Abstract

CARTON DE GRAMMONT, Hubert. La desagrarización del campo mexicano. Convergencia [online]. 2009, vol.16, n.50, pp.13-55. ISSN 2448-5799.

In this work we analyze the large transformations taking place among the countryside's population, emphasizing the last 20 years. In the first part of the study we verify that rural population keeps on growing in spite of migrations. We see how countryside-city migration transforms because of an insufficient, precarious and flexible labor market. Thus, a new migratory model strengthens: non-peasant population in the countryside tends to remain in their hometowns instead of permanently migrating to the city and searches for a short- or long-lasting temporary job. This accumulation of the population in the countryside not only causes an acuter poverty, but also accelerates the process of creation of new localities, disperse, isolated and marginalized. In the second part we analyze the rural households' dynamics from the National Surveys on Incomes and Expenditures of the Households from 1992 and 2004 (Encuestas Nacionales de Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares). We observe that along the analyzed period, the peasant households decrease while those non-peasant increase their number and account for the most of rural households. We analyze those households' incomes, their poverty level and occupational rate. We draw two main conclusions: in peasant households salaried labor has displaced agrarian activities (pluri-activity), additionally the farmers tend to be poorer that those who are not farmers. We conclude with the need of rethinking the classical concepts we use both for analyzing the farming sector and the rural space, particularly the concepts of the countryside-city relation as well as that of farmer.

Keywords : de-agrarianization; pluri-activity; rural households; rural incomes; labor market.

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