Unravelling the Paradoxical Seasonal Food Scarcity in a Peasant Microregion of Mexico

Tlacaelel Rivera-Núñez, Luis García-Barrios, Mariana Benítez, Julieta A. Rosell, Rodrigo García-Herrera and Erin Estrada-Lugo
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Tlacaelel Rivera-Núñez: Red de Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351, Col. El Haya, Xalapa 91073, Mexico
Luis García-Barrios: Dirección Regional Sureste, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Carretera Panamericana y Periférico Sur s/n Barrio María Auxiliadora, San Cristóbal de las Casas 29290, Mexico
Mariana Benítez: Laboratorio Nacional de Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 70-275, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, Ciudad de Mexico 04510, Mexico
Julieta A. Rosell: Laboratorio Nacional de Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 70-275, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, Ciudad de Mexico 04510, Mexico
Rodrigo García-Herrera: Laboratorio Nacional de Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 70-275, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, Ciudad de Mexico 04510, Mexico
Erin Estrada-Lugo: Departamento de Agricultura, Sociedad y Ambiente, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur. Periferico Sur s/n, María Auxiliadora, San Cristóbal de las Casas 29290, Mexico

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-23

Abstract: Seasonal food scarcity during pre-harvest months is, widely, considered to be the principal manifestation of food insecurity, for some 600 million members of smallholder families, who rely on a variety of coping strategies. This paper analyses both the peasant-economy variables that explain the presence and intensity of seasonal food scarcity, and the coping strategies of 120 rural households in a microregion of southern Mexico. We, also, examine how supply networks for six archetypical foods of the peasant diet express robustness or vulnerability during seasons of abundance and scarcity. The method combines surveys, ethnographic fieldwork, statistical models and social network analyses. Results show that 74% of households experience at least one month of food scarcity annually, and 34% of shortages last more than six months. In total, 29% of affected households gather wild foods, and 14% use intense coping strategies, such as international migration, taking out rural loans, and parental food buffering. During scarce seasons, self-sufficiency networks for maize and beans contract, but still maintain the food supply of peasant households, while cash-consumption networks such as those of beef become accessible only to a small sector of economically differentiated households. In contrast to the vast majority of research, which simply reports the presence of seasonal food shortages and describes the coping strategies of rural households, this paper provides an in-depth analysis—based upon a novel methodological integration—of the socioeconomic, agrifood, and land tenure conditions that may determine why many peasant territories in the Global South face the “farmer–food-scarcity paradox”.

Keywords: food insecurity; seasonal scarcity; coping strategies; supply networks; farmer paradox; rural households; peasant territories; Global South (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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