1. The CapiiBary Cooperative: A collective struggle to reverse the rural exodus Marcela Vásquez-León Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology Latin American Studies

2. Key Question Do cooperatives have the potential to alter the unfavorable context of power in which small rural producers in Latin America must operate and survive?

3. Smallholders There are an estimated 15 million family farms in Latin America occupying about 400 million hectares Around 10 million subsistence farms that provide neither adequate incomes nor food security and are part of diversified livelihood strategies of mostly poor households; around 4 million farms that have a broader asset base and are integrated into local markets but face significant environmental and institutional constraints; about a million smallholder farms with adequate assets and supporting institutional contexts

4. Even though smallholders play an exceedingly important role in the supply of domestic markets, smallholder agriculture … Seems not to usher the necessary conditions to compete in these ever-growing export markets; It remains a repository of rural poverty; The urban, non-agricultural sectors have not been able to absorb the outflow of rural labor in ways that would permit a transfer into the urban middle class

5. The Cooperative Model Economic advantages (economies of scale, credit, etc. Co-ops as part of larger social movements that seek structural transformation Democratic Decision Making that is critical and reflective Participation blind to social class, gender, or race/ethnicity Holistic version of well-being (improved ed., health, respect, etc.)

6. Comprehensive Methodological Approach  Comparative approach (different cooperatives in several countries)  Analysis of multiple contexts  Sensitive to the historical dimensions of the development process of each cooperative.

7. Paraguay: social indicators (World Bank 2010) 1.The most agrarian country in Latin America. More than 45% of the population lives in rural areas. 2. Highest annual population growth rate in Latin America at 2.45 % 3.Social spending amounts to 6% of the GDP in comparison to an average of 11.9 % for Latin America. 4. 60% of agricultural producers have less than 10 ha of land Land size % of total > 5 has40.0 5 - 20 has.43.2 20 - 100 has.12.7 100 -has. or more4.1 Total100.0 Total number of holdings (307,221) Land distribution, 2000

8. Paraguay Historical Context Agrarian Development strategy: Alfredo Stroessner (1954 –1989) 1.Internal colonization project w/out institutional support (infrastructure, credit, land titles, etc.) 2.Opening of the agricultural frontier to large producers, particularly Brazilians 3.Result: structural inequality, repression of peasant organizations, and exclusion of small producer from the benefits of agricultural growth

9. Case Study: CapiiBary Cooperative

18. Thank you!