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Socioeconomic Differentiation among Small Cultivators on Paraguay's Eastern Frontier

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2022

Beverly Y. Nagel
Beverly Y. Nagel*
Affiliation:
Carleton College
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Until the 1970s, Paraguay's eastern frontier was known primarily for its vast virgin forests and its domination by semifeudal enterprises engaged in extracting yerba maté and timber. After the 1970s, however, the extension of transportation networks, construction of the massive binational Itaipú hydroelectric works, and the release of state lands for private purchase paved the way for large-scale in-migration, settlement, and transformation of the region into a zone for commercial agriculture. In less than two decades, the rapid expansion of soybean production into this area has catapulted Paraguay into the ranks of the world's major exporters of soybeans.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , 1991 , pp. 103 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

*

This research was supported by a fellowship from the Tinker Foundation. I would like to thank the staff and members of the Centro Paraguayo de Estudios Sociológicos and of PAC/ASAGRAPA (Programa de Ayuda Cristiana/Asociación de Agricultores de Alto Paraná), especially Dr. Domingo Rivarola, Pastor F. Westerman, and Miguel Lezcano, for their generous advice and assistance during my fieldwork in Paraguay. I also wish to thank several anonymous LAR reviewers for their thoughtful suggestions on an earlier draft. The opinions expressed here are those of the author.

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