Agrarian Census Research Articles

Land tenure security and agrarian investments in the Peruvian Highlands

The abundant empirical studies on the relationship between land tenure security and investment remain inconclusive. This work sheds light on this issue, estimating a simultaneous equation model of 9 different types of land investments and land tenure security using data from the Peruvian agrarian census. This study analyzed the case of the Peruvian highlands, which could be a suitable case study for discussing the importance of land tenure security and land tilting programs on rural development in developing countries due to its agrarian-based economic characteristics and for having an official land-titling program (the PETT). We found that tenure security was significantly and positively related to five land investments among the nine analyzed; however, the size of these effects is small, so its importance is lower than what it is a priori expected on institutional grounds. The effects were also negative for two investments for which customs seemed to be a good way of land management. Land-titling programs in developing countries seem to be a necessary but not sufficient policy approach to promote rural development. Our results indicate that where customs are functioning well, land-titling programs can be complement to but not a substitute for these customary institutions. The impacts of other socio-economic variables suggest that public programs promoting education and training as well as gender equality are important for the promotion of rural development.

Is afforestation a driver of change in italian rivers within the Anthropocene era?

For eight rivers situated from northern to southern Italy, the evolutionary trajectories since the middle 19th century and the key controlling factors of channel adjustments were reconstructed using a combined diachronous-synchronous approach, integrating data from catchment- to reach-scale. The analysis takes advantage of multi-temporal GIS analysis of maps, aerial photographs, and orthophotos, and data from literature, archives, and official surveys of population and agrarian censuses. The main aims were to link historical channel responses to human and climate disturbances evidencing regional scale similarities and dissimilarities and to explain the role of upland and floodplain land use changes in the interpretation of channel adjustments.From the middle 19th century to the 1950s, both channel widening and narrowing were observed. These processes were related to land use disturbances (e.g., afforestation versus deforestation) acting at both reach and catchment scales. From the 1950s to 1970s, channel narrowing in some rivers accelerated simultaneously with forests encroachment on fluvial corridors and human abandonment of intense floodplain uses, before the action of any other factors. In southern Italian rivers, channel adjustments were more intense and occurred later than in northern ones, but they remained more active once adjustment ended. Even though these rivers underwent a rural decline, their floodplains were little colonized by mature forests, probably because of drier climatic conditions exacerbated by dewatering due to channel incision. This also means that upland afforestation, with its effects on bedload delivery, was a more critical driver in controlling narrowing than floodplain afforestation, as in this southern context we do not observe floodplain afforestation but grazing expansion. When forest can establish along the channel, as seen on the Volturno River, narrowing is even more important. River widening in the early 2000s–2010s did not compensate for longer term narrowing, demonstrating a shift in river responsiveness that was partly due to upland and floodplain afforestation inducing higher channel resistance to bank erosion and bedload deficit. Such morphological evolution was also observed in Southeastern France, but occurred a bit earlier, with stronger similarities with northern Italy and the Apennines. These drivers of change must not be underestimated in geomorphic diagnosis, even if they are more difficult to assess.

Mass Party Formation: Land, Civil Society, and Party in Postrevolutionary Mexico

AbstractWhat explains mass party formation? Prevailing approaches explain party formation as a process of reflection of preexisting social constituencies, or as the consequence of the rise of the bureaucratic state and in particular the advent of universal suffrage. These approaches fail to explain why Mexico’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) emerged as a mass party in some regions but not others despite attempts to do so and similarity in conditions that have been posited as central to party formation. I put forth a novel approach that posits that parties emerge as mass organization through a process of constitution of the very social base they claim to represent, but their constitutive powers are conditioned by fundamental economic structures. Relying on agrarian censuses and archival data, I show that the PRI emerged as a mass party in areas where land privatization had been more intensive. In these areas the party during its process of formation was able to build new, and absorb existing, peasant unions and organizations and carry out strong electoral mobilization. These findings suggest that mass party formation is dependent on the destruction of “pre”-capitalist agrarian structures.

Intra-seasonal climate variability and crop diversification strategies in the Peruvian Andes: A word of caution on the sustainability of adaptation to climate change

Abstract Agricultural systems are highly sensitive to climate change. Most studies focus on the effect of heat and water availability on crop yields, but little is known about the impact of changes in intra-seasonal climate variability (particularly challenging in mountain regions). Also, beyond the effect on crop yields –mostly focused on single cropping systems and major world crops- little analysis has been done on more complex, diversified and low-input cropping systems like those prevalent in the Andean region. This study investigates whether Andean farmers respond to increasing climate variability by increasing crop diversity (measured by intercropping and crop diversification indices) and by switching to crops which better tolerate heterogeneous environmental conditions. Since previous studies show that crop diversification fosters resilience of agricultural systems, decreasing crop portfolio diversity in an increasingly variable environment may challenge farms sustainability. The data used in the analysis combines district-level socio-economic information from two agrarian censuses (1994 and 2012) with district-level climate estimates of mean temperature, temperature range and precipitation (averages for periods 1964–1994 and 1982–2012). Based on fixed effects models that allow for sub-region parameter heterogeneity, I find that an increase in intra-seasonal climate variability leads farmers in colder areas (

Pueblos del Bavispe. Su condición socioproductiva a través de censos agrarios 1915-1940

Objetivo: este estudio, realizado desde una perspectiva histórica, pretende mostrar la utilidad de los datos contenidos en los censos agrarios para conocer la historia social de los pueblos en general y también contribuir al conocimiento de la historia socioproductiva de los pueblos del río Bavispe, en las primeras décadas del siglo XX. Metodología: la lógica procedimental del proceso de investigación ha permitido combinar elementos cualitativos y cuantitativos, relacionando información obtenida en acervos históricos con fuentes secundarias para identificar formas de actividad económica. Resultados: se identifican elementos relacionados con el origen y desarrollo de los censos agrarios en México, se muestra su utilidad en procesos de investigación de carácter histórico-social, y se contribuye concretamente al conocimiento de la historia socioproductiva de once pueblos del río Bavispe. Limitaciones: algunos elementos de dos de las localidades fueron analizados menos profundamente debido a las características de la información localizada. Conclusiones: con base en los censos agrarios ha sido posible construir una representación socioproductiva sobre el conjunto de estos pueblos para el periodo definido (1915-1940), en el que las áreas agrícolas eran especialmente valoradas y disputadas por los pobladores de la región. Hemos podido observar características de su situación socioproductiva al momento de solicitar tierras: la situación de la mayor parte de los habitantes de estos lugares era socialmente marginal.

Agrarian Statistics: Correction After Agrarian Census

Agrarian Statistics: Correction After Agrarian Census

Fuentes fiscales e historia agraria. El debate en torno de las posibilidades heurísticas de los amillaramientos

Fuentes fiscales e historia agraria. El debate en tomo de las posibilidades heurísticas de los amillaramientos. El objetivo del presente artículo consiste en una breve reflexión sobre las posibilidades que ofrece como fuente histórica la documentación generada por una de las figuras tributarias surgidas en 1845: la Contribución de Inmuebles, Cultivo y Ganadería. El tema ha sido objeto de cierto debate, por lo que una parte del trabajo se centra en el análisis de los argumentos a favor y en contra, mientras que en el resto del mismo se exponen las principales aportaciones conseguidas recientemente por un grupo de especialistas de Historia Agraria utilizando, con las debidas precauciones, la documentación indicada, esencialmente los Amillaramientos.
 
 [fr] Sources fiscales et histoire agraire. Le debat sur les posibilites heuritiques des amillaramientos. L'objetif du présent article consiste á une brève reflexion sur les posibilites qui offre comme source historique la documentation générée par un procédé fiscal sorti de la Reforme de 1845: la Contribution d'Inmeubles, Culture et Elevage. La sujet a donné lieu á un certain débat; donc, une première partie de mon travail est consacré á une analyse des argumentations pro et contra, tandis que dans la deuxième on expose les principaux progrés de nos connaissances sur l'histoire agraires dans ces dernières années, réussis grâce aux recherches d'un groupe d'especialistes qu'ont utilisé de façon systématique, mais avec des precautions, les Amillaramientos.

Fuentes agrarias pre catastrales valencianas. Su utilidad geográfica

Fuentes agrarias pecatastrales Valencianas. Su utilidad geográfica: Los Llibres de Values de la Peyta y Cap-patrons constituyen los padrones agrarios valencianos más antiguos. Como fuente geográfica informan sobre la propiedad, parcelación, tipos de tierra y cultivos. La riqueza de sus datos permite ima representación cartográfica aproximada.
 
 [fr] ources agraires precadastraies Valenciannes. Son utilité géographique. Les Llibres de Values de la Peyta et Cap-patrons sont les plus antiques registres agraires valenciens. Comme source géographique ils nous informent en plus de la propriété, du parcellement, des types de terre et des cultures. En outre, ils permettent de s'approcher á leur représentation cartographique.

El campesinado ni se crea ni se destruye, solo se transforma. Discursos agrarios en el "Delta de l’Ebre y l’Albufera de València"

En las páginas que siguen se resume el análisis de los discursos agrarios y medioambientales y las representaciones sociales en el Delta del Ebro y la Albufera de Valencia. La primera parte del artículo, trata de sintetizar de manera teórica la evolución y perspectivas de la agricultura familiar. Pretendemos analizar los cambios esenciales acaecidos en la agricultura y que, pese a todo pronóstico teórico, la han hecho sobrevivir. La segunda parte aborda la cuestión metodológica de la investigación. Hemos realizado 58 entrevistas y dos grupos de discusión en los que han participado perfiles sociales muy variados. El análisis de los discursos se complementó con la explotación de datos de censos agrarios, así como bases de datos relacionadas con el mercado del arroz. Las conclusiones sintetizan como los discursos del campesinado señalan la imposibilidad de rehuir de la subalternidad de la actividad agrícola que ha quedado condenada al ostracismo por el desarrollo económico y abocada a ser contaminante si quiere ser económicamente viable.

EnGendering the State: Women's Work and Peru's 2012 Agrarian Census

AbstractThis paper analyzes rural women's work in the 2012 agrarian census in Ayacucho, Peru to demonstrate the effects of gendered labor on political subjectivities and processes of statecraft. Census work is an example of the temporary, low‐income jobs increasingly the mainstay of poor and landless women in semirural areas. Alongside short‐term jobs for NGOs or municipalities, however, such work provided its employees—in this case, low‐income, mestiza women—with channels for limited influence over local politics and development. At the same time, census work highlighted gendered attitudes toward the state and tensions over shifting patterns of gendered labor and political engagement. As both formal and illicit economies expand in Ayacucho, along with government interest in controlling the region, an analysis of the intersection of gendered labor trends and political attitudes provides a unique understanding of sovereignty and alterity that foregrounds local influence. Using the example of the census, I examine how women enacted governmental procedures through the limited, precarious work available to them, demonstrating both that the production of data used in policy is a negotiated process and that gendered relationships with the state reflect and are affected by local divisions of labor.

Primary Sector Evolution: 1999-2009

nalysing the current situation of agriculture is very important because the economy in a lot of regions is based on this sector. For this reason, the present scenario in many regions mirrors that of agriculture. Farms and their structural evolution over the last decade allow us to see the effects of factors such as the economic crisis and the changes in Common Agrarian Policy (CAP) on this sector and the economies of some regions.In this sense, European countries compiled agrarian censuses in 2009 and 2010 to comply with the legal regulations established by the European Council in order to obtain a framework or directory of farms that could serve to carry out sampling designs for sectorial agricultural surveys. These censuses have been elaborated in Spain since 1982 and are the main source of primary sector information.Thus, in this paper we have used the agrarian census data from 2009 to analyse the current situation of farms. In addition, information from the 1999 agrarian census has been used to ascertain the main changes that have taken place in these farms during this decade. This analysis has made it possible to determine the main effects that the worldwide economic crisis has had on farm structure and, therefore, on the hard-hit agrarian economy.

Understanding land cover change in a Special Protection Area in Central Spain through the enhanced land cover transition matrix and a related new approach

This work analyses land cover changes occurring between 1990 and 2000 within a Natural Protected Area, southwest of Madrid (Spain). We develop a new methodology that considers the net change in different land cover categories in each municipality of the study area. Our methodology, which uses Factorial Correspondence Analysis, allows identification of the most important changes at the municipality level and groups the municipalities where land use dynamics are similar. This method is a powerful tool for synthesis and can potentially be applied to non-spatial geographical data sources (e.g. agrarian census statistics). Our results show that the land cover around SW Madrid is highly dynamic. The shrub vegetation, arable land, heterogeneous agricultural and human-created area categories show the highest total change. The dynamics of the changes detected are dominated by decreases in the area of different types of crops and increases in forest areas. These changes may have indirect effects on the conservation of natural resources and wildlife if not managed appropriately.

Cow Performance in Conventional Versus Early Weaning Herds in North Patagonia, Argentina

This paper demonstrates that early weaning should be included as an important management guide line in raising cattle in north Patagonia, Argentina. At most ranches, breeding takes place all year long. This makes it difficult to establish the weaning per centage (number of calves obtained per hundred bred cows). However, the calf-cow relationship, obtained from agrarian censuses and vaccination campaigns against aphthous, shows weaning values close to 60%, with variations between 55% and 72%, depending on zone and year. Another consequence of continuous breeding and lack of enough paddocks is the premature pregnancy of young cows, which is harmful for their growth and subsequent pregnan cies. Lack of adequate equipment, fences, watering points, etc. constrains proper use of renewable natural resources, with overgrazing in some cases and undergrazing in others. This is accompanied by a reduced livestock production. However, there exists low-cost technology adequate for these production systems, which allows one to improve cattle raising productive indices and rangeland vegetation productivity.1 An average weaning of 90% (84% to 100%) and a weaning weight of 195 pounds (180 pounds to 200 pounds) was obtained in an eight-paddock rotational grazing system, which had a 3-mo (November, December, January) breeding season during late spring-early summer from 1988 to 1993.2 Early weaning is defined as calf weaning at 2 mo, with the calf weighing between 154 and 177 pounds. Conventional weaning is defined as calf weaning at 6 mo. The advantages of an early weaning include 1) improvements in cow body state and pregnancy, especially in young cows of second parturition; 2) attenuation of emergency situations (i.e., scarcity of forage, reproductive problems because of a bad body condition, etc.); and 3) stocking rate increases. It is impo tant to clarify the term body, indicating either state or condition: animals are classified using a scale according to their fatness. In this work, a scale from 1 to 9 was used, where 1 corresponds to an extremely thin cow and 9 to a fat cow.3 Cow observations at the time of parturition, breeding, or tact (determining whether or not the cow was pregnant) allow proper management changes in time (i.e., a paddock change of the whole herd, a separation of cows in worst state from the herd, etc.). Cow body condition at parturition is related to the amount of days until breeding time and milk production. Cow state at breeding time influences the number of times that cow is ready for breeding until it becomes pregnant, and the time between parturitions. During breeding, consumption must not be restricted because cows are suckling calves and they have to maintain a good body condition to become pregnant. The period of suckling has an adverse effect on reproduction. Lusby and Wettemann4 determined that weaning 2-yr-old cows of first parturition with very poor body condition (3 to 43), increased pregnancy from 57% to 97% between 6 to 8 wk after partu rition. A pregnancy increase of 16% in 3-yr-old cows, and 28% in mature cows, was reported by Guyer5 when weaning was done 8 d before breeding. Early weaning in mature cows with a body condition of 5, when compared with co ventional weaning,1 shortened the period parturition new pregnancy from 81 to 46 d, and increased pregnancy per e tages from 83% to 100%.6

The 1930 Agrarian Census in Mexico: Agronomists, Middle Politics, and the Negotiation of Data Collection

The 1930 Agrarian Census in Mexico: Agronomists, Middle Politics, and the Negotiation of Data Collection

Land use and settlement history of the southern Inner Hebrides

SynopsisThe earliest evidence of prehistoric activity in Scotland comes from Jura. Most of Jura has been rather inimical to settlement, in comparison with other islands of the southern Inner Hebrides—Colonsay and Oronsay, Gigha and Cara, and Islay—all endowed with deposits more useful to man than Jura. Land use and settlement in these islands spread from the coasts into and up the river valleys until the first half of the19th century, after which they retreated. There have, however, been several waves of retreat and readvance.This paper assesses the present stage of research in the chronicle of these changes in the southern islands, pointing to some of the unanswered questions. The archaeological, onomastic and historical evidence is briefly examined against a slowly changing environment that has been relatively favourable, in a Hebridean context. Areal expansion, upward extension and intensified use of the land increased in momentum, with interruptions, after the late medieval period. The time of greatest change began just after the middle of the 18th century and lasted for another century.Elements of this change and its effects on settlement are discussed, using records and maps from private and official archives, topographic and other writings, and population and agrarian censuses. The important role of landlords, their agents and subsequent planners in instituting, and even containing, change is briefly assessed. In the southern Inner Hebrides an unusual, non-crofting landscape resulted: an estate, farming and sporting landscape, with, in the case of Islay, over a dozen industrial and service villages.The characteristic ‘Highland Problem’ of landscape and land use, increasingly ill-suited to the needs of later 19th and 20th century economy and society, has been less evident in these islands than in others in the Hebrides, although they now show disturbing trends. Present land use and settlement are briefly examined.

Agrarian Populism and the Mexican State: The Struggle for Land in Sonora

As oil-rich Mexico faces the 1980s, conflicts between agrarian populism and capitalist industrialization call for resolution. The internal peace and political stability that made the period between the late 1930s and the early 1970s so productive left many Mexicans--particularly the campesinos--marginal to the benefits of the economy. During this period of economic growth, agrarian reform, the trademark of the Mexican revolution, was relegated to a position of lesser importance in national politics. But with forty percent of the population still remaning in the countryside, it is clear that programs for rural development and land redistribution must again be given prominence. In this study of Sonora--a key agricultural state in northwestern Mexico--Steven E. Sanderson examines in economic and political terms the post-revolutionary rise of agrarian reform and its decline, dividing the sixty of change (from 1917 to 1976) into three periods. Agrarian populism dominated the first, which he calls a time of post-revolutionary consolidation (1917-1940). Then, during the miracle years of 1940-1970, the growing strength of capital and the success of state-led import substitution plans led to a counterreform in agrarian politics. In the final period, that of President Echeverria's populist resurgence (1970-1976), ambitious but flawed agrarian reform plans clashed with the sector that favored the increasing concentration of land, income, and political influence. Sonora provides a particularly interesting view of these developments because of its political and geographical distance from metropolitan Mexico, its rich history of independence, its economic growth since the revolution, and the political sophistication of its residents. The events in this state exemplify the regional imbalances, the ideological biases, and the political manipulations contributing to the crisis in state legitimacy that dominated Mexican politics in the 1970s. Using a combination of agrarian census materials, state archives, newspapers, records from relevant ministries, and selected interviews with participants, Sanderson presents the complex history of conflict between the political base supporting agrarian reform and the economic forces advocating industrialization and economic growth. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.

Agrarian Populism and the Mexican State: The Struggle for Land in Sonora

As oil-rich Mexico faces the 1980s, conflicts between agrarian populism and capitalist industrialization call for resolution. The internal peace and political stability that made the period between the late 1930s and the early 1970s so productive left many Mexicans--particularly the campesinos--marginal to the benefits of the economy. During this period of economic growth, agrarian reform, the trademark of the Mexican revolution, was relegated to a position of lesser importance in national politics. But with forty percent of the population still remaning in the countryside, it is clear that programs for rural development and land redistribution must again be given prominence. In this study of Sonora--a key agricultural state in northwestern Mexico--Steven E. Sanderson examines in economic and political terms the post-revolutionary rise of agrarian reform and its decline, dividing the sixty of change (from 1917 to 1976) into three periods. Agrarian populism dominated the first, which he calls a time of post-revolutionary consolidation (1917-1940). Then, during the miracle years of 1940-1970, the growing strength of capital and the success of state-led import substitution plans led to a counterreform in agrarian politics. In the final period, that of President Echeverria's populist resurgence (1970-1976), ambitious but flawed agrarian reform plans clashed with the sector that favored the increasing concentration of land, income, and political influence. Sonora provides a particularly interesting view of these developments because of its political and geographical distance from metropolitan Mexico, its rich history of independence, its economic growth since the revolution, and the political sophistication of its residents. The events in this state exemplify the regional imbalances, the ideological biases, and the political manipulations contributing to the crisis in state legitimacy that dominated Mexican politics in the 1970s. Using a combination of agrarian census materials, state archives, newspapers, records from relevant ministries, and selected interviews with participants, Sanderson presents the complex history of conflict between the political base supporting agrarian reform and the economic forces advocating industrialization and economic growth. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.