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Assessing the Impacts of Venezuela's State-Led Agrarian Reform Programme on Rural Livelihoods

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Assessing the Impacts of Venezuela's State-Led Agrarian Reform Programme on Rural Livelihoods Assessing the Impacts of Venezuela's State-led Agrarian Reform Programme on Rural Livelihoods By Ben McKay A Thesis Submitted to Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in International Development Studies. August, 2011, Halifax, Nova Scotia Copyright Ben McKay, 2011 Approved: Henry Veltmeyer, Supervisor Approved: Saturnino Borras Jr. 2nd Reader Approved: James Brittain External Date: August, 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1 Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-87687-9 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-87687-9 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract Assessing the Impacts of Venezuela's State-led Agrarian Reform Programme on Rural Livelihoods By Ben McKay The debate surrounding land reform is back on the development agenda with a consensus that the severe unequal distribution of land in developing countries is the main cause of persistent levels of poverty and inequality in the countryside. In Venezuela, a state-led agrarian reform programme is being pursued. This programme is designed with the most promising elements to offset strong landlord resistance, alleviate poverty, and increase agricultural productivity; but key weaknesses in the implementation and institutionalization of the programme hinder its ability to be fully effective. Three key weaknesses have been identified - corruption and political sabotage; private intermediaries; and a lack of regulation. The ability of the state and society to overcome these key weaknesses will dictate whether this agrarian reform programme can make for a successful and productive agrarian transformation or whether its inconsistency and its lack of capacity will lead to a crisis of legitimacy and increased conflicts. August, 2011. Key Words: Agrarian Reform, Rural Livelihoods, Social Structure, Venezuela Acknowledgements I would like to give thanks to Henry Veltmeyer and Jun Borras for their guidance, inspiration, and critical comments throughout this work and many others. To Ryan Nehring - thanks for all the discussions, critiques, and help during the many hours of writing and sipping mate in the Oaks. Many thanks go out to my friends in Venezuela, especially Jesus Rojas, Emerson Useche, Gerardo Colmenares, and the great people of Rio Tocuyo, Carora, and Barquisimeto for their great hospitality, genuine friendship, helpfulness, and participation in this research. Lastly, and most importantly, to my family who has given me the opportunity to pursue my passion and interests, and has always given unconditional support. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 2 - The Problematic - Agrarian Reform in Historical Context - The Role of Agriculture in Economic Development - Analytical Framework: State-Society Relations - Methodology - Scope and Limitations of the Research - Thesis Statement Structure of the Argument Chapter 2: The Dynamics of Agrarian Reform 29 - Theoretical Debates Competing Models of Agrarian Reform - A Redistributive Alternative - Conclusion Chapter 3: Political Economy in Historical Context 52 - The Neoliberal Era of Globalization - La Via Campesina and Food Sovereignty - A Brief History of the Venezuelan Political Economy - Conclusion Chapter 4: Agrarian Reform Initiatives - The Venezuelan Case 79 - Venezuela's Land and Agricultural Policies Under Chavez - Complementary Social Policy: The 'Misiones' The Movement 'From Below: Class Struggle in Venezuela - The Venezuelan Economy and Social Indicators - Conclusion Chapter 5: Agrarian Reform in Venezuela - Limitations and Weaknesses 121 Corruption and Political Sabotage - Intermediaries Bureaucratic Inefficiencies and Lack of Regulation - Conclusion Chapter 6: Conclusion 134 Summary of Findings - Conclusion - Recommendations Appendices 151 Bibliography 156 1 Chapter 1 Introduction In Venezuela, under the Chavez administration, one of the most progressive forms of agrarian reform is being implemented. Venezuela is pursuing a model of agrarian reform that encompasses La Via Campesina's notion of food sovereignty. The Chavez administration has changed the Constitution and passed a new Land Law that is aligned with the food sovereignty movement in an attempt to reintegrate their agricultural sector back into the economy after years of neglect by previous regimes. Due to Chavez's blunt personality and populist rhetoric, many academics disregard this state-led agrarian reform as superficial and bound for failure. Moreover, Chavez's pursuit of a new model of socialism, and the anti-free market policies that this entails, has created a consensus of hatred towards him by the elites, corporations, and wealthy countries around the world. Land reform in Latin America was very common in the 1950s to 1970s, but their poor design led to failure and neoliberal policies came to dominate, promoting policies of 'modernization' and agro-industry, GMOs, monoculture plantations, and a concentration of power in the countryside ensued. When Chavez came to power, land reform was one of his key policies and one of the most contested by the wealthy, elite class. Venezuela is an extremely urbanized country, after decades of agricultural neglect due to the previous governments purely concentrating on the oil industry. As a result, only 12% of the population lives in rural areas, compared with 35% in 1960 (Wilpert, 2007:110). Furthermore, "75% of the country's private agricultural land is owned by only 5% of the landowners, while 75% of the smaller landowners own only 6% of the land" (Wilpert, 2 2007:110). With these statistics in mind, the new Land Law under Chavez is designed to achieve greater equity in the countryside, eliminate the latifundio regime, and redistribute land to smaller family farms and cooperatives to increase agricultural production. Studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), among others, show that due to the "inverse relationship between farm size and production of food crops.. .the family farm is the most efficient and sustainable" (Riddell, 2000). The FAO also point out that most land reform programs implemented since 1945 have largely failed due to the tremendous gap between theory and practice. Without the ongoing government support to provide skills in training, credits, technology, access to markets, safety nets, etc., land reform initiatives are bound to fail. In the case of Venezuela, a state-led land reform model is being pursued. But how is this being pursued and for whom? To what extent is this reform process reaching those in need? And what is the context in which this reform is taking place? These are the central questions which help to identify how and to what extent pro-poor agrarian reform in the context of food sovereignty is being implemented in Venezuela. To understand the issues regarding agrarian reform, it is not only necessary to map out where it's coming from (historical context), the underlying reasons for its implementation, or how it relates to economic growth and the purposes it should serve for the overall national development strategy. It is also necessary to analyze the underlying theoretical debates and the proposed models they guide. The rest of this chapter is organized as follows: identifying the problem of study; a brief overview of land reforms in a historical context and an exploration of the underlying reasons for which they were carried out; the role of agriculture in economic development; the analytical framework employed in the study, an 3 outline of the methodology; the scope and limitations of the study; the thesis statement; and finally an outline of the structure of the argument. The Problematic The debate surrounding land reform has been revived in the development discourse after years of neglect. The two decades of Neoliberalism
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