Cultivated and Fallow Land in the Highlands of Cañar (Ecuadorean South Andes): Effects of Farmer Emigration on an Agrarian Landscape
On the threshold of the 21st century, Ecuador entered the darkest economic period in the history of its republic, resulting in a vast migratory movement to foreign countries. In the high Andes valley of Cañar, the speed and extent of the movement seemed, in many ways, to be the precursory signs of a...
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Institut de Géographie Alpine
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Revue de Géographie Alpine |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/rga/5386 |
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| author | Michel Vaillant Marc Oswald |
| author_facet | Michel Vaillant Marc Oswald |
| author_sort | Michel Vaillant |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | On the threshold of the 21st century, Ecuador entered the darkest economic period in the history of its republic, resulting in a vast migratory movement to foreign countries. In the high Andes valley of Cañar, the speed and extent of the movement seemed, in many ways, to be the precursory signs of an exodus and of the environment’s return to nature. A decade later, the agrarian landscape reveals a strange paradox: some sections of the landscape, apparently abandoned to wilderness, suggest a progressive decline in agriculture, whereas others suggest the progression of a fodder front to higher altitudes. So what can we say about this landscape that shows a process of set-aside in some of its sections and cultivation in others? What meaning can we give to the term ‘fallow’ with the mountains displaying what appear to be antagonistic methods of agricultural development? These are the questions dealt with in this article, with ‘fallow’ as the main unifying thread. An analysis of the landscape, combined with the agricultural history of the study area, helps to shed light on the reasons for the observed paradox and gives meaning to the relationships between types of fallow and agricultural dynamics, mobility and the process of social differentiation. The principal result is: far from signifying abandonment, fallow land is visual proof in the landscape of the maintenance of agricultural activity by those who are unable to migrate or modernize their farms. This result invites us to revisit the notion of fallow (from an agro-economic point of view), in particular the need to understand the stakes and uses of the various tiered ecosystems and to understand the function of the different fallow lands assigned to them by the categories of farmers who benefit from them. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-51df752aff914682a0237b9ad9c53f35 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0035-1121 1760-7426 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | Institut de Géographie Alpine |
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| series | Revue de Géographie Alpine |
| spelling | doaj-art-51df752aff914682a0237b9ad9c53f352025-01-10T15:55:12ZengInstitut de Géographie AlpineRevue de Géographie Alpine0035-11211760-74262019-04-01107110.4000/rga.5386Cultivated and Fallow Land in the Highlands of Cañar (Ecuadorean South Andes): Effects of Farmer Emigration on an Agrarian LandscapeMichel VaillantMarc OswaldOn the threshold of the 21st century, Ecuador entered the darkest economic period in the history of its republic, resulting in a vast migratory movement to foreign countries. In the high Andes valley of Cañar, the speed and extent of the movement seemed, in many ways, to be the precursory signs of an exodus and of the environment’s return to nature. A decade later, the agrarian landscape reveals a strange paradox: some sections of the landscape, apparently abandoned to wilderness, suggest a progressive decline in agriculture, whereas others suggest the progression of a fodder front to higher altitudes. So what can we say about this landscape that shows a process of set-aside in some of its sections and cultivation in others? What meaning can we give to the term ‘fallow’ with the mountains displaying what appear to be antagonistic methods of agricultural development? These are the questions dealt with in this article, with ‘fallow’ as the main unifying thread. An analysis of the landscape, combined with the agricultural history of the study area, helps to shed light on the reasons for the observed paradox and gives meaning to the relationships between types of fallow and agricultural dynamics, mobility and the process of social differentiation. The principal result is: far from signifying abandonment, fallow land is visual proof in the landscape of the maintenance of agricultural activity by those who are unable to migrate or modernize their farms. This result invites us to revisit the notion of fallow (from an agro-economic point of view), in particular the need to understand the stakes and uses of the various tiered ecosystems and to understand the function of the different fallow lands assigned to them by the categories of farmers who benefit from them.https://journals.openedition.org/rga/5386mountainmigrationEcuadorAgrarian dynamicsfallow |
| spellingShingle | Michel Vaillant Marc Oswald Cultivated and Fallow Land in the Highlands of Cañar (Ecuadorean South Andes): Effects of Farmer Emigration on an Agrarian Landscape Revue de Géographie Alpine mountain migration Ecuador Agrarian dynamics fallow |
| title | Cultivated and Fallow Land in the Highlands of Cañar (Ecuadorean South Andes): Effects of Farmer Emigration on an Agrarian Landscape |
| title_full | Cultivated and Fallow Land in the Highlands of Cañar (Ecuadorean South Andes): Effects of Farmer Emigration on an Agrarian Landscape |
| title_fullStr | Cultivated and Fallow Land in the Highlands of Cañar (Ecuadorean South Andes): Effects of Farmer Emigration on an Agrarian Landscape |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cultivated and Fallow Land in the Highlands of Cañar (Ecuadorean South Andes): Effects of Farmer Emigration on an Agrarian Landscape |
| title_short | Cultivated and Fallow Land in the Highlands of Cañar (Ecuadorean South Andes): Effects of Farmer Emigration on an Agrarian Landscape |
| title_sort | cultivated and fallow land in the highlands of canar ecuadorean south andes effects of farmer emigration on an agrarian landscape |
| topic | mountain migration Ecuador Agrarian dynamics fallow |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/rga/5386 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT michelvaillant cultivatedandfallowlandinthehighlandsofcanarecuadoreansouthandeseffectsoffarmeremigrationonanagrarianlandscape AT marcoswald cultivatedandfallowlandinthehighlandsofcanarecuadoreansouthandeseffectsoffarmeremigrationonanagrarianlandscape |