Location

San Bernardino is located in the municipality of Texcoco, Estado de México, in the valley or basin of México, Valle de México or Cuenca de México, 2 km east of the Texcoco Lake, southwest of the Chapingo University, 3 km from the city of Texcoco de Mora, and 36.5 km from Distrito Federal on the México-Texcoco Federal Highway, at an altitude of 2245 m.

The locality has 5667 inhabitants, of which 2778 are men and 2889 are women; 47 inhabitants speak some indigenous language, of which 25 are men and 22 are women (^{INEGI, 2010}).

Sociodemographic analysis

According to the surveys carried out the data analysis indicates that 90 % of the survey respondents are men and 10 % are women. The rural family in San Bernardino still conserves the characteristics of the patrilineal model² (^{Giddens, 2010}); that is, the sons are the ones who inherit or have more rights than the daughters, although the Federal Law of Agrarian Reform (Ley Federal de la Reforma Agraria, LFR) from 1971 grants equality of rights to women.

On the other hand, the average age of the producers surveyed is 68 years; the youngest is 40 and the oldest is 90, which allows witnessing the ageing of ejidatarios; seen from the lucrative side, they are reaching the end of their productive age and, in addition to the reduction of young people in the agricultural sector, translates into an undeniable abandonment of the countryside.

This implies in addition that the older ejidatarios do not work directly on their plots because they can hardly undertake technological innovations or implement improvements in their agricultural practices.

Within this context, the population increase in the locality is an important element that demands zones for housing. According to data from INEGI, in 1995 there were 3544 inhabitants and by 2010 this increased to 5667, showing the inner demographic pressure present in the locality.

Level of studies of the survey respondents

According to ^{INEGI (2010)}, the average degree of schooling of the population at the national level is 8.6 years, which is equivalent to slightly more than second year of secondary school, while in Estado de México the average is 9.1, which is equivalent to slightly more than secondary school finished. Comparing the data from ^{INEGI (2010)} and the ejidatarios surveyed, average of 2.3 years of schooling is found, which is equivalent to slightly over two years of primary school, level that is very much under the national and state indicator.

This explains why the ejidatarios have less access to information, which causes loss of opportunities for the development and wellbeing of their locality and family, since they are more reluctant to modernity and innovation.

Main activity

Through time, in México the change from an agrarian society to urban society has taken place gradually, where the agricultural activity not only coexists with other economic activities, but rather it has ceased to be the predominant activity, in terms of the number of members of the family involved in this field, as well as in the increase in the generation of non-agricultural incomes within the families (Figure 1).

Source: authors’ elaboration with data taken from INEGI (2010) and data obtained through the survey carried out in the field (MGC/2014).

Figure 1 Occupation per sectors in Estado de México. 

In the locality of San Bernardino, the change from a rural society to an urban one is confirmed with the data obtained in the field, where 27.26 % of the ejidatarios surveyed obtain their main source of incomes developing their principal activity in the primary sector, another 20.45 % in the secondary, and 52.29 % in the tertiary.

Complementary activities

The situation that ejidatarios from San Bernardino experience is quite difficult; however, those who are reluctant to leave their lands seek other ways of subsisting, so they resort to performing several activities to complement their family income. Most combine activities inside and outside the family plot, that is, they are pluriactive households. It is important to mention that they have not entirely lost their function as Family Economic Unit.

The data obtained from the research indicate that 86.36 % of the ejidatarios manifested performing several activities and only 16.64 % carry out a single activity.

Of the total of answers obtained, 54.54 % mentioned that in addition to their principal activity they also carry out a complementary activity in the primary sector, 6.82 % in the secondary and 22.72 % in the tertiary.

To complement their family income some must be employed in a second activity, so that 22.27 % are occupied in the primary sector, 4.54 % in the secondary, and 9.09 % in the tertiary, while 2.27 % have a third activity within the primary.

It is necessary to highlight the highest percentage of those who carry out complementary activities are part of the statistics of the primary sector, which manifests because they are livestock producers and the need to feed their livestock induces them to carry out the role mentioned; some with less possibility of raising livestock destine their small production to the upkeep of their backyard animals.

Likewise, the incomes they obtain from these activities are shown on Table 1 (according to the minimum salary of Zone B, valid up to 2015).

Table 1 Income from type of activity of the participants in the study. 

SMV: Minimum Wage Valid on 2015 (DOF) Diario Oficial de la Federación: Zone A 70.15: Zone B 60.45.

The pluriactivity is a strategy that families have had to carry out with the aim of improving their incomes; that is, the greater diversification of activities, the more opportunities of having a better quality of life or reducing the poverty levels. The households of the ejidatarios surveyed resort to selling their production, selling their labor or having a small business, with which they try to increase the family income and stay in a better position.

Therefore, the pluriactivity in the community of San Bernardino turns out to be real and implies a rupture from the single activity that the peasant family carried out; that is, the agrarian activity has ceased to be the main and most important one, thus giving place to one of the most important effects of the transformations in the local rural society, pluriactivity, and which in addition is being directed primarily to the tertiary sector, performing mostly the activities of taxi drivers, bricklayers and shopkeepers.

Non-agricultural contribution to the family income

Half of the total ejidatarios surveyed manifested receiving financial support from members of their family, with the aim of contributing to the family income, and these carry out minimal contributions of 1.49 minimum wage valid (salario mínimo vigente, SMV), maximum of up to 6.45 SMV, and average of 2.80 SMV per day. To obtain this income they are employed in activities other than agriculture and they migrate from the country to the city; this migration tends to be temporal, since the city lacks a labor market that guarantees the rural inhabitants will be inserted into this sphere.

Likewise, the fact of residing in the country allows them to maintain a less expensive lifestyle compared to the city.

The indicator of Economically Active Population (EAP) shows the labor diversity there is in peasant families and to determine their type of income the separation in agricultural and non-agricultural income was made; according to data from the municipality, Texcoco has 90 460 inhabitants, of which 5.85 % are part of the agricultural EAP and 94.15 % correspond to the non-agricultural EAP (Estadística Básica municipal del Estado de México, 2011).

For San Bernardino, in the year 2000 the EAP was 1775, of which 156 were found in the primary sector, 588 in the secondary, and 947 in the tertiary³.

On the other hand, 50 % of the ejidatarios responded that their children contribute to the family income, where 13 % of the responses correspond to an agricultural EAP, while 77 % is non-agricultural EAP, that is, the activities they carry out are in their majority totally foreign to agriculture or outside the family unit; the activity of employee and shopkeeper stand out, with 29.54 %; bricklayer, 13.63 %; taxi driver, professional and another activity, 6.81 %.

The family workforce constitutes a very important factor within agricultural production; however, in the locality of San Bernardino the families of the ejidatarios are characterized for making an incursion into non-agricultural activities to be employed in small commercial establishments or in the realization of trades on their own. In this regard, most of the ejidatarios surveyed (90 %) manifested not receiving help from their family members for the field activities.

It is important to highlight that only 13.63 % of the children of ejidatarios are devoted to agriculture, which shows the decrease in the participation of young people in the field.

Thus, a process of abandoning the country is observed; young people are giving up the transference of knowledge from one generation to another, they give little importance to agricultural work. Of the data obtained, 70.45 % of the survey respondents manifested that their children do not support them in the field activities because they do not know how to and are not interested in learning; 45.45 % expressed that their children do not like working in agricultural activities, while 40.90 % mentioned that the tasks of their children do not leave them time to work in the field activities. On the other hand, 6.82 % of the survey respondents said they received help from one of their children and 2.27 % from two of them in agricultural tasks.

This is mostly because the children of ejidatarios study and paradoxically they are occupied in a different activity, while the non-owners together with their children work the land because they do not have a schooling index so as to be inserted into the urban labor market, or the means of production to generate that income.

Abandoning the country is not only reflected in the indifference of young people to giving support in the field tasks. In Table 2, made with data from the Direct Support to the Country Program (Programa de Apoyos Directos al Campo, PROCAMPO), it can be observed that sowing has decreased considerably in the locality of study; the number of beneficiaries that PROCAMPO has supported since 1995 and up to 2013 is shown, where a huge decrease in backing can be seen, since 152 ejidatarios were supported in 1995 and by 2007 it was just 90, while by 2013 it decreased to 75.

Table 2 Matrix of changes in the 1996-2007 period. 

It is important to mention that PROCAMPO has the objective of complementing the economic income of producers in the Mexican countryside to contribute to the individual and the country’s economic growth, backing provided for the production of legal crops.

With the PROCAMPO data, it can be seen that support to the country in prior years was important in the locality, and currently sowing has decreased considerably, reduction that is directly linked to urban expansion in agricultural zones, since where there used to be alfalfa, maize and squash crops, to mention the most important ones in the locality, there is now mostly residential homes and in some lands even factories.

Territorial analysis of the change of land occupation

According to the process of geographic analysis performed between two maps of different dates, 1996 and 2007, from the locality of San Bernardino, Municipality of Texcoco, the transition areas, stable areas, losses and gains were calculated, obtaining the change matrix with the help of the IDRISI 3.1 software in the module of Series of time/Crosstab; the results are presented next.

The change in land occupation from agriculture to urban in the locality studied has taken place gradually, at a rhythm of 4.41 ha per year, which for the 1996- 2007 period represents a total of 48.62 agricultural ha, incorporated to the urban zone (Table 2).

Agriculture is considered a fundamental activity in the rural environment; however, the difficulties that it faces have generated the loss and abandonment of agricultural lands.

For the crops in the community of San Bernardino, the irrigation system is used and thanks to it the agricultural activity has remained valid, although to a lower proportion. Of the ejidatarios surveyed, 61.36 % manifested that they still cultivate their lands, while 38.64 % said they do not cultivate anymore. The predominating crops are alfalfa, maize, squash, bean, cilantro and carrot. On the other hand, the ejidatarios who still conserve their lands, but who have left crops aside, manifested having changed the agricultural activity for another, in which renting ejido plots stands out.

The change of land occupation has several forms or expressions as to how it should be analyzed, since land uses are the materialization of the economy and the social conditions, idem, the first of them that can be seen in terms of territory, is the agricultural one for the urban one, from the economic angle, through pluriemployment and the sale of lands; the change in land use from the territorial angle is presented when the landscape changes from rural to urban.

In Figure 2 the growth of the urban zone over the agricultural zone is shown, which by 1996 was 8.47 ha.

Source: Colegio de Postgraduados. Rural Development Program. Design and elaboration: MGC/2015. INEGI (1996/2007), digital orthophoto. Scale 1: 20 000 and 1:10 000. México. INEGI (1998/2005) vectorial data from the map E14-B31 Chalco, scale 1:50 000, México. Methodology: digitalization QGIS 2.8. Cartographic composition: ILWIS 3.1, scale 1:40 000. Date 2015. Authorized: MJEM/2015. Colegio de Posgraduados.

Figure 2 Map of the change of land occupation in the locality of San Bernardino in the year 1996. 

Figure 3 shows how by 2007 the urban zone already covers 57.09 over the agricultural area.

Source: Colegio de Postgraduados. Rural Development Program. Design and elaboration: MGC/2015. INEGI (1996/2007), digital orthophoto. Scale 1: 20 000 and 1:10 000. México. INEGI (1998/2005) vectorial data from the map E14-B31 Chalco, scale 1:50 000, México. Methodology: digitalization QGIS 2.8. Cartographic composition: ILWIS 3.1, scale 1:40 000. Date 2015. Authorized: MJEM/2015. Colegio de Posgraduados.

Figure 3 Map of the change of land occupation in the locality of San Bernardino in the year 2007. 

In Figure 4 the total change of land occupation from 1996 to 2007 is shown, where the urban zone won 48.62 ha over the agricultural one.

Source: Colegio de Postgraduados. Rural Development Program. Design and elaboration: MGC/2015. INEGI (1996/2007), digital orthophoto. Scale 1: 20 000 and 1:10 000. México. INEGI (1998/2005) vectorial data from the map E14-B31 Chalco, scale 1:50 000, México. Methodology: digitalization QGIS 2.8. Cartographic composition: ILWIS 3.1, scale 1:40 000. Date 2015. Authorized: MJEM/2015. Colegio de Posgraduados.

Figure 4 Dynamic map of the change of land occupation in the locality of San Bernardino in the year 1996. 

Regarding the map, the ejido plots located in the north, south, southeast and west zones have been urbanized; likewise, in the west there are also some plots that have been expropriated.

This remarkable change reinforces what was obtained through the surveys applied in June 2014 to ejidatarios from this locality, where 52.29 % obtain their income primarily in the tertiary sector, that is, a notable abandonment of agricultural lands is taking place, which in most cases leads them to selling or renting them to be employed in activities different than agriculture.

Of the survey respondents, 65.91 % said they had resorted to the sale of agricultural lands and only 34.09 % states they haven’t sold. The ejidatarios mention that the main causes that have forced them to sell those lands is the lack of profit from harvests and, therefore, the need for money (70.45 %), followed by the lack of interest from children over the agricultural activity (61.36 %), little support from family workforce (56.82 %), and family emergencies (47.73 %).

The main cause why they manifest having sold their agricultural terrains is the scarce earnings from the harvests and, therefore, the need for money, followed by the disinterest from the children over the agricultural activity, little support from family workforce and family emergencies.

Concerning the problems that they face to complete the production process of their products, in some cases the production is not enough, there is no excess that can be incorporated into the offer; in addition, other elements interfere, such as the accessibility and compatibility with the market (^{Kunz Bolaños, 1987}).

Although in the first there is the excess mentioned, they do not manage to fulfill the productive process, due to not having the local market to acquire the production, thus turning it into upkeep, which leads to peasants and their families seeking other ways to obtain or complete the family income, thus incorporating new jobs from other sectors different from the primary, going from the countryside to the second or third term, breaking with the regional equilibrium, also causing for the knowledge from production to cease to belong to the peasantry; that is, agricultural knowledge is lost, the family does not participate in the function of production and there is no subsidy in the workforce. In this sense, the functional balance of the process is broken, thus fragmenting the country-production scheme (^{Kunz Bolaños, 1987}).

The compatibility is now related to urban processes, which causes the value of agricultural land to decrease and the urban one to increase because there is demographic pressure that demands land for housing. In the second place it is related to the process of livestock production, in small scale.

When the process of agricultural production is broken, the change of land occupation takes place, mostly irregularly, fractioning the agricultural lands for urban use, especially for housing, due to the high demographic pressure present.