New land settlement in the eastern lowlands of Colombia

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(1)The authorwasfoiÍnerly a research.associatew.l.th>the " tand Tenure center and,thé .p€Pa-rtme~t Of'Agríqultu.r'ál, , " Economics. -. -. ". "-.'. "". ". -,\,~ ~ ". .... ~~ ~ December 1964 IIIlJOTECR,A6ROPECIJARiA DE COlO/oIIiI ':~. ,,',. ". NEW LAND ;SElTTLEMENT IN THE. No. 13 ,. ','. EASTERN 'LQ~NDS OF COLOMBIA. By Ronald: L •. Tinnermeier. -. •. This paperis ar¡, abbr¡;¡viated version ofthe author',s Ph.D. thesis of t1-.e' sCl'Ínetitle. All views, interpretatibns, recommendations'and conclusionsexpressed in this paper are those ofthe author arta net necessarily those of the supporting or'cooperating organizations..

(2) ~.. . ,,_.. ",. ;. .~~y,. '.'. ~ -¿~~- :->. ;.. -. ~ ~r. ~>:~;;f::'-' ~~"". ... ."~. INTRODUarr QN. .. In thls study a description and evaluatlon of dlrected and spontaneous land settlement in Caqueta, ColombIa ls presented. The analysis is based on personal observations, field surveys, and detalled case studies. Its focus ls to discover if there are slgniflcant differences between the two groups in terms of selected economic and socIal characterlstics and to determine relationshlps between the selected variables.. •. ,. The Problem and Its Setting During the past few years there has been a grow1ng concern over agrarlan reformo Thls ls true In many parts of the world, but especlally so in Latin America.. . ,',. ~~. ',~,. The proponents of violent revolutlonal'Y methods had Mexico, BOlivia, and CUba to point to as examples. They proposed that the only possible way was by revolution. Their opponents, whofavored a more evolutionary type of change, had little to demonstrate as concrete examples, except for Taiwan, Egypt, and 19th Century Europe, all of which were very different froIIiLatin America in terms of development and the exIstIng InstItutIonal framework. They could only argue that loglcally it shou1d be feaslble to bring about reforms In LatIn America wlthout revolution. Although the evidence is not yet complete, varlous countries are showing signs of agrarlan change which ls short of revolution. Thls does not mean. however, that the changes are wlthout confllct or loss of 11fe. Colombia ls en example of a country tryIng to brlng about change but yet avoid outrlght revolutlon. The revolutlonary and hIs opponent are present In Colomb1a as ls the dlehard opponent of any type of a~rarIan reformo However, agrarIan legislat10n has been passed and ls be1ng oarrled out. The bargaIning process and the extent of compromlse between the Interest groups who are for and 11 agalnst agrarIan reform has been descrlbed by H1rschman.. 11. i. .. Albert O. Hlrscl:unan, Journeys T01'lard ~ogress (New York; The TwentIeth Century Pund, 1963~ pp~ 141150.. •.

(3) - 2 -. ". During the last half century various reforms have been proposed; sorne have been rejected, others approved and tried. Colonization is one such proposal that has continually boen met with accoptanee. Colonizatlon programs originally were for the purpose of opening up new land, however, many seholars submit that the present day existenee of colonization programs is brought about by other forees. The power structure of the Colombian political system is such that the large landowners are power holders. The landowners, often politieal authoriti es rather than tho actual political leaders, have vested interests in any agrarian reform programo Colonization can be pointed to as a visible agrarian reform program, but it does not jeopardize the large owners of land. Such a program is not resisted and ls easily passed by the legislature. The landowners oppose only measures attempting to bring about changes whieh affeet their status quo. The greater the effeet, the stronger the oPPosltion. Since colonization does not affeet their land it ls an easy out for the landowners even thou~h such a program might be oostly in terms of the alloeation of soaroe resourees. Although there have been many types of reforms proposed, this study will be 11mlted to a descrlption and evaluatlon of land settlement. Land settlement can be thought of as a contlnuum. At one end no direct assistance ls given to the settlers. This is what is often referred to as sponteneous settlemento At the other end full assistance is given to the settlers, includlng clearing the land, providing homes, and making the following services and facilities available: drinking water, sanitary facilities, health services, sehools, means of transportation and eommunieation, teehnical assistanee in agrlculture and veterinary seienee, eredit and grants of operating capital, and marketing faeil1 ti es.. ;. Orle can find settlement projeets all along this continuum involvl~g various degrees of planning and assistance. In this study two types of settlement projeets were eompared. One of these was an area of spontaneous settlement where no outside assistanee was glven. The other was a directed settlement projeet where the Colombian government provided considerable assistance. Criteria were established for seleeting the settlers, and tl;ey were transported to the projeet area by the government. A cooperative was established and medical serviees, schools,.

(4) - 3 .~. .. . techn1cal ass1stance, property demarcat10n, and superv1sed credit were prov1ded. Directed settlement or directed colonization in this study refers to settlement in the delineated areas originally opened by the Agrarian Bank and now admln1stered by the Colombian Agrarian Reform Institute (INCORA). The term colonization ls used quite dlfferently in many countries and even within a country in Latin Americe.. Since "colonize.tion" usually ls associated with the development of "colonies", it will be used synonymously w1th directed settlement. Objectives of the Study There are currently f1ve directed colon1ze.t1on projects in Colombia, all of whlch were established by the Agrarian Credlt Bank 1n the late 1950's and early 1960's. Caqueta ls one of the more advanced dlrected projects in terms of the number of faml11es settled and the degree of asslstance available. There 1s also e. considerable amount of spontaneous settlement taklng place. For these reasons it was selected as the focal polnt oí this study. When one looks at new land settlement in relatlon to the overall picture of agrarian reform, two qnestlons must be faced: (1) What are the advantages and disadvantages of directed and spontaneous settlement--does one type of settlement outweigh the other in terms of costs and benefits? and (2), ls new land settlement a feasible alternative considering the other avenues of agrari.an reform? The pr1mary object1ve of th1s study ls "-;0 determine if there are s1gn1ficant differences between t:he t\,¡O types of settlers in terms of selected economic and social characteristics. A secondary objective is to provide general data on new laDd settlement. There have been few studies of an empirical nature to point out the types and the dimensions of the problems related to these two types of land settlement. Thls study ls organlzed to fill this need, hoping to provide relevant empirical data which can be used as abasia for pollcy declsions.. ..

(5) - 4 Operatlonal Hypotheses. ,. Por the present study. operational hypotheses were formulated to serve as guidelines for field research and data analysis. The main hypothesls ls: There ls no slMificant difference between dlrected aTId spontaneous settlers in ter¡ns of educat:!.on, experience, attltudes, labor efficiency. level of living. aTId laTId are a cultivated. Other social and economic characteristics vi:l.ll be compared but are of less importan ce. The secondary hypotheses are:. (1). The laTId area cultivated is positively related to educatlon..-.exper:l.ence, lavel of living. and years of occupanc~.. (2). The adoption of nei'! technigues ls positlvely related to the level of educatlon, the amount of agricultura.l information availablo, level of l1vinv" and the age of the farmer.. (J). ~or. (4). ¡he aIDount of agricultural lnformation gvailable to the individual ls posltlvely related to use of credlt, adoption of new technigues, and level of-1J.ving.. efftclency is posUi vely related to educatíon. exportance, and size of famllx.. ,. ;. '.-~.

(6) · .'. SOCIALCfUffiACTERISTICS Migration Patterns The sett1ers migrating to Caqueta were born in many parts of the country. Many settlers from both the groups studiedwere boro in the departments of Tol1ma and Hulla. The similarity of the groups ends at this point. Twentyeight per cent oí the directed co1onlsts were born in Caldas while on1y 6 per cent of the spontaneous sett1ers were born in this department or state. Te give some indication of the degree of mobllity the lntervlewees were asked to name the area where they 11 ved before m1grating to Caqueta and thls information was then compared wlth thelr birthplace. A re1ative1y hlgh proportion of the spontaneous settlers (15 per cent) were boro in eaqueta and did not migrate. Only 2 per cent of the colonists were boro in this department. It was found that 18 per cent of the directed colnists migrated from the same communlty--the vi11age or town--where they were born¡ the spontaneous group showed a higher figure of 26 per cent. If these people had changed their residence this was not found since they had retúrned to thelr place of birth sometime before moving to Caqueta. A number of settlers carne from the same department of their birth but froID different locallties. It was found that 24 per cent of the directed settlers had changed resldence on1y within the department of their blrth before mlgratin~ to Caqueta. Twenty-one per cent of the spontaneous sett1ers dld the same. The majority of the settlers of both greups moved from department to department before they final1y migrated to Caqueta. It was found that, of the families who migrated, 56 per cent of the directed colonists had previously migrated between other departments. Th1rty-seven per cent of the spentaneous settlers had moved about frem department to department befere migrating to Caqueta. The directed colon1sts appeared to have been a more mobile group although almost 59 per cent of the spontaneous settlers had also moved frero their place of blrth, elther to another commun1 ty nearby or to another department.. - 5 -. ;.

(7) •. - 6 The reason for sueh mobillty, whIch may be an indIcation of economic and social Insecurity, ls no doubt complex and related to many factors. The directed settlers IndIcated that almost half migrated to Caquet~in search of land or because of government promises. An-other 21 per cent left to escape the civil violence which was prevalent in the interior • .¡. The spontaneous settlers gave more varied reasons for migrating. although wanting land or better land was the most important reason. A smaller percentage of the spontal1eous settlers came to the new area to escape the violence. This may be explained by the fact that many of the spontaneous settlers moved to Caqueta before the heavy violence began in 1948. A considerable number of spontaneous settlers had ties with famI1y members or with frIends already in Caqueta who Indueed them to make the move. ünly one of the group interviewed lndieated that he had been Influenced by the government. A roue:h index of violence score was calculated for each Individual interviewed. The departments were ordered from least to most violence and a weight iÜ ven for. proximity to actual violence wlthln each department.g¡ Thus if an 1i1di vi dual were from a violence area the department score would be multiplied by three¡ if nsar a violence area, by two, and if in an area where there was no violonee, by one. The total score ,,¡as divided by three for P'lT n08es of computation. The distribution of scores was as follows: Number of Settlers Who Roceived An Index of Violence Score From Zero to Nine Score. Directed Spontaneous. 0-3. 4-6. 7-9. Total. 2J. 35. 42 2J. 100. 57. 4. 8'+. V The index !'las based on the ,,¡ork of Orhmdo Fs.ls Borda, et ª1.., La Violencia en Colc;0bia E§.tu(:"~2.c§Llll1 Proceso Social, Bogod::,. Univer~ldad ¡"aciollal, F",<-ul~ad de Sociologí,9c, ¡'¡onografías Soc101og1cRs No. 12, Tomo 1, 1962. e.

(8) - 7 Th1s appro:x:1mate est1mate of 1nvolvemel'1t 1n v101e;nce supports the prev10us data 1n thatthe d1rected colorils:1:;s came from areas of more v101ence than did the spontan,eous settlers. The1r own e:x:pressed reasons for migrat1ng to Caqueta 1nd1cated the same results. The or1g1nal 8e1ect10n of d1rected colorl1stsby the government was based on the premise that those in need of 1and were those d1sple,ced by the v101ence.(Atleast thls was the pub11cized reason for the1r se1ect101'1.) ~en w1th, the great turnover of colon1sts within the past four years a high proportion of those present at the t1me of the ; '•• interv1ew r~d been affected by the violen ce; however, a number of spontaneous settlers affected by v101ence a1so had come to Caqueta on their own. Forty-two per cent of the directed co10n1sts had not owned or rented land durinp: the ten ye,ars before they arrived in caqueta, while 23 per cent of the spontaneous sett1ers had had no land immediately before mlgratlng to Caqueta. Hany of the persons without 1and,weréalso not working in agriculture. Eighteen perc,ell,tl: oftf¡.e dlrected settlers were engaged in occupat10nsqüt'$1:dEi's.griculture. Another 12 per cent were employed both l:n,agric,ultu:::,e and 11'1 other occupat10ns. Only 2 per centof,the·spontsneous settlers were not engaged in agriCulturft.:":Wit,h¡another 8 per cent working in both agricultur,é'~d,;;othe:rtrades. J¿oth groups work1ng 1n trades othertb,ariri\ti:t;ri C1J'ltu::'.ower€' employed as craftsmen, miners, publ1é"ww:W~c employsQs', , and 1n small business. ,', In regard te tenure rl¡rhts 1n land before a:rrlV1ng 1n Caqueta, the interv1e.r results showed t1\e fo11ewlng·; Tenure Rights in D1rected Number Non-agricultural occupation Agr1 cul tura1 laborer Share cropper 'Renter. O'Wner'. La~d. Spontaneous Number. 14 (14,%). 2 ( 2*). 35 (J5%). 19 (2.)%). 14 (14%). 4 ,5%) 59 C70;t). 8 ( 8%). 28 (28%). 0,. e. '..

(9) - 8 -,4.~ ,. ;",0" .'. Once agea1n i t ,ie clear that in addi tion te a higher per cent employed in agricul ture, more of the spontaneoU:s' settlers were o~mers of the land they farmed where they lived previously. Degree of Satisfaation in Cagueta It ~~as indicated earlier that beth groups seemcd to have migrated much of their li ves. perbaps this 11".',' CJ, Elgn of social and economia insecuri ty. Most of tbe f"':.1,::'ios were searching for a better life. The question r'Jo:r arises, Are they more satisfied in Caqueta and, therefore, less willing to move to other areas? This is a crucial question for supporters and pl~~ners of new land settlemento A relat1 vely 111gh percentage (76 per cent) of the heads of household indicated they were more satisfied in Caqueta as compared to the area where they lived previously. The majority of the wives in both groups also closely agteEd with their husbands but with less enthusiasm. Many of the directed colonlsts' wives (23 per cent) said they were less satisfied w11ile a sroaller proportlon (8 per cenj;)of, the. spontaneous settlers' wives were dissatisfied·with Caqlleta. The same relationship for the roen held true, 16 per cent of the directed eolonists were less S~.tlsfied while four per cent of t11e spontaneous settlers held this view. E'¡en though one roay be more satisfied now tha,n before this still does not mean there l<Till be no further chafliclng of residence. Each settler VJas asked to select one of the choices listed in Table 1 to deter~ine if he was satisfied enough to remain in Caqueta..

(10) - 9 -. TABLE 1 Degree of Choice. Perm~~ence. in Caqueta. Directed Number. Sponte.neous Number. Anxlous to 1eave. 1 ( 1%). 4 ( 5%). Want to leave but not anxious. 2 ( 2%). Ll. 0%). Indifferent. 2 ( 2%). 3 ( 3%). Want to stay but not anxious. 21 (21%). 26 (31 q;;). Anxious to stay. 74 (74%). 43 (51%). Most of the directed colonists (95 per cent) indicated they wanted to stay in Caqueta whlle 82 p8;:' cent of the spontaneous settlers gave the same reply. More spontaneous settlers (15 per cent) indicated that they wanted to leave compared te the directed colonlsts (3 p'"T ~ent). The reasons for wanting to 1eave included: death eí wife or wlfe left, old age, 11fe geing badly, and a desire to educate the children. Similar reasons fer wal'lting te stay in CCI'?LlAta "rere given by both groups. A few settlers gave mOl~8 'chan one reason ; however, the first reason was assumed to be the most importe.nt. All the responses were listed and it was found that they could be classified into four groups. Group I includes indlfferent responses--the settlers indicated that there was no special reason for wantlng to remain. Group II includes negative responses--the settler didn't like the situation but could see no better future elsewhere, oy he was unable to move without losin?-: everything. Group III includes positive responses about present conditlons. These settlers said they wanted to stay because of something they had at the time of the intervie'~. This might have been because of the aburlda!'1ce of land, the tranqul1ity, 8. good life. or that they were workiniT for themselves. Group IV 11sts positive responses about future expectations. The settler was wil1ing to wait for better things, hoping that they would come.. '..

(11) - 10 The highest number of responses for both groups fell wi thin Group 111, a posi ti ve response for the present; the spontaneous settlers were more pragmatic in their ans"rers as shown by a 6 per cent response in Group IV. Their desire to remain in Caqueta was based on fact and not on future expectations. The dlrected colonists placed more emphasis on the future. There was a direct, positive relatlonship between the degree of permanence and the reasons given but the relationship Was sma11est for ~he directed co1onists. Simple correl~4ion gave an r = .20 with a Signiflcan~e leve1 of .001i1 for the spontaneous settlers a~d an r = .04 with a significance level of .001 for the direeted colonists. The direeted eolonists who said they were anxious to stay were 1ess likely to give a positive response indicating why they wanted to stay. It is possible that a larger number of directed colonists indicated that they wanted to stay in Caqueta because they fe1t this Was the "correctO; response. INeOEA, no doubt, would be less wil11ng to asslst those who indicated or even suggested they might want to abandon their parcelo. Approximately 50 per eent of the parcels in the direeted colonlzatlon projects have been abandoned sinee the beginning of the project inthe late 1950's. That is, there has been a turnover of about 260 families out of the over 500 parcels. Most abandoned pareels are assigned to new colonists after a short waiting periodo Avai1able records on the abandoned colonists indicate that 20 per cent gave siekness as the reason fer 1eaving. Most of those who 1eft did so in 1960, short1y after the project was established. It appears there ls a sma11er rate of abandonment now.. JlSlgnifieance level is the probability that such an observed value of r could have arisen from a population in whlch the theoretical correlation coefficient equa1s zero..

(12) ~'.. - 11 -. ". Age and Familv Composition The mean age tor the head of household for the ápontaneous and direeted settlers was 44 and 41, respeeti vely. This differenee wasnot slrnlf1eant at the .05 level. The varlatlon ot ages was greater for the spontaneous group with a standard deviatlon of a1most 12 years. The standard deviatlon for the direetéd eolonlsts was nine years. Thls dlfference is signlfleant at the .05 level. Some of thls dlfferenee ln age can probably be explained Oy the tact that the seleeted colonlsts' a~e must fa1l between 21 and 55. e. ". The slze of household averaged ?2 persons for the dlrected eolonlsts and 7.0 for the spontaneous settlers; this ls not slgnlfleantly dlfferent at the .05 level. The standard devlatlons are 2.9 and J.O, respeetive1y. It should be noted that the figures indlcated above are not size of fami1y but rather size of household, It ls quite common to flnd other relatives or friends living wlth the family. No attempt was made to obtain lnformatlon for the immedlate family. Even though slza of family was a eriterlon for se1eetlng direeted eolonlsts when the projeet began, those with larger familles having prlority, there ls now no slgnifieant differenee between the two ~roups in terms of the number of persons the head of household supports, Thls implies that the selection of colonists was not carried out aeeordln~ to the priori ti es listed or that the size of household of the spontaneous settlers mi¡¡:rating to Caqueta approaches that of the direeted colonists. Educational Leve1 The level of education for the heads of househelds in both groups was quite low, The mean of the number of years of school attended was 2.2 years for directed colonists and 1.1 years for spontaneous settlers, The differenee was not slgnifieant at the .01 1evel. The mode for eaeh group was zero years. The directed colonists also had more variablllty in years of sehool attended, with the standard deviation being 2.1 years as compared to 1.6 years for the spontaneous settlers. The years of sehool attended varied from O to 8 for both groups. Some may have attended a schoo1 for more years than there were grades. That is, some peop1e attend school for four years even though the school effers only two grades. No significant relationship was found between age and level of education for either group. .. r.

(13) - 12 A number of opere.tional hypotheses presented 11'l the • Introduction ~¡ere used to test the importance of ed'Uca"": tion. Simple correlations show no signlficant relationship between education and the following, land areil cultivated, per cent cultivated, adoption of new techniques, labor efficiency, or level of living. It can be cQnc'l}ldedtnat the limited level of education Was not·related to the items listed. The number of individuals:¡.¡Uh a higÍ'leT level of education was not sufficient te determine :l.f '.' there was a significa.'1t relationship betweeneducation"arid. the above items after some minimum level of educatiónhad been attained. This suggests the need for fl.lrther research related to the type and length of edl.lcation needed to be effective in agriculture. Approxlmately 73 per cent of the directed colonists. (heads of households) said they could read and write,bow-' ever, in many cases, the1r ability to do so was quite limited. A smaller proportion of the spontaneous $ettlers, 48 per cent, said they could read and write.· Thls difference appears much more signifiea.'1t than thedifference between the number of years attended in scheol. The 111iteracy rates by age groups for the fam1li es,,' , interviewed are shown in Table 2. In the sehool ap-e groups more females than males were able to read and write. This dld not hold for the older age proups. TABLE 2 Population Illlteraey Rates By Age Groups and Sex Age Group. ,. Dlrected Male Female. S)2ontaneous 11ale Female. ( %). ( %). (t). (~). 10 - 19. 53. 41. 62. 44. 20 - 29. 23. 34. 47. 50. JO. 39. 24. 26. 56. 57. 40 - 49. 26. 62. 48. 40. 50 and l.lp. 26. 42. 51. 65. -.<.:-.

(14) - 13 however. It can be coneluded that the maleschool age group ln the colonlzatlon area recelved less educatlon than dld the older male members of the fam11y. The parents probably had more access to sehool ln the more settled areas where they had 11ved prevlously. Many were not ln agr1culture and, therefore, hed more need for knowlng how to reed and wr1te. Th1s same relatlonShip was not found for the females. The techn1que of asklng the lnterviewee 1f he can reed and wrlte ls not ent1rely satlsfactory slnce an extremely blased response may be obta1ned. It can be assumed that an lndlvldual wlth two years of schoo11ng wll1 not have a great deal of competence; however, he should be able to read and wr1te to some extent. If a person can reed and write at all hls response w111 be pos1tive where in fact his ab11ity may be so 11m1ted that he do es not use it.. ",. The average 111iteracy rate for the families interviewed was 35 per cent for the d1rected colon1sts and 52 per eent for the spontaneous settlers. The difference was significant at the .01 level. Type of Home Var10us types of materials were used for home construct10n. The most common material for construction was wood,due to its abundance. The main difference between the two groups was that more directed colonists had roofs constructed of galvanized steel. In order to make a direct comparison ~etween the two ~roups and to utI1Ize correlatlon analysls, ea eh faml1y was g1ven a score based upon the construct10n of the home in wh1ch they 11ved. If the floor was constructed of wood instead of palm a higher score was given. All scores were added to make a total home constructlon score. The mean of the type of home scores were 11.9 and 11.1 for the directed and spontaneous settlers, respectively. ThIs d1fference was not great enough to be stat1stlcally sIgnIf1cant, since a difference of thls size could be expected to occur 18 t1mes in 100 as a result of chanceo The standard dev1ations were 4.7 for the directed colonlsts and 3.4 for the spontaneous. Most of the homes have the kltchen bul1t on one side, often in a separate structure but oonneoted w1th the home. A crude table covered with s011 is located ln the k1tchen and a wood tire bui1t on it for cooklng.. "~.

(15) The dlreoted colonlsts' homes a"Veraped 2.4 rooms resul tlng in an a"ITerAge of thJ:'ee pe!'sons per room~'I'he spontaneous settlers ha.d even smaller Lomes with amElan of 1. 9 roolllS. This resul ts in an average of 3.7 pe:tsons per room. The home had no toilets arid only 2 per e e n t h q d . covered outdoor la·'~]~i:nes. The set-i:;,lers exp:::'Cl3sed~he opl':lion that ,rhere there were latrines there were ... mOG<lul toss --VI'" ac,·:;t¡or' s obse;:-v-a.ti,'ns suppo}':; thi.' v.:i~w. If él la i::.:ine 1.3 b1.ÜIt 1t must; be d"sinf'ccted and ",:,:,ªd· foro since th ó ;3 us"ally ls nOG done, it provlciesa good breeding greuna fol' inseGts. Candles were used for lighting the homes after dark with 38 )Jer eent of the direG'ced eolonists uoing 110 oU:er souree while 19 per Gent of tLe sIJ(cntan"')us set't;V·:,·suu3d only ca.'ld.les. The next most used '3curce for lighi; was a fuel oH wick lampo A total of 92 per CGnt of tl:e cl.lrouted colonists used cancl.les or 011 lamp!". A smaLí.er p:c:port:on, 61 per eent. of the spontaneous set·i;lers used can~J.ds 01' oi1 lamps for lighUng. More gasoline lamps were uséd by, :i;me spontaneous sett1ers. Each famtly was asked to compare his preeent home tÓ '!>f¡st in which he had lived previously, The r'~sults wera~ Worse (;g). Directed Spontaneous. Equal ( :t). Lf?. 2). )0. 29. Better ( %) )0 4,1. The spontaneous settlers seer2ed to view their present home more favorably wi th 70per cent indl.cating: the present home ,,'as as gooel. or better than the one they lived in before. A smaller proportion, 5) per ceot, ef the directed colonists gave this response. Family Possessions - A,') Incl.ication of Helati '~e We"l th AnUlllber of items were selected and listed in the que,stl(mnaire to "iiTe an lncl.ication of the re1ative wea1th of the family. The items listed included most of the material possessions found in the area with the exception of hand tools and essential household items. The items were listed in arder of cost with a hand grinder bein".

(16) - 15 the cheapest item. Many families cowned more than one item while others possessed only oneor, in the case of the spontaneous settlers, none. A total score was calculated for each family. The me~~ of the total scores for the directed colonists was 6.7 and for the spontaneous settlers was 7.6. The difference was not signiflcant e.t the .01 level. Sixteen per cent of the directed colonists owned four or more of the items while Jl per cent of the spontaneous settlers had four or more of the items.. ".. Level of Living An attempt was made to estahlish a relative level of livlng score for each family ln order to compare the two groups and also to try to lso1ate important variables related to the level of llvin~. Each family was asked to estlmate the food expendltures lncurred durin~ the week before the interviéw. Most families go to the local market once a week although some go only every two or three weeks. In addition, the specific amounts spent on meat, salt, and lard were recorded. Yearly expenses for clothing and mediclne were also col1 4Qted. Each item was ordered and given e" sten score.::t/ The sum of all the items dlvlded by the number of persons living in the home gives the relative level of livin~ score. The level of living was then correlated with other items which will be presented in a later part of the study. As an example, a family might have aSten score of flve for total expenditures, four for meat, six for salt, five for lard, slx for clothing and six for medicine. This gi ves a total of J2, and di vidirtg by four (persons in the heme) results in a level of llvlnp: score of 8. ",. !±IPor. en explsnation of this method see: A.A. Canfleld, "The 'Sten' ,ScaIe~ A l·lodified C ScaIe," H:O.ucatlonaland Psychological Measurement, 11~295-298, 1951~ and Charles H. Coates and Alvin L. Bertrand, "A Simpllfied I1ethodology for Developing Multi-Measure Indices as Research Tools, ¡; Rural Sociolog;;v, 20~ 132-141,. 1955.. ---.

(17) - 16 'rhls method 1 s quite useful :for eorrelatlon analysis w,'J/" it eannot be used :for mak1ng a d1reet eompar1son between the two groups sinee the values are equa11zed by the Sten seorlng wh1eh ls based on normal distrlbutlons. Por food items the spontaneous settlers spent a greater amount at the weekly market than the eolonlsts; however, they spent a l1ttle less for elothlng and medicine durlng the year. Each purchase feeds about seven persons onthe average. In conneetion wlth the level of living seore, eaeh head of household was asked to compare his present earn1ngs w1th what he had earned previously. A Comparison of Present Earnings to Previous Earn1ngs by the Settlers Less Directed. Spontaneous. Equal. ( %). (%). 65. 13 30. 25. Greater (%) 22 lf5. It is quite clear that the d1rected colonlsts considered the1r present earnings to be much smaller than what they had earned at thelr previous locatlons. The reverse ~las true for the spontaneous settlers. The figures are relatlve; therefore, one oannot estimate the prevlous incomes of either group. Ho~!ever, assuminp: that the lncoIDe,s of the two groups had not changed greatly, one could predict ~ore dissatisfactlon on the part of the directed colonists. Durlng the interviewing many 0010nlsts dld express the view"that life was hard and that they could 110t earn enouah froID the land. Both groups spent approximately the same for food and clothing. If this is actually the case then one could hypotheslze that)if the spontaneou8 settlers are ln fact earning more it 18 belng invested ln ópening up more land, purchasing animals, buying tools and seeds, or other items..

(18) ;.,'!..~ .. - 17:::" Publ1c Servlces .Wanted There is usually considerable discussion concernprovid~d. to a !Í~~ settlement area, be it dlrected orspontaneo,,?:s. A >!i;~ctlon was lncluded in the questionnalre SOl101't:1ng the opiniona of the farmers in regard to tha relative lm" .portance of some of these social services.. lDe tiJe types of servicea whlch sh\,uld be. ". The technique of paired comparlsons was used for thls study." Thla method allows not only tha ranking of the ltema but also the attaching of wel~hts to the ltems lndlcatlng thelr relative lmportance. Seven ltems were used. roads, school, church, credit, a better market, electrlc 11ghts, and clean drlnking water. The welghted rankings for both groups are shown ln Table 3. (Cne 1 tem ln each group Waa dropped to meet the ,conslstency test.) It is quite obvlous that neither group considered electrlc lights as being very lmportant and therefore useful. Electrloity when available was used almost exolusively as. a souroe of light and not for power ln the rural areas. The aval1abl11ty of Toads was the servioe most deaired by the dlreoted ooloniats. A road waa also plaoed hlgh Oy the spontaneous settlers but tests showed that it . was not on the same continuum as the other 1tems. Tha't ls, ~rl:len the spontaneous settlers thought of a road they' judge.d 1 t by dlfferent attrl butes than they used to judge the other slx items. The same held true for drlnklng water when judged by the dlrected colonlsts. It ls not olear why these two ltems were vlewed d1fferently. It ls posslble that the settlers llvlng near a road and the colonlsts who had good drlnkin~ water may have placed both items low. other settlers wlthout these servlces may have responded differently br1nging about an inconsistetlo¡j'" in the group causing the items to be dropped in the analysls. 1'Í1etNo groups placed dlfferent emphasls on the 1mportance of school, ahurch, oredlt, and a better market, plac1ng the ltems ln different posltlons. All were . grouped fairly olose together on tile soale, however. BbtlI" groups jUdged drlnklng water as belng lmpo:rtaii:\;, however. ne1 ther group had a good kno\lfledge of diseases which could be caused by impur.e drinkln¡¡: w,gter. None of the spontaneous settlers was able to name a disease causad by uslng bad water while 8 per cent of the. ".

(19) - 18 -. TABLE J. Weighted Rankings of Selected Social Serviees by Importance. ... Directed. Spontaneous. 2.3 Road. 2.0 Sehool 1.9 Credit 1.8 11arket. 1. 9 Water. 1.6 Ch1J.rch. 1.6 Credit. 1.4 Church 1.3 Market 1.3 Sohool. .. -! - I. 0.0 Li,ghts. 0.0 Lights. -..

(20) - 19 dlrected colonlsts could. A hlgher per cent, 43 for the spontaneous group and 32 for the dlrected, were aware that diseases were caused by bad water but oouldn't name any speciflc dlseases. The majorlty of the spontaneous settlers, 55 per cent, indloated they knew of no dlseases caused by dirty water. Two per cent of the spontaneous settlers gave no response. A larger part, 60 per cent, of the directed colonists sald they knew of no diseases caused by bad .rater.. '.. An unanticipated conclusion was reached when this questlon was tabulated. It was found that many people named malarla as a dlsease whlch could be contacted frem drinklng bad water. It ls said that at intervals of about every six months malaria spray teams disinfect the homes. If thls is so, lt ls quite obvious that no attempt was made by the team to inform the people about malaria and i ts cause. The spray teams 1Qould be ideal groups to spread this information. Although public health servioe was not included ln the paired comparison listing, it no doubt, is oonsidered to be very important by most settiers. Sickness is common and a qualified nurse or doctor would be quite welcome. On the average the direoted colonists took nearly two hours to reac}) the nearest road and another hour to reach the marl,et place. The SDontaneous settlers interviewed were an hour away from the road on the average and anether one-half hour away frem the local market. The greatest distanoe a directed colonist had to travel to a road w'as about 10 hours, it took slx hours fer the most dlstant spontaneous settler. These distances are somewhat biased due to thc areas selected, espeoially for the spontaneous settlers. There are hundreds of settlers who live farther frem a road than is shown above. The direated colonists were promised a road through the project but this had not been carried out yet. After four year¡¡ a road had reached the administratlon buildings on the edge of the projects. The spontaneous settlers, no doubt, l"ill have to wai t much longer for a road. The directed projects have more sohoo18 available wi th the average ti','e between the home and school being three-fourths of an hour. Some colonists, however, are two to three hours away froro the school. All the 8chools offer only the first few grades. The spontaneous settlers live a greater distance froID Bahoal, averaglng one hour, with sorne as far away as four to six hours.. '..

(21) - 20 -. Tbe ranking of social services was tested to determine its significance. Tbe first test used was to determine the extent of group agreement. The measure used was the coefficient of agreement. Even though ea eh person might be consistent in his judgment he may not agree with the other judgments made. One is interested, therefore, in the extent of agreement among all the respondents. The maximum value possible for the coefficient of agreement is one, which indicates complete agreement. The less the agreement, the smaller the value. The coefficient of agreement for the directed colonists was .334 which was highly significant at the .01 level. The coefficient of agreement for the spontaneous settlers was .312 also significant at the .01 leve1. It can be conc1uded'that there was significant agreement among the settlers as to the relative importancs of the six items. Each individual received a score indicating whether he was consistent with himself. Both groups had a mean individual consistency score of .91, indicating high consistency. Individual deviation from the group concensus was also measured artd correlated with other items. The interrelationships will be presented latero Orientation. .-. To~rards. Government and Society. A study of people's attitudes toward the government and toward other members of the society can give indications as to the effectiveness of a given program, be it directed colonization, supply cooperative, or any other programo The directed colonists have a close connection with a governmental program while the spontaneous settlers have very little or no connect10n. An attempt was roade to determine if there ~I8.S a difference between the two groups in terros oí' alienation from the Il:overnment and from other members of the society. " Sociologists have developed a scale w'hich attempts to measure the extent of deviation from the accepted rules of the society, 1'111s is called anomie or nonÍtlessness,.:í/. --------5/por a theoretical analysis of anomie, see; Robert K. íf¡erton, Social Theor and Social Structure (The Free Press of Glencoe, I'cew YorJ.{. 1903 •.

(22) - 21 -. All soc1et1es set forth culturally defined goals, purposes and interests wh1ch the 1ndividual members try to reach. Certain institutionalized rules, or norms,are outlined as acceptable means to achieve the goals. In some societies the norms are specifically defined while in others many alternative means may be used to reach the defined goal. When a society places high emphasis upon the goa1s but far 1ess upon the prescribed methods for reaching these goa1s, the most effective means is then used. As this process continues the soclety becomes unstab1e and there then develops nanomie" or "norm1essness." This concept has·been extended to the individual where "anomy signifies the state of mind of one who has been pul1ed up by his moral roots, who has no longer any standards but on1y disconnected urges, who has no ~o~ger any sense of continuity, of fo1k, of ob1igation. "Q/ A series of sca1e indicators have been developed to test anom1e by empirica1 research. The scale uses items referring to the individua1's perception of his social environment and to his peroeption of his own plaoe wlthin that environment.Z/ The fol1owinp: statements were used as 1ndicators fer the sca1e of anomle: (1) One must be con cerned abeut tody and 1eave the things for tomorrow for tomorrow, (2) Nowadays ene deesn't know whom he can trust, (3) Regard1ess of what others say, the sltuatlon ls worsening and not getting better~ (4) ~rost peop1e don' t care what happens to others. and (51 Most governmenta1 officials have no 1nterest in the prob1ems of the ~eople. Each person was asked te indicate whether he (1) comp1ete1y agreed, (2) agreed, (J) was indifferent, (4) disagreed, or (5) completely disagreed with each statement. An indifferent response to a1.1 statements would give a total score of 15. A sma1~er score wou1d indicate agreement with the negatlve statements and a 1arger score, disagreement with the statements. Both groups agreed wi.th the negative statements concerning the government and other peop1e. The directed sett1ers had a mean score of 10.1 and the spontaneous. §lB. M. Mae Iver. The Rampard.s We Guard (New York: The Macmi11an Company, 1950), pp. 84-85 and Chapter 10. ZlRobert K. Merton, 22. cit., p. 164.. "..

(23) - 22 -. settlers a mean soore of 10.8. There ¡'TaS no significant difference at the .01 level. The scale, with its indicators, has various limitations and inadequacies but it does furnish sorne measure of anomie. The scale has been tested by othe:r;s in Colombia and it was found to be valid and rel1able.~/ It is quitE' clear that both groups have little respect for the government or for other people. The implications are obvious. An extension program, a credit program, or e. colonization project will have to overcome these negative attitudes. The families who have migrated to Caqueta are highly suspicious of strangers and do not trust others outside their own group nor do they trust ~overnmental officials. The underlying attitude which confronts any person interested in helping improve the settler's lot ls that the settlers suspect his actions. The farmers feel the stranger haos a hidden reason for asklng questlons or gettin¡:t rapport and that this will be used against them latero Researchers in the United States have found negative relationships between anomie and education, sooioeconomic status, and indicators of social interest. Th1s study did not find any relat10nship bet¡.¡een these variables. The U.S. studies dealt w1th more diverse groups, while 1n this study the groups were fairly homogeneous, as shown previously. Eowever, the results did show a h1gh degree of despair on the part of both groups--enough to indicate the need for obtaining the respect of the farmers before any type of program could be initiated. A hl"h degree of anomie has also been found in other areas of Colombia. This implies that the settlers arri ved ln Caqueta with a relatively hlg:h level of anomie. All Colombians have wltnessed a collapse of the social structure and norms due to the civl1 v101ence beginning in 1948 and continuing te the presento The gevernment made promises to the dlrected colonists but these were not carried out. The 11fe ls stl11 hard'andthe oolonists are dissatisfied in the reglon. Not only dld they start wlth a negative attltude toward the government but it has been reinforced by the government in failing to 11ve up to lts promises. §j A. '~ugone Elavens and A. Lippmann, ¡¡The Effects of the Colomble.XJ Yi9.l~.!lQ1.@:. on Personal1 ty," Socl010gía y las Sociedad.es en Desarrollo Industrial, Argentina, 196]. P. 15'7. '.

(24) ECONOl-IIC CHARACTERISTICS. The complete separatlon of soclal, economle, and other varlables ls mueh more dlffleult when studylng a populatlon whlch ls baslcally outslde the money eeonomy and llves virtually at the subsistenee level. In this env1ronment the economlc variables are cons1derably lnfluenced by sociological factors. For thls reason, the conclus10ns arrlved at in th1s chapter must be vlewed w1th cautlon and be related to the results of the prevlous chapter. S1za of Holdlngs The mean slze of holdlng varied between the two groups with 60.4 hectares for the dlrected colon1sts and 75 hectares for the spontaneous settlers. The standard devlatlons were 16.6 and 60.6 hectares respeet1vely. The variatlon of hold1ngs for the direeted eolonists was mueh smaller sine e the plots were equal1zed at the start by the government, taklng into aeeount, where posslble, dlfferenees ln so11 and topography. M6st of the boundaries between farms, ln both groups, were marked by tral1s or by speelally marked trees. For thls reason, the farmers were able to elosely estlmate the size of thelr farms even though mueh of eaeh farm may have stl11 been in foresto Length of time on the farm was positlvely eorrelated to the size of farm for the spontaneous settlers wi th an r2 of .08 at a sip:nl..flcance level of .001. Length of resldenee explalned only a small part of the varlatlon, however. There was no sl.P:!llflcant relatlonshlp between the age of the head of household and theslze of farm. Land OWnership As has already been pOinted out in an earller chapter, the majorlty of the farms ln Caqueta are owneroperated. Thls 18 the case for 13.11 the direeted eolonists; however, three of the spontaneous . settlers lnterviewed were not owners--one rentad, one was in partnershlp. and one was a ahare cropper.. - 23 -.

(25) - 24 Even though most farms were owner-operated, thls dld not mean they had security of tenure. Many persons dld not have registered titles to their land and were not, therefore, protected by the legal system. Dlrected Colonlsts Almost all the dlrected colonlsts had a title of sorts. The common legal document ls called an escritura whlch glves the colonlst rlghts to the land provldlng he meets the requlrements set forth by the government. The government has requl~ed, and as far as is known, stl11 requires the followln~:27 l.. The owner reside on the land and work it personally.. 2.. The OlIDer a!1d his family conduct themselves well and agree not to use alcoholic beverages on the grounds of the project headquarters.. ).. At least one-half the parcel be exploited within fi ve years. Ths fes simpl e title will be gi ven only when the colonist has shown the Institute of Agrarian Reform that he is economically exploiting his parcelo. 4.. A part of the parce1 be used for crops considered by INCOEA to be necessary for the development of the zone.. 5.. All financial o1:Jl1¡;rations be met wi th INCORA or the Agrarian Credit Bank.. 6.. The co1onist deve10p his parce1 in accoro ~Ti th the dictates of INCOEA or the Ministry of Agriculture. He ls responsible for usin¡:r the sOi1s, tral1s, streams, etc. as sUf!"gested by the agencies mentioned.. 7.. The colonist may not sell, rent, or transfer his rights to a third party wlthout the permission of INCORA untE he has fee simple ti tle.. 21 Taken from an INeORA document, "Contrato de Explotación de 'Unidad Agrícola Familiar',".

(26) - 25 -. 8.. INeOEA has the right to buy the parcel, with its improvements, at a price set by impart1al jUdges, if the colonist w1shes to sell to a third party who does not meet the cr1ter1a outlined for nel,q" colon1 sts.. 9.. A settler who does not comply w1th the prev10us conditions ls subject to a flne or 10ss of his parcel depending upon the severity of h1s action. In case of eXPulslon, he must leave the parcel withln 10 days after wrltten notice froro INCOEA. The value of the improvements will be applied to loans due or other obligatlon8.. 10.. If a paro el is abandoned and the settler does not return w1thin 30 days, he loses all rights to the land. All improvements are then the property of INCOEA.. These, then, are the r1ghts of the government w1th wh1ch the colon1st must work. There are few r1~hts, specif10ally spelled out, for the new oolonist. The r1ghts for the colonist begin after receiving fee simple title and no oolonist has a fee simple title yet. It 18 diff1cult to judge the effect of such a land policy. Without doubt these policles were set forth to protect the government·s investment but one must quest10n whether this 1n fact results. Does the 1nsecur1ty of tenure discourage expl01tat10n of the la~d? Would there be less abandonment if the colonists had fee simple ti~s? The provisional title given by INCORA does allow the colonist to obtain oredit through the Agre.rian Credit 3ank. However, this in itself dOBS not make the colonist more secure. It may be that a large debt can cause a great deal of insecurity, even to the point of abandonmento Security of tenure has to do with the perlod of time over whlch one keeps or expects to keep rights to land. In the case of the dlrected eo1onist the time ls uneertain depending upon the government's evaluation of his compllanee to the regu1atlons. The co1onlst has no guarantee of future ownershlp. At the ata.rt, the colonlsts were required to pay for the land through extended credit. This resulted in a heavy financial burden and there ls evidence that many 1eft because they fe1t they could not pay off the debt. Payment for land has now been dropped or at least has not been enforced.. ...

(27) - 26 ~-,. The dlrected c010n1sts, then, have some degreeof ormershlp but on1y to a 11m1 ted extent. They face many problems, some of which are; (1) They can be evicted from the1r land wlth little recourse. (2) They cannot legally transfer, mortgage, rent, or bequeath the land in question. (3) The obtaining of a fee simple title is dependent. upon the declslon of the INeORA personnel.. (~). They must comply with suggestions and plans submitted by INCORA.. Their rights do include access to credit and to sorne technical assistance. Spontaneous Settlement Many of the sponta~eous settlers in Caqueta exploit lands over which they have no legal title 01' other legal guarantee. This situation of tltle insecur1ty discourages development of the land sinee there ls no way to protect the 1nvestment and lmprovements made on the farm. In addition, th1s can lead to violence 01' extreme conf11ct if a second party attempts to prove ownership and move the settler off the land. A farmer cannot obtain credit from the Agrarian Cred1t Bank 01' commercial bawrs unless he has a registered land tltle. At least 35 per cent of the settlers had no legal tltle te the land they farmed with anether 43 per cent havlng a bill ef sale but not a reglstered title. Only 22 per cent had a reglstered fee simple title. A bill of sale is made to protect the buyer. In a sense, the previous owner who actuall;v occupied the land turns the possession of the land over te the bUJrer. The bill of sale records this transfer but it ls net a registered legal document even though it is respected by the farmers of the region.. --.

(28) ""'-,. ,". - 27 -. QQ!aining Title to. ~~bl~. DomalnlQ/. Thé procedure for obtaln1ng title to pUb11c land ls qu1te dlfferent from that for gett1ng tltle to prlvate property. That ls, there ls no adverse possesslon or prescription of public domaln. Adverse possesslon or prescrlptlon ls the establishment of a claim te title by use and enjoyment dur1ng a t1me f1xed by law. To obta1n t1tle, a settler on pUblic lands must follow the administrative procedure set forth primarlly ln Law 97 of December 30, 1946. Law 135 of 1961 de1egated powers of adjudlcation of pub1ic lands to INCORA which then partially delegated this power to:. "". (1) All governors of departments as long as the area dld not exceed 100 hectares. (2) The Agrarian Credit Bank which adjudicated public lands withln the eolonizat10n fronts of Ariari (Department of Meta), Sarare, Lebr1ja, Carare (Department of Santander) and Galilea (Departments of Tollma and Huila).. (3) The governors of Antioqula, Boyaca, Cauea, Cordoba, HUila, Magdalena, Narino, North Santander, Santander, Tollma and the Cauea Valley to adjudieate publlc domain up to 450 hectares. The final authority rests with the general director of INCORA •. Law 135 flxes a maxlmum 11mlt of 450 hectares for any grant of ?ub11c land and requlres, at the same tlme, that no more than one-thlrd of the land adjudlcated be unexplolted. This maxi!l'UJn acreage 11m! t can be extended by INCORA to 1,000 hectares fer land situated in regions far from centers of economlc aetlvity as long as this conditicn exists. Flooded lands which cannot be econom!cally sown to lmproved pastures fal1 under the same classification. Up to 3.000 hectares may be granted ln the Eastern Llanos for.natural grass1and whlch cannot be sown to lmproved pastures. lO/Taken from: Joseph R. Thome, Title Insecurity, Land Tenure Cantero Unlversity of Wls~ons1n, Mimeo, May 14, 1964: and publicati.ons of ... INCORA, Law 135 (1961). Law ~:JO (1936), and Law 97 (1946).. "..

(29) - 28 -. Legal Procedure The settler des1r1ng a title must first present a petition for adjudicatlon to the local alcalde, to the local Commission for the Adjudication of Public Domain, the territorial judge, or to the public official (Corregidor) of the intendencia or comisaria, whichever is appropriate for his area. The public official then notifies the agent of the Public Ninistry "rhich is usually the Personero Mun.icipal. At the same time, he must post a notioe of the petition on the door of his office for JO days, it must be published in en officíal publlcatlon of the department or in an ófficlal diary, and it must be posted during three consecutive market days. Cnce the publication phase ls completed the actual land area ls visually inspected under the direction of the appropriate publlc official. If the land area is greater than 200 hectares it is a superior judge of the area. For smaller areas a munic1pal off1c1al directs the inspect10n. In the national territories the Land Judge and the Corregidor are respoDs1ble. In CaQueta, for example, where there ls a Cormnisslon for the Adjudicatlon of Fublic Doma in , the chief lawyer or his representative. along l'!ith the local alcalde (trustee) or an INeORA representative, is in charge of the inspection. Once the inspection ls completed, a notlce ls posted at the office of the alca.lde for 10 days, durinp: which time one may oppose the proposed adjudication by supplying written proof contesting it. The petition is then submitted to INCORA or to the other dosignated agencies for a decision, providing the adjudication has not been contested. The agency reviews the petition with its technical information &~d determines if it meets the requirements of the law. If so, it recommends the issuance of a "Title of Demain." The entire paclH,t is then sent to the office ef Titling of PUblic Domain in Bogotá which makes a technical judgment of the request. It then passes to the Division of Public Domain to see if there are any other claims for the same area. A resolution is prepared, signed, and sent to the General DirE'ctor of INCORA who awards the title. The original copy of the title is retained in the filGS of INeORA and a copy sent to the originating office. The applicant must then formally register the document at the local registry office..

(30) - 29 Common Procedure For the dlrected colonlsts or for others sollcltlng ald from INCORA, the procedure ls falrlY slmple. For extenslons of more than 50 hectares a document with an offlcial stamp must be prepared by a llcensed lawyer or by an authorized agent. The document must bear a stamp worth 5 cents for each hectare oí land. In the colonlzatlon areas, wlth 50 hectares on the average, thls amounts to $2.50. In addltlon, the colono must pay $1.50 for the title once lt is flnlshed and must also pay a small fee to reglster the title wlth the Office of RegistrY. The request to INCOEA ls handled by tltuladores who are rarely lawyers. This accounts for the relatlvely small fee charged for the servlces. In 1963 a group of Peace Corps Volunteers began assisting wlth the measurement of farms in Colombia in cooperatlon with the National Commlssion for the Adjudicatian of Public Domain. When enough requests are made in an area the ~oup maves ln and measures the farms. The farm maps are then turned over to INCOEA which pro ces ses the title. The farmer need only assist with the measurement and pay for the stamps required for the dOCiEn(mt. Unfortunately, many farmers do not kn01~ of INC0nA' s projeat for adjudlcation. In the areas of spontaneous settlement vsrlous middlemen have developed who provlde the seI"Tices of measurement and titling of lands. In CEquet;l, fOl" ex ample , the investigation revealed that there ere at. least 'chree "lawyers" located ln Florencia who carrY out land adjudiaation for afee. The Commission for the Adjudlcation of ?ubl.iC' Domain in Florencia has been concemed only wi th fS):"Jé' 02' 50 hectares or less, although the total land hoJ·Jiu.": c.:' a family ls often more. The commission has hanUeél "L:p to four requests ln the same family where each fe.mil;r nember had part of the farm in his name. There is eV:Ldence that families with large farms are usin~ this method to evade any size restrlctions set forth by the govemment. Even though many assert that campesinos are not interested in gettin,O: title to land, the study did not support this view. The campeslnos were interested in the adjudication of land but were unfamiliar with the prOcedures. A more serious limitation for those not asslsted by INCOEA was the aost of obtaining the title. The cost. "..

(31) - 30 varied from one to two dollars per hectare. When the settlers spend an average of $5.00 per week for foed, titling land becomes a heavy addltional financial burden.. -~. ". W. ¡.",. ~: -. Obtaining Title t o Pri vate Land,<~$~~!,'~fl' Legislation has been passed which enables one te get: ', .. , fee slmple title to land 1f he has occupied the land for 'Y'~s~,; a specified perlod and if he meets the other requlrements of the law. When a person occupies and exploits someone else' s land, ,,,hether knowingly or unknowingly, he is often ~ntitled to legal rights over the land. However, in Caqueta squatting is not a prevalent means for obtalnlng ownership of land. The law recognlzes two types of prescrlpt1on, ord1nary prescriptlen and extra-ordlnary prescription. The first lnvolves a situatlon where there are two persons wlth title to the same land. The law recognlzes the tl1ile oí' the person who is occupying the lend if he has done so for a period of 10 years. lt is assumed that the title of the occupant was obtained in good faUh. That ls, it was obtained without knowing the land was alreády pri vately owned. The person who is oceupyin¡r the land i's given the legal right sinee he has possession. This right has heen legislated over the years based on the concept of the correct social use of land. Through thls concept the person who ls personally exploitlng theland is glven preference over others. Of course, lfi\t, 'can be proven that one of tY¡e titles was obtalned by fraud, collusion, or other 111egal means it then becomes vold. Qrdinary prescriptlon ls very important for a newly developing area like Caqueta where it is quite probable that some lands will be elaimed by two or more persons. The boundaries are poorly marked and the registering of properties slow and inaccurate in the outlylng areas. It must be pointed out that various other methods are used to define ownership before lp.nd is titled 1neluding threat, use of force, compromise, and the whole ranga oi' technlques used in a frontier area whlch laeks legit1:nate leeal and law enforc1ng institutions. Compromise seems to be the common technique in Ca.queta but:: the others are not, nevertheless, absent. ",\, .. ...

(32) ,~. -,. .'. - 31 ,'-.',',. ."". ..;. ... Extraordinary prescription invol ves no tit.1e forthe squatter but rather the occupatlon and:explóltatlon o.f the land for at least 20 years. Ir the squatter has been on the land for the prescribed perlod, he ls presumed to be actlng in good falth. Only when lt can be proven that he was a tenant, or ln some other form had recognized t~~ owner, wlll this presumptlon be negated. To prove possession the occupant must have tl11ed the so11, fenced, or put other lmprovements on the land. The squatter must lnitlate an actlon of "pertenencla" (ownershlp), ln the local Civil Court ap:alnst the owner or agalnst any person having interest ln the 1and. If the court rules in his favor, he wlll be lssued a title Whlch can then be reglstered at the local Reglstry Offlce. La~¡ 200 of 1936 included a section on prescription wh1ch allowed a squatter to obtaln title oyer privately owned property 1f he occupied it for a periad of five years thlnklng lt to be pUbl1c domain. On1y the 1and act.ually used ls given to the squatter urider thls law, however. l!.l:>out the same legal procedure ls' followed to <llptaln a tltle as described prevlously. The same types of proof oí exploltation by the occupant . are requlred as D.stéd previously except further proofmust be gi ven snowing that the squatter's parcel was not wl thln any property marked by fences, posts, or signposts at the tlmé of occupancy.. Squatters who have had possesslon of land for a perlod of tlme would appear to have adequate legal procedures for obtaining title to the land. If this were really the case one would flnd a mueh smaller group of titleless farmers in Colombla. On the contrary, the ordlnary preseriptlon and the prescrlptlon eutllned by Laws 200 and 97 are diffleult to ~et through the courts plus the fact that the eost may be prohlbltlve to settlers wlth llttle or no eash ineome. For the squatters thls leaves only the extraordlnary preserlption ,,¡hieh requlres 20 years possesslon. Thls is one-half te one-thlrd of a man's lifetime and may look impossible from the vlewpolnt of the squatter. Twenty years 18 a lon~ time to walt for a tltle when there 18 a possibl11ty of evlctlon before the tlme ls eomp1eted. It is granted that the law provldes for the payment of lmprovements built by the squatter but thlstoolmplles that the squatter knows his rights andthát he has the resources to fight for them.. ... :{':. ,.

(33) - 32 -. ·l'.!'. The more common situation is families living a,tthe subsistence 1evel wi th no understandinp: of the1r 1~gá1 rights and without enough monetary resources to hil:'e"g 1awyer ~rho would presumably kn011 and fight for their rights. The famil1es are then at the merey of others. To add to this, lawyers can easily manlpulate laws to the detriment of the campesinos. As mentioned previously, it is a common practice in spontaneous settlement areas for the lawyers to exact afee which is from 15 to 40 times greater than INCOEA charges for the same service. rhe Agrarian Reform Law of 1961 recognized this problem and entrusted INeORA with the responsibility of revie¡.¡ing land ti tles and assisting farmers wi th titl1ng problems. It recognized " ••• the necessity of extendlng to the ever-lncreaslng sectors of the Colombian rural population th~~~xercise of the natural rlght to (own) property, ••• ";)d¡ One function of INCORA is "to clarify the land si tuation as regards ownership ••• T, and to " ••• facilitate the perfection of private land titles and cooperate in the establishment fiscal land registries. T'. oí'. Some actlon has been taken by INCORA in solving title insecurity but largely within project areas. In the case of the colonization projects the question has already been raised concerning the type of mmership security which the colonist has at the presento ¡'¡ost of the spontaneous settlers were not aware of the service being provided by meOEA for secul'ing t1tles at a relatively low costo Thls implies the ne.ed for more dissell'lnation of information dur~ng market days and for proTTiding periodic legal counsel at local centers of population. Land Use and Production. -. The way in whlch the land ls used does not vary greatly between the two groups since they are both limited. to crops adapted to the region and to hand labor. The common procedure for opening up new land is to bep:in clearing the underbrush in October when the heavy rain s l2( ( , The-ºolomblan Africulture Refor:n La1<T Bogvta, Antares, Limitada, 1962 , Pp. 25-28. A trans1ation of Law 135 of December 13, 1961 of the National Congress of Colombia..

(34) - JJ begin to subside. In the months of November to January the big trees are felled by axe and allowed to dry. It normally takes 8 to 12 men to olear one heotare in a day. The fields are turned leaving a tangled mixture of blaok, scorched tree trunks eriss-crossing the plot. At the start of the ralny season in February or March, rice is planted ln the fields. No attempt ls made to remove the tree trunks. At least two persons work together when sowing rice, one makes a hole in the ground with a pointed stick and the second comes behind placing a few kernels into the hole by hand. He then fills the hole with dirt using his bare foot. Rice planted in newly eleared areas is usually not weeded. If the land has been planted to erops prevlously, one or two weedlngs must be made. The harvest beglns around the mlddle of June. A second erop might be planted ln August and harvested ln November or December. The rice ls usually planted in a separate loto The other erops, however. are often planted to¡;rether in a field that has previously been in rlce. . It ls eo=on for farmers to .1'1'0 into partnership where the owner prepares the landand provides the seed. The partner sows and harvests the crop. Each then takes half of the yleld. After the rice is harvested the land may be fallowed--brush ls allowed to ¡rro. . r during the fallowing perlod and i8 later cut before plantlng the land to other crops. The crops following the rice are usuallY lnter-planted and grown on the same plot for only a couple of years slnce the ylelds drop rapidly after the first two years. The land ls then placed into pasture. During thls time new land ls baing cleared to replace the wom out soils planted to crops. No one has thought about what wl11 happen when there is no more virgin forest land to use for cropping. When that time comes, food products will have to be imported from other areas or new practices sueh as fertl1izlng wlll have to be employed to lmprove the yields on the older flelds. Corn is the second most lmportant cereal crop. and is usually interplanted with the rice after the latter has germinated. It ls harvested after the rice. usually ln August. A second crop of corn is somet1mes sown wlth the second crop of rice..

(35) - 34 The other erops on the farm are planted throughout the year dependlng upon the weather and the labor force available. Sugar cane ls planted on most farms to provlde sugar for home consumption, wlth a few farmers growlng a larger crop ln order to sell panela (orude sugar) on the local marl,et. Cane can be cut about 15 months after plantlng. Plantain and manlco (cassava) are interplanted with other crops any time of the year ",Then the labor load permits, providing it ls done at the correct time of menguante (the period between full moon and the new moon). The farmers believe this is the best time to plant these crops. The plantain needs to be weeded every six months and w111 often produce for 10 to 15 years. Plantain ls similar in appearance to the banana but is somewhat larger and starchler. It ls usually cooked rather than eaten raw. Manioc or yucª requlres about one year to reach the harvest stage and can be planted almost anytime. The common planting time is in March when the rains begln. This crop must be weeded every four months. Pinoapple is planted in very small lots and requlres a year &~d a half to begin produclng. A sweet pineapple wlth white meat is common to the region. lVi th the excepti on of ri ce, most of the crops are grown for home consumptlon wlth little belng sold on the local market. Hhen cash is needed for a special purchase or for commercial items like salt, machetes, etc., a small amount of plantain or other crop is sold at the market.. It would be difficult to measure the amount of land allocated to each crop since there is a great deal of variation and most of the crops are interplanted making quantitative analysis virtually lmposslble. However, one can deal with the total crop acreage to evaluate any dlfferences between the directed and spontaneous settlers. The spontaneous settlers had, on the average, more land cleared than did the directed settlers. The standard deviations for the means are large which indicates there was more variation within each group th~~ between the groups. It appears. then. that there was no signifioant difference between the directed and spontaneous settlers in terms of land use. However, when simple correlations were run behreen the variables a dlfference between the two groups ,'las found..

(36) - 35 Although the spontaneous settlers had more land elearad, on the average, there appeared to be little aifferenee bet"leen the two groups ¡ihen the number of heetáres eleared and the size of the farm were correlated. Both groups cleared about one-third of a heetare for eaeh additional hectare of farm size. The bv x was .38 for the directed colonists and .32 for the spon~aneous settlers. Rowever, for the spontaneous settlers, the variation in the number of hectares eleared was more elosely related to variation in the total number of hectares. The r 2 was found to be .58 for the spontaneous settlers and .25 for the colonists. Both were significant at the .01 level. For eaeh heetare of land eleared, the directed colonists placed .37 hectares into erops and .49 heetares into pasture. The rest, .14 of a hectare, was nonproductive or idle. The variation in heetares in erops was closely related t~ the variation in the number of hectares cleared. The r was .55 for the colonists. The spontB.neous settlers placed only .09 of a heetare into crops with each additional heetare clearad. An additional .46 of a hectare was placed in pasture, and the residual, .45 of a hectare, was non-productive or idle. The low regression coefficient for heetares in erops indieates that ea eh spontaneous settler had about as much land in erops as his nei~hbor and that the number of heetares in erops was not elcsely associated with the number of hectares cleared. It may be that once the spontaneous settler reaehes a certain erop acreage, he then uses his labor in other enterprises of the farm sueh as livestock. Clearing more land has no effeet on the number of hectares in crops except that the actual erop areas may be continually shifting to the recently cleared land. The land pl'eviously in crops is then fállowed or placad in pasture. The main differenee between the two groups was the emphasis plaeed on crop produetion. The eolonists placed more of each additional hectare cleared lnto eroPs. The variation in the number of hectares in crops waS also more elosely related to the number of hectares cleared for the colonists than tor the spontaneous settlers. Both groups placed about the sama amount lnto pasture with each additional hectare cleared. The residual was land leile or non-productive. The spontaneous settlers left a greater amount of each additional hectare cleared in non-productive plots..

(37) - 36 I~-p1anting. of Grops. There was very little difference between the two groups in terms of erop produetion. Similar methods were used for the soil preparation, the sowing, and the harvesting stages. Inter-planting of erops is eommon and is eonsidered a goce farming praetiee. No effort has been made by INeOEA or other government agencies to prove or disprove this belief. Aseertaining eorreet aereages of erops when three or four erops ~rere grown in the same plot was extremely diffieult. The directed eolonists tended to interp1ant their erops mueh more than the spontaneous settlers, although both groups followed about the saree system of clearing the land, planting crops, and then planting the land to pasture. Labor Effioienoy A orude esti~ate of labor effioienoy was used in the study to determine its relationship to the other variables studied. Labor effioieney for the family was defined as the total days of labor available per year on the farm divided by the total number of heetares oleared. This was then multiplied by.1. All males between the ages of 10 and 70 were eonsidered able to supply 300 roan days per year. The sample mean of labor effieienoy was 3.8 for the direoted oolonists and 5.3 for the spontaneous settlers. The 1arger the value the les s efficient the labor force. That is, the spontaneous settlers had cleared fewer hectares per available man hour than had the directed colonists. However, when the standard deviations were oonsldered the dlfferenee was not significant due to the large differences in labor effieieney within ea oh group. The hypothesis that "labor effieieney ls positive1y related to edueatlon, experience in agrieulture, and the slze of the farelly" was tested using simple eorrelatlons. It was found that there "as 11ttle relationshlp between the variables seleoted. This may be due to an inadequate measurement of labor effloienoy; the farmer might put more labor into orops rather than into olearin~ land. Suoh a praotioe would make the labor effieiency measure inaeourate sinee labor Nas oompared only to the number of hectares oleared. The only signifieant eorrelation 1-ras between labor efficiency and the size of the household..

(38) - 37 For the dlreoted colonlsts the labor efflclency dropped as the family graw larger (r 2 = .12). No other relatlonship was found. Livestock Production The ownershlp of cattle is considered very lmportant by most Colombian farmers, Gaqueta is no exceptlon. Even though cattle ownershlp ls lmportant for prestlge, many farmers are unable to obtain cattle because they lack the needed finances. The sam~le mean of cattle numbers on the spontaneous farms was 8.6 head and for the dlrected colonists it was three head per farm. The difference was significant. However, almost 38 par cent of the spontaneous settlers and 50 per cent of the dlrected colonists had no cattle at all. When those ,,¡lthout cattle ~¡ere excluded from the analysis. the average increased to 17 head per farm for the spontaneous farms and to nine head for the directed colonists. The largest spontaneous herd numbered 88 head. The largest herd among the directed colonists was 34 heed. As was shown previously, the spontaneous settlers had more land ln pasture. It was also found that as the number of hect ares in pasture increased the size of herd increased (r 2 = .48). The correlation between the number of hectares in pasture and the size of the cattle herd for the directed colonlsts resulted in an r 2 of .14. Many of the directed colonists lndlcated that the A~rarian Bank had advised them to establish pastures for catt1e production but that the Bank's promlse of assisting in the purchasing of catt1e was not carried out. As a resulto many dlrected colonlsts had good pastures but no catt1e. The spontaneous settlers had, on the average. one cow per hectare whl1e the dlrected colonists had one cow for every four hectares. Well establlshed artlficial pastures ln the dlrected project are now reverting back to brush because the colonists see little prospect of obtainlng cattle. ". INCORA had a small herd whlch was beinrr bullt up in order to enter into partnership agreements wlth the c010nlsts. This ls a much needed pro¡;rram slnce a few head of cattle can Provide a source oí meat, ml1k, and incoma for the famlly, all of whlch are extremely limited át the momento.