In order to answer this question we need to understand why the agricultural sector in Latin America was important in the first place, and what changes have occurred over the last seventy years in the agricultural sector. Today despite an unprecedented growth in the urban sector the rural sector has continued to be of vital importance to Latin American countries, this is due to a number of different factors, as I shall explain in this essay. Firstly by giving a brief outline of Rural-Urban migration.

Rural-urban migration began between 1900 and 1930. Initially it was the Countries that were enjoying the best economic growth that were the first to see substantial Rural-Urban migration. These Countries included Chile, Argentina and Cuba which had 20% urban population compared with Mexico and Brazil, which only had 10%. Over the next fifty years however all of Latin America saw a dramatic increase in their urban populations, which peaked at 1980.

Historically Latin Americas economic difficulties, have to a large exte

nt been due to their colonial experience. Colonisation gave Latin America much of its economic and political structures. Spain and Portugal initially set up trade in primary products, such as minerals, metals and sugar and cotton. These were traded almost exclusively with the mother country (Spain or Portugal). This pattern of trading continued throughout the colonial period. So we can see that due to the colonial past, reliance on primary products as the principal export was endemic in Latin America. However after Countries had gained independence, they often set about trying to implement changes that would rectify this problem. One such strategy was to try and establish a manufacturing base, which they hoped would decrease a Countries reliance on imported manufactured goods and therefor decrease the Countries import-export imbalance, which arose from the difference in the price of selling their primary products in exchange for foreign manufactured goods. (Alan Gilbert, 1974)

"In 1960, before agrarian reform got underway, there were 111million rural inhabitants of whom some 100,000 owned 65 per cent of total agricultural land (International Labour Review July-August 1961)." (pg.121, T.Cubbit, 1988)

International policies and philosophy saw two problems with this, one, was the social disparities that such a system brought about and the second was economic. The Hacienda led to the inefficient use of the land and the labour force, both of which were abundant in Latin America.

This brings us to a new line of thought which is the spread of the market system. The peasant now has contact with a Nation-wide network of distribution through which he also has access to International networks of distribution. Business is now done on a more impersonal level and the peasant has to try and become competitive in a more open market, in which he is constantly in danger of being swallowed up by the larger commercial farms or being driven out of business by being none competitive. This focus by most Latin American countries on increasing productivity has produced more medium and large estates concerned with commercial production, with a decrease in small-hold subsistence farming. The growth of commercial farms and the decrease in subsistence farming led to the peasants who were traditionally subsistence farmers becoming proletariats in order to survive. Though they did not all migrate to urban areas as the rural population has actually grown although to a much lesser extent than the urban population which has over the last century shown phenomenal growth in Latin America. One of the main reasons for the continuation in the growth of rural populations is the growth of commercial farms. The production of commercial crops requires seasonal labour, which is cheaper and more convenient for the owners than having a large permanent workforce. This means that there is a large migratory work force in Latin America, which is made up of people from all areas, both urban and rural.

The discouragement of export activi

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Approximate Word count = 2054
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)