly too expensive for the smallholder farmers in this irrigation system. None of the interviewed water users stated to use the irrigation water for other purposes than irrigation, the literature study, however, showed otherwise. A definite answer in this is significant for estimating the importance of a high quality of water.
Treated wastewater was, on average, perceived slightly negative by the interviewed water users. Women seemed to appreciate treated wastewater less than men. Furthermore, water users had a strong preference of a private run wastewater treatment plant, over one that is run by a governmental body.
In this research, a contestation was found on the daily reality of the water users in Cinturón Verde Norte. On the one hand, immigrant water users are equal in rights to Argentinean water users. On the other hand, a marginal group of especially Bolivian immigrants is exploited as a cheap workforce for producers to be able to compete at the market.
The conclusions about prosecuting the plan and the contestation about immigrant water users were charted to create four scenarios. Both scenarios on not using treated wastewater didn’t lead to a sustainable future for Cinturón Verde Norte, due to water shortage. In the case of using treated wastewater, when divergence between the water user groups is sought after, the food production would probably increase the most, but at the cost of the quality of life of many of the Bolivian water users. When alignment between these groups is aimed for, food production will probably still increase, but slower. This scenario would most likely have the best outcome for all of the water user groups regarded in this research.
Keywords: case study, irrigation, water shortage, analysis, water user groups, user-functions, treated wastewater, Bajo Grande, water users’ viewpoints, appreciation, use, access, contestation, gender, ethnicity, work hierarchy, immigrants, Bolivian immigrants, peri-urban, Cinturón Verde Norte, Cinturón Verde, Córdoba, Argentina.
i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I want to thank dr. Margreet Zwarteveen, it would not have been possible to end up with this thesis without her support and guidance. She gave me crucial help on how to perform and write a social research. I also want to thank her for the growth and new insights she gave me during this process, I learned a great deal from this thesis. I want to thank dr. Santiago Reyna for his guidance and making it possible to stay in Córdoba: from the point of arriving there up to the point of leaving Argentina, I had all the help I needed to perform the fieldwork for this research. I want to thank Heleen Claringbould for her guidance in the Netherlands as well as in Argentina, and want to thank her for involving me with the COROADO project.
I furthermore want to thank Miguel Royan for helping me with my accommodation and fieldwork, I want to thank María José Sedda for her help with my fieldwork and the help she gave me with my limitations in the Spanish language. I want to thank Cecilia Irazuzta for helping me with my fieldwork and the appointments and transport she could arrange during the process.
I want to thank Anja Lienert for her advice, time and moral support during this process.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction: the finite source of water 1
2. Research Objectives 3
3. Concepts and Theories 5
3.1. Case study approach and triangulation 5 3.2. Water users, User-functions and Axes of differentiation 6 3.3. Appreciation, Use and Access 7 3.4. Social reality, Contestation 8
4. Research Background 9
4.1. Water Availability 9 4.2. Horticulture 15 4.3. Demography 19
5. Research approaches 20
5.1. September, arriving in Argentina 20 5.2. November, performing Field Work 20 5.3. January, the last weeks in Argentina 22 5.4. Reflection 23
6. Results 24
6.1. Analysis of the water user groups in Cinturón Verde Norte 24 6.2. Viewpoints towards, and practices with, current water supply 28 6.3. The appreciation of treated wastewater from Bajo Grande 30 6.4. Contestation on the daily reality in CVN 31
7. Discussion 33
7.1. An analysis of Cinturón Verde Norte 33 7.1. An analysis of Cinturón Verde Norte 33 7.2. The future of Cinturón Verde Norte 35 7.3. Conclusions 38
Bibliography 39
Appendix A
1 Tables and figures A 2 Questionnaire of the market survey C
iii TABLE OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1: VISUALISATION OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS. 3
FIGURE 2: MAP OF ARGENTINA WITH CLIMATE ZONES. 9
FIGURE 3: MAP OF THE RIVERS OF THE PROVINCE CÓRDOBA. 10
FIGURE 4: LAND USE MAP OF THE SUQUÍA BASIN. 11
FIGURE 5: PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL FRESHWATER CONSUMPTION PER SECTOR IN THE SUQUÍA BASIN. 12
FIGURE 6: THE SUQUÍA RIVER UPSTREAM OF CÓRDOBA. 13
FIGURE 7: MAP OF THE CINTURÓN VERDE OF CÓRDOBA. 16
FIGURE 8: AERIAL VIEW OF MERCADO DE ABASTO. 18
FIGURE 9: ARGENTINA’S AND CÓRDOBA’S IMMIGRANTS BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH. 19
FIGURE 10: FOUR FUTURE SCENARIO'S FOR CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE. 36
FIGURE 11: MAJOR LAND USES IN THE SUQUÍA BASIN. A
FIGURE 12: DIVISION OF POTABLE WATER IN THE CITY CÓRDOBA. B
FIGURE 13: FORMER SITUATION OF CÓRDOBA'S CINTURÓN VERDE. B
TABLE OF TABLES
TABLE 1: OVERVIEW OF THE MULTIPLE TRIANGULATION, USED IN THIS RESEARCH. 6
TABLE 2: PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL AMMOUNT OF BOLIVIAN IMMIGRANTS IN ARGENTINA, PER PROVINCE 26
TABLE 3: TYPES OF AGRICULTURAL JOBS IN CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE 27
TABLE 4: THE APPRECIATION OF CURRENT WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY 29
TABLE 5: RESULTS FROM MERCADO DE ABASTO 31
TABLE 6: A COMPARISON OF THE FOUR SCENARIOS 37
TABLE 7: MOST COMMON CROPS CULTIVATED IN THE SUQUÍA BASIN A
TABLE OF BOXES
BOX 1: LA VOZ ON THE SHORTAGE OF WATER IN CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE 13
BOX 2: LA VOZ ON THE PROBLEMS OF LOCAL CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION 17
iv 1. INTRODUCTION: THE FINITE SOURCE OF WATER Since the dawn of irrigated agriculture, mankind progressively started growing crops under different environmental circumstances while opposing different threats, cultivating under the burden of floods, droughts, salinity, barrenness, frostbite, diseases and pests. Over the centuries, the world population started to grow and its density increased, especially close to available water sources; wherein competition between human water users themselves started to grow in importance. During this process, seemingly infinite and trusty resources like lush rivers and lavish groundwater reserves, didn’t turn out to be that abundant after all and water users needed to compromise for their needs. Besides, global warming is expected to increase the amount of droughts especially in dry areas, cumulating to the already existing pressure on available water sources (IPCC 2014).
The global population nowadays counts over 7 billion people and is still growing, in 2050 it is assumed to be up to 9 billion people (UN 2004). The amount of people living in cities will even increase with a higher percentage: in 1990 around 40 % of the people consisted out of city dwellers, this increased to 50 % in 2010 and will be around 70 % in 2050 (WHO 2013). This means that in 40 years (from 2010 to 2050) cities will globally grow with approximately 2.8 billion people.
All of these city dwellers are consumers who depend on farmers, growing crops on their plots to produce and sell the food that they can buy at the markets and shops throughout their cities. Although this increases the pressure on the agricultural sector as a whole, farmers can benefit from this situation and generate a unique advantage when settling close to these infinite bazaars. Cultivating close to (or within) a city reduces the transport time and costs and the resulting decline in quality of their fresh products, which gives them a competition advantage at the city market. Furthermore, infrastructure like roads, but also electricity and tap water are better available close to cities. In some scenarios the city’s wastewater is used for irrigation water, which is cheaper than most of the other available sources of water and is a reliable source of water that is full of nutrients (i.e. the residents of the city will always keep using water, which means that there is always wastewater available) (Hoek, et al. 2002).
The presence of agricultural land and its enterprises on the periphery of the city on the one hand and the growing city on the other, causes competition on available land: conflicts arise between the maintenance of local agricultural production in these areas and the rapid and often uncontrolled consumption of land by growing urban activities and infrastructures (Aubry, et al. 2012). Another source of competition is water, and this for two main reasons. Firstly, it is one of the most important resources to make a living, because many enterprises and every household need access to water (think of agriculture and industry but also domestic use e.g. drinking water). Secondly, water is mobile, meaning that changes in quantity or quality of water upstream will be observed downstream. Upstream agriculture affects the water supply to a city positioned downstream, just as water use in a city affects the downstream rural areas. Because irrigation in an urban environment involves multiple stakeholders from different sectors, these struggles and opportunities are often complex and multi-dimensional (cf. (Drechsel, et al. 2006)).
A project that works with this topic is the COROADO project. The COROADO project is a cooperative project funded by the European Union, which aims to reduce water scarcity in Latin America by constructing a decision support tool for implementing and optimising water recycling and reuse technologies (Karavitis n.d.). Its objective is stated as follows:
The main goal of COROADO Project is the assessment of the potential use of wastewater recycling and reuse technologies in Latin America as a water scarcity mitigation measure. For the fulfilment of that goal, four study sites, spread over the continent, have been selected based on their unique characteristics and the inherent challenges that need to be met. (Coroado 2012b)
1
This research was done in one of these four study sites, the Suquía Basin in Argentina. Argentina’s population lives for 93 % in cities (in 2012) (WorldBank 2014); this percentage annually increases with a change rate of 1.1 % (CIAfactbook 2010). The high and still growing percentage of people living in Argentina’s cities, together with the fact that fruits and vegetables consumed in these cities historically come from surrounding agricultural land (Lozano 2012), make them good sites to study irrigation in peri-urban areas1. The Suquía River runs through the million city Córdoba, which doubled in its population in the last 20 years (Coroado 2013b).
This research focusses on the troublesome northern part of Córdoba’s peri-urban irrigation system, which is called Cinturón Verde Norte (i.e. the northern greenbelt). Unlike the southern section of Cinturón Verde, it doesn’t have an extra source of surface water, apart from the one shared with the city itself (the Suquía River). As the city is expanding and demanding more water from this source for the creation of potable water, water users in Cinturón Verde Norte are having more and more problems to obtain sufficient water for their daily needs.
To provide the water users in Cinturón Verde Norte with extra water, a plan is being made to use the effluent from Córdoba’s central treatment plant as an extra source of irrigation water for Cinturón Verde Norte (Reyna 2013). This research analysed the different water users in this irrigation system and sought to predict what consequences the (not) pursuing of this plan has for these water users. In this research, emphasis is put on the views on, and different user-functions of, irrigation water by the men and women working and living in this area.
1 Peri-urban areas are areas on the periphery of an urban area.
2
2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Córdoba’s Cinturón Verde is the third biggest horticultural production area in Argentina; its open canal irrigation system, fed by the Suquía River, was designed between 1984 and 1989 (Toselli 2011). However, due to competition for water and land, this area diminishes rapidly. In just 20 years, between its construction in 1989 and 2009 it shrunk by almost 60 % and keeps doing so (Sayago, et al. 2009). Nowadays, Córdoba’s Cinturón Verde occupies around 8,800 ha (Coroado 2013b), which is 32 % of its original area, 25 years ago (and only 26 % of the 34.000 ha it was actually designed on) (Toselli 2011). The expanding city thus jeopardizes its peri-urban irrigation system, deteriorating both the water quantity and quality of the available sources of supply. The southern part of Cinturón Verde has an extra source for irrigation water, the northern part doesn’t. The local climate doesn’t allow cultivating the water-demanding horticultural crops without irrigation. Therefore, a plan is developed to connect the effluent of the city’s main wastewater treatment plant, Bajo Grande, to Cinturón Verde Norte (Reyna 2013). This would create an extra source of water for the irrigation system. This research has a focus on the social aspects of this irrigation system.
The objective of this research is to get insight in whether it is rational, from the perspective of the different water user groups, to pursue the plan of connecting the effluent from the treatment plant Bajo Grande to the horticultural irrigation system, Cinturón Verde Norte. Four research questions are answered in order to gather the relevant knowledge. A visual representation of these four questions is given in Figure 1.
RESEARCH ON WATER USER PERCEPTION OF CHANGES IN WATER SUPPLY CVN #2 Different CVN #1 versions of CVN (RQ4)
Axes of differentiation
access
appreciation Relation with current sources of water (RQ2) use
?
= CVN
= Bajo Grande
FIGURE 1: VISUALISATION OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS; CVN = CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE.
3
To seek differences in how water users use their water, what their viewpoints on water are and what contestations can be found in how water users perceive the daily reality in the irrigation system, the water users of Cinturón Verde Norte are categorized in groups. To do this, different axes of differentiation are chosen. The choice of these water user groups is made on the basis of their relevance in the context of water use and assumed similarity on how they react on changes in water supply (i.e. groups that are assumed to have the same relation with water and will therefore probably be affected in the same way due to a change in the water supply). After the axes of differentiation were formed, a literature study on these different water user groups followed. This was done to get a better understanding of the situation of these water users groups. Research question one is formulated as follows:
RQ1: What axes can be used, in order to divide the water users in groups that have similar user-functions for water and which are affected similarly by a change in water quality and quantity?
The water users in CVN are currently not using treated wastewater from Bajo Grande. This creates a knowledge gap in how water users would use or access this potential source of water. This research sought to fill this gap with research question two and three. Research question two focuses on the water users’ relation with their current sources of water. With relation, the sum up of appreciation, use and access is meant. With this information I try to make predictions on what their relation will be with treated wastewater from Bajo Grande. Research question two is formulated as follows:
RQ2: How do different water user groups appreciate , use and access their current sources of irrigation water?
Even though water users currently aren’t using treated wastewater, their appreciation of this source can be asked. Research question three is asked to get insight in the perception of the water users about using treated wastewater from Bajo Grande. This will give information on their viewpoints on treated wastewater in general, and using the effluent from Bajo Grande. The question is stated as follows:
RQ3: How do different water user groups appreciate treated wastewater from Bajo Grande?
The different water user groups may have different views on the reality of CVN. This difference in how the daily reality is perceived by these groups can influence the way they react on changes in water supply. The objective of research question four is to understand the social reality of Cinturón Verde Norte through the eyes of the different water user groups. This question is stated as follows:
RQ4: How does the social reality of Cinturón Verde Norte differ between the chosen water user groups?
By combining these four research questions: 1) an analysis is made on the water users. 2) Information about the water users’ relation with their current sources of water is gathered. Which 3) is used, together with information on their appreciation about treated wastewater, to get insight on the feasibility, from the water users’ perspective, of connecting the effluent of Bajo Grande to Cinturón Verde Norte.
This thesis report is structured as follows: the next chapter , the third chapter of this thesis, outlines the concepts and theories that are used. The fourth gives information on the background of this research. In the fifth chapter, the different research approaches that are used during the process of this research are talked upon. The sixth chapter outlines the results of this research, and the seventh chapter will discuss these findings and this research.
4
3. CONCEPTS AND THEORIES This chapter outlines the used concept and theories, and clarifies why these are used in this research. The first part describes the type of research. The second, third and fourth part discuss the concepts that are used for the different research questions.
3.1. CASE STUDY APPROACH AND TRIANGULATION Case study approach
This research sought to get an in-depth analysis of the water users of Córdoba’s irrigation system Cinturón Verde Norte. In order to do this, questions were addressed about how and why the system works as it does. Therefore a case study approach was chosen, as this approach allows investigators to retain the holistic and meaningful characteristics of real-life events, such as individual life cycles, small group behaviour and organizational and managerial processes (Yin 2009, 4). Case studies tend to generate theory with less researcher bias (i.e. the researcher doesn’t fall into a tunnel focus approach towards his specific research), which is likely to be empirically valid (Eisenhardt 1989). This is because the theory-building process is so intimately tied with evidence that it is very likely that the resultant theory will be consistent with empirical observation, producing theory which closely mirrors reality (Ibid. 547). It “unfreezes” the researcher and allows him/her to focus on different groups of analysis and to use different qualitative and quantitative methods to obtain data, thereby creating an embedded design attained to that specific case (Ibid.).
This open ended and customizable case study approach works great for this research, because different irrigation systems never precisely coincide to one another (especially in the social dimension) and have a unique unstandardized character. This means that I needed to finalise bordering my research when I was already performing fieldwork. Furthermore, the water users still needed to be identified and categorized in groups in the first research question, which requires an approach that gives the freedom of still defining or altering the units of analysis.
Triangulation
To improve the reliability of the output of this research and to explore the different aspects of Cinturón Verde Norte (i.e. view the irrigation system through different glasses), I made use of multiple triangulation2: triangulation in methodology and triangulation in data (Denzin 1970).
Triangulation in methodology refers to using different quantitative and qualitative methods to obtain the research data (Thurmond 2001). Using different data collection methods helps counterbalancing the flaws of one data-collection method with the strengths of another ((Mitchell 1986, 19) according to Thurmond (2001)). It also fastens the research process: the open characteristics of qualitative data acquisition helps identifying important research topics where later on can be acted upon using quantitative methods. The different methods used in this research are: semi-structured interviews, structured interviews and participation observation.
Triangulation in data refers to the use of different sources to obtain data about the same topics; this helps interpreting the data from a source and extract its errors (Thurmond 2001). The different sources used for the triangulations in data are as follows:
The COROADO project and the National University of Córdoba had information on the river basin, the city of Córdoba, irrigation system and the problems and opportunities of its water users.
2 Multiple triangulation is the use of different types of triangulation in one research study (Thurmond 2001).
5
The municipalities of Córdoba, Colonia Caroya and Colonia Tirolesa knew about the province’s legal framework and helped to connect me to other stakeholders and professionals. The associations and institutions in and around Cinturón Verde Norte gave the truth regimes of the water users whom they represented, and gave detailed and practical information on the irrigation system. Professionals of the COROADO project, the National University of Córdoba and those that were working in the study area, gave in-depth knowledge on the specific topics of their expertise and highlighted the irrigation system from different points of view. The water users themselves are the central units of analysis, they gave information that stands central for the research questions of this case study.
An overview of the multiple triangulation, used for this case study is outlined in Table 1.
TABLE 1: OVERVIEW OF THE MULTIPLE TRIANGULATION, USED IN THIS RESEARCH. Type of interview Type of stakeholder Organization/Occupation Female (#) Male (#) Structured interview water user producer 6 37 association/institution WUA 2 1 FAA 1 1 APH 1 Movilidad Humana 1 Semi-structured interview water user agricultural employee 1 government municipality of Córdoba 1 municipality of Colonia Caroya 1 municipality of Colonia Tirolesa 1 professional COROADO project member 1 1 Bajo Grande engineer 1 irrigation engineer 1 expert in water-quality 1 expert of Chacra de la Merced 1 Participant observation water user producer 1 1 Total 11 51
3.2. WATER USERS, USER-FUNCTIONS AND AXES OF DIFFERENTIATION Cinturón Verde Norte primarily consists out of smallholder farmers (Coroado 2013b). Especially due to their lower socioeconomic status (compared to large landowners), will a focus on the interactions between water resources and people rather than on the resource only create better insights on how water users adapt to changes like water scarcity (Hanjr and Qureshi 2010). Because of this, part of the information gathered in this research is first-hand data from the water users in Cinturón Verde Norte.
Considering the needs of the water users, and involving them in the process of possibly connecting Bajo Grande with the irrigation system, can be an important step to improve the output of the plan: it is more likely that water users will meet running-costs and maintain the canals and structures (Chambers 1995), creating a more sustainable output for the future. Information from this research can help, by identifying them, meeting the needs of the water users themselves.
An irrigation system doesn’t consist out of a homogeneous group of water users, all having the same characteristics, needs and behaviour. Different water users in an irrigation system have different needs for their living and have different user-functions for the water they use. This means that some water users may
6 appreciate certain water characteristics over others. However, when altered the water characteristics to the needs of these users, it can consequently lead to other water users being hindered in their daily lives due to these distinct characteristics.
When a research isn’t aimed at a specific development or group of water users within an irrigation system but the target is the ‘general interest’, without actually focussing on what this would be, it will (unknowingly) mean ‘taking sides’, which results in working on the platform of only one group of water users (Schrijvers 1995). This group often consists out of the better-off, while the lower socio-economic classes that often consist out of women and the poor are doing all the work to create their benefits (Curtis 1995).
Not seeing the people in an irrigation system as one unit but analysing the different types of users helps identifying the needs of the different water users, thereby obtaining knowledge on the effects and reactions of changes made (or that could be made) in the irrigation system.
3.3. APPRECIATION, USE AND ACCESS The water users’ viewpoints on water and how they use and access it can be just as important as the characteristics of the concerning water source and infrastructure. Their viewpoints on quality can make them (not) use water with a given quality, independent of its actual quality (cf. (Singh 2012)), or exclude potential water sources based on the water users’ way of accessing irrigation water (cf. (Crow and Sultana 2002)). It is therefore crucial to understand the water users’ viewpoints on, and practices with, the sources of water they use, when altering the design of an irrigation system or make a prediction on the future effects of an ongoing alteration like the urbanizing environment in this case. The terms appreciating, using and accessing water result in questions about why and how water is used; these terms describe the interactions between water and water users. The following paragraphs outline these three terms.
“Appreciation is the act of recognizing or understanding that something is valuable or important” (CambridgeUniversity 2013). Appreciating covers the opinions and views about using water. This is important because these lay ground to what different people do and the reasons behind it. It is firstly important to know how different people distinguish in appreciating different quantities and qualities of water, what they categorize as good or bad quality water and if they are aware of the short term fluctuations and long term changes in water quality and quantity. Gathering information on what is (not) appreciated water quality for different user-functions helps to understand on the basis of what variables different people make their choices.
“Use is to put something such as a tool, skill, or building to a particular purpose” (CambridgeUniversity 2013). Using concerns actions and practices. This is important in order to research the linearity between viewpoints and actual actions. This part analyses whether the appreciation of the water quality influences the way water users use their water, and what user-functions they have for a given source of (irrigation) water. Furthermore, whether safety measures are taken when working with water, gives an indication about their viewpoints on water quality, the health impacts of a deteriorating water quality and whether appreciation and use coincide.
“Access is the method or possibility of getting near to a place or person” (CambridgeUniversity 2013). Access is about the possibilities and limitations of using water sources. Information on the payment of water and whether this differs depending on quality and quantity, the rights and obligations of water users (i.e. the rules on paper (Boelens 2010)) and alternative water sources were sought in this concept. Furthermore, enabling conditions that are required to actually use this claimed water are researched (e.g. pumps or canals). These enabling conditions bridge the right to water and actually attaining it (cf. (Borras, Fig and Suárez 2011)).
The concepts ‘use’ and ‘access’ can’t yet be determined for the use of treated wastewater from Bajo Grande. To overcome this information gap, they were queried for their current sources instead. In research question two, the ‘appreciation’, ‘use’ and ‘access’ of current water sources is asked for. The third research question then focusses on the ‘appreciation’ of treated wastewater from Bajo Grande. Combining these two research
7 questions, a prediction is made on how water users will ‘use’ and ‘access’ treated wastewater from Bajo Grande.
3.4. SOCIAL REALITY, CONTESTATION Following the thinking that water users can’t be seen as a homogeneous group, the concept of the fourth research question is contestation. Rather than choosing the leading version of the social reality in Cinturón Verde Norte, this research tried to explore for, and distinguish, different versions of the social working of Cinturón Verde Norte. As Searle (1995) describes, beside the intrinsic fact there are also the observer relative facts: how reality is perceived by the observer. Different observers can have a different relative fact, even though all are considering the same intrinsic fact. These versions of observer relative facts are the different social realities sought after in this research. The axes that were used to divide the water users upon (research question one), stood central for the exploration to these different versions; just as the choice of axes was partly based on the different social realities of the water users, making this an iterative process.
8
4. RESEARCH BACKGROUND The research background is divided into three subchapters: water availability, horticulture and demography. These will have a downscaling structure, starting in the context of Argentina as a country and ending at the scale of different aspects within the study area. This downscaling helps to understand and gives perspective to the situation in the study area. The third subchapter will only give a brief summary of Argentina’s and Córdoba’s demography. The literature study of the first research question comes up with a more detailed background on the chosen water user groups.
4.1. WATER AVAILABILITY The first section gives a brief introduction on climate, climate change and geography. The second section describes the land and water use in the Suquía Basin. The third and fourth chapter primarily describe the Suquía River, with the former having a focus on water quantity and the latter on water quality.
4.1.1. CLIMATE AND GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION Argentina has a varied climate: ranging from a strong terrestrial desert climate in the western part of the country, to a temperate oceanic sub-tropical climate in the east; the north is characterized by wet summers and dry winters, adjoining a tropical climate zone, whereas the most southern part has an arctic tundra climate. The province Córdoba is located centrally north in the country and primarily has a hot dry sub-tropical climate, and a hot humid sub-tropical climate in the western part (Figure 2).
Am - Tropical Monsoon
Aw - Tropical Savannah
BWh - Hot Desert
BWk - Cold Desert
BSh - Hot Semi-Arid
BSk - Cold Semi-Arid
CSa - Hot-Summer Mediterranean
CSb - Warm-Summer Mediterranean
CWa - Hot Humid Sub-Tropical
CWb - Warm Humid Sub-Tropical
Córdoba CWc - Cold Humid Sub-Tropical Province CFa - Hot Dry Sub-Tropical
CFb - Warm Dry Sub-Tropical
CFc - Cold Dry Sub-Tropical
ET - Arctic Tundra Climate
FIGURE 2: MAP OF ARGENTINA WITH CLIMATE ZONES. Created from: (PEEL, FINLAYSON AND MCMAHON 2007), (ZUID-AMERIKA 2013), (PIDWIRNY 2011) and (CÓRDOBA PROVINCE, ARGENTINA 2012). The landscape of the province Córdoba is predominately categorized by hills and rivers. The main rivers originate in the hills in the east and flow to the west (Figure 3). The hilly landscape in the north east is called Sierras de Córdoba with a maximum altitude of 2,884 m at Mount Champaquí (Calamuchita n.d.). From here
9 the most northern of these main rivers originates. This river is called the Suquía River (or Primero River); the study area is located within the watershed of this river (encircled in green in Figure 3). The Suquía River flows through the city Córdoba (at about 400 m AMSL (Daftlogic 2013)), the capital city of the province Córdoba, and functions as the main source of irrigation water for the study area.
FIGURE 3: MAP OF THE RIVERS OF THE PROVINCE CÓRDOBA (RÍOS DE CÓRDOBA 2008). Edited: an impression of the Suquía Basin encircled in green; the city Córdoba underlined in red.
The Suquía Basin has an average cumulative rainfall of 762 mm per year, of which approximately half falls in the summer months. The area’s annual potential evapotranspiration is 1299 mm, which even in the wettest months outranges the rainfall. This creates a dry environment in the major part of the year. The amount of
10 available water per capita is about 420 m³ per year, which is classified, in the Falkenmark index3, as a status of absolute water scarcity. (Coroado 2013a)
The COROADO project made two future climate scenarios for the Suquía Basin, these are emission scenarios A2 and B2. Both of these scenarios are based on regional climate change projections. The A2 emission scenario is based on economic growth only, and the B2 emission scenario on intermediate economic development combined with environmental stability. In the years 2071 to 2100, the average temperature is projected to increase between 2° C and 3° C or 2° C and 2.5° C, respectively for the scenarios A2 and B2. In a projection for the year 2090, the mean monthly precipitation will increase with 6 mm (compared with the precipitation between 1970 and 1999). Higher temperatures will also enhance the evaporation, making it unclear whether this projected increase in precipitation will result in a surplus of available water or not. (Ibid.)
4.1.2. LAND- AND WATER-USE IN THE SUQUÍA BASIN The majority of land (> 60 %) in the Suquía River Basin (Figure 4) is used for agricultural purposes (Appendix: Figure 11). Most of the cultivated crops are seasonal crops like soybean, wheat, corn and other kinds of cereals (Annex 1: Table 7). Because the rainy season takes place during summer, the cultivation of these crops is feasible without the support of irrigation (Coroado 2013b). The most common soil in the Suquía Basin is a deep loam soil; in general there are no problems derived from low soil infiltration, drainage, shallow water tables and salinity (UC 2012). In contrast to the seasonal grains, horticultural crops, which demand more water and are cultivated whole year round, do need extra irrigation water to be cultivated (D. Esteban 2012). Although urban land only comprises 13.5 % of the land, it is a major competitor for the use of water (Ibid.). Not only in total volume, but also in spatial aspects (i.e. the city Córdoba and the irrigation system Cinturón Verde Norte, both demand water from the same river at the same offtake for water use in almost the same area).
Figure 6 Suquía River Figure 7 Xanaes River
Molinos-Córdoba Channel
FIGURE 4: LAND USE MAP OF THE SUQUÍA BASIN (COROADO 2013A). Edited: the black labelling; the light-blue line proximately representing the Molinos-Córdoba Channel; the green spheres indicating the location of FIGURE 6 and FIGURE 7.
3 The Falkenmark indicator defines the fraction of the total annual runoff that is available for human use (Brown and Matlock 2011, 1).
11
The most important sector in the Suquía Basin is the tertiary sector with a GDP4 of 64 % (in 2011); in this year, the secondary sector had a GDP of 26.8 % and the primary sector one of 9.5 % (Coroado 2012a). In 2011 the GDP per capita was US$ 13,200 (Ibid.), which was slightly below the national average of US$ 13,694 in 2011 (Worldbank 2014).
The urban area of the city Córdoba has been increased for the purpose of housing, resulting in a higher demand for water in the urban and domestic sector. The development of tourism in the upper part of the basin also increases the demand for drinking water and water for recreational purposes. The total amount of water used in the Suquía Basin amounts to 480.8 Mm³/yr. and is divided under the different sectors as indicated in Figure 5. (Coroado 2013a)
Freshwater use per sector in the Suquía Basin
4% 13% 26% agricultural urban/domestic environmental industrial
57%
FIGURE 5: PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL FRESHWATER CONSUMPTION PER SECTOR IN THE SUQUÍA BASIN; agricultural sector: 123 mm³/yr., urban/domestic sector: 274.4 mm³/yr., environmental sector: 63.1 mm³/yr. And the industrial sector 20.3 mm³/yr. (COROADO 2013A).
Figure 5 shows that, although agriculture only represents a small share of the region’s profit, it demands a substantial amount of available water. Nevertheless, irrigated agriculture is important to supply the city with horticultural products (Coroado 2013b). A growing city means a higher urban and domestic water demand, in the case of the city Córdoba (i.e. both sectors use water from the Suquía River) this means less available water for the agricultural sector. A growing population again means a higher consumption rate.
4.1.3. FROM DAM TO DEPRESSION The main source of both the potable water for the city Córdoba and the irrigation water for the horticultural irrigation system Cinturón Verde Norte is the Suquía River (Figure 4). This river starts west of the city Córdoba, where it is fed from a dozen of rivers and creeks in the Sierras de Córdoba5, which all flow into the San Roque reservoir (called ‘L. San Roque’ in Figure 3, about 640 AMSL (Daftlogic 2013)). The San Roque Reservoir is an artificial lake, formed by the San Roque Dam, which is the start of the Suquía River. The reservoir has multiple user-functions that range from flood control and hydroelectric power generation to recreational purposes for the local tourism sector (Coroado 2013b). From here the water passes two more dams, ‘El Diquecito’ and
4 The Gross Domestic Product: the total value of goods and services produced by a country in a year (Cambridge 2014). 5 Sierras de Córdoba are part of Sierras Pampeanas, a collection of mountain ranges that characterise the landscape in the north-west of Argentina (Ramos, Cristallini and Pérez 2002).
12
‘Dique Mal Paso’ (Mal Paso Dam). These are primarily constructed for heightening the water table (Toselli 2011) (Figure 6).
Over the last 75 years, the Suquía River has had an average discharge of 11 m³/s; the discharge of recent years is however less than 5 m³/s (D. Esteban 2012). The Mal Paso Dam is located about 35 km downstream of the San Roque Dam and has two types of extraction, one to create potable water for the majority of the city (Annex 1: Figure 12), and one for the irrigation canal ‘Canal Maestro Norte’ (Pesce and Wunderlin 2000). Canal Maestro Norte functions as the main source of irrigation water for the irrigation system Cinturón Verde Norte.
FIGURE 6: THE SUQUÍA RIVER UPSTREAM OF CÓRDOBA; in turquois the Suquía River, and in dark blue (upper right corner) the start of Canal Maestro Norte (TOSELLI 2011). Location as indicated in FIGURE 4.
The city extracts between 4.5 and 5 m³/s to create potable water; this water is prioritized over the irrigation water, resulting in the irrigation system not receiving enough water in the dry season (D. Esteban 2012). During the dry season (late autumn, winter and early (sometimes complete) spring), water users deal with serious yield decreases because there is too little water and the irrigation intervals are too big (Toselli 2011). Box 1 shows a section out of La Voz, the daily newspaper of Córdoba, depicting the problems due to water shortage in Cinturón Verde Norte.
BOX 1: ARTICLE SECTION FROM ‘LA VOZ’ ON THE SHORTAGE OF WATER IN CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE (REDACCIÓN LAVOZ 2011). Crisis in Cinturón Verde due to water shortage
“Half of the amount of vegetables consumed in the city Córdoba is at risk due to the shortage of irrigation water in Cinturón Verde”. This was said by the producers that receive their irrigation water from the San Roque dam… …The reason is that it almost didn’t rain in March and April. The normal average precipitation in these two months is 168 mm, but until yesterday (26 April) this was only 46 mm. The situation in Cinturón Verde is critical. Ernesto Stojanov, producer in the southern zone, indicated that he didn’t receive any water for more than 30 days. He stated: “I have sown, thinking I would be able to irrigate. Already for over a month there is no water available. The potato and carrot yields are totally lost”...
13
A second source of water comes from the Los Molinos reservoir, southwest of the city Córdoba. This reservoir is part of the Xanaes basin, south of the Suquía basin (Figure 4). Water is conveyed from this reservoir through a 60 km long channel, called the Molinos-Córdoba Channel (Figure 4)), to the southern part of the city Córdoba (CEAS 2012). The water that reaches the city via this channel has a discharge of 2 m³/s, and feeds the southern part of Cinturón Verde. This water furthermore supplies the remaining one-third of the city Córdoba with potable water (Annex 1: Figure 12).
The Suquía River flows, downstream of the Mal Paso Dam, in a 40 km long stretch through the city Córdoba, enclosing the centre of the city (Pesce and Wunderlin 2000). After leaving the city, the river passes Córdoba’s main water treatment plant, Bajo Grande, where the wastewater of the city is treated and re-joins the river. On average, this flow is 1.39 m³/s, the treatment plant’s maximum speed of wastewater treatment is 1.94 m³/s (Coroado 2012a). From this point on, the water flows eastwards, where it drains about 150 km further at the east side of the province into a depression named Mar Chiquita (Pesce and Wunderlin 2000) (Figure 3, about 70 m AMSL (Daftlogic 2013)). The watershed covers about 7,700 km², of which almost 900 km2 corresponds to the city’s drainage area (Merlo, et al. 2011).
4.1.4. IMPURITIES AND CONTAMINATION The water quality of the Suquía River is deteriorating due to different water user sectors, at different locations along the trajectory of the river. These points of quality alterations can be classified into three sections that are important for this research: 1) upstream of San Roque Dam, 2) the city Córdoba and at 3) the Bajo Grande Treatment Plant.
1) The part of the river upstream of the San Roque Dam presents problems with an overexploited river bank and the discharge of untreated effluents (sewage) or partially treated effluents (e.g. septic tanks) from residential houses and the tourism sector (UC 2012). Furthermore, in this area, burning and overgrazing of pastureland are common practises (Ibid.); due to this, the soil is prone to erosion by water and wind and part of the fertile topsoil ends up in the water-bodies. Besides losing important fertility on the pastures, this process contributes to the eutrophication of the water. Following the OECD6, the reservoir can be classified as hyper- eutrophic for both the nitrate and phosphorus concentrations (CEAS 2012). Additionally, after the fire events, toxic blooms of phytoplankton and cyanobacteria were observed, which cause problems during the process of water purification (Ibid.).
2) The city Córdoba has strict regulations on the characteristics for liquid effluent discharges (Porto, et al. 2012); there are, however, logistic, organisational and legal problems with bringing these rules and regulations to practice. About 500,000 (< 40 %) of Córdoba’s inhabitants have a connection to the city’s central sewerage; the rest ends up, after home treatment, in the groundwater or the river (Pesce and Wunderlin 2000). In the industrial sector, 78 % of the enterprises are not registered as water user, and do not comply with regulations on the discharge of industrial effluents (Coroado 2013a). Furthermore, 81 % of the industries discharge too much effluent into the wastewater collection network (Ibid.). Other contamination within the city takes place with the season’s first rains, as these rinse the streets that contain remains of lubricants, fuel, soot, organic waste and all types of garbage. These flow into the city’s storm water drainage system and from there into the river, contaminating its water (Ibid.). The water from the irrigation canal, Canal Maestro Norte, itself also gets polluted. The canal passes the urban north of Córdoba, where it is connected to sewerage with untreated sewage and is used as a dumpsite for house waste (Toselli 2011). Furthermore, it gets polluted due to effluents of several factories (Fernández 2013). During raining events the canal gets clogged with debris from the streets, which results in serious problems for the local environment and farmers downstream of the canal (Toselli 2011). The quality of irrigation water is not systematically controlled; however, the National Institute for
6 The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is an international organisation that promotes policies for economic development and the social well-being of people (OECD n.d.).
14
Agriculture and Livestock conducts regular monitoring of water quality of the sources: the quality of the irrigation water is generally adequate but subjected to large variability (Coroado 2013b).
3) The last important alteration in water quality takes place at the treatment plant Bajo Grande, downstream of the city (Figure 7). This treatment plant was designed in 1970 and serves as the main treatment facility of the city Córdoba (Coroado 2012a). The treatment plant was designed for 300,000 inhabitants and was later extended to treat sewage from 600,000 inhabitants, but is thus not built to deal with the amount of today’s input water from 1.4 million inhabitants (Ibid.). Only 33 % of Córdoba’s wastewater is treated: 50 % is not collected, and 17 % is collected but not treated and thus directly conveyed into the Suquía River (Coroado 2013a). Cities and villages downstream of Córdoba are highly affected by the low quality of this water; even 70 km downstream of the treatment plant, no significant improvement in water quality has been observed (Ibid.).
4.2. HORTICULTURE The crops that are cultivated in the study area, Cinturón Verde Norte, fall under the category of horticultural crops. The name horticulture derives from the Latin words ‘hortus’ and ‘cultura’, literally translated to ‘garden- culture’ (Harper n.d.). It is defined as the branch of agriculture concerned with growing plants that are used by people for food, for medicinal purposes, and for aesthetic gratification (USDA n.d.). In this research, horticulture comes down to a sum up of the categories: fruits, vegetables and tubers.
The first section of this subchapter will give a brief introduction of horticulture in Argentina. The latter two sections will scale further down, and describe what is cultivated in the study area and how this gets to the consumer.
4.2.1. ARGENTINA: AN INTRODUCTION At the end of the nineteenth century, horticultural farms started to develop in Argentina. They were called Cinturón Verdes (green belts) and were developed in the surroundings of big cities. The farmers enjoyed the proximity to a huge local market, which created a competition advantage towards producers from further away. The people who started these enterprises were primarily immigrants from Italy and Portugal who implemented production technologies of their home countries; in the late seventies of the 20th century, immigrants from Bolivia replaced the majority of labour force at these farms. (Lozano 2012)
Nowadays, from Argentina’s total land surface of 280 million ha, 34 million ha is used for agriculture; from this area 0.5 million ha is used for horticulture. Although the amount of hectares used for horticulture is merely 1.5 % of the total agricultural area, it needs 30 times more labour per ha than conventional agriculture. The horticultural sector provides 36 % of the total labour in the primary production sector. The annual horticultural production of Argentina is 8 to 10 million metric tons, cultivated on about 500,000 ha of land. More than 90 % is produced for local markets, the rest is exported. The horticultural sector is vastly growing, with a production increase of 50 % in just 10 years. This can be attributed to improved irrigation technologies, better use of hybrids and increased application of fertilizers. Argentina is self-sufficient in its horticultural products, and produces, although with huge variations, a product with a high quality standard. (Ibid.)
4.2.2. THE GREENBELT OF CÓRDOBA Nowadays, Córdoba’s Cinturón Verde comprises a northern part (the study area of this research) and a southern part (Figure 7). Before, a third part existed: Chacra de la Merced. This irrigation system was located downstream of Bajo Grande, east of the city (Appendix 1: Figure 13). Water users in Cinturón Verde Sur used to get their irrigation water, just like Cinturón Verde Norte, from the Suquía River (conveyed by Canal Maestro Sur: violet line in Figure 7). Cinturón Verde Sur now gets its water from the Molinos-Córdoba Channel. Although not conveying water anymore, the structures and canals of Canal Maestro Sur mostly still exist.
15
Cinturón Verde Norte
Mercado de Abasto
Bajo Grande
Cinturón Verde Sur
FIGURE 7: MAP OF THE CINTURÓN VERDE OF CÓRDOBA; as indicated, the two green areas represent the northern and southern part of Cinturón Verde, with the dark-blue and violet lines representing the primary canals Canal Maestro Norte and Canal Maestro Sur. The turquois line is a section of the Suquía River (TOSELLI 2011). Edited: the labelling in white; the white stars representing the locations of the Bajo Grande treatment plant and Mercado de Abasto. Location as indicated in FIGURE 4.
Cinturón Verde Norte encompasses between 2,000 and 2,500 ha (Perlo 2013) (Fernández 2013); there are about 1,000 water users in the system (Fernández 2013). The majority of crops produced in Cinturón Verde Norte are: 1) light horticultural crops like leafy vegetables, cabbage, leek, green onion and seasonal fruits, and 2) heavy horticultural crops like potato, sweet potato and carrot (D. Esteban 2012). The light horticultural crop producers have an average total agricultural area of 10 ha, those cultivating heavy horticultural crops have between 50 and 100 ha (Ibid.). Cinturón Verde Norte used to be a major production area of potatoes, but the majority (90 %) moved to other areas due to the lack of irrigation water (Fernández 2013).
The producers of the Cinturón Verde Sur are medium to large scale producers who mainly cultivate potatoes together with other crops to rotate it with. These producers use advanced cultivation technologies and machinery and have proper access to water due to the Molinos-Córdoba Channel. (D. Esteban 2012)
As mentioned before, Chacra de la Merced was also part of Córdoba’s Cinturón Verde, but is nowadays mostly abandoned. This irrigation system was situated downstream of the city and the treatment plant, meaning that the potential irrigation water was heavily polluted. Due to this contamination, it was not possible to use it anymore for irrigation (Martínez 2012). The people still living there are very poor and work in the construction industry (Lopéz 2013). These people are bathing in and drinking from the river water, whereby problems with health and skin diseases have been observed due to the contaminated water (Ibid.). The people living there seem to know that the water is contaminated, but are using it anyway because they don´t have any choice (Ibid.).
4.2.3. CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE After the bifurcation point at the Mal Paso Dam, Canal Maestro Norte first goes seven kilometres, as a lined concrete canal, through the urban north of the city Córdoba, towards Cinturón Verde Norte; followed by a 15 kilometre long earthen canal (Toselli 2011). Canal Maestro Norte functions as the primary irrigation canal of Cinturón Verde Norte. It is designed on a discharge of 6.2 m³/s and has 23 offtakes to secondary canals (Ibid.). The secondary canals are grouped into three secondary blocks that, with the design inflow, all receive a
16 continuous flow of water (Fernández 2013). Within these secondary blocks, the irrigation system functions with a rotational system in which one secondary canal receives water per turn; within the secondary canals, the tertiary blocks also receive water one at a time (Ibid.). All irrigated areas receive one hour of water per hectare per turn. The time it takes for the water to reach the field is added to this time (Ibid.).
Primarily due to the low amount of water available at Mal Paso Dam, the discharge is nowadays about 0.8 m³/s. Due to this, only two of the three secondary blocks are getting water at the same time: creating a rotational system between the secondary blocks. A second response is the increase in the irrigation interval, which can range between once in a week to once in a month. Besides a low water intake at the Mal Paso dam, water extractions take place between offtake and field. In the urban area upstream of the irrigation system, pumps are placed in the irrigation canal to irrigate green areas in the city, this is however not a significant amount. All the trees that grow alongside the irrigation canals, on the contrary, withdraw, especially in the dry season, an essential amount of water. (Fernández 2013)
Open canal irrigation is the main type of irrigation in Cinturón Verde Norte. In some cases, however, groundwater sources are also used for irrigation (Coroado 2013b). Groundwater has to come from deep wells (about 100 metre) and is therefore expensive; groundwater from shallow wells is mostly polluted due to bad sanitary facilities in and around the city (Coroado 2013a), and from the widespread use of pesticides in the local agriculture (i.a. glyphosate) (Fernández 2013).
Besides issues with the availability of irrigation water, alterations in total surface area and changes in zoning also play an important role in Cinturón Verde Norte. The population of the city Córdoba doubled in the last 20 years (Coroado 2013b). Because the irrigation area lies adjacent to the city, land prices are increasing rapidly. In the northern part of Cinturón Verde Norte (i.e. the irrigation area furthest away from the city), the land price is around AR$7 30,000 and AR$ 45,000 per hectare, whereas in the south of Cinturón Verde Norte land prices reach up to AR$ 400,000 per hectare (Job 2011). Due to this, the land prices are much higher than the profit that can be made in the agriculture. In combination with restriction on e.g. spraying crops with pesticides on fields near urban neighbourhoods, this resulted in a decrease in agricultural area of more than 60 % in the last 15 years (Ibid.). To compensate this loss in (local) productivity and to stimulate the consumption of fruits and vegetables in Córdoba, the municipality of Córdoba started a program to help develop the local agricultural sector and market (Box 2).
BOX 2: LA VOZ ON THE PROBLEMS OF LOCAL CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION (DÁVILA 2011). …this is the Territorial Development Program in the Metropolitan Area of Córdoba, with a funding of AR$ 3.6 million… …Part of this program is to make a change in the horticultural production in Cinturón Verde Norte… ...Those involved in this program came together to solve the water shortage problem that endangers the production in Cinturón Verde Norte...... they came with a plan to install 12 boreholes to extract water... …The aim is to encourage the people of Córdoba to consume more fruits and vegetables: it is estimated that the citizens consume between 120 and 150 gram per person per day, whereas the recommendations of the WHO for a healthy life is to eat at least 400 gram.. …Little is sold, but little is produced too. Between spring and summer (the period of greatest consumption), only 20 per cent of the vegetables that is sold at the Mercado de Abasto is produced locally…
7 Argentina’s monetary unit, the Argentinean Peso (AR$), strongly fluctuates. It can therefore be misleading to compare monetary amounts from different sources throughout the time. The day the cited article was published, the exchange rate was: AR$ 1.00 = € 0.17 (Wisselkoers n.d.).
17
With the project’s budget, 4 out of the 12 groundwater wells were dug. These wells are about 180 metres in depth and can each supply between 0.004 and 0.006 m³/s. For water users in Cinturón Verde Norte, this is enough irrigation water for 7 to 12 producers per well. (Perlo 2013)
The majority of producers of Cinturón Verde Norte and other production areas (a total of 200 to 220 producers) sell their produce at Mercado de Abasto (literally: market of supply), a minority of 20 % sells directly to supermarkets. The products that are bought at Mercado de Abasto, are sold at Mercado Norte (Córdoba’s main consumer market) and greengroceries throughout the city. (Ibid.)
Mercado de Abasto consists out of eight naves where producers can rent ‘puestos’ (stands of 1.5 x 2 metre) to sell their products from. Big agricultural enterprises rent these with a three-year contract of AR$ 12008. Because small-holders like the water users of Cinturón Verde Norte can’t supply whole year round, they rent their ‘puestos’ on a daily basis for AR$ 28. The producers of Cinturón Verde Norte are all selling their products in two naves, which are actually four smaller naves (the most left and right naves in Figure 8). All producers located in these naves have ‘puestos’ rented on a daily basis. (Ibid.)
There are people working at the market to load and unload the trucks so producers don’t have to bring any work force with them. Due to market forces, the producers receive very little for their products (e.g. AR$ 0.20/kg carrots), and have trouble covering their costs; this is a reason why smallholders are often forced to leave the irrigation system, in search for other, more lucrative, jobs (Laringue 2013). Local institutions and organisations assume that, if no aid is given to Cinturón Verde Norte, it will disappear within ten years (Fernández 2013), or even within three years (Perlo 2013).
FIGURE 8: AERIAL VIEW OF MERCADO DE ABASTO (REDACCIÓN LAVOZ 2013); location as indicated in FIGURE 7.
8 The day this data was gathered, the exchange rate was: AR$ 1.00 = € 0.12 (Wisselkoers n.d.).
18
4.3. DEMOGRAPHY The total population of Argentina is about 41.6 million (in 2013) (UNdata 2014), and is estimated to grow with a growth rate of 0.86 % in the period 2010 to 2015 (DESA 2014). Following the CIA World Factbook (n.d.): most of the Argentinean people (97 %) can be categorized under the ethnic group ‘white’ (mostly Spanish and Italian), furthermore there are: ‘mestizo’ (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry), ‘Amerindian’, and other ‘non-white’ groups (3 %). The net migration rate is stable in the period 2010 to 2015 (UNdata 2014). Figure 9 shows the most common countries of birth of the 1.8 million immigrants 9 who live in Argentina and the 50,000 immigrants who live in the province Córdoba (in 2010) (indec 2014).
Country of birth as a percentage of the total amount of immigrants in 2010 Argentina Córdoba
9% 8% 15% 2% Paraguay 5% 31% Bolivia 3% Chile 6% 23% Peru 6% Italy 8% 4% Uruguay Spain 10% 6% 9% Brazil Rest 19% 11% 25%
FIGURE 9: ARGENTINA’S AND CÓRDOBA’S IMMIGRANTS BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH; from a total of 1,805,957 and 50,488 respectively (data from (INDEC 2014)). The Suquía Basin has a population of more than 1.4 million inhabitants, of which 1.3 million live in the city Córdoba (Coroado 2013b). The Suquía River Basin experienced a strong population growth in the city of Córdoba and the area of Greater Córdoba (conurbation of Córdoba), mostly due to immigrants and students; the population grows at a decreasing rate: from an annual growth of 2.4 % in 1980 to 0.8 % in 2010 (Coroado 2013a).
9 People that live in Argentina but were born in another country.
19
5. RESEARCH APPROACHES This chapter describes, in a chronological way, what approaches I took during my stay in Argentina. It describes and argues about my situation, the decisions I made and the steps I took, to come to the research questions and concepts of this report. The final part gives a reflection on the research approaches I took.
5.1. SEPTEMBER, ARRIVING IN ARGENTINA When arriving in Argentina, I had a research proposal about performing a research on the use of polluted river water from the Suquía River for irrigation, between the Bajo Grande Treatment Plant and the depression Mar Chiquita. This seemed important, as the water users living in this stretch use this river water, mixed with untreated wastewater, unintentionally and indirectly for irrigational purposes (Coroado 2013a). This thesis needed a gender focus, which is part of the reason why I chose the concept ‘the echelons of rights analysis’. This would help me to understand the reason for conflicts and to aggregate water users in groups with similar rights and demands. During my stay in Argentina, I made alterations concerning my research and took a different approach and changed this concept into contestation (research question four).
My supervisor in Argentina told me that the water users downstream of Córdoba were using groundwater for irrigation, and that the majority didn’t irrigate their predominately seasonal crops. He advised me to focus on Cinturón Verde Norte, as this was a horticultural irrigation system that didn’t suffice with the annual amount of rainfall and was in dire need of more irrigation water. My supervisor also introduced the plan to connect the Bajo Grande Treatment Plant to Cinturón Verde Norte, as a possible solution for the shortage of irrigation water.
After an intensive Spanish course for the rest of September, I used the month October to dig in the (mostly Spanish) COROADO database, which proved to have a vast amount of information about the study area. I worked in a room in the National University of Córdoba, which was a place where many other researchers and students who were involved in the COROADO project came by. They were a crucial help for the transportation and networking during my stay and for their help with my Spanish incompetence.
Because all of us had a research in the same study area and all worked for the COROADO project, I started working together with three Argentinean researchers (partly students). They were: 1) Obtaining all data from the irrigation system to create an up-to-date knowledge base 2) Creating a GIS-map of the irrigation system and 3) Researching how the “Bajo Grande Treatment Plant” has to be improved to function as a possible second source for irrigation water.
5.2. NOVEMBER, PERFORMING FIELD WORK After some explorative fieldtrips to Cinturón Verde Norte, -Sur and Bajo Grande, we conducted a semi- structured interview10 with people from the Water User Association (WUA). We made questions about the subjects each of us considered important and combined these into questionnaire for the interview with the WUA. In this interview I came to know that the irrigation system primarily consists out of 1) water users who
10 Semi-structured interviews are used to better understand a situation, and the functions and perspectives of the interviewee within the study area. This is due to the fairly open framework of semi-structured interviews, which allows for a focused, conversational, two-way communication (FAO 1990). To structure the interviews and outline the information that was sought for, open questions were created before the interview was held. Topics that needed more clarification or seemed fruitful to discuss in that specific interview were more detailed talked upon. This gives both the interviewer and the interviewee the flexibility to probe for details or discuss issues (Ibid.). These interviews were held with people on key- informant positions (e.g. experts, organisations or governmental instances). The combination of the unique view and insights of the interviewees together with the semi-structured characteristics of the interviews, held an effective way of understanding the irrigation system and observing it from different viewpoints.
20 have land and live in the irrigation system, and 2) contract farmers that work and live with their families on this land. As these two groups are both water users, are influencing each other and are representing the majority of water users in the area, I chose to focus my research on both of these groups. This was also the first time that I heard about the significance of Bolivian water users. Because it seemed that the first group consisted mainly out of Argentinean water users and the second (compromising 70-80 % of the water users (Fernández 2013)) out of Bolivian water users, I considered ethnicity as an important axis to divide the water users upon.
Two more semi-structured interviews followed, with the “Asociación de Productores Horticolas” and the “Federación Agraria Argentina”. They gave information on the producers, the working of the market, irrigation, land prices, the use of treated water, the future of the irrigation system, work and contract systems. Because 80 % of the producers of Cinturón Verde Norte sell their produce at Mercado de Abasto, we decided to hold a survey with structured interviews11 at this market. We aggregated the questions we wanted to ask in one questionnaire and thus also asked each other’s questions. One of the members of “Federación Agraria Argentina” was enthusiastic about our researches and also did a share of the interviews herself. She gave us the names and locations of the farmers that came from Cinturón Verde Norte.
An expert in the COROADO project advised us to do the survey in one day, because the producers would talk to each other and discuss the answers, thereby influencing the outcome. To be able to do this, some students were paid to help, so that we (a total of eight people) could split up and interview about all producers from Cinturón Verde Norte who came to Mercado Abasto. The level of my Spanish wasn’t high enough to perform the survey alone, which was why I hired a translator. I asked the questions myself and wrote the answers down, up to the point that I didn’t understand what was told or the interviewee couldn’t follow my story. From there the translator took over. After each interview, we left some space for comments or remarks, and discussed this shortly afterwards.
When approaching the potential interviewees, almost all replied positive. The reason why people wouldn’t respond was because they were too busy selling their produce. The questionnaire resulted to be long for the interviewees, sometimes too long. The people who owned the stands were interviewed, sometimes with the involvement of other people. Other researchers and people from the water user association ensured me that all producers would be male and of Argentinean offspring. After a discussion, a tick for the type of sex of the interviewee was kept in the total questionnaire (ethnicity was left out). Producers from different sexes and ethnicity were however present at the market, the survey data could therefore thus only be differentiated on sex and not on ethnicity.
Furthermore, I wanted to ask if the producers knew other water users who were drinking the water from the irrigation canals. One of the researchers however ‘improved’ my Spanish translation when we aggregated our questions for the survey; it was already after the survey when I noticed that the question had been changed from the user-function of drinking to grooming. Furthermore, the data of this survey only represents the producers going to Mercado de Abasto. Due to this, the questions were not answered for the job types sharecroppers and workers.
The first week of December, all partners of the COROADO project came together in Córdoba. Together with one of my supervisors from the Netherlands (Claringbould) we considered what had changed from the initial plan, what data was gathered and what data could still be gathered in the last part of my stay in Argentina. We came up with the fact that there was still a knowledge gap on what was known about Bolivian water users (i.e.
11 Structured interviews in a survey setting are especially good for obtaining quantitative data and they have more potential to produce representative data (FAO 1995). The repetitive character of this survey gave me an impression of the general opinion of the producers, and helped differentiating the preference according to the axes of research question one. This survey was the major input to answer research question two.
21 all data about these water users came from third persons and these people differed greatly in how they depicted the situation with Bolivian water users and how they fitted the social dimensions of Cinturón Verde Norte).
My Argentinean supervisor advised me to visit Mercado Norte (the biggest consumer market in Córdoba) and stated that he could get me into contact with a church organisation that worked with Bolivian immigrants. He advised against going to Cinturón Verde Norte alone, without a person who knows the area, and stressed that I needed to build the trust of Bolivian water users, before they would give me any information about their lives or work.
5.3. JANUARY, THE LAST WEEKS IN ARGENTINA While trying to contact several organisations and institutions, I learned that January means summer holidays. I went to Mercado Norte. The place was dominated by meat stands, where predominately men were selling their produce. Some of the people vending the products were from Bolivia, but all of them weren’t producers themselves and bought their products at Mercado de Abasto.
After some e-mailing and calling to different organizations and going to the ‘Unión de Colectividades de Inmigrantes de Córdoba’, which were all closed during summer holidays, I tried, based on the idea of my supervisor, to find church organizations that were working with immigrants. I ended up with a fruitful semi- structured interview with a priest from ‘Movilidad Humana’. My Spanish was now on a level, from where I could perform my own interviews (I recorded the interviews to be able to focus completely on the conversation itself). To be able to speak with Bolivian immigrants myself, he advised me to go to Colonia Caroya, a settlement about 50 kilometres north of the city Córdoba.
In Colonia Caroya I went to the town hall and had a first interview with an Agro Chemist who worked in the area, this was a very interesting conversation on the regulations of pesticides, but didn’t bring me further in my search for data on immigrants. Later that day, I had a very clarifying interview with an irrigation engineer. He explained me about the situation of the immigrants and suggested to meet again a week later to drive through the irrigation system and talk with the people working on the land. After seeing how the irrigation system worked, we went to interview a middle aged Bolivian immigrant who did agricultural work and worked in a brickworks. Even though all questions were answered, I doubted the truth of the answers: I observed that the man hardly spoke, gave optimistic answers to all questions and didn’t look at ease. The irrigation engineer later told me that Bolivian immigrants have a lot of negative attention in the media, and that they are reticent towards people that ask them questions (especially with a questionnaire).
Three days later, an irrigation engineer of Colonia Caroya drove me to the plots and introduced me to the people, then drove off to pick me up an hour later. Before I fully processed what was happening, I stood alone, with a Bolivian family on a plot. In an attempt to show my good intentions, I offered to help them harvesting their fruits and vegetables; hereby using the methodology of participant observation12. While working, I talked with the Bolivian farming family and asked some general questions. Just like before, the two parents answered in a superficial way. Because the woman was more open and understandable (the man spoke with a strong dialect), I chose to work with her. After about an hour, I finally had the idea that we were having an open conversation, this gave me various new insights into the situation of agriculture and immigrants.
12 Participant observation is used to get to know more about the daily lives of the water users; this methodology makes it able to obtain data which is obscure for those who don’t participate in the daily lives of the water users (Jorgensen 1989). In his article, Jorgensen states: “Direct involvement in the here and now of people’s daily lives provides both a point of reference for the logic and process of participant observational inquiry and a strategy for gaining access to phenomena that commonly are obscured from the standpoint of a nonparticipant.” (Jorgensen 1989, 9).
22
Instead of leaving with the irrigation engineer, I stayed and helped to pack and clean the yield and went with the man to Mercado de Abasto, where they sold their produce. This experience helped me getting real field experience, seeing the production process up to the market and getting more honest and reliable information.
To get more field data, I also went to Colonia Tirolesa, an even smaller settlement about 20 kilometres north of Córdoba (Figure 7). Here I had an interview with a person form the municipality. He told me that there were many horticultural enterprises with Bolivian immigrants before. Due to the lack of water, people moved to areas closer to the city Córdoba, where there was still enough water.
Parallel to this I got into contact with a researcher who concerned herself with the wellbeing of Bolivian immigrants in Córdoba. Although I couldn’t meet her in person she advised me to buy her book. After coming back home, I read the book. This helped me understanding the situation of Bolivian immigrants in Córdoba.
5.4. REFLECTION The two things I underestimated most during this research were the importance of language and mobility. Not only was it hard to ask people the things I wanted to know in a language that I learned only during my stay in Argentina, but by performing this research I also got an impression about the importance of information from people that is not part of the prefabricated questions. This extra information, which is gathered especially but not exclusively with open-structured interviews, helps steering the research to the points that matter for the interviewee. In a research like this (i.e. from the perspective of different groups of water users), this is crucial information. A lack in mobility caused me to be dependent on others and limited the possibilities of performing field work. Both the language and mobility problems caused for delays in my research.
Furthermore, I should have had more patience to understand the situation at hand and to see problems that are present in the research area. This would have saved me from doing unnecessary work or doing things twice. The next time I would also first go to the field and verify the things that I heard indirectly, with the actual water users. Only using indirect sources made it possible to not see the importance of the ethnicity axis and the contestation about the situation of the Bolivian water users.
Lastly, I would invest more time in a local literature study before performing field work. It was already January when I started understanding the contestation at play and the importance of the job hierarchy. Knowing this already in October could have saved me much time and effort. Time I could have used to gather information from the water users with lower job types. Many questions about appreciation, use and access that were asked to landowners and tenants weren’t asked to the sharecroppers and workers, leaving an important knowledge gap open about the water users’ perception.
23
6. RESULTS This chapter outlines the results from the literature- and field research. This chapter is structured according to the research questions, each of the four subchapters answers one of the research questions.
6.1. ANALYSIS OF THE WATER USER GROUPS IN CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE The first two parts of this subchapter describe the situation of immigrants and gender, using a historical background of the two concepts on national scale. From the third subchapter on, the focus lies on Córdoba and Cinturón Verde. Here, the third axis, work hierarchy, is described. Henceforth, connections between these three axes are described. This subchapter ends with an overview of organizations and institutions, active in Cinturón Verde Norte and consulted during this research.
6.1.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO IMMIGRANTS In Argentina two socio-political and counteracting forces exist, working on the social relation between immigrants (especially from the neighbouring countries) and Argentineans. One creates social alignment between these two groups, the other divergence. The following introduces these and explains how they counteracted each other throughout the second half of the 20th century.
After the declaration of universal human rights in 1948, a certain era of optimism with progressive thoughts towards civil, social and political rights started in Argentina, without concerning about the contradicting effect in terms of rationality of the free market (D'Amico and Rami 2011). In the 1960s, immigrants from the surrounding countries and Peru started working in the Argentinean provinces closest to their countries’ borders ( (Cerrutti 2009, 20) according to Oyarzábal and Pizarro (2011)). In the 1970s and 1980s, immigrants started settling in the metropolitan areas; furthermore, unlike before, former city dwellers also started migrating to Argentina ( (Sala 2008) according to Oyarzábal and Pizarro (2011)). Immigrants worked primarily in the informal sector and did jobs that Argentinians didn’t want to do ( (Bruno 2008) according to Oyarzábal and Pizarro (2011)). After this development, immigrants started moving to all areas in Argentina, which enhanced a feeling of competition for available labour with the Argentinean people (Oyarzábal and Pizarro 2011).
After a stagnation in economic development and political instability during the cold war, Argentina started a new era in the 1990s. These were times of globalization. People thought that this would introduce a new era of welfare and individual freedom; this was true, but due to materialization and symbolism, situations of exclusion and social conflicts were created. The work done by poor immigrants was mostly informal. Due to their economic disadvantage and the existence of ethnic discrimination, this caused marginalization of this group of labour force. This pressure was kept in place by the state, market and community, as they were afraid of a collapse in the labour market when this labour force would disappear. They were furthermore afraid that the influence of the immigrants would make the ‘original’ culture of Argentina’s society disappear. (D'Amico and Rami 2011)
Later in the 1990s, the economy started declining. Argentinean people who used to be in the middle-class society ended up in the working-class. A mix was created between ‘poor’ (immigrants) and ‘former middle class’ (Argentineans). The immigrants were seen as a threat for the job market, which caused crisis racism. With the implementation of stricter laws on immigration, the state officially started blaming the immigrants for the crisis, as they said immigrants decreased the amount of available labour for Argentineans. (Ibid.)
After the 2002 nadir of the economic crisis in Argentina, the relationship between Argentina and its immigrants improved. With the implementation of a new law on immigration (Ley Nacional N° 25.871), the state agreed to implement human rights (e.g. on health, education, work, right and safety) for all immigrants, and to improve the regulations to legalise immigrants. Although this makes a significant legal difference, there is still a big gap
24 between theory and practise. Two clashing realities coexist, that of inclusion and exclusion, and of amnesty and restriction. (Ibid.)
6.1.2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO GENDER In the 1970s, different feminist organizations emerged in Argentina. These however had little influence, due to their small size, strategy and loose organization. The transition from Argentina’s non-democratic period in the late 20th century, to its competitive electoral politics, was little influenced by women’s organizations. (Waylen 2000)
When civilian rule returned in 1983, some presidential candidates tried to get women to vote on their party with promises to change laws such as ‘Patria Potestad’ (which gives fathers legal rights over children within the family) and the discussion of divorce. Very few women were elected to congress, only 3.6 % of the new deputies were women. This proportion was maintained in the elections of 1985 and 1987. However, beginning a trend that followed in other parts of the region, a significant institutional change to the electoral system was introduced that resulted in a large increase in the number of women deputies. The ‘Ley de Cupos’, passed in 1991, stipulated that at least 30 % of all electoral candidates were to be women, placed in winnable positions on the closed party lists. The result was a significant increase in the numbers of women elected. However, there were still very few women in positions of power within party hierarchies. Despite forming 47.7 % of party affiliates, in 1993, women formed an average of only 7.2 % of national party directorates. (Ibid.)
With the election of Menem, in 1991, a new organisation, the ‘Consejo Nacional de la Mujer’, was created. This organization was charged with ensuring the implementation of CEDAW 13 and ensuring the 'maximum participation of women in all spheres'. But despite all efforts, the increase in the number of women deputies has not been accompanied by a similar increase in the number of women at the top of party hierarchies. Nor has there been a marked increase in the numbers of women in government or the implementation of policies favourable to women. (Ibid.)
In the 2001 elections, women’s presence in the Senate increased from 5.7 % to 37.1 %. In Argentina, the amount of women in the parliament successfully increased, and elected women are successfully gendering the legislative agenda, but are yet not successful in gendering the legislative outcomes. (Franceschet and Piscopo 2008)
6.1.3. THE SITUATION IN CÓRDOBA This part will describe the situation in Córdoba and Cinturón Verde Norte, using the structure of the three axes.
Bolivian immigrants
The vast majority of immigrant water users in Cinturón Verde Norte is of Bolivian origin (Pizarro 2011). In total there are 345,272 Bolivian immigrants in Argentina (in 2010) (indec 2014), they are divided under the Argentinian provinces as outlined in Table 2. The ratio male-female immigrants is 50:50 on national scale, but 54:46 in the province of Córdoba (Oyarzábal and Pizarro 2011). The ratio men-women is more equal in the capital department (Córdoba City), than the more rural departments (e.g. Colón), because it is easier for women to find work in the city ( (Bologna 2010) according to Oyarzábal and Pizarro (2011)).
13 CEDAW is the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.
25
TABLE 2: PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL AMMOUNT OF BOLIVIAN IMMIGRANTS IN ARGENTINA, PER PROVINCE (DATA FROM (OYARZÁBAL AND PIZARRO 2011)). Province Percentage of Bolivian immigrants Buenos Aires 38.25 % Autonomous City of Buenos Aires 21.46 % Jujuy 12.31 % Salta 9.98 % Mendoza 8.03 % Córdoba 2.94 % Other provinces 8.03 %
Most of the Bolivian immigrants who live in the province Córdoba, live in the departments Capital (Córdoba City) and Colón (directly north of Córdoba City). In the department capital, they live most concentrated near Cinturón Verde Norte and Sur ( (Bologna 2010) according to Oyarzábal and Pizarro (2011)).
More than 60 % of the Bolivian immigrants are within working age (20 to 59 years). This is mainly because they mostly migrate to find work (children born in Argentina are Argentineans). About two-third of the working immigrants is male, most of the work that women do isn’t officially being recognized as work; the amount of unpaid family labour for men and women respectively has a ratio of 1:2. (Oyarzábal and Pizarro 2011)
“Very few Bolivian immigrants work in the public sector, mainly due to the lack of social and human capital” ( (Herrera Lima 2005) according to Oyarzábal and Pizarro (2011)). 96 % has an unreported employment (i.e. works ‘en negro’) and 65 % doesn’t have residence documents (Oyarzábal and Pizarro 2011). Most Bolivian immigrants get their jobs through their own social network, and work mostly in the horticultural sector, construction, brickwork industry, housekeeping or informal trade (Ibid.).
The general practice is that Bolivian immigrants are doing the work that most Argentineans don’t want to do under the given work circumstances or for that amount of money (Pizarro 2011). Parallel to this (especially during economic depressions) exists a view that immigrants are ‘stealing’ the jobs from Argentinean people (Oyarzábal and Pizarro 2011). Both of these views create a negative and disrespectful view towards Bolivians, occasionally leading to discrimination (Ibid.).
Gender
The opinions of most water users and other people about the distinct roles of men and women were more strict and polarized than what I saw in the actual practise. It is the traditional role division, established by state, school and church, that women do the house holding and men occupy the productive role (Pérez 2011). The majority of producers on the Mercado de Abasto (landowners and tenants) were men (with a ratio men/women of 7:1). At Mercado Norte, where products that are bought at Mercado de Abasto are sold to customers, the men/women ratio was conversely 1:3 with the majority of fruit and vegetable vendors being from foreign descent (i.a. Bolivia and Paraguay).
Work Hierarchy
The agricultural work in Cinturón Verde Norte can be divided into four types of jobs. These jobs have a hierarchy. For some water users is it easier to climb in this hierarchy than for other water user groups. Gender and ethnicity play a role in the starting point and ease of ascending in this hierarchy. These four job types are outlined in Table 3, descending in the work hierarchy.
26
TABLE 3: TYPES OF AGRICULTURAL JOBS IN CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE, IN DESCENDING ORDER (DATA FROM PIZARRO (2011)). Names in English Names in Spanish Landowner Propietario Tenant Arrendatario Sharecropper Mediero Worker Trabajador
The workers are the bulk labour forces who work on the plots, mainly based on an informal day to day contract. When yields are low, this group at times gets paid less or doesn’t get paid at all. Sharecroppers receive a certain share of the yield. They mostly rent the labour force of workers to cultivate the land. Their pay comes down to a share of agricultural profit from the seasonal yield, which is mostly a fixed and predetermined share. Sharecroppers however have to pay for the agricultural production costs and the housing on the plots (also for the workers) from their share of the profit. People from these two categories don’t decide what is cultivated on the land. In contrast, tenants and landowners do have this power. A tenant hires a piece of land for a fixed price to cultivate his crops, mostly based on one or more crop cycles. Landowners own the land and can cultivate it or choose one of the above named groups of people to cultivate for them, he/she has the most decision power. The system is mainly based on informal contracts, declining the rights of especially the workers. (Pizarro 2011)
6.1.4. RELATIONS BETWEEN THE WATER USERS GROUPS Historically, the Bolivian immigrants fulfil the lower class jobs in the agriculture, while European immigrants occupy the higher job positions; this however changed as more Bolivians worked themselves up along the work hierarchy. However, Bolivians at higher positions still lack the political decision-making power (e.g. at associations) that Argentinean water users from the same working class do have. The Argentinean water users are well represented by associations, which also has to do with the fact that the majority owns agricultural land and thus has most decision-making power. Due to their majority in these associations, they are able to ‘mute’ the desires of the few Bolivian members. (Ibid.)
From a sample among producers from Cinturón Verde Norte at Mercado de Abasto, a correlation was visible between gender and work hierarchy. All male producers [37] indicated to make the decisions for their work themselves. Furthermore, two-third [24] was land-owner and one-third [12] tenant. From the interviewed female producers [6], four indicated to make the decisions during their work; the ratio land-owner/tenant was 3/3, lower than that of the male producers. When differentiating on job: 80 % of the tenants say to make decisions themselves, 96 % of the landowners. The gender differences are thus bigger than job differences.
From the survey, no correlation was seen between gender or job difference and the type of agricultural labour they used. From the survey, 88 % of the labour is family labour, 33 % is seasonal labour and 14 % uses permanent employers. Furthermore, 88 % of the interviewed producers lives at their field, 37 % has the employers also living at the field and most of the temporal labour is for harvesting.
6.1.5. INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANISATIONS IN CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE Besides the direct water users, institutions and organisations were also analysed. These create or implement rules and regulations, or represent (part of the) water users in their needs and demands. This part lists the main institutions and organisations that are active in Cinturón Verde Norte and that are approached in this research.
Federación Agraria Argentina (FAA)
The FAA is a national federation with departments for every region in Argentina. The FAA further discussed here is the department of Córdoba. It consists out of 16 representatives from both the northern and southern
27 part of Cinturón Verde. Its main function is to help the producers with services (e.g. getting loans from the municipality to invest in new technologies and clean the vegetables at the market before selling). The FAA also had the concession area of the market, but lost it to the APH (which is the reason for some struggles between these two organizations). In the future it wants to invest more in new technologies and tools for the producers (e.g. new harvesting machines). (Laringue 2013)
Asociación de Productores Horticolas (APH)
This association also comes up for the interest of the producers (e.g. won a discussion with the municipality over not implementing a stricter rule on the use of pesticides) and regulates the rent of the stands, the electricity and security at the market. Members of this association are only producers who own or rent land (landowners and tenants). (Perlo 2013)
Water User Association (WUA)
The WUA is a public non-profitable institution that is primarily engaged with the distribution of water and the maintenance of the canals. Producers pay annually per irrigated hectare for these services. The people who distribute the water are often bribed for more hours of irrigation water. When struggles occur, the WUA doesn’t play a role in solving them. Due to the low amount of money, they are not able to really invest in improving the irrigation system. (Fernández 2013)
Governmental institutes
The municipality daily controls the quality and hygiene of the products14. The municipality wants to have a technological change in the area, to promote drip irrigation and generate a higher standard of good practise in the sector (H. Esteban 2013). Producers pay yearly per hectare to the province to obtain the right of using the canal water for irrigation. The province is also responsible for the rules to use water and construct WUAs. These rules are very general and give a lot of freedom on how to interpret them (Fernández 2013).
6.2. VIEWPOINTS TOWARDS, AND PRACTICES WITH, CURRENT WATER SUPPLY This capital describes how the different currently used sources of irrigation water are used, appreciated and accessed.
As mentioned before, this data can give information about how water users would use and access treated wastewater from Bajo Grande and what they would appreciate in its quantity and quality. This information furthermore helps understanding struggles and opportunities for the current irrigation sources. The majority of information comes from a survey held at Mercado de Abasto. The results therefore don’t represent the workers’ and sharecroppers’ opinions. For reasons described before, the data doesn’t differentiate on ethnicity. About all of the interviewed producers in the survey stated that this work is their only source of income.
Use
River water is the main source of irrigation water in Cinturón Verde Norte; about 85 % [36] of the interviewed water users at Mercado de Abasto indicated that they obtain water from the Suquía River, using the open canal irrigation system of Cinturón Verde Norte. Groundwater is the alternative available source of irrigation water; about 25 % [11] of the interviewees use groundwater. The ratio of river water users and groundwater users didn’t change, when differentiating in gender or job type.
14 Some sources say that the controls do not always take place, and only the best products (stored in plastic cases) are washed at the market; the lower quality products are stored in wooden cases that cannot be washed in this manner.
28
From the interviewed producers who only use river water, 75 % [24] are storing their water in homemade basins at their field. For water users who only use groundwater for irrigation, about 30 % [2] stored irrigation water. A connection can be seen between groundwater users and water users who use drip irrigation. One third [4] of the water users who use groundwater, also uses drip-irrigation (comprising almost half of the total amount [9] of drip-irrigation users). These ratios are similar, when the water users are divided along job type and gender (i.e. no correlation has been found between these axes and the storing of water).
Furthermore, concerning the quality of water: the results indicate that the majority of water users evaluate the water quality with their senses, mostly visual, but also on odour and in a single case on taste (i.e. salinity). A minority brought water samples to a laboratory [6] or consulted the water user association [4]. None of the interviewed producers indicated to undertake health precautions when working with water; only in a single case problems with health due to the use of water was mentioned.
No one indicated to use the irrigation water for other purposes than irrigation. But about 15 % [6] said that they knew other people who were using irrigation water for cleaning, cooking, grooming and laundry.
Appreciation
Water users who solely used irrigation water from the Suquía River, complained about its quantity: only 9 % [3] of this group indicated that they had enough irrigation water throughout the year. From the water users who only use groundwater, 43 % [3] indicated to have enough water throughout the year.
In contrast, the quality of this water was better appreciated: about 47 % [15] of the interviewees who only use river-water thought that the quality was high enough for irrigation. About 71 % [5] of the water users with groundwater access only, appreciated the water quality for irrigation purposes.
Table 4 divides these questions about the appreciation of water in the type of work and sex of the interviewees. Considering the small amount of interviewees per category, and the error that is created due to that, no differences can be observed except for one. All categories have an equal distribution for the appreciation of water quality, except for the female water users. Even though the sample only consists out of six water users, it is remarkable that all interviewed female water users thought the irrigation water was clean enough.
TABLE 4: THE APPRECIATION OF CURRENT WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY Total Type of work Sex Tenant Landowner Female Male [43] [15] [28] [6] [37] Enough irrigation water Yes 23 % 26 % 22 % 33 % 21 % At times 35 % 47 % 39 % 50 % 41 % No 42 % 27 % 39 % 16 % 38 % Irrigation water clean enough Yes 53 % 64 % 46 % 100 % 44 % At times 2 % 0 % 4 % 0 % 3 % No 45 % 36 % 50 % 0 % 53 % Observe changes No 33 % 20 % 38 % 33 % 32 % Seasonally 37 % 53 % 29 % 33 % 38 % Annually 26 % 20 % 29 % 17 % 27 % Both 5 % 7 % 4 % 17 % 3 %
29
Access
From the interview with the WUA it became clear that water users who want to have access to river-water, need to pay an annual amount of AR$15 370 per hectare to the WUA, for distributing the water and maintaining the irrigation infrastructure, and AR$ 110 per hectare to the province to obtain the annual right to withdraw water from the canals. When a water user has bought land adjacent to the irrigation infrastructure and pays for these fees, he/she can use this source of water. This land can be bought by anyone, and is solely based on a bidding system. Although cases also exist wherein women own land, it is a cultural trait that in family farming enterprises, men are the registered landowners. (Fernández 2013)
Getting access to groundwater is primarily constrained by a lack of finance. Because groundwater needs to be pumped from deep aquifers, the implementation and running costs are high. A loan to cover especially the peak investment due to the installation costs is hard to acquire (Laringue 2013). The water user organisations help obtaining these loans by communicating with the governmental institutions (Ibid.). Another reason why producers don’t want to invest in groundwater irrigation is because their children often don’t want to take over the family business, making it not worthy to make the investment (Perlo 2013).
When there is a problem with the supply of water, the majority of the landowners say they’ll go to the water user association. The majority of the tenants go, besides the water user association, also to the landowner. Two-third [29] of the interviewed producers at Mercado de Abasto is member of an interest group (i.e. FAA or APH). No correlation between being member and gender or type of work has been found.
6.3. THE APPRECIATION OF TREATED WASTEWATER FROM BAJO GRANDE Treated wastewater is potentially a third available source of water for the water users in Cinturón Verde Norte. Concerning the appreciation of using treated wastewater for irrigation, no significant difference was found between groundwater and river-water users; for both groups this was slightly negative, around 2.8 in a 5-point Likert scale16. Their confidence in its quality was worse (2.2). Furthermore, the kind of enterprise that would run the wastewater treatment facility seemed to be of high importance for the waters users. If this were a private company, their opinions were generally slightly positive (3.2), but if it is to be run by a governmental body the average opinion is negative (2.2). Some people from the organizations and institutions in Cinturón Verde Norte said to have doubts in the organizational capabilities of governmental institutions, identifying their corruption as the main reason for the problems in Cinturón Verde Norte. These people say that the tap water enterprise is privately run and is a better working company. These reasons could explain why water users prefer a private run treated wastewater plant.
Differences exist, when the survey data is differentiating in the axes of work hierarchy and gender (Table 5). The appreciation of treated wastewater seems to be lower for female water users than for male water users. This difference is only visible when differentiating among gender. The confidence in the quality of treated wastewater seems also less for women than for men. Because women are more often tenants and the tenants seem to score higher than landowners, the correlation of gender and quality perception is enhanced. This means that the correlation between job type and quality perception is therefor also enhanced, but due to the smaller share of women, however, this latter enhancement in correlation isn’t strong.
The difference in confidence of a municipality or private run treatment plant seems for both tenants and female water users higher than for landowners and male water users. Asking whether the water users would appreciate the potential characteristic of nutrients in the irrigation water, a strong correlation seems to exist
15 The day the interview was held, the exchange rate was: AR$ 1.00 = € 0.12 (Wisselkoers n.d.). 16 During the survey at Mercado de Abasto, producers were asked to give a mark, from 1 to 5, to state how much they liked or agreed with the given statement or idea (1 being fully disagree and 5 being fully agree).
30 again in gender (i.e. due to the relative inverse score in the work hierarchy axis). Furthermore, tenants and/or female water users seem more willing to pay extra for water of sufficient quality and quantity.
TABLE 5: RESULTS FROM MERCADO DE ABASTO; DISPLAYED IN THE AVERAGE IN A 5 POINT LIKERT SCALE OR IN THE PERCENTAGE THAT REPLIED POSITIVE Total Type of work Gender Tenant Landowner Female Male [43] [15] [28] [6] [37] Appreciation of using TWW for irrigation 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.0 2.9 Confidence in the quality of TWW 2.2 2.4 2.1 2.0 2.3 Confidence in institution when municipality 2.2 2.4 2.1 2.2 2.2 Confidence in institution when private 3.3 4.0 2.9 3.8 3.2 Appreciate characteristic of nutrients in TWW 69 % 79 % 64 % 60 % 70 % Pay more if quality and quantity are sufficient 70 % 80 % 64 % 80 % 70 %
6.4. CONTESTATION ON THE DAILY REALITY IN CVN The legal framework of the irrigation system doesn’t make a legal distinction concerning the ethnicity and gender of the water users. Rules, associations and rights however are all based on having agricultural area. This means that landowners or tenants are included in the legal framework of the irrigation system, and workers and sharecroppers aren’t. Still, all water users have their individual civil rights, meaning that everyone has the right to a basic quality of living and can make use of services like healthcare, safety and education (dirección nacional de migraciones 2010). This implies that even when immigrants are illegal in Argentina, they have the right to get basic healthcare (Pérez 2011, 246). The municipality also functions as an enforcer of the law. In the case of Colonia Caroya, the municipality oversees that Bolivian immigrants are treated in a humane way, among others to make it possible for them to return to Bolivia during holidays; the municipality of Córdoba however doesn’t get involved in this matter (Angulo 2014).
However, by creating a social difference between Argentinean and Bolivian water users, a unique and vital gap in the (agricultural) labour market is filled: by discriminating and excluding Bolivian immigrants from Argentina’s legal system, a cheap labour force with less rights is created (D'Amico and Rami 2011). This labour is crucial for Argentina’s growing agricultural sector: to keep up with the increase in consumers especially in cities and fill a job sector that Argentinian people don’t want to do (D'Amico and Rami 2011). To justify this, it is said that Bolivian people are genetically better able to withstand harsher living environment and are physically able to work harder on the land (i.a. (Pizarro 2011)). Not only is this discourse taken over by part of the general public in Argentina, it also seems to be present in the implementation of federal law; one of these scenarios was in September 2008, when a lower court dismissed a case of forced labour, stating that the Bolivians were culturally predisposed to working under such conditions (USstatedepartment 2009).
Furthermore, during field research, some water users and an irrigation engineer told me that it is a matter of Argentinean culture that farmers are men, but that it is normal in the Bolivian culture that women and children work too. According to the Bolivian water users, with whom I spoke, it is a matter of economic opportunity: when financially possible, Bolivian children and women would also stop doing agricultural work. The latter is in line with the fact that before the Bolivian immigrants were the main agricultural working force in Argentina’s Cinturón Verdes, Argentinean women too performed agricultural labour (Laringue 2013).
Another contestation is visible in the data about labour force. Following the water user association, 70-80 % of the labour is performed by Bolivian water users and landowners are Argentinean only. From my own fieldwork I came to know that Bolivian landowners and tenants exist too. Furthermore, during the survey, 80 % of the producers said to use family labour and 56 % to use family labour only. This leaves a labour gap. Many Bolivian water users are ‘illegal’, which could be the reason for not mentioning them in the survey. During the survey at
31
Mercado de Abasto, my translator said that when she asked for the kind of labour they used: one interviewee said fixed, but another corrected her with stating that the labour is temporal. Her reaction was: “yes, that is what we have to say”.
The competition between ‘former middle class’ and ‘poor’ immigrants, stated in research question one, also seemed to be present in the research area. Presumably because the current water shortage problems worsen the economic situation of many water users in Cinturón Verde Norte. During the survey at Mercado de Abasto, a producer stated his struggles and solutions:
...[I] Only cultivate these crops because it requires machines and tools that Bolivians don’t have, so I don’t have competition with these people...... it is impossible to compete with Bolivians, because they don’t get paid and are treated like slaves... (PersonalFieldnotes 2013)
Furthermore he stated:
...Of course there are also good Bolivians, but some go back to Bolivia to get other Bolivians illegally to Argentina and get rid of their papers so they have complete control over them. This is possible because they are illegal and don’t have any rights or place to go... (Ibid.)
Results of earlier research also state the lack of basic services for this group of people. In practise there aren’t always enough possibilities for housing the workers at the plots, which occasionally means that there are people living in bad circumstances and don’t have access to clean drinking water. Without any identification papers they also can’t, in practise, make use of Argentinean services. (Pizarro 2011)
32
7. DISCUSSION This discussion consists out of three sub-chapters. The first sub-chapter discusses the analysis of Cinturón Verde Norte, hereby having an emphasis on the first two research questions. The second sub-chapter tries to create different future scenarios for Cinturón Verde Norte, focussing on the third and fourth research question. In the third sub-chapter, general conclusions of this research are made.
7.1. AN ANALYSIS OF CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE In this subchapter, the results of this research are discussed. Different first-hand data, second-hand data and literature is compared to one another. I try to make conclusions and predictions based on the coherence of this data, and will give recommendation on whether I think, if more research is needed.
This research is an analytical one. Although the data is gathered with various quantitative and qualitative collection methods, the results do not represent the characteristics of all water users from Cinturón Verde Norte or a reproduction of this. For this, the sample was too small and didn’t cover all of the water user groups. This research was done to shed light on ad hoc problems and opportunities of the water users and based on this, sought to make a prediction on how the future of Cinturón Verde Norte would look like. This research should be used as a mere guideline, more research is needed to make any data representative for the whole irrigation system.
7.1. AN ANALYSIS OF CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE In this subchapter, the results of this research are discussed. Different first-hand data, second-hand data and literature is compared to one another. I try to make conclusions and predictions based on the coherence of this data, and will give recommendation on whether I think, if more research is needed.
This research is an analytical one. Although the data is gathered with various quantitative and qualitative collection methods, the results do not represent the characteristics of all water users from Cinturón Verde Norte or a reproduction of this. For this, the sample was too small and didn’t cover all of the water user groups. This research was done to shed light on ad hoc problems and opportunities of the water users and based on this, sought to make a prediction on how the future of Cinturón Verde Norte would look like. This research should be used as a mere guideline, more research is needed to make any data representative for the whole irrigation system.
7.1.1. WORK HIERARCHY, GENDER AND ETHNICITY Taking care of the household, doing the mothering and acting as an agricultural help when needed, can overload women in their daily tasks. As these occupations were not really seen as actual jobs by many of the interviewed water users, this can easily go unheeded. The difference between Bolivian and Argentinean women (which often means being from low or high social economic standard) has huge consequences for women in Cinturón Verde Norte. This is because women in families of higher social standard have access to clean water for their household and mothering tasks, and are less overloaded with work, as they don’t have to perform agricultural labour.
Results about the higher job positions in the agricultural sector, tenants and landowners, made clear that men have higher positions than women. The answers from the question on whether work decisions are made by the producers themselves, also resulted in men having more decision-making power. This gives the impression that it is harder for women to occupy higher positions in the agricultural sector, or that they are unwilling to do so. Besides the conclusion that gender is a more important variable for the choice of decision-making than work hierarchy, it can also be possible that male water users are more likely to state that they make the decisions, relative to the actual decision-making, compared to female water users.
33
The lower job positions, sharecroppers and workers, are mostly occupied by Bolivian water users. In combination with a contemptuous attitude of many Argentinean stakeholders towards this ethnic group, this creates a lack of interest in the wellbeing towards the majority of Bolivian water users. This can (and already does) open the doors towards scenarios wherein Bolivian water users are exploited and endure poor living conditions. Some sources say that these living conditions aren’t bad compared to the standards where Bolivians normally live in and that it is their own choice to live as they do. The biases and taboos surrounding informal labour and non-irrigational user-functions of irrigation water, especially about the water users with the lowest socio economic status, make it hard to predict consequences due to a changing quantity and quality in water.
7.1.2. WATER QUANTITY AND QUALITY The results brought up that landowners and tenants in Cinturón Verde Norte tend to qualify the shortage of water as more important than its quality. The main reason for this, also mentioned by the WUA, is that the shortage of water is creating the greatest loss in agricultural productivity and therewith loss of profit. A second reason is that a majority of 95 % [41] of the interviewed landowners and tenants use their irrigation water solely for irrigation. When treated wastewater will be used, more focus can be put on the fertile characteristics of treated wastewater. Doing so, it has to be known whether a part of the water users has user-functions other than irrigation, official or unofficial.
Different sources conflict on whether irrigation water is used for other functions, and what these user- functions are. The data on other user-functions of water, therefore, needs more research. The sources that indicate that these exist, refer to the water users with the lowest job type (workers) and those being from Bolivian descent. The two axes often overlap. Following these sources, cases exist wherein water users do not have (or have limited) access to clean tap water. In these scenarios, water users are forced to drink groundwater and river-water. When water users use irrigation water for bathing, cooking and drinking, they have a higher risk of getting sick due to waterborne diseases when the water quality is low.
The majority of the interviewed landowners and tenants only conduct sensory inspection to the water quality, this makes them vulnerable to being ignorant of a decreasing water quality. In combination with a possible general lack of actual product quality control at Mercado de Abasto, scenarios may arise wherein, besides the water user, the consumer too is at risk. Crops can be contaminated due to the irrigation or rinsing with low quality irrigation water or due to pesticide residues on the crops. When treated wastewater should be used, and isn’t treated properly, it can still contain high doses of pollutants and pathogens. This means that when the water quality isn’t monitored and controlled sufficiently, the effects on the water users and yields can be much more severe.
Groundwater seems a relatively clean and reliable source of irrigation water. However, due to groundwater pollution, only water from deep aquifers is suitable for irrigation, forcing water users to make high implementation and pumping costs. Water users often lack the financial capacity to change to this source of irrigation. Three reasons have been found for this: 1) the water users are smallholders and therefore have relatively little financial capital, 2) the lack of a successor makes water users reluctant to make big investments, and 3) it is hard for water users to get loans from the bank to cover the peak investments of installing a groundwater well. Governmental groundwater projects like the one talked upon in this thesis can make the difference for the water users to proceed with their agricultural activities, or resign and leave Cinturón Verde Norte.
Many of the water users who don’t use groundwater, cleverly anticipate water shortages by building their own irrigation water storing reservoirs. Those water users who are solely connected to the system’s open canal network (i.e. river water irrigation) make more use of water storing reservoirs than users who have access to groundwater, likely because groundwater is a more constant and reliable source of irrigation water (i.e. the aquifer already is a reservoir).
34
When realizing the use of treated wastewater for irrigation, water users with a pressurized drip system could get into problems when converting to the use of this source of water, as this requires water users to adjust their application technique (e.g. buying new pumps or reinstalling irrigation pipelines). When these water users also aren’t connected, or close to, the canal system, this could lead to aggregated problems of bringing water to the field and dividing it among the crops. Overall, this could lead to a diminished and delayed adaption process towards the use of treated wastewater by most of the groundwater users, and those using drip irrigation.
7.2. THE FUTURE OF CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE With the information gathered in this research, future scenarios were made for the different water users in Cinturón Verde Norte. The future scenarios of Cinturón Verde Norte are divided in four, using two axes. One is whether the plan of connecting the Bajo Grande treatment plant will be realized or not. The other is whether the socio political driver of alignment or divergence between Argentinean and Bolivian water users will have the most dominant impact on Cinturón Verde Norte.
7.2.1. DIVERGENCE OR ALIGNMENT Two important counteracting socio political forces were found to be present in Cinturón Verde Norte: one creating alignment between Argentinean and Bolivian water users, the other creating divergence between these two ethnic groups. Whether one or the other force is stimulated most, has significant impacts on the social construction of Cinturón Verde Norte. Creating alignment between Argentinean and Bolivian water users would empower the Bolivian water users, improving their quality of life. This would decrease their vulnerability towards a low quality of life, among others because they can claim the civil rights that all people living in Argentina have, and can more easily bring their wishes forth in institutions and organisations.
These two forces not only work on Cinturón Verde Norte, but also on national scale. Argentina’s horticultural sector as a whole is dominated by labour intensive systems, with a labour force mostly from foreign descent. When these forces change on national scale, it is hard to predict the inter region’s and system’s competition. Regulation changes on municipality level, however, like the found differences between the municipality of Córdoba and Colonia Caroya on their involvement on social rights of the water users, make it easier to create future scenarios of Cinturón Verde Norte. A drawback of creating more equity between Argentinean and Bolivian workers is that it will probably lead towards an increase in wages and therewith in the price of the product, worsening the competition position of Cinturón Verde Norte’s producers compared to that of horticultural production systems in other municipalities.
7.2.2. WHEN CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE’S IRRIGATION SYSTEM IS PRESERVED Water users have a good idea about what is at hand in Cinturón Verde Norte: they are aware of their own current situation and of the politics in and around the irrigation system. Being aware of the decrease in overall water supply and cultivated area, makes younger people (often children of present-day water users) reluctant of becoming a water user themselves in Cinturón Verde Norte. Without any successor in place, water users don’t want to make big investments to improve their situation on the long term. This fastens the disappearance of Cinturón Verde Norte. Local stakeholders assume Cinturón Verde Norte to disappear within ten years. They think that water users who implement intensive agriculture supplied with groundwater will be the only one remaining.
7.2.3. THE ADDITIONAL SUPPLY OF TREATED WASTEWATER Water users seem to think generally slightly negative about the idea of using treated wastewater for irrigation. Although the difference was higher for men than for women, both groups seemed to have a clear preference for a commercially run wastewater treatment plant compared to a governmental one. A reason that was given for this was because water users do not think that the water would be of reliable quantity and quality when it’s run by a governmental instance. The Bajo Grande treatment plant can’t be connected to Cinturón Verde Norte
35 in its present state due to the low quality of effluent. When the treatment plant would be upgraded and its treatment process restored, the water users’ viewpoints towards the plan would likely become more positive too. This is important when water users ought to stay in Cinturón Verde Norte or pay for the irrigation water. Putting the water users in a central position or hearing their needs when the Bajo Grande treatment plant would be connected to the irrigation system, could be a strategy to improve their attitude towards this plan.
Men seem to appreciate treated wastewater more than women, and are more willing to pay extra for this water. They see an increased amount of nutrients in the water as an advantage over conventional sources. Interviewed female water users mostly do not. This difference could be linked to the use of irrigation water for household functions, which seems for all water user groups the responsibility of female water users. This data is however dubious compared to the producers’ perception on the current quality of irrigation water: all interviewed female producers thought that the current water is of sufficient quality, for the male producers this was less than half of them. An explanation for this contradiction has not been found in this research.
Work contracts are mostly informal and for the workers on daily basis. Their pay declines or vanishes when the (potential) crop yield is decreasing. The salary of sharecroppers is also directly linked to one crop cycle. Daily and weekly shortages in water supply that cause yield decreases, thus directly affect the wages of the sharecroppers and workers. These are also the most marginal groups in Cinturón Verde Norte. This makes temporal fluctuations, just like a decrease in total available water, an important feature that directly influences the quality of life of these water user groups. A constant flow of treated wastewater could therefore, via their wages, increase the quality of life of the water users with the lowest social economic status.
When divergence and alignment of the water user groups is combined with the possibility of a future with or without treated wastewater, four scenarios are created. These scenarios are made to get an impression about the different futures that Cinturón Verde Norte could have. These scenarios are visualised and named in Figure
10 and more detailed explained below.
Marginal Agriculture wastewater Technological Islands
Divergence Notreated Alignment
Exclusive Production Sustainable Growth Treated Treated wastewater
FIGURE 10: FOUR FUTURE SCENARIO'S FOR CINTURÓN VERDE NORTE
A. Marginal Agriculture. In this scenario the production, just as part of its labour, is marginal. There is only a future for intensive agriculture with groundwater supply. River water supply will keep declining with the growth of Córdoba. CVN will be replaced by the growing city and expanding rain-fed soya and wheat farms. The emigration will continue and CVN’s river water irrigation will probably disappear within 10 years. The lower demand for labour, compared to the available workforce, will probably result in a further decline in quality of life for the lowest job types.
36
B. Technological Islands. The Bolivian water users will have a better quality of life when they have one of few available jobs. Due to the higher wages, however, product prices will increase, probably leading to more labour extensive cultivation. As water supply keeps declining, producers start to emigrate: leading to even less available work. Within 10 years only labour extensive groundwater irrigation will be left. Although this data is dubious and needs more research: When Bolivian families are earning more money, women will probably stop performing agricultural working and have more time for their other daily tasks.
C. Exclusive Production. The added supply of water will boost the production and need for labour. The extra production comes at a cost of a low quality of life for the Bolivian labour force. Due to the lower quality of life of the immigrants, further immigration may stagnate, leading to a question of cheap labour that exceeds its demand and to an improvement in quality of life due to this. However, as long as the quality of life in Bolivia will still be lower than in Argentina, they will probably keep migrating to Argentina. This results in optimal conditions for labour intensive horticultural production. This scenario results in a low quality of life for immigrants, who may due to their low quality of life be highly vulnerable for low quality of water (water for grooming and drinking). The reason behind the survey’s outcome that female water users seem to be less positive about treated wastewater, could partly determine the quality of life for female water users.
D. Sustainable Growth. In this scenario, there will be enough water available for the current size of CVN, but labour will become more expensive. Due to this, and to the fact that producers can earn more money (i.e. no water shortage), more capital intensive agriculture is likely to come in CVN. The quality of life of all remaining water users will be very high (i.e. no marginal labour and more machinery), and will therefore probably be less vulnerable to a worsening in water quality.
To compare these four scenarios, they are evaluated in Table 6, based on four variables: sustainability, quality of life, gender appropriateness of the work load and productivity. Sustainability refers to how sustainable the future of the irrigation system will be. This scale ranges from the disappearance of CVN until a sustainable growing irrigation system. Quality of life refers to the quality of life of all water users still present in Cinturón Verde Norte. This variable states the quality of life of the water user group with the lowest quality of life in the given scenario. The gender appropriateness is about the workload of female water users, compared to male water users. The productivity is the total productivity of Cinturón Verde Norte, relative to the other scenarios.
TABLE 6: A COMPARISON OF THE FOUR SCENARIOS A. B. C. D. Sustainability of CVN -- -- + + Water user’s quality of life -- + - ++ Gender appropriateness of the workload - +/- - (*) + (*) Productivity of CVN - -- ++ + * More research is needed to make a final conclusion on the gender appropriateness of using treated wastewater as a source of irrigation water in Cinturón Verde Norte.
Table 6 shows that due to their very negative sustainability results and their overall mostly negative scoring, scenario’s A and B are the least favourable for Cinturón Verde Norte. The difference between these scenarios is that the overall water users have a better life in scenario B. Scenario C and D are sustainable for the irrigation system. Scenarios C scores best at the productivity of the irrigation system, but at the cost of the quality of life of some water user groups. When these four variables are summed up, scenario D is the most positive scenario.
Due to the overall improvement of the quality of life of the water users that is caused by the improved equity in the system, I think that the gender appropriateness will also be more positive in scenario B and D. This because the marginal female Bolivian water users will be more on the same level as the mostly better off Argentinean women. The general more negative attitude of women towards the plan of using treated wastewater, however, retains an unknown factor in this variable.
37
Although the increasing water demand of the city Córdoba means that there is increasingly less river water available for Cinturón Verde Norte and would finally be reduced to none, a choice can be made to use treated wastewater as an alternative or supplemental irrigation water supply during the first years. This would give the water users and organizations more time to adapt to this change in water source and supply. A similar case in Valencia, Spain, had this same transformation (Ortega-Reig, et al. 2014). An irrigation system, fed with river water and several local groundwater wells had water shortage problems. As a solution, treated wastewater was used as a supplemental source of irrigation water. Organizationally and socially, this worked out well for the irrigation system. The only drawback in Valencia is that the treated water is so well appreciated that water users didn’t want to use the more unreliable river water anymore. With an increasing million city like Córdoba, adjacent to the irrigation system, this however doesn’t seem to be a problem.
7.3. CONCLUSIONS Cinturón Verde Norte is an irrigation system characterised by high heterogeneity and complexity. By grouping the water users, who live and work in the irrigation system, along the axes of ethnicity, gender and work hierarchy, differences in 1) the choice of water supply, 2) the user-function for water, and 3) the vulnerability of a low quality of life due to changes in water quality and quantity have been found. The results show, that water shortage is seen s as the most severe problem at hand; many water users have left the system due to this.
A problem for a sustainable development of the irrigation system is rooted in the fact that, the river water supply will likely keep diminishing for Cinturón Verde Norte, as the city Córdoba keeps growing and demanding more water. Clean groundwater is present, but needs to be withdrawn from deep aquifers; the smallholder farmers who live and work in Cinturón Verde Norte often lack the financial capital to make this investment. Although the water users seem to have a slightly negative appreciation of treated wastewater, without it, Cinturón Verde Norte would disappear within the coming ten years.
If the Bajo Grande Treatment Plant is to be connected to the irrigation system, a strict water quality control is needed to prevent health risks for the water users up to the consumers at the markets and green groceries. The interviews showed, that women seem to appreciate treated wastewater less than men. Although a reason for this has not been found in this research, finding an answer to this is important for two reasons. Firstly, women seem to have few decision-making power, which can result in them not being able to put forward their wishes. Secondly, as women seem to be responsible for the domestic work, and these tasks are the mentioned other user-functions for irrigation water, it is this group that could have important reasons for their more suspicious attitude towards treated wastewater. Another group of water users that seems to live under the same circumstances are Bolivian immigrants, making female Bolivian immigrants the water users with the least decision-making power.
The equal treatment of Bolivian immigrant water users and Argentinean water users could reduce the competition power of producers. It would, however, likely increase the average quality of life of all water users in Cinturón Verde Norte. If this is what is sought after, the alignment of these two water user groups and the use of treated wastewater will give the most sustainable outcome for Cinturón Verde Norte.
Especially from these water user groups (i.e. the immigrants and women/female farmers) data was hard to gather, this left an important knowledge gap in this research. Because these water user groups are so vulnerable and lack decision-making power, more research is needed on this topic before final conclusions can be drawn.
It would be significant to further research the needs and wishes of the different water users and their relation with water, in order to assess whether changes in the irrigation system will lead to an improved quality of life for the water users and sustain Cinturón Verde Norte as a well-functioning horticultural irrigation system.
38
BIBLIOGRAPHY Angulo, E, interview by Jurrian. Conversation with an irrigation engineer (15 January 2014). Aubry, C, J Ramamonjisoa, M Dabat, J Rakotoarisoa, J Rakotondraibe, and L Rabeharisoa. “Urban agriculture and land use in cities: An approach with the multi-functionality and sustainability concepts in the case of Antananarivo (Madagascar).” Land Use Policy 29, no. 2 (2012): 429-439. Boelens, R. “Water rights politics.” In Water Politics, by K Wegerich and J Warner, 400. Routledge, 2010. Bologna, E. “La familia, la educación y el trabajo de los bolivianos en Córdoba a la luz del Censo 2001.” In Inmigrantes bolivianos en Córdoba: sociedad, cultura y politica, by R Benencia and E Domenech. 2010. Borras, S, D Fig, and S Suárez. “The politics of agrofuels and mega-land and water deals: insights from the ProCana case, Mozambique.” African Political Economy (Routledge) 38, no. 128 (2011): 215-234. Brown, A, and M Matlock. A Review of Water Scarcity Indices and Methodologies. The Sustainability Consortium, University of Arkansas, 2011. Bruno, S. “Inserción laboral de los migrantes paraguayos en buenos aires. Una revisión de categorías: desde el "nicho laboral" a la "plusvalía étnica".” Población y Desarrollo 3 (2008). Calamuchita, Municipalidad de Villa Yacanto de. “Villa Vacanto deCalamuchita.” n.d. http://www.villayacanto.gov.ar/contenidos/champaqui.html (accessed 10 29, 2013). Cambridge. Cambridge Dictionaries Online. 2014. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/gdp?q=gdp (accessed July 9, 2014). CambridgeUniversity. Cambridge Dictionaries Online. 2013. CEAS. “WATER SUPPLY PLANNING FOR THE METROPOLITAN AREA OF CÓRDOBA.” 2012. Cerrutti, M. Diagnóstico de las Poblaciones Inmigrantes en Argentina. Buenos Aires: Dirección Nacional de Población, 2009. Chambers, R. “Paradigm shifts and the practice of participatory research and development.” In Power and participatory development, by N Nelson and S Wright, 30-42. London: Intermediate technology publications, 1995. CIA. the world factbook. n.d. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2075.html (accessed July 10, 2014). CIAfactbook. “Central Intelligence Agency.” Field Listing :: Urbanization. 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2212.html. “Córdoba Province, Argentina.” Wikipedia. 13 10 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B3rdoba_Province,_Argentina (accessed 10 29, 2013). Coroado. “Comparative analysis of irrigation strategies and technologies identified in the case study areas (WP5).” 2013b. Coroado. “Report on the context of the areas, workshop structure and development (2.1).” Deliverable 2.1, 2012a. Coroado. “Technologies for Water Recycling and Reuse in Latin American Context: Assessment, Decision Tools and Implementable Strategies under an Uncertain Future (4.1).” Deliverable Number 4.1, 2013a. Coroado. “Technologies for Water Recycling and Reuse in Latin American Context: Assessment, Decision Tools and Implementable Strategies under an Uncertain Future.” 2012b. Crow, B, and F Sultana. “Gender, Class, and Access to Water: Three Cases in a Poor and Crowded Delta.” Society & Natural Resources: An International Journal 15 (2002): 709-724. Curtis, D. “Power to the people: rethinking community development.” In Power and participatory development, by N Nelson and S Wright, 115-124. London: Intermediate technology publications, 1995. Daftlogic. 23 November 2013. http://www.daftlogic.com/sandbox-google-maps-find-altitude.htm (accessed July 22, 2014).
39
D'Amico, D, and M Rami. “Las migraciones extranjeras en Argentina frente al dilema de la ciudadanía: ¿hemos superado la excepción?” In Ser boliviano en la región metropolitana de la ciudad de Córdoba, by C Pizarro, 27-50. Córdoba: EDUCC, 2011. Dávila, D. “Capacitarán a 2.300 verduleros para incentivar el cinturón verde.” La Voz, 17 October 2011. Denzin, N. The Research Act in Sociology. Chicago: Aldine, 1970. DESA. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 10 July 2014. http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/unpp/p2k0data.asp. dirección nacional de migraciones. Ley de Migraciones . ministerio del interior, dirección nacional de migraciones, 2010. Drechsel, P, S Graefe, M Sonou, and O Cofie. Informal irrigation in urban West Africa: An overview. IWMI Research Report 102, Colombo: International Water Management Institute, 2006. Eisenhardt, K. “Building Theories from Case Study Research.” The Academy of Management Review 14, no. 4 (1989): 532-550. Esteban, D. “Situación del Riego Gravitacional en el Cinturón Verde de Córdoba.” Powerpoint, 2012. Esteban, H. Interview with municipality of Córdoba (14 11 2013). FAO. The community's toolbox: The idea, methods and tools for participatory assessment, monitoring and evaluation in community forestry. toolbox, Rome: FAO, 1990. —. The farming systems approach to development and appropriate technology generation. 1995. http://www.fao.org/docrep/v5330e/V5330e08.htm#6.5 Research resource considerations (accessed March 5, 2014). Fernández, D. Interview with WUA (7 11 2013). Franceschet, S, and J Piscopo. “Gender Quotas and Women’s Substantive Representation: Lessons from Argentina.” Politics and Gender 4 (2008): 393-425. Hanjr, M, and M Qureshi. “Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change.” Food Policy 35 (2010): 365-377. Harper, D. online etymology dictionary. n.d. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=horticulture. Herrera Lima, F. Vidas itinerantes en un espacio laboral transnacional. México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, 2005. Hoek, W. van der, et al. Urban Wastewater: A Valuable Resource for Agriculture. International Water Management Institute, 2002. indec. instituto nacional de estadística y cencos . 2014. http://www.indec.mecon.ar/desaweb/nivel4_default.asp?id_tema_1=2&id_tema_2=18&id_tema_3= 78. IPCC. “Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability SUMMARY FOR POLICYMAKERS.” 2014. Job, María del Mar. “Cinturón verde, con menos productores.” La Voz , 18 04 2011. Jorgensen, D. Participant Observation: A methodology for human studies. Vol. 15. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 1989. Karavitis, C. COROADO Project Technologies for Water Recycling and Reuse in Latin American Context: Assessment, Decision Tools and Implementable Strategies under an Uncertain Future. n.d. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoinnovation2012/2nd_forum/presentations/session2/2-13.pdf (accessed August 7, 2013). Laringue, G. Interview with FAA (14 11 2013). Lopéz. interview with Dr. Lopéz (20 11 2013). Lozano, J. La Producción de hortalizas en argentina. Buenos Aires: Corporación del Mercado Central de Buenos Aires, 2012.
40
Martínez, J. “Chacras de la Merced, los marginados del este.” Día a Día. 10 12 2012. http://www.diaadia.com.ar/cordoba/chacras-merced-marginados-este (accessed 3 30, 2014). Merlo, C, et al. “Integral assessment of pollution in the Suquía River (Córdoba, Argentina) as a contribution to lotic ecosystem restoration programs.” Science of the Total Environment (Elsevier) 409 (2011): 5034- 5045. OECD. About the OECD. n.d. http://www.oecd.org/about/# (accessed 3 29, 2014). Ortega-Reig, M Palau-Salvador, G, M Sempere, J Benitez-Buelga, D Badiella, and P Trawick. “The integrated use of surface, ground and recycled waste water inadapting to drought in the traditional irrigation system of Valencia.” Agricultural Water Management 133 (2014): 55-64. Oyarzábal, E, and C Pizarro. “La inserción de los inmigrantes bolivianos en el mercado laboral de la provincia de Córdoba y de la Región Metropolitana de la ciudad de Córdoba.” In Ser boliviano en la región metropolitana de la ciudad de Córdoba, by C Pizarro, 51-80. Córdoba: EDUCC, 2011. Peel, M, B Finlayson, and T McMahon. “Updated world map of the K¨oppen-Geiger climate classification.” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 2007: 1633-1644. Pérez, E. “"Yo vine a hablar en nombre de todos": Mujeres migrantes y feminización de la supervivencia.” In Ser boliviano en la región metropolitana de la ciudad de Córdoba, by C Pizarro, 231-256. Córdoba: EDUCC, 2011. Perlo, J. Interview with the president of the APH (14 11 2013). PersonalFieldnotes (20 November 2013). Pesce, S, and D Wunderlin. “use of water quality indices to verify the impact of Córdoba City (Argentina) on Suquía River.” Water Resource (Elsevier) 34, no. 11 (2000): 2915-2926. Pidwirny, M. “Köppen Climate Classification System.” The Encyclopedia of Earth. 10 11 2011. http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/162263/ (accessed 10 29, 2013). Pizarro, z. “Inmigrantes bolivianos en el sector hortícola: entre la discriminación racializante, la precariedad laboral y la movilidad socio-productiva.” In Ser Boliviano en la región metropolitana de la ciudad de Córdoba, by C Pizarro, 119-165. Córdoba: EDUCC, 2011. Porto, M, et al. Report on the context of the areas, workshop structure, and development. Coroado, 2012. Ramos, V.A., E.O. Cristallini, and D.J. Pérez. “The Pampean flat-slab of the Central Andes.” Journal of South American Earth Sciences (Pergamon) 15 (2002): 59-78. Redacción LAVOZ. Celebran los 25 años del Mercado de Abasto. 24 June 2013. http://www.lavoz.com.ar/noticias/negocios/celebran-25-anos-mercado-abasto. —. “Crisis en el cinturón verde por falta de agua.” La Voz, 27 April 2011. Reyna, S. “Personal communication.” 8 October 2013. “Ríos de Córdoba.” Dayana. 23 07 2008. http://www.dayanabarrionuevo.com/rios-de-cordoba/ (accessed 10 29, 2013). Sala, G. “Segregación laboral de los migrantes limítrofes en provincias argentinas. Una propuesta de medición.” Cuadernos del IDES, 2008. Salamón, A, and C Moyano. “SISTEMA DE AGUA POTABLE CIUDAD DE CORDOBA.” powerpoint presentation, Aguas Cordobesas, 2013. Sayago, S, M Bocco, C Díaz, and G Ávila. “Evaluación de variables económicas y productivas para el sector hortícola en el Cinturón Verde de Córdoba en años pre y post devaluación de 2002.” Horticultura Argentina 28, no. 67 (2009). Schrijvers, J. “Participation and Power: a transformative feminist research perspective.” In Power and participatory development, by N Nelson and S Wright, 19-29. London: Intermediate technology publications, 1995. Searle, J. R. The Construction of Social Reality. Pinguin Books, 1995.
41
Singh, N. “Gender and Water Technologies, Linking the variables in arsenic and fluoride mitigation.” In Diverting the Flow, by M Zwarteveen, S Ahmed and S Gautam, 410436. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2012. Thurmond, V. “The Point of Triangulation.” JOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP 33, no. 3 (2001): 253-258. Toselli, Luis. 1er. Taller sobre Reciclado y Reúso del Agua en las Cuencas de la Provincia de Córdoba. Powerpoint presentation, COROADO, 2011. UC, National University of Córdoba. “Suquía Basin, Argentina.” Powerpoint, 2012. UN. WORLD POPULATION TO 2300. New York: united nations, 2004. UNdata. UNdata. 10 february 2014. http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=POP&f=tableCode%3a22 (accessed July 10, 2014). USDA. USDA Definition of Specialty Crop. n.d. http://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/pdfs/definition_of_specialty_crops.pdf (accessed 3 30, 2014). USstatedepartment. “2008 Human Rights Reports: Argentina.” U.S. Department of State. 25 02 2009. http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119145.htm (accessed 03 20, 2014). Waylen, G. “Gender and Democratic Politics: A Comparative Analysis of Consolidation in Argentina and Chile.” Journal of Latin American Studies 32, no. 3 (2000): 765-793. WHO. Global Health Observatory. 2013. http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_population_growth_text/en/. Wikipedia. 16 August 2014. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_de_C%C3%B3rdoba_%28Argentina%29 (accessed August 24, 2014). Wisselkoers. n.d. http://www.wisselkoers.nl/argentijnse_peso (accessed 3 31, 2014). WorldBank. “Urban population (% of total).” The World Bank. 2014. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS. Worldbank. “World Databank, World Development Indicators.” The World Bank. 2014. http://databank.worldbank.org/data/views/reports/tableview.aspx (accessed July 22, 2014). Yin, R. Case study research: Design and Methods. Vol. 4. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2009. “Zuid-Amerika.” Wikipedia. 10 10 2013. http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuid-Amerika (accessed 10 29, 2013).
42
APPENDIX
1 Tables and figures TABLE 7: MOST COMMON CROPS CULTIVATED IN THE SUQUÍA BASIN (COROADO 2013B). Crop Area (ha) Production (x1000 Kg) Yield (Kg/ha) Rape 90 140 1,556 Sunflower 1,000 1,800 1,800 Oats 5,600 N/A N/A Sorghum 15,000 17,320 4,330 Wheat 16,000 26,400 2,200 Corn 65,000 243,200 6,400 Soybean 372,000 733,200 1,971
Total general 474,690 1,022,060 2,608
Major land-use systems in the Suquía Basin
2% 5% 1% forest with agricultural use 16% 9% shrubs with livestock
1% rainfed crops (subsistence/commercial) crops and livestock
14% urban land
sparsely vegetated areas
sparsely vegetated areas with livestock open water - inland fisheries 52%
FIGURE 11: MAJOR LAND USES IN THE SUQUÍA BASIN (COROADO 2013B).
A
FIGURE 12: DIVISION OF POTABLE WATER IN THE CITY CÓRDOBA (SALAMÓN AND MOYANO 2013); seg = second.
FIGURE 13: FORMER SITUATION OF CÓRDOBA'S CINTURÓN VERDE (SAYAGO, ET AL. 2009, 44).
B
2 Questionnaire of the market survey Personal data
Name
Sex m f
Do you make the decisions regarding your work? yes no
How many years are you doing this work? <5 5-10 >10
Are you landowner, tenant or sharecropper? landowner tenant sharecropper
Is this your only economic activity? yes no
Do you register climatic data? yes → no which?:
Do you have some type of agricultural insurance? yes no
If so: Type of insurance hail Other, which?:
If so: % of hectares under insurance < 50% 50% > 50%
Are you member of an organisation or association? WUA Other, which?:
Farm and irrigation data
Location (address - zip code): Locate on map
area (hectares) total: irrigation:
C
Source of irrigation water Surface water groundwater
Type of irrigation total complementary
Type of irrigation surface sprinkler drip
Amount of water used (litres/hour)
Do you store water? yes → no capacity (litres.):
Administrative data on irrigation
Do you have enough water available for irrigation? yes no sometimes
Do you have electricity at your field? yes no
It is necessary to improve the drainage of the irrigation yes no area?
In what condition is the irrigation infrastructure at your good regular deficient field?
Do you think that the irrigation water is clean enough? yes no why?:
Do you see changes in water quality throughout the seasonally annually season or over the years?
from other How do you evaluate the water quality? visually / odour laboratory other: persons or WUA
Do you think that it is possible to improve the yes no production by better use of the water?
D
Production and management data
Irrigated crops during spring and summer, and production in (kg/ha)
Irrigated crops during autumn and winter, and production in (kg/ha)
What productivity do you think is good for these crops?
(kg/ha)
Could you indicate on a scale of 1 to 5 the extent to which the desired performance is met?
Do you only sell your products, at this market? yes no
What technologies do you use? crop rotation hail protection wind protection frost protection greenhouse
Do you get professional advice for pesticide application? yes no
Do you apply the technology "Integrated Pest yes no Management" Do you perform soil analysis before implementation? yes no
If so: with what frequency?
If not: What nutrient deficiency indicator defines low productivity visual other, which?: the decision to fertilize?
What type of fertilisation do you use? organic synthetic
E
Could you indicate the quantity of the ones you use? Triple 15 : NP1846: Urea: other: other: (kg/ha)
On a scale of 1 to 5: What is your opinion on the reuse no opinion of treated wastewater for irrigation?
What aspects do you consider problematic in the reuse health of the health of the opinion of the water quality soil contamination of treated sewage? (multiple options possible) workers consumers consumers
On a scale of 1 to 5: How confident are you that treated no opinion sewage will be of sufficient quality for irrigation?
On a scale of 1 to 5: How much confidence do you have if the institution in charge of the treatment facility was no opinion public, for example the municipality?
and if it were a private enterprise no opinion
Are you interested in using reused water, considering that it carries nutrients and therefore reduces the cost yes no no opinion of fertilization? Would you be willing to pay a little more for treated wastewater, given that the quality and quantity would yes no no opinion be sufficient?
Social data
Type of labour (indicate amount) family temporal labour permanent labour specialized labour
Do you live at your farm? yes no
Do the workers live on the farm? yes no
F
ploughing and application of What jobs are done with family labour? irrigating harvesting house holding sowing pesticides
ploughing and application of and what work is done by the workers? irrigating harvesting house holding sowing pesticides
Do you use irrigation water for other purposes? yes→ no which?:
Do you know other people that use irrigation water for cleaning cooking grooming laundry other purposes?
Do you, your family or workers have health problems yes no related to the use of water?
if so: what precautions do you take?
If you have problems with water supply: To whom do you go?
If you have problems with your crops or yield: To whom do you go?
Have you done any course on agricultural practices? yes no which?:
Would you attend (more) training courses? yes no
Do you receive ongoing advice? yes no group individual
G