Agrarian Ecology and Peasant Production in the Central Andes

Abstract

An integrated, production-focused, model of the Central Andean peasant economy is suggested, based on the interac- tion of many factors: geoecology, vertical gradients of land tenure, agricultural regime, and labour use, and the household/supra- household spheres of production. Two sets of characteristic social relations are found. The first is a personal social network built up by the household which can be activated to obtain land, labour, and other productive inputs. The second is a set of social relation- ships within the totality of households in a naturally interacting settlement. The latter is associated with a supra-household sphere of production which arises as a response to constraints on household production requiring collective processes. Through the supra- household, land, water, pasture, and collecting rights are allocated to individual households, agricultural tasks and labour utilization are scheduled and coordinated, large-scale technological inputs into household production are created and maintained, and a long- term production strategy is determined.