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Mon, 17 Oct 2016 08:26:53 +0000
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This is Francisco Gurri, from ECOSUR Capeche again:

Bazyli Czy¿ewski's observations (Message 22) regarding Question 3.4.2 give us a surprising look at how small farmers are conceptualized in what once was a communist area of influence. According to Bazyli, householders are classified first based on their income, and eventually on how much of their production goes to the market.

While it is truly a testament to the resilience of small householders that they didn't disappear after years of Stalinist persecution, I wonder how such a thorough repressive regime modified them. Bazyli's statement that: "Small farms lack knowledge of ecologically friendly practices and lack ecological consciousness" rings hollow in a world were small farmers are leading an ongoing battle against GMOs, use of toxic weed killers etc. It also contradicts years of worldwide research into traditional knowledge and the sustainability of traditional subsistence strategies that have survived for thousands of years, and the communities of small producer's organization for the sustainable management of common resources. Nevertheless, it may be saying something about Polish public policy and the lasting effects of Soviet repression.

In southern Mexico, we found that unsustainable practices amongst migrant small householders were linked more to those who turned agriculture into a business than to those who practice agriculture as part of a sustainable diversified subsistence strategy. The former were not agriculturalists before migrating while the latter came from traditional agricultural households (Gurri, 2010). Considering Bazyli's contribution, I would guess that a loss of skill and traditional knowledge may have been part of the prize paid by rural Polish families that either survived or returned to practicing agriculture after the dismantling of the Kolkhoz's. Also, it is apparent that the new householders are being encouraged to do business. Not a very sound formula for sustainability.

Do widzenia!

Francisco D. Gurri García, Ph.D.
Investigador Titular C y Coordinador:
Departamento de Ciencias de la Sustentabilidad,
El Colegio de la Frontera Sur-Unidad Campeche.
Mexico
Tel: 52 (981) 127 3720 ext. 2504.
E-mail: fgurri1 (at) gmail.com

Reference:
Gurri FD (2010). Smallholder land use in the southern Yucatán:  How culture and history matter. Regional Environmental Change; Vol. 10 (3): 219- 231; DOI:10.1007/s10113-010-0114-8.

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