INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AND CHANGE IN LAND USE IN BELLA ESPERANZA, VERACRUZ

Abstract

An increase in international migration from the State of Veracruz, Mexico, in the decade of the 1990s, mostly occurred as a result of the agricultural crisis in the rural sector. The state coffee producing sector proved to be no exception to the impact of the recurring crises, caused by the fall in the price of coffee grain in the international market. Many coffee growers migrated to the USA to stave off their own economic collapse. This investigation aimed to analyze the relationship between the process of international migration and change in land use in the communal landholding of Bella Esperanza, Veracruz. For this purpose, historic documentation, interviews with 21 coffee producing families -some of which included migrants-, interviews with key informants and geographical information systems were all used. The main change in land use entailed the substitution of shaded coffee plantations for sugarcane monoculture, implying deforestation. Urban expansion was shown to be incipient, in spite of the significant amount of money transfers directed towards housing construction and the proximity of this “ejido†or communal landholding to the cities of Xalapa and Coatepec. These changes are mainly associated with the crisis involving this commodity, but they have been exacerbated by emigration of family members, who were once in charge of coffee production.