Land and sustainable development: conflict in La Simona, Santiago del Estero: sustainable rural development and land tenure
Dios, R. de; Radizzani, A.
Realidad Economica ( 160/161): 195-199
1998
Document Number: 303501
The article seeks to draw attention to the hitherto rather neglected situations of conflict that are arising with regard to land tenure rights in many parts of Argentina, using as an example the case of La Simona, in the province of Santiago del Estero. These conflicts have been aggravated by trade liberalization, which has led to falling prices for most agricultural products and to a worsening of conditions for small rural producers, increasing rural poverty and urban migration. This in turn requires government and NGO policies directed towards rural development, one element being the strengthening of rural land tenure for the under-privileged. Such programmes exist in Santiago del Estero and affect 10 000 families, but they are not able to ease conflicts over land that have arisen because of the gradual expansion of the cattle frontier into areas previously not exploited in this context. The second half of the article describes a serious conflict between large local entrepreneurs, aided by the local authorities and police, and a number of smallholders over a piece of land the latter have occupied for more than twenty years. The article ends by asking whether the land should be for the development of the many or the enrichment of the few.