Saturday morning, bright and early, found our group traipsing around the Jara neighborhood (barrio) of Asunción, trying the find house number 1092. We were confused because the numbering system felt like lottery numbers: 4-67, 7-12, 7-14, 11-42, then back to 7-60. I thought they were supposed to be in order, and so did the taxi driver who had gotten out of the taxi ten minutes earlier and had not returned. After a few frantic phone calls, we finally made it to the residence and offices of SER, a cooperative-supporting development group active in rural Paraguay.
We were to interview Dr. Campos, a former academic who had started this organization to work in a more direct way with the rural development issues that Paraguayans are confronting. All over his house were mementos of his travels all over Paraguay, and we talked with him in his backyard garden.
He discussed many of the historical reasons that Paraguay had had problems with rural development. A primary cause has been the patrón system, whereby one landlord or village merchant operates a monopoly/monopsony over the local agricultural population. Through the monopoly the patrón controls the inputs of production (equipment, fertilizer, etc) and puts the farmer in debt (these inputs cost a lot). Through his monopsony (a one buyer, many seller situation), the partón acts as the sole buyer whatever the farmer grows and can keep him in debt. If a farmer grows cotton, borrows money to pay for fertilizer, and grows a good crop, the patrón can easily say, “This is not that good of quality” and pay only enough to the farmer to ensure survival until next debt season.
This is where organizations like Fundación Paragauya and Dr Campos’ SER can be helpful. FP, by teaching organic farming and money management, allow farmers to have good production (as measured by crop density and profitability) without the capital intensive inputs, breaking the need for large loans. FP provides microfinance loans, on paper in contract form, so that credit can be accessed without the danger of eternal peonage. Both FP and SER work to create strong cooperatives and local committees that function to provide stronger market access, to lend to members, and to provide education so that the small farmer can be a force in the system.
Education and financial literacy are the tools that can empower rural agricultural populations (and urban ones, for that matter). There are still many other issues that trouble growers: unstable global commodity prices, non-standard subsidies in neighboring countries, blights and animal diseases, etc. Organic prices are not as volatile as others, though, and many Paraguayans, now equipped with these new tools, can deal with these problems in a better manner.
- Chris