Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Brief Overview of Subsistence Farmers in Panama

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Despite a deceptively high national per-capita income, there is much poverty in Panama. The "poster child" of Panamanian poverty would be malnourished, rural and indigenous. There would be no shortage of models for such a poster; 87.7% of the rural indigenous population and 33.5% of the total rural population has been classified as suffering extreme poverty. This means they have a per-capita income of less than $470 dollars per year, insufficient to provide a minimum daily consumption of 2280 calories (Government of Panama, 1998).



At the same time, the natural resources, which sustain the rural population, and with wise use could produce an acceptable standard of living, are being depleted at an alarming rate. For reasons of climate, geographical location and topography, Panama has an apparent comparative advantage in wood and other forest products. Nevertheless, little has been done to develop this advantage.



Often, thousands of dollars of valuable wood is burned to clear land where less than one hundred dollars of rice or corn will be harvested. The annual rate of deforestation has been estimated at 50,000 to 70,000 Ha. per year. Areas of extreme soil degradation due to erosion comprise more than 2,000,000 Ha. More than 1,700,000 Ha. of land that is unsuited to agricultural production is currently in use, and will likely be added to the total of degraded land in the future. Thus, it is probable that the migration to urban areas will continue or increase from its current level (Stewert, 1996).



Who they are and what they are like about 45% of Panama’s population is classified as rural, with 1,007,247 rural non-indigenous and 206,489 rural indigenous people (GOP, 1998). While exact figures for the number of subsistence farmers are not available, a drive through the countryside will suffice to know that the majority of the rural working population is engaged in subsistence agriculture at least part of the year. Within two hour’s travel in any direction from Panama City’s tall buildings, one will encounter subsistence farmers.



In spite of the existing environmental laws, the campesino has had almost unrestricted access to forested land, even in protected areas (Stewart, 1996). There they practice migratory or "slash and burn" agriculture. Usually grains such as rice or tubers such as yucca are planted for about two years, after which the land is abandoned to regrow a forest fallow, or converted into pasture, and the cycle is repeated elsewhere. The campesino combines his unskilled labor with available land, without having to invest money that he doesn’t have, to produce a crop for his family’s consumption.



In areas where there is paid labor available, many campesinos will work for large landowners during part of the year. This depends greatly on transportation and availability of productive land. A man will often abandon planting his own crops to chop woody plants in pastures for $3 per day (Veraguas province) to $6 per day (Coclé) (Personal communication, 1999). He may leave his home for two or three months a year to cut sugar cane for the same daily wage. This indicates that the daily production of the migratory farmer is less than that- certainly an indication of extreme poverty, given the average family size of 5.6 persons (total rural) to 7.2 persons, for indigenous areas (GOP, 1998).



The rural poor spend an average of 71% of its meager income on food, leaving very little for other basic necessities. At the same time, 43% of the rural poor have access to land, indicating that the land, which is available, is underutilized for food or income production.



What are the unmet needs?



According to the government of Panama (1998), poverty is concentrated in rural areas (88% of the national total for extreme poverty), indigenous areas (88% of the total indigenous population is extremely poor) and affects children to a great degree (52% of all children under 5 years and 37% of the total population are poor). The government classifies extreme poverty as per-capita income less than $470 dollars per year, insufficient to reach the minimum daily caloric intake of 2280 calories. The poverty line is set at $726 per-capita per year, sufficient to assure a minimum requirement of calories, plus essential goods and services.


The government characterizes the poor rural population in the following manner (1998):


* Large families- average 5.6 members (national) to 7.2 (indigenous)


* Poorly educated- average 4.5 years of school, 20% illiteracy among the poor, 50% among indigenous women


* Rustic housing- 40% of rural poor (61% of indigenous poor) has dirt floors


* Need for potable water- 27% of rural poor (57% of indigenous) don’t have water systems


* Lack of sanitary facilities- 14% of rural poor and 60% of indigenous poor don’t have latrines or other facilities


* High degree of malnutrition among children- about 1 of 3 poor rural children and 1 of 2 poor rural indigenous children suffer from chronic malnutrition


(2 standard deviations less than average height for age)


* Lack of technical assistance- 5% of all farmers receive technical assistance, this falls to 2.6% among rural poor and 1% for indigenous


* Lack of credit for poor farmers- the non-poor receive 93% of the total value of all agricultural loans


* Deforestation, especially of watersheds, and soil erosion due to lack of soil conservation techniques, are serious problems in rural areas


* Marginalization of women and low productivity of young agricultural workers add to over-all family and community poverty



To sum up-



The large percentage of the Panamanian population, which lives in the countryside, faces a broad range of inter-related problems relating to income, nutrition, housing, water and sanitation and other basic needs.



The available resources- human and "natural" are poorly utilized, and in some cases, being lost. At the same time, the education and technical assistance, which are available, are not nearly sufficient to meet the need for learning the low-input techniques that are required in the situation of lack of credit or other money to invest in small-scale agriculture and community development.




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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Women's Secure Access to Land and Productive Assets


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"The Gleaners"
by Lewis Rubenstein (1908-2003)

The land is nurturing the mother, who nurtures the child on her back who in time will tend the fields.
For more about the Artist click here





Women need forests,

Women need water,
Access to education and to power,
Freedom from bondage,
Freedom from hunger.
Let us bring them 'the honour'.
Land to women is actually revolution.
As it saves children from malnutrition
And makes families function




Extract from Words of Women at the WRAP workshops in India:

Across the developing world, rural women are among the poorest and most disadvantaged groups. They face gender-based discrimination, which is reflected in inequalities in their rights and in their access to resources – especially land, technology and social services, including education and health. Their voices in public life are seldom heard, as women are under-represented in decision-making at all levels. Moreover, their social and economic contributions to their households, and to their communities, are neither understood nor documented.


Women’s access to land can be directly related to the important role played by them in rural economy, especially agriculture; it is a basic factor in food security for family and communities. However, women represent the majority of persons without title deeds to the land they use. In a changing socio-economic environment, where women are becoming heads of rural households at an accelerating rate, it is vital that the visibility of rural women farmers be raised; although the economic roles and contributions of women are increasing, their rights to land are not. It must be realized that respect for women’s land rights is something that will benefit the population as a whole.


For more information on land use by women and indigenous populations please refer to our web site www.paulownianow.org.



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