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Human Ecology, Vol. 31, No. 1, March 2003 (°
The Human Ecology of Mayan Cacao
Farming in Belize
Michael Emch1
This paper describes the expansion of cacao farming among Mayan farmers
in the Toledo District, Belize, during the 1980s and why the expansion took
place. Land planted with cacao increased from 237 acres in 1983 to 1014 acres
in 1990. The number of cacao farmers increased from 70 to 365 and beans sold
to Hershey Foods Corporation increased from 1086 to almost 32,000 pounds.
This paper describes the distribution of cacao farming in space and time and it
uses a holistic approach to explain land-use/cover change. An ecologic model
is proposed that explains the cacao expansion that involves the interaction
of several forces. During the 1980s, Hershey Foods Corporation provided an
unlimited market for cacao beans, agricultural loans and technical assistance
were provided by international development agencies, and Mayan farmers
planted cacao to gain usufruct rights to reservation and national land. During
the 1990s a British organic food company became the new market for cacao
beans.
KEY WORDS: Maya; human ecology; cacao; Belize; geography.
INTRODUCTION
Understanding land-use/cover change in areas with tropical forests can
contribute to sustainable conservation planning and management as well
as global environmental change research. This project documents landuse/cover change in southern Belize and provides an analysis of why these
changes are taking place. In the Toledo District of Belize approximately 80%
of the farmers are Maya who practice the milpa system of agriculture. Milpa
1 Department
of Geography, Portland State University, PO Box 751, Portland, Oregon 972070751; e-mail: [email protected].
111
C 2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation
0300-7839/03/0300-0111/0 °
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is a small-scale slash-and-burn system of alternating cultivation and fallow,
which is based on indigenous knowledge of the dynamics of forest regeneration. Mayan farmers in the Toledo District produce crops for subsistence
and for cash purposes. Several different cash crops have historically been
produced by the Toledo District Maya. In the early 1900s, bananas were the
most important cash crop, and in the 1930s rice became dominant. During
the 1980s, several development projects and a new market led to the expansion of another cash crop, cacao. This paper describes the human ecology
of a changing farming system that is subject to forces at local, regional, and
international scales. It describes the expansion of cacao farming and why it
took place. An ecologic model is proposed that explains the cacao expansion during the 1980s that involves the interaction of several forces including
population growth, the Belizean land acquisition and tenure system, a new
market for cacao beans, and international development projects.
THEORETICAL CONTEXT
In order to advance the philosophical and theoretical implications of
this study it is necessary to situate it within the field of geography. The
human–environment tradition in geography was born and evolved throughout the twentieth century in American geography and had many different
expressions including environmental determinism, human ecology, cultural
ecology, adaptive dynamics ecology, and political ecology (Barrows, 1923;
Blaikie, 1994; Blaikie and Brookfield, 1987; Brigham, 1915; Burton et al.,
1968; Burton and Hewitt, 1974; Davis, 1915; Huntington, 1924; Kates, 1971;
Semple, 1911; White, 1945, 1974; Zimmerer, 1996). One of the common research themes of several geographic approaches including human, cultural,
and political ecology is human-induced environmental change (Zimmerer
and Young, 1998). The human–environment tradition informs our understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of land-use/cover change and
its causes, both natural and human-induced. Land-use/cover change has recently become extremely important since it is an important component of
global change models (Turner et al., 1995). The human role in land-use/cover
change is also important for environmental conservation and management.
Conservation cannot occur if the human ecology of agricultural change is
not understood. In other words, people who use forests for their subsistence
are an important part of any conservation or sustainable development plan.
Theoretical progress within the human–environment tradition of geography parallels other ecological fields. New ecological theories assume
that there are nonequilibrium conditions in environment and change processes, that there are significant human impacts on natural environments in
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areas that were once thought to be “natural,” and environmental change
analysis must include the study of agriculture and other basic resource practices (Zimmerer, 1994; Zimmerer and Young, 1998). There is a growing
understanding that environmental change and its causes is very different
in different settings and thus understanding land-use/cover change must be
multifaceted, multiscaler, and multitemporal.
The political and economic dimensions of human–environment interaction are elements that must be considered to understand land-use/cover
change and the theoretical approach of political ecology has addressed this
notion. Political ecology, although not a unified approach that can be easily
defined, is a holistic approach to understanding human–environment relations. Blaikie and Brookfield (1987) defined political ecology as a combination of ecology and political economy. Zimmerer (1996) suggests that political ecology disengages the study of ecology and political economy. Campbell
and Olson (1991) developed a political ecology model for studies of human–
environment relations called the kite. The kite model proposes that one must
understand political, economic, environmental, and sociocultural variables
at different spatial and temporal scales to fully understand the relationship between society and the environment. Vayda and Walters (1999) hold
that political ecologists often overstate the importance of politics on ecological change. Their alternative to political ecology, which they call “event
ecology,” states that environmental change research should be guided by
open questions about why events occur as opposed to how they are affected
by factors such as politics that are “privileged in advance by the investigator”
(Vayda and Walters, 1999).
This paper, situated within the human–environment tradition of geography, is interested in the distribution of cacao farming in space and time
and uses a holistic approach to understand land-use/cover change in the context of human–environment interaction. It is an example of how a humanenvironmental theoretical context, most similar to the kite model, can be
used to understand the complex reasons for land-use/cover change in one
situation. This study is an event ecology study for which the event is increased cacao production. I began this project knowing that cacao farming
was expanding but not knowing what forces were responsible for the event.
THE KEKCHI AND MOPAN MAYA OF THE TOLEDO DISTRICT
The study area is the Toledo District, which is the southernmost political division in Belize (Fig. 1). The Toledo District is bounded to the west
by Guatemala and to the east by the Caribbean. The northern boundary
runs along the main divide of the Maya Mountains. Toledo is 1707 square
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Fig. 1. Study area.
miles, roughly 59 miles north to south and 25 miles east to west. There are
two distinct Mayan ethnic groups in the Toledo District, the Kekchi and
Mopan. In the Toledo District, the milpa slash-and-burn agricultural system
has evolved in response to local conditions and it provides the Kekchi and
Mopan Mayans of the region with most of their subsistence needs (Lambert
and Arnason, 1982; Osborn, 1982; Toledo Maya Cultural Council (TMCC),
1997; Wilk, 1991). Traditionally, all members of a village own the land communally. While most of the Mayan land in the Toledo District is communally
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controlled, some of the Maya have recently gained private title to the land
they farm. Land acquisition and tenure will be discussed in greater detail
later. One aspect of the Toledo milpa system that makes it unique is the cash
crops that are produced in the region. Rice is one prevalent cash crop in
the Toledo District. It usually occupies a small percentage of the milpa but
sometimes none at all (Osborn, 1982; TMCC, 1997). Beans, pigs, marijuana,
and cacao are also produced for cash purposes.
Osborn (1982) divided the southern Belizean milpa system into two
categories, Edge of Lowland and Milpa Rolling Hills. The Kekchi Maya
practice the Edge of Lowlands system and the Mopan Maya practice the
Milpa Rolling Hills system. These names refer to the fact that the Kekchi
reside in lowland areas and the Mopan in upland areas. Figures 2 and 3 show
the distribution of villages in the Toledo District by ethnicity as well as the
transportation network (Wilk, 1991). The Kekchi Edge of Lowland farms are
usually cropped for 1 year and fallowed for 6 years. The first season’s crop is
primarily maize and if soil fertility allows, a second crop is grown that usually
consists of maize, beans, and root crops. The amount of land cultivated each
year is usually between 3 and 6 acres (Osborn, 1982). An important aspect
of Kekchi farming is its cooperative nature. Adult men form labor groups
for agricultural tasks including clearing, planting, harvesting, threshing rice,
and building pig pens (Wilk, 1987, 1991).
Maize is important in all aspects of Kekchi life. It provides most of their
calories and has an important role in their religious rituals. The Kekchi call
the second season’s corn the sak’ecwaj. It is grown in low-lying moist areas on
river banks in the dry season. The decision whether or not to grow a sak’ecwaj
crop, and if so how much land to cultivate, is made depending on the success
of the first season’s crop (Wilk, 1991). Cash crops produced by the Kekchi
include rice, beans, pigs, marijuana, and cacao. Many of these crops are also
subsistence crops. Rice is the most important cash crop for the Kekchi. The
national government has made rice production a national priority and the
Belize Marketing Board (BMB) pays farmers more than world market prices
for their harvest. However, rice has a low value per weight. In the southern
villages, which are far from a road, rice is infrequently grown because it
is too time-consuming and expensive to carry over trails to market (Wilk
and Chapin, 1990). Most of the rice produced by the Kekchi is grown in
the northern villages along the main road (Wilk, 1991). Beans are also an
important cash crop for the Kekchi (Wilk, 1991; World Bank, 1984). Pigs
are an important cash source for the Kekchi especially in the inaccessible
villages of southern Toledo. Wilk (1991) holds that pigs are analogous to a
bank for the Kekchi. When a family has a maize surplus, they can fatten the
pigs and when they do not, the pigs can forage for their own food. Kekchi
in remote villages rear pigs because they are easily transportable and can
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Fig. 2. Distribution of villages and roads in the Toledo District.
walk to market. Cacao is grown for subsistence and for cash purposes—most
Kekchi households have at least a couple of cacao trees. They make a drink
out of the cacao beans for domestic consumption and they have traditionally
sold small quantities to traveling traders called cobaneros.
Land under the Mopan Milpa Rolling Hills System is cropped for 1 or
2 years and fallowed for 5 or 6 years. During the first year, in the first season,
maize and sometimes a small area of rice is cropped. In the second season,
maize, beans, and root crops are grown. During the second year, the amount
of land cropped is greatly reduced and sometimes some is not cropped at
all (Osborn, 1982). As with Kekchi farms, maize is the most important crop
for the Mopan. A corn crop called the begc crop is sometimes grown along
creek and river sides as with the Edge of Lowland System (Gregory, 1972).
The Mopan have a long history of cash crop production. They rely more on
beans as a cash crop than do the Kekchi (Osborn, 1982). They also grow
less rice than the Kekchi residing in the northern villages along the primary
road (Wilk and Chapin, 1990). Wilk (1991) stated that since 1980 the Mopan
Maya have been producing less rice (no statistics available) and replacing
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Fig. 3. Village locations by ethnicity.
it with other cash crops. The Mopan also rear fewer pigs than the Kekchi
(Wilk and Chapin, 1990). Cacao is grown for domestic use and as a cash
crop by the Mopan. It is a more important cash crop for the Mopan than for
the Kekchi. The Mopan also produce honey and annatto for cash (Wilk and
Chapin, 1990).
Both the Kekchi and Mopan reportedly grow marijuana as a cash crop
but little information is available for obvious reasons. Farmers do however
report that marijuana was much more prevalent in the Toledo District in the
early 1980s than during the 1990s. In summary, the milpa agricultural system
is a slash-and-burn system in which maize, vegetables, and root crops supply
most subsistence needs. Several cash crops are grown including rice, beans,
and recently cacao. This farming system is changing because of many factors,
which will be discussed in the following sections.
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Table I. Toledo District Population Change
Year
1970
1980
1990
Population
8989
11,683
14,690
Sources: Osborn (1982) and GOB (1991).
TOLEDO DISTRICT POPULATION GROWTH
The population of the Toledo District rose substantially from 1970 to
1990 (Table I). Although some Guatemalan Maya migrate across the border,
the population has risen in the Toledo District mainly because of high natural
increase rates, not immigration. Table II shows Toledo District population
growth in Mopan villages, where the Milpa Rolling Hills System is practiced,
and Table III shows population growth in Kekchi villages, where the Edge
of Lowland System is practiced. Table IV shows population growth in villages that have mixed Mopan and Kekchi populations. These village ethnic
groupings were derived from Wilk (1991). The Maya Atlas Project, however,
found slightly different ethnic groupings during a 1996 field project (TMCC,
1997). The last column in Tables II, III, and IV shows the percentages of
each ethnic group that this project reported (TMCC, 1997). Predominantly
Mopan villages in the Toledo District lost population from 1960 to 1990 and
during that period one new Mopan village was established called Na Luum
Ca. The reason for the population loss is mostly because many Mopan villages are included in the mixed Mopan/Kekchi category. All of the Mopan
villages and many of the mixed Mopan/Kekchi villages are in the Toledo
Uplands Land System, which King et al. (1986) reported is an agriculturally
productive region.
The Kekchi population grew by 246% from 1960 to 1990 and during that
period 10 new Kekchi villages were established. Kekchi villages are located
in variable land systems, mostly in the Xpicilha Hills Land System and the
Table II. Mopan Population Change
Village
1960
1970
1980
1990
1996 TMCC ethnic percentages
San Jose
San Antonio
Crique Jute
Na Luum Ca
Subtotal
250
1700
90
X
2040
420
1057
120
X
1597
599
1087
164
X
1850
765
940
180
51
1936
M-100
M-98, K-2
M-100
M-100
Note. X = village not yet been established, M = Mopan, K = Kekchi, O = Other
ethnicity including Garifuna, Creole, Mestizo, East-Indian.
Sources: Osborn (1982), GOB (1991) and TMCC (1997).
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Table III. Kekchi Population Change
Village
1960
1970
1980
1990
San Marcos
San Felipe
Santa Ana
Laguna
San Lucas
Mabilha
Santa Theresa
Aguacate
Machacila
San Benito Poite
San Miguel
Conejo Creek
Blue Creek
Crique Sarco
Indian Creek
Sundaywood
Corazon
Otoxha
Dolores
Silver Creek
Jalacte
Subtotal
X
X
X
X
70
X
250
125
40
X
250
No Data
18
200
X
X
X
250
150
X
X
1353
X
X
X
X
77
X
139
80
X
80
266
No Data
70
195
X
X
X
179
99
X
X
1185
49
47
X
205
63
57
116
149
25
261
227
No Data
191
184
264
X
40
182
193
175
58
2486
222
5159
132
267
25
93
228
236
164
347
343
116
241
319
434
120
109
242
206
245
435
4683
1996 TMCC village
ethnic percentages
K-99, M-1
K-89, M-11
K-100
K-100
K-100
K-100
K-99, O-1
K-99, O-1
K-100
K-100
K-98, M-2
K-100
K-52, M-44, O-4
K-100
K-100
K-100
K-100
K-100
K-100
K-99, M-1
K-99, M-1
Note. X = village not yet been established, M = Mopan, K = Kekchi, O = Other ethnicity
including Garifuna, Creole, Mestizo, East-Indian.
Southern Coastal Plains Land Region. Agricultural productivity in these
Kekchi areas is generally much lower than the Toledo Uplands area, where
the Mopan reside (King et al., 1986). Table V shows the total population
change in the Toledo District and the percentage of change. The average
aggregate population growth rate from 1960 to 1990 for Mayan villages in
the Toledo District was 3.7%. The average annual population growth rate
from 1980 to 1990 was 5.1%. The population density rose markedly from
Table IV. Mixed Mopan and Kekchi Population Change
Village
1960
1970
1980
1990
Big Falls
Golden Stream
Pueblo Viejo
Santa Elena
Santa Cruz
San Pedro Columbia
Subtotal
No Data
X
250
227
X
700
1177
75
X
183
119
247
712
1336
290
68
346
177
349
784
2014
702
201
507
187
424
954
2975
1996 TMCC village
ethnic percentages
K-40, O-38, M-22
K-53, M-47
M-86, K-14
M-95, O-3, K-2
M-85, K-11, O-4
K-88, M-9, O-3
Note. X = village not yet been established, M = Mopan, K = Kekchi, O = Other ethnicity
including Garifuna, Creole, Mestizo, East-Indian.
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Table V. Population Change from 1960 to 1990
Total Toledo district village population
% Increase for decade
% Increase with 1960 as reference year
1960
1970
1980
1990
4570
—
—
4118
−9.8%
−9.8%
6350
+54.2%
+38.9%
9594
+51.1%
+109.9%
1980 to 1990. Figure 4 shows population densities by census tract in 1980
and 1990 and the dominant ethnic group by tract. Although the Kekchi
population rose in absolute numbers at a much faster rate in the Toledo
District, the increase in population density was greater in the predominantly
Mopan areas.
The increase in population density has led to increased pressure on the
land. As land pressure increases, farmers have two economic options, they
can decrease the fallow period of their land or they can move to a new area.
The villages listed in Tables II, III, and IV that had not yet been established
in the earlier decades, are villages that were formed because of internal
relocations. The amount of land being cultivated in the Toledo District has
increased as population has increased. King et al. (1986) measured the change
in land-use from 1970 to 1985 using air photographs. In 1970, 3.7% of the
Fig. 4. Population density change by census tract.
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District was cropped, not including fallow land and 3.2% of the District was
in the milpa agricultural cycle. In 1985, the amount of land being cropped
had risen to 6.1% of the Toledo District with 4.8% of the total land in the
milpa cycle. Land-use increased by 27% in this 15-year period (King et al.,
1986).
LAND ACQUISITION AND TENURE
Officially, there are several different land acquisition mechanisms in
Belize including ministerfiat, leasefiat, and the conveyancing system. Ministerfiat is the transfer of ownership from the government to a private owner
and leasefiat is when land is leased from the government. If a farmer satisfies
the requirements of a lease, which is usually the development of 50% of the
land, then it can be purchased after a 5-year probationary period. Development of land usually includes the establishment of permanent crops (Furley
and Robinson, 1983). The conveyancing system is the transfer of private land
from one individual to another (Furley and Robinson, 1983). Land tenure
in Belize is divided into national land (owned by the government including
lease-land), forest reserves (administered by the government), private land,
and Indian reservations (Furley and Robinson, 1983). The combination of
different systems of land acquisition and lack of record keeping has created
many disputes over land ownership for specific holdings.
Figure 5 shows the official spatial distribution of land tenure in the
Toledo District during the 1980s. However, land tenure in the region is extremely complicated and therefore clearly demarcating boundaries is not
possible. In other words, the official version of land tenure is much simpler
than the true situation. Approximately 50% of the Toledo District Maya live
on Indian reservations (TMCC, 1997). The reservations were established in
1924 in the area around each recognized Mayan village. During the next two
decades, new reservations were established as new villages formed. Also,
as village population sizes grew, reservations were expanded. Reservation
size figures are disputed, but the Minister of Natural Resources Survey Department compiled reservation area figures in 1990 (Table VI). Because of
the nature of Mayan land-use, migration patterns, and population growth,
the reservation system has never had a close relationship with the size of the
population using it. One of the reasons for this may be that the Maya have
never had a part in defining the boundaries of the reservations (Wilk and
Chapin, 1990). Presently, the reservation system is very confusing (TMCC,
1997). The government has created unofficial extensions of reserves and
new unofficial reserves. Thus, the exact locations of the reservation boundaries are unknown (McCommon, 1989; Wilk, 1991). In the areas where the
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Fig. 5. Toledo District land tenure.
reservations have been unofficially extended, private land tenure is often
practiced (Wilk, 1991). Wilk (1991) states that “the legal system of land
tenure is confusing and contradictory, and operates pragmatically through
continuing negotiation and the exercise of political power.”
All Maya living in a village are allowed to use the land on the reservation
for habitation and for farming (Gregory, 1972; Wilk and Chapin, 1990). Each
farmer must pay a land tax of $5 per annum to the alcalde, a locally elected
official of the Belizean government (Wilk and Chapin, 1990). Within the
Table VI. Toledo District Reservation Land Area
Reservation
San Antonio
Rio Blanco
Pueblo Viejo
Black Creek
Rio Grande
Xpecilha
Aguacate, Machaca, and Inchasones
Total
Acres
22,345
1425
3085
6327
5250
4075
27,670
70,277
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reservations, the Mayan communities have developed a system to recognize
usufruct rights to land. The farmer who first clears the forest has usufruct
rights to that land unless it is left fallow for 15 years. In areas where there are
land shortages, disputes over land rights often occur and must be resolved
by the alcalde (Wilk, 1991). Land cannot be bought, sold, rented, or passed
through the generations. However, cacao and citrus trees can be bought,
sold, rented, or inherited. The owner of the trees essentially owns the land
planted with tree crops. The establishment of cacao on reservation land is a
sensitive issue because cacao limits the land available on the reservation for
milpas.
Reservation land is not owned communally by the Maya; the government owns it (TMCC, 1997). This system of tenure makes land ownership
among the Maya on reservations impossible. Thus, national authorities have
the power to eliminate Maya rights to this land (Osborn, 1982; Wilk and
Chapin, 1990; Wright, 1959). The issue of land tenure has become very political among the Maya because many are afraid that they will lose access
to land. In response to these fears a group called the Toledo Maya Cultural Council (TMCC) formed with the goal of obtaining communal ownership to a 500,000 acre Maya homeland (Teul, 1991; TMCC, 1997). Other
groups including the Maya Leaders’ Alliance, the Toledo Alcaldes Association (TAA), the Toledo Women’s Council, and the Kekchi Council of Belize
are also involved in the political struggle to preserve Maya land rights. The
most notable recent conflict over tenure in ancestral Mayan lands has been
over the government granting logging concessions on almost 500,000 acres
of land in the Toledo District (TMCC, 1997). This led to a lawsuit that was
filed in the Belizean Supreme Court by the TMCC and the TAA against the
Attorney General (Anaya, 1998; TMCC, 1997).
Since the 1940s, the British and Belizean governments have discussed
the possibility of privatizing land tenure on the reservations. The Belizean
government has granted some individual leases on reservation land and
has sold large blocks of land adjacent to reservations to foreign companies (TMCC, 1997; Usher, 1991; Wilk, 1991). In the late 1980s, on the road
between Crique Jute and San Jose, 12,000 acres were de-reserved. Seven
thousand acres were allotted for the San Antonio Mopan and 5,000 acres
were allotted to the San Jose Mopan. Two thousand five hundred acres were
set aside to establish the new village of Na Luum Ca. The land was partitioned into 50-acre blocks for individual farmers and in 5-years, if the land
is developed, the farmers gain title to the land. Because many Maya fear the
government will soon break up the reservations, some farmers have recently
tried to establish rights to land by planting cacao on the reservations (Wilk,
1991). Others have gone outside the reservation and planted cacao orchards
on national lands assuming it will establish their rights to this land when
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the government eventually parcels it out (Wilk, 1991). In 1985, a group of
farmers from 10 villages formed a group called the Toledo Cocoa Growers
Association (TCGA). Their main goal is to establish cacao on leasehold land
and eventually gain title to that land. In 1991, the membership had risen to
143 (Ico, 1991).
HERSHEY: A NEW MARKET FOR CACAO BEANS
In 1977, the Hershey Foods Corporation (HFC) established the
Hummingbird-Hershey Ltd. (HHL), a 500-acre cacao farm located in the
Cayo District, north of the Toledo District. The farm also housed a modern
postharvest processing center and was used by HFC as an agricultural research center. HFC’s role in promoting small-scale cacao farming in Belize
was to import seed from Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, provide a market for fermented and dry cacao, and to give technical assistance
to farmers (Stevenson, 1991). When HFC bought this farm, they made an
agreement with the Belizean government to buy all cacao grown in Belize
at world market prices. The price was $1.70 BZ2 per pound from the early
1980s until 1991, and then it was lowered to $1.23 BZ (McCommon, 1989;
Waight, 1991). During this time, farmers needed to arrange for their cacao
beans to be transported to the HHL farm themselves. The farmers usually
paid a fee to truck drivers traveling from Punta Gorda to the Cayo District
or the Belize District. The farmers were able to get the cacao beans to Punta
Gorda by trucks and buses that travel to the market there from many villages
on Wednesdays and Sundays.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
From 1984 to 1988, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded a project to facilitate the expansion of cacao
production in Belize. The project was called the Accelerated Cocoa Production Project (ACPP) and provided agricultural services including the
training of Ministry of Agriculture extension officers on cacao farming. The
ACPP also held workshops for individual farmers and for representatives
from nongovernmental organizations (Corven, 1988). The project produced
and distributed two books on cacao farming called Growing Cocoa in Belize
and the Cocoa Guidebook and Training Guide (Corven et al., 1987a,b). It
also hosted workshops for farmers covering topics such as fermentation and
2 $1
US = $2 BZ.
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drying methods because the HHL only bought processed beans (Corven,
1988).
Beginning in 1988, the USAID funded a follow-up project called the
Toledo Agriculture and Marketing Project (TAMP) (United States Department of Commerce (USDC), 1990). The project included educational services, agricultural supply services, and the disbursement of in-kind loans for
the establishment of cacao. The official goal of the TAMP was “to establish
a viable export-oriented agriculture among small landholders in (the Toledo
District)” (Like, 1991). The TAMP provided agricultural training services
that were implemented by three field technicians and three Peace Corps
volunteers, under the supervision of an agronomist. They provided farmers
with technical advice through training workshops, farm visits, and model
farm demonstrations (Turk, 1990). A typical farm visit would involve a field
technician or a Peace Corps volunteer spending from 1 to 4 h at the farmer’s
field during which they would teach them different agricultural techniques.
One Peace Corps volunteer taught female household members about postharvest processing of cacao (Turk, 1990). The training workshops brought
many farmers to one location where consultants and specialists taught them
cacao farming methods. A training workshop would involve from 5 to 25
farmers and consisted of lectures with question and answer periods afterwards. The workshops included topics such as pesticide safety and postharvest processing of cacao. In 1989, the TAMP constructed three buildings
in San Jose, San Antonio, and Big Falls called Multipurpose Service Centers
(MSC). The MSCs served as agricultural input supply centers where farmers could buy pesticides, fertilizer, small tools, and seed (Blumgart and Neill,
1990).
Upon commencement of the TAMP, it became apparent that credit was
unavailable for small-scale farmers in the Toledo District. In June 1989, 150
in-kind loans were given to Mayan farmers by the TAMP to establish cacao
(Blumgart and Neill, 1980). Approximately 75,000 hybrid cacao seedlings
were distributed in this program (Blumgart and Neill, 1980). Another aspect of the TAMP was the introduction of a hill slope agricultural system
called the Improved Milpa Integrated Cropping System (IMICS) (Gorrez
and Turk, 1990). The IMICS advocated the cultivation of permanent tree
crops for erosion control and cacao was stressed more than other tree crops.
CACAO EXPANSION IN THE TOLEDO DISTRICT
Cacao farming expanded rapidly during the 1980s in the Toledo District
(Table 7). Land planted with cacao increased from 237 acres in 1983 to 1014
acres in 1990. During this same time period, the number of cacao farmers
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Table VII. Cacao Expansion in the Toledo District
Year
# cacao farmers
Acreage
Pounds sold to Hershey
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
70
237
1086
98
312
1897
122
442
2911
147
501
6394
155
510
5449
157
527
5781
279
814
14,355
365
1014
31,738
Source: TAMP/VITA (1991).
increased from 70 to 365 and beans sold to Hershey increased from 1086 to
almost 32,000 pounds. Figure 6 shows the distribution of cacao acreage by
census tract in 1983 and 1990. The Mopan areas in central Toledo District
experienced most of the expansion and it was almost exclusively small-scale.
Out of 347 cacao farmers in the Toledo District, 158 had 1 acre or less and
97 had between 1 and 2 acres (TAMP/VITA, 1991).
Figure 7 is a model that explains why the expansion of cacao took place
in the 1980s. It involves the unlimited market that HFC provided, international development projects, and the Mayan farmers’ desire to gain rights
to land on reservation and national land. Two linkages in this process begin with population density change. Population density increases indirectly
Fig. 6. Cacao expansion by census tract.
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Fig. 7. Ecological model of cacao expansion in the 1980s.
lead to increased cacao production for farmers both on reservation land and
lease-land. As population growth causes competition for land, farmers increasingly want to gain rights to the land. If they are on reservation land, the
only way to get de facto control of land is to grow citrus or cacao. The farmers gain de facto control of the land because Mayans have usufruct rights
for land planted with permanent tree crops. If they are trying to gain title to
national land through leases, they must plant permanent crops on 50% of
the land within 5 years. There is a strong correlation between the cacao expansion from 1983 to 1990 and population densities in the 11 Mayan census
tracts in the Toledo District (Spearman r = 0.727, p = .01, n = 11). I suggest
that this association exists because farmers are more likely to increase cacao
production to gain rights to land where shortages of land are most severe.
Thus, population growth is an important factor in the expansion of cacao in
the Toledo District. Citrus, instead of cacao, can be grown to gain rights to
land. There is a market for citrus in Stann Creek District, but most farmers
have chosen to grow cacao. One reason for this may be that the agricultural
extension services and credit assistance provided for cacao farmers were not
provided for citrus farmers. Also, it is more difficult to transport citrus to
market, because it is bulky.
Another linkage in the cacao expansion model involves development
projects and their effect on increasing cacao production. These development
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projects include the ACPP, the TAMP, and the educational efforts provided
by the HFC. It is clear that the development efforts had a great effect on
the expansion of cacao in the Toledo District. The TAMP loan program occurred in July 1989. There was a significant difference between the mean
cacao acreage increase for farmers who received loans than for those who
did not receive loans (t = 2.37, p = .01, df = 345). The loan program had a
marked effect on cacao expansion in 1989 and farmers who got loans were
more likely to expand their cacao holdings. This is only one aspect of the
TAMP program that is within the development linkage of the cacao expansion model. Other aspects of the TAMP and other development projects also
had marked effects on the expansion of cacao, but data are unavailable to
show relationships. The last linkage in the cacao expansion model involves
the new market that the Hershey Foods Corporation provides. The expansion could not have taken place without the guaranteed market that Hershey
provided and without this market, it is unlikely that the international development projects would have taken place. This heuristic model only refers
to cacao expansion in the 1980s as the situation changed dramatically in the
early 1990s.
MAYA GOLD: ANOTHER NEW MARKET FOR CACAO BEANS
In 1992, when the world market price of cacao was US 55 cents, HHL
stopped buying cacao beans, thus, the market for this expanding cash crop
was lost. In 1993, many cacao farmers could not sell their beans and began
pursuing different cash crops and jobs in other Belizean Districts. Then in
October 1993 the TCGA and a British organic chocolate company, Green &
Black’s, struck a deal for southern Belizean cacao farmers to be the exclusive
supplier of organically grown cacao for use in a new product called Maya
Gold (Dummer, 1997; TMCC, 1997). The deal included a 5-year rolling
contract to buy the beans for US$1.25 per pound, which was approximately
70 cents more than the world market price. Green & Black’s also supported
farmers technically so that they could obtain organic certification. They also
provided a $20,000 loan to the TCGA so that farmers could be paid in cash for
their cacao. In 1993, Green & Black’s bought a total of $10,000 of cacao beans
from the Toledo District and by 1997 they purchased more than $100,000
of beans (Sams, 1998). Thus, approximately 80,000 pounds were bought by
Green & Black’s, which is more than a 60% increase in the amount that
was sold to HHL in 1990. Therefore, in the late 1990s the Mayan farmers
finally had a more stable market for their cacao. Unfortunately, however,
on October 8, 2001 Hurricane Iris hit the Toledo District, inflicting major
damage on the cacao crop. Some have estimated that as much as 85% of the
cacao trees were destroyed (Barker, 2002).
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CONCLUSIONS
The Mayan milpa system of agriculture in the Toledo District is a smallscale slash-and-burn system that provides the Kekchi and Mopan of the area
with most of their subsistence needs. This agricultural system involves not
only the production of subsistence crops but also cash crops. This system is
dynamic because of the changing population distribution and national tenure
and land acquisition laws as well as external involvement by the Belizean
government, multinational agribusiness, and international development organizations. Agricultural change in the Toledo District can only be partially
explained in the context of economic theory. Boserup (1965) argues that
as populations grow and agricultural land-use intensifies in forest-fallow
systems, farmers will attempt to gain freehold rights to land. The cacao expansion model indicates that Mayan farmers are attempting to gain rights to
land by planting cacao. But as the ecological model presented in this paper
suggests, the story of agricultural change in the Toledo District during the
1980s is much more complicated. The expansion of cacao would not have
occurred without the initial encouragement by international development
projects and the provision of the initial cacao market by HFC. However,
when world market prices dropped significantly in the early 1990s the expansion would have been economically disastrous to many Mayan farmers
without the new international market provided through Green & Black’s.
This new arrangement is presumably more stable because of differences in
the philosophies of HFC and Green & Black’s. Green & Black’s is not only
marketing organically grown chocolate bars; they are also marketing “fair”
labor practices. Maya Gold carries not only organic certification but also an
endorsement from the Fairtrade Foundation, which was started by several
progressive international development organizations such as Oxfam. Thus,
while Hershey Foods had nothing to lose by discontinuing the market for
cacao in the Toledo District, Green & Black’s would lose their endorsement,
which is a vital part of what they are selling.
Cash crops have come and gone in the Toledo District. Since the 1980s,
the conditions have been right for the expansion of cacao. The Maya of the
Toledo District are not attached to any one cash crop and are willing to
change if the conditions are right. The changes in Mayan agriculture involve
the unique circumstances in the Toledo District. The land-use/cover change
associated with the changing Mayan agricultural system is multidimensional
involving diverse forces at both the local and regional, and international
scales. With reports of up to 85% of the cacao trees being destroyed by
Hurricane Iris it is unclear whether farmers will be willing to reinvest into
cacao. It takes approximately 5 years for cacao trees to mature and there are
presently no international development projects focusing on cacao.
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