Bulmer-Thomas V., Coatsworth J., Cortes-Conde R. The Cambridge Economic History of Latin America: Volume 2, The Long Twentieth Century
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502 Otto T. Solbrig
of the Cuban revolution. There was a feeling in vast sectors of Peruvian
society that a more equitable distribution of land was necessary to forestall
such an uprising.
On June 24, 1968, the first agrarian reform law was approved by decree
and the next day the large sugar estates on the northern coast of Peru were
militarily occupied and expropriated. The new law determined a maxi-
mum of one hundred fifty hectares for coastal irrigated properties and fifty
to seventy hectares for highland estates. However, owners of haciendas not
expropriated were allowed to subdivide their estates into smaller units (usu-
ally sold to family or friends). A new decree in 1971 retroactively annulled all
these subdivisions. The military government also used provisions in exist-
ing laws about absentee ownership and labor laws to expropriate holdings
smaller than the one hundred fifty hectares limit. Eventually, most coastal
holdings above fifty hectares were subdivided, as were those above thirty
hectares in the inter-Andean valleys and beyond.
The Peruvian land reform was aimed primarily at the destruction of the
power of the landholding elite that had dominated Peruvian politics for
so long. In that it was successful. On the other hand, the division of the
large sugar estates reduced their efficiency and productivity. Although many
workers in the coastal haciendas and sugar estates benefited by becoming
owners, those in the inter-Andean valleys did not fare so well. The largest
problem in this area is not so much the large hacienda as the large number
of minifundistas, which own insufficient land. The Peruvian reforms did
nothing to alleviate that problem that still persists and was one of the issues
in the Sendero Luminoso uprising in the 1980s.
Other land reform laws such as those in Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina
have had very little impact on land tenure. Those in Brazil and Venezuela
have been basically colonization programs to given landless peasants access
to land at the frontier. Argentina never implemented a real land reform, in
part because the modernization of agriculture is fairly advanced and also
because it lacks any significant population of landless peasants.
As Latin America moved from being a region with a majority of rural
population to a region with a majority urban population, issues of land
distribution and tenure have receded in importance. Concurrently, there
has been a quiet revolution in much of the countryside. The traditional
hacienda has disappeared and has been replaced by well-capitalized, modern
production units that reap economies of scale. Ownership of the land
has lost its importance and firms are as likely to rent land as to own it.
The principal legacy of the various attempts at land reform has been the
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Structure, Performance, and Policy in Agriculture 503
disappearance of rural-based power groups that existed at the beginning of
the twentieth century.
LATIN AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCTION
At the start of the long twentieth century, Latin America was the exclusive
world producer of henequen (Mexico) for the cordage and twine trade
and of natural rubber (Brazil) primarily for the transport industry. Today
neither crop is of importance in world trade. Central America at that time
was an important producer of cochineal and indigo, natural dyes no longer
in use. Cacao, very important at the time, especially in Ecuador, is now
of secondary importance because West Africa has become the principal
producer of cocoa. Panama hats, made in Ecuador, were in universal use.
Today most men go hatless. Argentina was the principal world source of
linseed during the first half of the twentieth century; no longer. Some
crops, such as soybeans, sorghum, and sunflowers, were unknown sixty
years ago and are today among the major commodities produced in the
region. Other products, which a hundred years ago were grown for local
consumption, have become major export products because of advances in
transport and refrigeration – among them, fruits and vegetables, flowers,
and the growing of fish in aquaculture. Other agricultural commodities
were and continue to be of importance: coffee, sugar, cattle, wheat, maize,
bananas, cassava, cotton, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. This ability to adjust
to market changes attests to the dynamism of agriculture in the region and
its ability to conform to new conditions.
Latin America produces a great variety of plant and animal products for
food and fiber. Yet fewer than twenty products are significant in terms of
volume and commerce. This is not very different from other countries,
given that about twenty commodities dominate world agricultural com-
merce. If individual countries are analyzed, we find that the production
base is even narrower, with one to five goods dominating the statistics.
Another characteristic of Latin American agricultural production is
the low level of elaboration of many of the commodities. For example,
Argentina is a major world producer and exporter of wheat, yet it essen-
tially produces flour only for the local market (some is exported to Brazil).
An exception to this is the production and export of soybean oil (Argentina
is the world’s major exporter) or soybean meal (Brazil is the world’s major
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504 Otto T. Solbrig
Table 12.5. Surface, production, and yield of selected commodities in 2002
and changes since 1961 (surface in 1,000 hectares; production in metric tons;
yield in kg/hectare)
Surface % change Production % change Yield % change
Cereals 1,208,025 67.95 3,562,356 232.89 ––
Maize 560,000 121.00 1,450,000 326.42 2,589.29 92.95
Rice 250,374 208.78 1,717,170 417.41 6,858.42 67.57
Coffee 228,500 158.63 158,979 272.81 695.75 44.15
Potatoes 225,538 −4.11 2,545,810 104.70 112,877.00 113.48
Wheat 160,000 104.29 190,000 123.70 1,187.50 118.61
Beans 70,000 56.77 65,000 52.83 928.57 −2.51
Sugar 60,000 14.44 7,950,000 −1.85 132.50 −14.23
Cotton 60,000 −75.39 115,422 −68.64 1,723.23 14.16
Citrus 54,650 314.96 628,186 239.74 11.49 −18.13
Oranges 23,500 197.47 280,000 135.69 119,149.00 −20.77
Oil Palm 7,800 25,061.29 190,000 68,245.32 243,590.00 171.63
Soybeans 1,900 90.00 2,800 180 14,737.00 47.37
Sorghum 13 987.50 26 987.38 2898.30 800.00
Source: Author’s calculations based on FAO FAOSTAT Database.
exporter), and refined sugar. Although the region is an exporter of liquid
and dry milk, it has little presence in the commerce of cheese.
Good production statistics at the beginning of the century are hard to
come by. Only since the 1960sare reliable statistics available from the Food
and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Table 12.5
lists some relevant statistics regarding the principal agricultural products
and their change since 1960.Here I describe in a general way the history of
the principal agricultural commodities in given regions and the economics
of production.
Latin America is the world’s major producer of coffee, sugar, and beef.
It is the major exporter of soybeans and soybean products, and other
oilseeds (sunflowers, peanuts, and palm oil). It is also a major producer
and exporter of tropical fruits (principally bananas), and cereals (corn, rice,
sorghum, and wheat). A booming business has developed in the produc-
tion and export of vegetables, flowers, and citrus fruits. Brazil is today the
principal exporter of orange-juice concentrate and Argentina, of lemons.
Other important agricultural products are the staples of the Latin American
diet: beans, rice, plantains, and cassava. These are produced mostly for the
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Structure, Performance, and Policy in Agriculture 505
domestic market. The poultry industry has made great strides since the
1960s and poultry is becoming an important ingredient in the diet of Latin
Americans, replacing beef in many countries. Nevertheless, the cattle herd
has kept growing, especially in Brazil, where it tripled in the last fifty years
and is today the largest of any country in the world. Cotton and sheep
raising, which were very important fifty years ago, have seen a decline
as world prices have plummeted because of competition from synthetic
fibers.
Yields have improved significantly since the end of the nineteenth cen-
tury, and especially in the last forty years, but very unevenly across crops and
across countries. The best performance has been in cereals following the
introduction of green revolution technologies. The worst performance has
been in staple crops consumed locally such as plantains and cassava. Coun-
tries and regions with active agricultural frontiers – primarily tropical –
show lower yields than other areas, especially temperate regions. Increases
in yield are closely related to the level of agricultural research and the degree
of technology transfer.
Space does not allow a detailed description of the growth and develop-
ment of the many crops grown in Latin America. I therefore concentrate on
afew in order to highlight their history, production, agronomic technolo-
gies, commerce, and problems. I do this in conjunction with a description
of the history of agriculture in certain regions. I use coffee to illustrate agri-
culture in Brazil, Colombia, and Central America. Sugar is employed as an
illustration of agriculture in northern Brazil and Cuba. Cereals and oilseeds
are the topics when talking about agriculture in Argentina and southern
Brazil. The new sectors of vegetables, fruits, and flowers are highlighted
when talking about Chile. Finally, the Latin American diet’s staple crops
such as cassava, plantains, beans, and rice are discussed in conjunction with
peasant agriculture.
the growth of the coffee economy in brazil,
colombia,andcostarica
Coffee is the most important agricultural commodity in international com-
merce, second only to oil in terms of value. Latin America is the principal
producer of coffee in the world and has been so throughout the last century.
Brazil is the largest producer in the world, followed by Colombia. Other
important Latin American producers are Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras,
Peru, and Costa Rica.
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506 Otto T. Solbrig
Table 12.6. Production (metric tons) of green coffee in Latin America and
percentage change between 1961 and 2002
1961 1970 1980 1990 2002 % change
Bolivia 4,400 11,200 20,540 24,378 24,821 464.11
Brazil 2,228,704 754,800 1,061,195 1,464,856 2,390,390 7.25
Colombia 450,000 507,000 724,380 845,000 660,000 46.67
Costa Rica 61,769 73,192 106,389 151,100 155,200 151.26
Cuba 37,000 19,742 18,973 24,900 15,000 –59.46
Dominican
Republic
36,210 42,494 60,091 59,377 35,476 –2.03
Ecuador 53,500 72,053 69,445 134,980 148,000 176.64
El Salvador 122,500 129,490 184,230 147,200 112,201 –8.41
Guatemala 100,600 126,546 177,430 202,400 235,000 133.60
Haiti 45,720 32,610 42,900 37,200 28,000 –38.76
Honduras 21,450 39,456 64,228 119,784 190,000 785.78
Mexico 126,616 185,293 220,040 440,000 319,835 152.60
Nicaragua 23,200 39,418 59,107 27,996 68,182 193.89
Panama 5,000 4,436 7,272 11,547 13,940 178.80
Paraguay 6,000 4,310 7,800 17,576 2,800 –53.33
Peru 42,643 65,368 86,177 81,142 158,979 272.81
Puerto Rico 15,876 15,422 11,884 12,927 12,800 –19.38
Venezuela 57,050 60,586 58,173 76,412 69,000 20.95
Latin America 3,438,238 2,183,416 2,980,254 3,878,775 4,639,624 34.9
Source: FAOFAOSTAT Database.
Coffee is a tropical understory shrub or small tree that cannot withstand
frost. Two species are grown: Arabian coffee (Coffea arabica) and robusta
coffee (Coffea canephora). Most coffee grown in Latin America is the higher
quality C. arabica.Inspite of its name, it comes originally from what is
today Kenya and it thrives best in cool tropical climates. The best coffee
is produced on mountain slopes between 500 and 1,500 meters above sea
level. It can be grown under the shade of trees (its original habitat) or
in the open sun, according to varieties. Shade-grown coffee is of higher
quality and longer useful life as a crop but it is less productive. Sun-grown
coffee plantations have a useful life of about twenty years and require
chemical fertilization. Coffee plantations, because they are grown mostly
on mountain slopes, are a major source of soil erosion. In Latin America,
coffee plantations have been a major source of land degradation, especially
in Brazil.
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Structure, Performance, and Policy in Agriculture 507
Starting in the early nineteenth century, virgin forest lands along the
coast of Brazil in the state of Espiritu Santo were felled and planted with
coffee. The heavy rainfall and the steep slopes combined to create heavy
soil erosion, exposing the roots of the shrubs and eventually reducing pro-
ductivity. At that point, the land was abandoned and the process repeated
on new land. From the state of Espiritu Santo, coffee moved in Brazil to the
states of Minas Gerais first and then S
˜
ao Paulo, which became the largest
coffee-producing state of Brazil during the twentieth century. Because of
this movement, coffee became known in Brazil as an itinerant crop.
During the first half of the twentieth century, coffee was the principal
agricultural product of Brazil and after the collapse of the rubber boom in
1919,itaccounted for more than 70 percent of Brazil’s export earnings. The
coffee blight that destroyed plantations in the Far East at the end of the
nineteenth century was a contributing factor in Brazil’s market dominance.
However, overproduction in Brazil and other Latin American countries and
import restrictions in Europe depressed prices that fluctuated significantly.
In an effort to stabilize prices, and given Brazil’s near-monopoly position,
Brazilian coffee interests convinced their government to engage in a scheme
known as valorization.Itconsisted of buying and warehousing coffee when
its price was below a given floor (0.15 U.S. $/Kg) and reselling it when it
rose above a given ceiling. The scheme was at first successful, but during
the world depression in the 1930s, the government had to burn some of its
coffee reserves because of a lack of a market. The scheme also had the effect
of losing market share for Brazil because other producers took advantage
of times of higher prices to increase their planted surface.
After World War II, coffee producers and the United States entered into
an agreement to stabilize coffee prices. Countries set production quotas with
the participation of the principal consumer, the United States. However,
countries could not keep production below the agreed limits, whereas other
countries that were not part of the agreement gained market share. The
coffee agreement failed in spite of a second attempt.
Agreements to control prices of agricultural commodities are bound to
fail. It is not in the interest of consuming countries and the temptation
by producing countries to free ride is too high. Such agreements can only
work with nonrenewable resources – and then not always – when there is
a dominant producer that can impose discipline on the smaller producer.
This is not the case with agricultural commodities.
Colombia is the second producer of coffee in Latin America. Contrary
to Brazil, where coffee is produced in large estates with an emphasis on high
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508 Otto T. Solbrig
yields at the expense of quality, Colombian coffee is produced by both large
estates and smallholders with an emphasis on quality in order to obtain a
better price.
Coffee diffused into Colombia from Venezuela early in the nineteenth
century. Coffee was first grown in the 1830sinthe state of Santander and
exported via Lake Maracaibo. From Santander it spread to the state of
Antioquia, which became – and still is – the center of coffee growing
in Colombia. From the beginning, coffee in Colombia was grown in the
shade rather than in the open sun, as it was in Brazil. Although the large
coffee hacienda dominated production, a system of sharecropping and small
producers developed that distinguishes Colombia from Brazil. Shortages of
labor, rather than of land, constrained the growth of coffee in Colombia.
This resulted in a mixture of different types of producers that included
large coffee estates, and different systems of sharecropping.
Colombia has excellent growing conditions and, given that from the start
the shrubs were grown in the shade, their coffee has had a well-deserved
reputation for quality. Coffee growing is a labor-intensive enterprise. Seeds
are germinated in specially prepared beds and transplanted to the field after
six months. The shrubs then take two years before they bear fruit. Coffee
plants have to be pruned by hand yearly. Harvesting, which is also a manual
operation, normally requires at least three collections when the fruits are
ripening because the berries do not mature simultaneously. The fruits then
undergo a process of depulping, drying, and sorting to produce the so-
called “green” coffee, that is, coffee ready to be toasted and ground into
the product utilized to make the drink. These last operations are normally
done in the consuming countries.
Colombia’s civil wars lasted longer than in other South American coun-
tries, but once a semblance of order had been established, coffee exports
tripled between 1894 and the end of the century (Table 12.7). Coffee brought
Colombia out of an economic slump into which it had fallen as the result
of the civil wars. By 1930, Colombia was exporting more than one million
bags and the country had became the second largest producer after Brazil,
renowned for its mild and high-quality coffees.
Coffee producing stayed in native hands and, as mentioned, it was grown
under a diversity of arrangements, from the large coffee finca to the small
estate of a few hectares, and with a diversity of sharecropping arrangements.
Contrary to other countries, coffee growers never coalesced into a landed
oligarchy. Foreign capital was invested into transport (railroads) and pro-
cessing and,especially, commercialization and export. The world depression
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Structure, Performance, and Policy in Agriculture 509
Table 12.7. Coffee exports from Colombia in
five-year averages (1880–1909)
Year Exports (Kg)
1880–1884 4,899,960
1885–1889 5,971,980
1890–1894 8,526,960
1895–1899 26,539,980
1906–1909 37,771,980
Source: MarcoPalacios, Coffee in Colombia 1850–1970
(Cambridge, 1980).
of 1930 ended the coffee boom as the bottom fell out of the market. Since
1961, the area dedicated to coffee has not changed although production
has increased because of increases in yields. The sharp fluctuations in price
have created a crisis atmosphere in Colombia. Many smallholders moved
to frontier regions and switched to the growing of coca that is much more
profitable in spite of the risks involved.
Coffee was introduced into Costa Rica in the 1830s. Costa Rica was then
a country of smallholders, with a small population concentrated in the
central plateau around the city of Cartago. Coffee was – and is – grown
primarily on the Pacific slope of the mountains up to 1,500 meters. Volcanic
soil is particularly valued for coffee growing. It quickly increased in worth,
and soon a concentration of it in a few hands followed. This process was
furthered by the need of capital to process the coffee beans. Small producers
who could not obtain the equipment to process the coffee beans were unable
to compete and sold their land to those with modern facilities.
The first shipments of Costa Rican coffee to Europe in 1850 went via Cape
Horn because the country lacked ports and roads to the Caribbean Sea.
Yet, even so, coffee exports started growing and the government encour-
aged its growth by giving away fiscal lands for the growth of this crop. The
coffee boom began and Costa Rica, which was the most backward of the
Central American countries, was transformed into one of the more prosper-
ous. From Costa Rica, coffee growing diffused to other Central American
countries, especially Guatemala and El Salvador, and to Mexico.
It is estimated that in the mid-nineteenth century there were about 4,000
hectares planted in coffee in Costa Rica. This surface grew slowly all through
the long twentieth century to today’s 103,500 hectares – a twenty-five–fold
increase. Forty percent of that increase has taken place since 1960.
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510 Otto T. Solbrig
The rate of growth was damped primarily by labor shortages because
there did not exist a large Indian population in the country and most
farmers owned small plots. This situation resulted in better salaries and
working conditions in Costa Rica than in other Central American countries
(especially Guatemala). It also checked the growth of the Costa Rican coffee
haciendas that were modest by the standards of other coffee-producing
countries. Until recently, smallholders continued to dominate the rural
landscape in Costa Rica (not necessarily exclusively producing coffee) and
they are probably one factor that has made Costa Rica the most democratic
country in Central America.
Nevertheless, coffee interests dominated the body politic in Costa Rica
because coffee was such a large part of the economy, and it still plays a
very important role. In the second half of the nineteenth century, coffee
accounted for between 70 and 90 percent of exports.
9
The construction
of a railroad to the Caribbean and building of adequate port facilities
in Puerto Lim
´
on aided the development of the coffee boom. Costa Rica
is now trying to increase market share by concentrating on quality and
trying to sell directly to consumers in the United States through producer
cooperatives and other marketing arrangements. There is also a push to
produce “shade” and “organic” coffee (produced without agrochemicals)
that sells at a premium to a selected public in the United States and Europe.
However, soil erosion continues to be a serious problem.
Table 12.8 compares the production, surface, and yields of coffee in
the last forty years in the three countries analyzed. Coffee, which was the
major agricultural product of Brazil during the first half of the century, has
been steadily declining in importance. Although Brazil is still the world’s
principal producer, production has remained steady with an increase of
slightly over 7 percent in forty years, and a loss of 46 percent of the surface
dedicated to this crop. Yields, however, have doubled. Colombia, which
still depends heavily on coffee exports, has seen an increase of close to
50 percent in production because of greater yields with essentially no change
in surface. Costa Rica has increased production by 150 percent because of
a combination of a 50 percent increase in surface dedicated to the crop and
a 77 percent increase in yields. Whereas Brazil has successfully reduced its
dependence on coffee, Colombia and especially Costa Rica have increased
theirs. Given the glut of coffee in the world and the low prices, the strategy
of Costa Rica and Colombia presents definite risks. Both of these countries
9
Chonchol, Sistemas agrarios en Am
´
erica Latina, 175.
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Structure, Performance, and Policy in Agriculture 511
Table 12.8. Production, surface, and yields of coffee in Brazil, Colombia, and
Costa Rica between 1961 and 2002
1961 1970 1980 1990 2002 % change
Production (metric tons)
Brazil 2,228,704 754,800 1,061,195 1,464,856 2,390,390 7.25
Colombia 450,000 507,000 724,380 845,000 660,000 46.67
Costa Rica 61,769 73,192 106,389 151,100 155,200 151.26
Surface (hectares)
Brazil 4,383,820 2,402,993 2,433,604 2,908,960 2,367,510 −45.99
Colombia 832,000 830,000 1,084,000 1,000,000 805,000 −3.25
Costa Rica 73,000 95,000 81,750 115,000 103,500 41.78
Yield (Kg/hectare)
Brazil 508.39 314.11 436.06 503.57 1,009.66 98.60
Colombia 540.87 610.84 668.25 845.00 819.88 51.59
Costa Rica 846.15 770.44 1,301.39 1,313.91 1,499.52 77.22
Source: FAOFAOSTAT Database.
are trying to gain market share by emphasizing quality, and leaving the
market for low-quality caturra coffee (used primarily for making instant
coffees) to low-cost producers, especially Vietnam and African countries.
sugar and agriculture in northern brazil and cuba
Columbus brought sugar cane to America on his second voyage. Yet it was
in Brazil, especially in the state of Bahia, and not in the Caribbean, where
it first was grown extensively and became the first major agricultural export
from the Americas. Sugar has ever since been a very important high-value
agricultural commodity in Latin America. The region produces almost half
of all the cane sugar produced worldwide (44%in2002,upfrom43%in
1961) and almost half of the surface dedicated to this crop in the world
(44%in2002,downfrom49.5%in1961)isinLatin America. Sugar, more
than any other commodity, led to the importation of African slaves and
maintained this commerce for close to three centuries.
Although sugar cane is grown in almost all Latin American countries and
is a major commodity in most, it is especially important in the economy of
five of them: Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. Argentina, the
fifth largest producer in Latin America, does it behind a huge protective
barrier, and in Venezuela, the sixth producer in the area, sugar growing