Project Summary Report Rural-Urban Dynamics Inecuador: Agricultural Mprketing Inthe Ambato Region
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COOPEnATIVE AGREEMENT ON HUMAN SETTLEMENTS AND NATURAL RESOURCE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS PROJECT SUMMARY REPORT RURAL-URBAN DYNAMICS INECUADOR: AGRICULTURAL MPRKETING INTHE AMBATO REGION SARSA Cooperative Agreement (USAID) USAID/Ecuador FONAPRE Clark University Institute for Development Anthropology International Development Program Suite 302, P.O. Box 818 950 Main Street 99 Collier Street Worcester, MA 01610 Binglamton, NY 13902 PROJECT SUMMARY REPORT RTRAL-URBAN DYNAMICS IN ECUADOR: Agricultural Marketing in the Ambato Region SETTLEMENTS AND RESOURCE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT U.S. Agency for International Development by Geraia Karaska, Barry Lentnek, Richard Wilkie, Eric Belsky, and Hugh 0. Calkins, November, 1985 Preface This is a brie' summary of conclusions drawn from a demonstration project conducted by the Settlement and Resource Systems Analysis Cooperative Agreement (USAID) in collaboration with FONAPRE and PRONAREG of the Government of Ecuador and financed by the USAID Mission to Ecuador. This report summarizes and eval uates detailed surveys done in 1983 and 1984 in Ecuadof. The 1983 surveys were documented in a preliminary report submitted to USAID in 1984. Some of Lhe results of the 1984 surveys are reported in this document. Together with a large data bank assembled during the first six months of 1985, these reports describe the regional analysis portion of the pilot project, which, in turn, is a part of a "convenio" agreed to by Clark University and the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ecuador in the summer of 1983. It is hoped that all parties will reach an agreement on the "project identification" portion of the pilot project, thus fu.filling the terms of the SARSA-FONAPRE -greement. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .. .. .. .. .. .I The First Phase: General Regional Analysis ............ 2 The Second Phaste: The Greater Ambato Region ........... 5 The Third Phase: Marketing .... .... .......... 7 Policy Issues . .. 10 PART L. FREIGHT MOVEMENT ANALYSIS OF FOOD MARKETING IN THE ABATO REGION ..... ............... 15 Introduction ................ .. 15 The Regional Pattern of Market Transactions . 20 Trading in root starches . 25 Trading in legumes ... ........ 30 Trading in citrus .. ....... 34 Trading in cereals . ........ 38 Trading in other commodity groups . # . 38 Link-Flow Analyses of Commodity Movements . ........ 43 Conclusions ............. ...... .. 50 Appendix I-A. Cargo Destination Location Cartograms . .... Appendix I-B. Cargo Origination Location Cartograms . .... Appendix I-C. Bi-Directional Link Flow Cartograms . .... PART II. VENDOR SURVEYS IN THE FERIAS OF SAQUISILI AND PELILEO . 53 General Characteristics ..... .............. 58 Introduction .......... ..................... 58 The Seven Plazas in Saquisili . 68 Comparison of Seven Plazas in the Saquisili Market . 86 The Number of Vendors . .. .... ............ 90 Number of Products Sold by Vendor Type. ............ 94 The Ages of the Vendors . ........ .97 Intensity of M-rket Participation: Vendor Cycles . 100 Introduction ....... ................. 100 Root Crops ....... ................. 103 Vegetables............ 107 Grains . ......... ........ 110 Fruits . 113 Livestock . .... 117 Summary . ............. 121 Vendor Surveys Spatial Information . ............. 127 7 INTRODUCTION The Settlement and Resources Systems Analysis Cooperative Agreement (USAID) has engaged in a coll.aborative research effort with USAID/Quito and several Ecuadorian planning agencies since January, 1983. Clark University and The National Fund for Pre-Investment Studies (FONAPRE) cosigned a conven tion ("convenio") with the Minister of Foreign Relations in the summer of 1983. The convention calls for a long-term collaborative effort which will assist FONAPRE in its mission as the central project identification and preliminary assessment unit of the Ecuadorian government. This collaboration takes three forms: (1) general research conccrning the pattern of regional and urban development in Ecuador; (2) general training programs in advanced methods of project research, management, and evaluation; and (3) specific research on par ticular investment projects. One of the purposes of this report is to review the progress made in implementing the first two goals of the convenio. Before recounting the progress made to date, it should be noted that the SARSA-FONAPRE international team were most fortunate in obtaining the collaboration and active assistance of PRONAREG (The National Program for the Regionalization of Agriculture), which is a research unit of the Ministry of Agriculture and Live stock. The assistance rendered by PRONAREG since early 1984 has proven to be invaluable. It was agreed during the first days of the collaborative arrangement between SARSA and FONAPRE that the emphasis would be placed upon regional development with an emphasis upon rural development. Thus, rural-urban dynamics became the operational theme, wherein we proposed to examine carefully the existing pattern of relationships between urban centers and surrounding rural areas. In order to provide a focus for the general research base of the 2. collaborative effort, we chose the Greater Ambato Region as an area in which to do detailed research. A very large volume of previous research was collected, studied, and evaluated. We also did a fair amount of original research on the population geography of Ecuador as well as a preliminary assessment of the pattern of regional development in light of Ecuador's economic history since 1973. This research took about a year, and a preliminary report was submitted in early 1984. The First Phase: General Regional Analysis The first phase of the SARSA - FONAPRE collaboration involved a period of assassment, evaluation, and project selection. We summarize here a report of the general conclusions from this period of work. It is very clear that Ecuador's economy is a claasic case of export-based, cyclical development. The petroleum boom of 1973-1982 was, in fact, the fifth boom of its kind since independence in 1830. Each boom was led by the rapid exploitation of a crude product (e.g., coffee, cacao, rice, bananas, and oil) for which demand in international markets was vigorous with relativly high prices. In each case, the proportion of the population whose livelihoods were benefited to a large degree was small; and each boom lasted less than the span of oaie generation and was followed by a period of economic stagnation, currency inflation, devaluation of the sucre, and high urban unemployment. Nonetheless, progress did occur in infrastructure, eduzation, health, and general welfare. Gradually, transportation and power networks were built, and a collection of national organizations were creatud which both expressed and promoted a sense of national identification. 3. This last boom, the Era of Petroleum, shared all of the characteristics of its predecessors. Nonetheless, there were some significant differences as well. The principal features which were distinctive were: (a) the sheer mag nitude of the earnings from the export "crop" as a proportion of national earnings; (b) the suddenness with which the money appeared (following the opening of the pipeline and the international oil embargo of December, 1973) in huge amounts relative to the modest and declining real value of the export income from agriculture (coffee and bananas); (c) the fact that the oil revenues went directly into the national treasury because the oil fields were nationalized; (d) the vast growth of the government bureaucracy in Quito; (e) the rapid growth of a Guayaquil merchant class to supply the emerging national bureaucracy with imported goods; and (f) near completion of long-standing infrastructure projects such as a national all-weather road net, a national electric grid, national telecommunications, radio and television networks, and universal primary education. The cu'ulative impact of these changes was to complete the process of national integration, urbanization, and modernization. Essentially, the glut of oil revenues forced the last transformations needed to convert Ecuador from an essei!Lially rural, agrarian society to one which is a recognizably part of the urban-industrial world, albeit at a very low level of income. There are, of course, sectors which have lagged behind the changes and disequilibria which required adjustment. Indeed, the purpose of the remainder of this section is to characterize one of the disequilibria which needs adjustment. The central point being made is that Ecuador is now an urban society and has left all but the vestiges of the economic, social, and political characteristics of her agrarian past behind her sometime during the 1970's. 4. Because our task was to examine the pattern of regional (especially rural) development, we were at pains to produce a set of stylized facts concerning the impact of oil upon development. This proved to be most easily done by an exam ination of the regional pattern of demographic change. The central conclusicn that can be drawn is that there came into being during 1974-1982 a "corridor of development" consisting of a nearly continuous rectangle of cantons from just southeast of Guayaquil to just northeast of Quito. Population growth and urbanization are e3pecially high in this corridor. The zones lying north and south of the development corridor grew more slowly than the national average. The Amazon and the far northwest grew slightly faster than average. There appears to be a simple explanation for the formation