Agricultural Restructuring and Coordinated Policies for Rural Development in Chile
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AGRICULTURAL RESTRUCTURING AND COORDINATED POLICIES FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN CHILE by ALFREDO APEY A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Geography Faculty of Arts The University of Birmingham May 1995 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. SYNOPSIS Despite a successful process of economic growth in Chile principally engineered by a dramatic rise and diversification of primary exports since the late 1970s, rural poverty is still a widespread condition throughout the country; nearly 40 per cent of the rural population are affected by this condition. From a geographical perspective, rural poverty in Chile is a complex result of different intervening factors. The adoption of outward-oriented strategies of development since the mid-1970s has initiated some new trends that have adversely affected a significant segment of the rural popUlation. Thus, one of the results of the socio-productive change, which can be observed in the Chilean countryside, is a growing number of landless peasants and an aggressive market for agricultural land. New lands have been required for the expansion of export-led primary resources, notably agricultural and forestry. In parallel, the developing of a seasonal structure of labour demand has become an additional constraint affecting the rural labour force and the quality of life in rural areas. Within the institutional framework of the government rural problems have been largely perceived as a responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture. However, usually the main difficulties affecting rural population are not only related to productive concerns but they are also associated with a wider number of inter-sectoral constraints (e.g. availability and access to housing, social services and infrastructure, to grass root organisations, to culture and recreation among others). So, any attempt oriented to increase rural development transcends unisectoral policies. This study has three main general aims. First, it attempts to explore the background to rural poverty in Chile in a national and international context. Secondly it examines the regional evolution of agriculture in a highly-competitive framework. In this context, a comparison is made of a region that has been transformed by export-led agriculture with a region whose products have not been competitive internationally and, indeed, have found it difficult to remain competitive in the national market. Thirdly, it pretends to present and evaluate an intersectoral attempt by the democratic government of President Patricio Aylwin to alleviate rural poverty through better organisation and coordination of ministerial responsibilities dedicated to rural areas. The vehicle for improving horizontal coordination was the Interministerial Commission for Rural Development-CIDER. The regional focus was the VII Region (Maule), a region that had not benefited from export-led agriculture. To Catalina, Camilo, and Marietta (my source of energy); To those children who go to school for food rather than for learning ( my main concern). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It would not been possible to complete this thesis without the valuable cooperation of many people and institutions. I would particularly like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. R. N. Gwynne for his limitless support, guidance and patience during the development of this thesis. I want to thank the British Council and the School of Geography of the University of Birmingham for their financial support for my studies in Britain. I am grateful for the efforts of the postgraduate tutor Dr. M. Bradshaw who helped me overcome funding problems for the second stage of this research. I wish to thank the Ministry of Agriculture for sponsoring part of this research. My special gratitude to the Head of ODEPA Carlos Furche for his institutional support throughout my second stage in Britain. I am especially indebted, however, to the former Minister of Agriculture Juan A. Figueroa who trusted me for the identification and preliminary implementation of the CIDER programme for Rural Development which is discussed in this research. My appreciation is also expressed to my colleagues of ODEPA and other services and ministries who assisted me while carrying out this research. However, I am especially grateful and indebted to my colleagues on CIDER's technical advisory committee who believed in and contributed to the identification and implementation of the CPRD. In this regard, I wish to express my special thanks to the former SEREMI of agriculture in the Maule region, Oscar Bravo, for his invaluable collaboration with CIDER and his strong commitment to rural development initiatives in the region. My recognition to the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism and especially to my colleagues of the Department of Geography of the Uni,:ersity of Chile for sponsoring and supporting me whilst this research was being done. I wish to thank Claire and Kevin for their technical assistance with the tables and figures respectively. I would also like to express my gratitude to my colleague and friend C. Lee for his invaluable assistance with the editorial job of this thesis. My recognition to the staff and particularly to all my postgraduate colleagues of the School of Geography. Their friendship was an important factor in facilitating my adaptation to the social and working environment of the University of Birmingham. To Dr. D. Fox and Dr. J. Sidaway, my sincere thanks for their generous flexibility in evaluating the thesis considering the schedule I had to meet in order to return to Chile. Finally, my warmest thanks and gratitude to my wife, son, and daughter for their understanding and support while I was concentrating upon this thesis, especially during both long periods in which the Atlantic was between us. I wish also to express my appreciation to my parents for assisting my family while I was away. CONTENTS Synopsis Acknowledgements Contents. .. i List of Tables, Figures and Maps . .. v List of Abbreviations .,............................,..... ix Chapter 1. Introduction . .. 1 1.1. Aims of the Thesis . .. 1 1.2. Objectives . .. 2 1.3. Methodology ....................................... 6 1.4. Structure of the Thesis ................................. 9 Chapter 2. Poverty in Chile: Definitions and Patterns . .. 12 2.1. Poverty at the National level: Some Insights. .. 13 2.2. The Dimension of Rural Poverty ........................... 17 2.3. Two Trans-communal Homogeneous Landscapes of Rural Poverty: The Norte Chico Region (The Little North), and The Drylands of the Coastal Range ("Secano Costero") . .. 36 2.4. Concluding Remarks .................................. 49 Chapter 3. The New Economic Model and Regional Change: the Development of Nontraditional Agricultural Exports and the Norte Chico Region . .. 50 i 3.1. Nontraditional Exports in Latin America: A General Background . .. 51 3.2. Nontraditional Exports in Chile ........................... 55 3.3. Socio-geographical Implications of the Norte Chico's Process of Agricultural Restructuring . I • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 62 3.4. Concluding Remarks on the Norte Chico's Geographical Process of Change . 94 Chapter 4. Socio-productive Changes in a Backward Region of Traditional Agriculture ................................... 98 4.1. Factors Adversely Affecting Rural Activities in the Maule Region: ...... 100 4.2. Main Trends of Regional Agricultural Production: The Recent Impacts from Growing Volumes of Import Crops. .. 101 4.3. The Expansion of the Forestry Sector and its Impact at the Local Level: General Trends in the If Secano If Commune of Empedrado ....................... 109 4.4. Forestry Activities in the "Secano" Area: Final Remarks. .. 115 4.S. Summary ......................................... 116 Chapter 5. External Factors Affecting Agro-exporting Countries . .. 119 5.1. Production, Trade and Prices: Some Insights on Agricultural International Markets ............. , ................................. 122 5.2. The Role of International Organisations in Developing Countries; the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank .......................... 131 5.3. Protectionism in International Agricultural Markets .. .. 144 5.4. Summary .................. , ............ , .... ,.... 159 Chapter 6. Imperatives and Restrictions for a State-led Rural Development Strategy in Chile . .. 163 6.1. The New Internal Context for Rural Development. .. 166 6.2. Imperatives for Rural Policies . .. 168 ii 6.3. Main Restrictions for Rural Development Policies . .. 174 6.4. Summary ......................................... 180 Chapter 7. Some Features of the New Regional Institutional Framework . .. 182 7.1. Geographical Background: The Uneven Spatial Pattern of Development in Chile 183 7.2. New Regional Institutional Framework for Intra-regional Development .... 186 7.3. Concluding Remarks ................................