Uztaro

Hirugarren Munduko iraupeneko nekazaritza-ekonomiaren egiturazko ezaugarri sozioekonomikoen eta nekazaritzarako lurzoruaren narriaduraren artean erlazio estua dago. Artikulu honetan lotura horren azalpen koalitatiboa egiten dut, eta, horretarako, bi kontzeptu nagusi erabitzen ditut: ‘Bizimodu jasangarria’ eta ‘inbertsio-pobrezia’ alegia. Bi nozio horiek ‘garapen ekonomiko jasangarri’ orokorragoaz hitz egitean oso kontuan hartu behar dira, batez ere, baliabide naturaletan oinarritzen den Hirugarren Munduko ekonomiaz ari izanez gero. Iraupeneko nekazarien arrazionalitate berezia ohiko teoria mikroekonomikoan erabiltzen den homo economicus-aren ideia hertsitik ezberdinduz, lurzoruaren narriadura aztertzeko abiapuntua izan behar dela argudiatzen dut.

 

There is a close link between the structural socio-economic characteristics of the peasant economic system found in the rural areas of Third World countries, and the degradation of one of its most fundamental natural capital, the agricultural soil. Here I undertake a qualitative description of the link by incorporating the “sustainable livelihood”
and the “investment-poverty” concepts. I argue that both ideas should be taken into account when we talk about the broader concept of sustainable development applied to the natural resource based economies of the Third World. I also defend the viewpoint that peasant rationality, as different from the usual microecomic notion of homo economicus, should be the crux of any economic analysis of soil degradation in a peasant economic context.