Income diversification of migrant colonists vs. indigenous populations: Contrasting strategies in the Amazon

Abstract

Keywords:Off-farm employment Diversification of livelihood strategies Mestizos and indigenous populations Household survey Amazon Ecuador a b s t r a c t How do migrant colonists and indigenous populations differ in their land and labor allocation in the Amazon, and what does this imply for their income levels/livelihoods and the environment? We address this by analyzing patterns of on-and off-farm employment of rural populations, both mestizo and indigenous, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. We use data from an unusual survey that covers both mestizo and indigenous households. As elsewhere in rural areas of the developing world, off-farm employment is found to be the principal income source for 68% of the population and accounts for 53% of total household income on average. Within off-farm employment, farm wage employment is most common for the poor, who usually have little human (education) or natural capital (agricultural land). For educated individuals, in contrast, non-farm wage employment is commonly the choice. In the Amazon, the government (national, provincial, municipal) is the main employer, which is linked to recent large government investment in infrastructure and decentralization, leading to significant expansion of nonfarm employment opportunities for rural populations close to major towns. The implications of this for livelihoods, sustainable development and the environment are explored in the conclusions.

Determinants of Agricultural Diversification in a Hotspot Area: Evidence from Colonist and Indigenous Communities in the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve, Ecuadorian Amazon

“…), in addition to staple crops, such as yucca (Manihot esculenta Crantz), plantain (Musa paradisiaca L.) and peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) [48][49][50][51]. These trends are fairly similar to those found in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon Region [37,39,41] and by Vasco et al [52] and Lerner et al [53] in the central and southern Ecuadorian Amazon Region, respectively. For most of the Kichwa population, the "Chakra" system is the most common traditional agroforestry system [48,51,54,55].…”

“…Throughout the study area (SBR), agriculture (crops and livestock) accounts for about 40% of the total annual household income, reflecting that household income still depends, to a large extent, on agricultural income, as in many other parts of the EAR [41,52,65]. Furthermore, the amount of land devoted to agricultural uses is still small (7.6 ha per household) in the SBR.…”

Correlates of wildlife hunting in indigenous communities in the Pastaza province, Ecuadorian Amazonia

“…In addition, the expansion and improvement of the road network now facilitates the mobility of rural people to work in urban areas (Bilsborrow, Barbieri & Pan, ). Indigenous peoples are not alien to this process, in fact Vasco Pérez, Bilsborrow & Torres () found that a quarter of the Kichwa individuals in their dataset had non‐farm employment as their main income source. Of these, 70% were either school teachers or public employees.…”

Determinantes del empleo no agrícola y de los ingresos no agrícolas en el Ecuador

“…En esas condiciones, como se muestra en el cuadro 3, los rendimientos de la agricultura son bajos y se necesitan fuentes de ingresos alternativas. Esto concuerda con investigaciones previas en las que se informaba de un considerable aumento de la proporción de personas dedicadas al trabajo fuera del predio agrícola en las provincias del Oriente (Bilsborrow, Barbieri y Pan, 2004;Vasco Pérez, Bilsborrow y Torres, 2015). De acuerdo con esos autores, esto obedece tanto a la reducción del tamaño de las explotaciones agrícolas debido a la continua subdivisión como al aumento de las oportunidades de empleo en las áreas urbanas.…”