TRYING TO GRASP THE CANCHA

In the city of Cochabamba, and indeed in most of Bolivia, supermarkets are still only scarcely present. The mass of consumer goods – from fresh vegetables and meat to mobile phones – is sold in the markets. The biggest market in Cochabamba is the Cancha, spreading out south of the city center. The Cancha is a conglomerate of various markets and comprises a vast area that nobody really controls. It might take up an extension of ten times ten blocks, as here in Latin America we also count distances in blocks. In the Cancha, the vendors offer their goods, on sheets on the ground or in more elaborate stands with metal constructions for product display.

For my work, the markets in Cochabamba are highly interesting since these are the places where food is bought and sold. So I am trying to get to understand how markets and particularly the Cancha work, but this is not an easy task.

Vendor ("Caserita") at the Cancha

Being a “gringa”, a person that is obviously foreign, markets are difficult places for me. First of all, they are huge agglomerates of people in which I am a perfect target for thieves. I have, however, overcome this fear by now, also because I usually walk with my boyfriend. Still, it feels awkward to go to the market because I somehow cannot interact normally with the vendors there.

I have lived in Bolivia for quite some time, and most of it in Cochabamba, and I am perfectly capable of speaking the local version of Spanish. I am able to function like a local person in most everyday situations, but I still feel out of place at the market. It is my boyfriend who converses with the vendors, mostly women, and buys the food we need. It is him who makes them sell us good quality at a fair price, which basically means that they weigh the goods correctly and give you a little bit extra. Bargaining is not part of the process, they tell you the price and that is it, but there is a kind of ritual that you have to go through in order to get the products you want. I somehow do not seem to understand this process, and I believe what makes it more difficult for me to “function” in this market situation is that the vendors recognize me as a foreigner that cannot judge local products.

Yes, I believe that shopping at the market challenges the consumer to actually know something about the products they buy because they have to be able to judge the quality and the price. Thus, going to the market and particularly the Cancha is a veritable challenge for me. Given, however, my interest in these markets, I tried these days to talk to a few vendors, and it did really not go well. First of all, they are busy, which can however be overcome with some patience. But then, they somehow see me as an intruder, as someone who will anyway never be able to understand. I believe that with time and patience I will be able to converse more with the vendors working at the Cancha and other markets, in this very particular world of theirs.

For now, I will take a route to get some more contacts that is always possible here in Bolivia: There is a tradition of organization, and so every professional, from the worker to the university professor, is part of a professional association. The other day, when I was travelling, I saw that the man selling coffee in the plaza was part of the “Association of Milk Coffee Vendors”. So, the vendors at the Cancha and other markets are for sure part of professional associations, and through them I hope to get better access to the vendors. Indeed, one of the most well-known organisations in Cochabamba was founded by women selling at the Cancha, and it is called “Las Hijas del Pueblo” – “The Daughters of the People”. A name that certainly expresses what a vital social function these women are fulfilling.

In 1965, Bolivian writer Armando Montenegro wrote a text about the  typical “Hija del Pueblo” that seems still so true nowadays – here some excerpts:

“She is the backbone of the home economy of the region. Her reason for living are the practicalities of commerce and the industry of the home. She floods the markets, the streets, the sports fields, the trains, the buses, to offer to the people of Cochabamba, chicha, api, refreshments, chicharrón [...]. She seems to be a machine [...] She has no place to live, no home or does not remember it, because she sleeps, eats and makes her social life in her “puesto”, her market stall. [...] She is the dominant figure in the marriage, because she has economic independence based on her own effort. Her husband does not have much authority over her. He is only considered decoration. The purple hematoma surrounding the eye is the sign of her marriage, much more important than the wedding ring or the rounded belly. [...] The Daughter of the People is a solid force because she is the true exponent of constancy, instinctive wisdom and work.”
(Montenegro, 1965, in Calderon & Rivera, 1984; my translation).

How much is there, in this description and in the realities I observe at the Cancha, that is worth uncovering and unriddling...so I keep going!

SOURCE:
Calderon, F. & Rivera, A. (1984). La Cancha. Cochabamba: CERES

GOING EAST: NOTES ON BOLIVIAN AGRICULTURAL STRUCTURES

Travelling eastwards from the city of Cochabamba, we observe gradual changes in landscape: Passing the harsh mountainous region surrounding the city, we descend into the tropical forests of the Chapare, still part of the department of Cochabamba, and then continue to the tropical lowlands of the department of Santa Cruz.

These changes tell a story beyond geographical zones: They also tell the story of agricultural structures in Bolivia.

Agriculture in the mountains of Cochabamba

The Chapare, source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/doloresreina/5446352716/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Agriculture in Santa Cruz

As the first picture shows, the mountainous region of Cochabamba is characterised by traditional small-scale agriculture. As we advance towards the Chapare, the vegetation changes drastically into a dense tropical forest. This is an area of small- and medium-scale agriculture that advances bit by bit into the forest. Further East, the landscape changes again. As we cross to the region of Santa Cruz, we find the same hot and humid climate, but large areas of forest have been cut down to make space for agricultural production. Santa Cruz is the region of large-scale agriculture, mainly destined towards exportation.

These regional differences exemplify the three distinctive forms of agricultural production in Bolivia: Small landholdings in areas of traditional agriculture, cultivations introduced in scarcely populated areas such as the tropical forests of the Chapare through planned migration (“colonisation / colonización”), and large-scale capitalist agricultural production in the Eastern lowlands (Ballivián, 2009).

These agricultural structures were decisively shaped by the Agricultural Reform in 1952 (Ballivián, 2009). At this time, the “most profound social revolution that Bolivia has seen” (ibid: 53) took place, orienting the productive sector towards a state-led capitalism (ibid.). Mines were nationalised and an agricultural reform was introduced in order to break with the feudal structures in the agricultural sector (ibid.). The agricultural reform meant basically that the campesinos who formerly produced for their landlord were to become owners of their land (ibid.).

This reform was implemented most successfully in the Western part of the country, where the campesino movement pushing for reforms was strongest (ibid.). Up to today, small landholdings dominate in the highlands and valleys (ibid.). In the Eastern lowlands, however, something else happened: The huge landholdings in this area became the property of the landlords, denominated as “agricultural companies”, in exchange for the promise to modernise these landholdings rapidly (ibid.). For Balliviàn (2009), this contradiction was driven by the state´s interest in fostering economic development, which was an important element of the agricultural reform that should “liberate productive forces” (Canelas, in Ballivian 2009).

The agricultural reform was complemented by government support for migration from the highlands to less populated areas in the East (ibid.). This was thought to contribute to an expansion of the agricultural frontier and also to a protection of Bolivian territory by populating the Eastern borderland (ibid.). The Chapare is one of these areas of “colonisation” attracting migrants from the rural highlands. This tendency of migration from the highlands is indeed going on until the present day.

Despite favourable climatic conditions, the dense native vegetation of the Chapare is not easily converted into agricultural land (ibid.). Since the rural migrants usually lack the technological means needed to advance large-scale deforestation, they stick to the cultivation of smaller areas, abandoning them as soil fertility decreases to deforest a new patch of land (ibid.). One solution to decrease the effort needed for agricultural production is to plant perennial crops such as cocoa or palm trees – or coca plantations, which is currently the main commercial cultivation in the Chapare (ibid.). Apart from being a perennial plantation, the coca leaf reaches much higher prices than other products, an effect that is amplified tremendously by the importance of the coca leaf as a raw material for cocaine production.

Just a bit more eastwards, the region of Santa Cruz is characterised by the large-scale production of rice, cotton, sugar cane and other products mainly destined for exportation (ibid.). Industrial agricultural production does not contribute significantly to satisfying internal food demand: The majority of agricultural production for the internal market (about 70 %) is provided by small-scale farming (ibid.).

This structure leads to serious concerns about Bolivian food sovereignty, particularly given gradual changes in traditional agricultural areas: Traditional systems of communal ownership are being abandoned in favour of individual land ownership, leading to ruptures with an established system of long-term planning of land use and crop rotation in the community (ibid.). New, more intensive forms of agricultural production are however limited by the harsh environmental conditions in the areas of traditional agriculture, leading to a deterioration of agricultural land and increased migration to urban areas or zones of colonisation (ibid., CEDLA 2009). Combined with gradual changes in consumption habits, for instance preferences for industrially produced (imported) food (CEDLA 2009), the development of the Bolivian food system does not seem promising for generating food sovereignty.

SOURCES:

Ballivian, D. P. (2009). Estructura agraria boliviana (Bolivian agricultural structure). Plural editores: La Paz

CEDLA (2009). Soberanía y seguridad alimentaria en Bolivia. Políticas y estado de la situación. (Food sovereignty and security in Bolivia. Politics and actual situation.) CEDLA: La Paz