| This dissertation analyzes differential access of smallholders near Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico to water for irrigation and the effect that this differential access has on the on, off, and non-farm livelihood strategies of their household members. The effects of macro-level reforms of the agriculture and water sectors on the micro level were investigated. The smallholders, come from three different ejidos (formerly with communal land tenure), and obtain water for agriculture from canals, wells or a river with urban wastewater. Obtaining water for irrigation in the Bajio, or flatlands, region is crucial since eight months of the year are dry. The study is based on 200 interviews of men, women and adolescents on ejidos, in addition to large landowners, water user association officials and water treatment engineers. The exact words of some informants are used throughout the dissertation The ejidos are located at the head, middle and tail-end of a system of canals. Where smallholders have access to the more reliable, steady supply of well water, household members tend not to engage in factory work. Those with access only to unreliable canal water had members of their households engaged in factory work on the nearby industrial park and the vegetable packing plant. The majority of the workers in the factories and packing plant are women. Low wages, however, makes factory work only one of many income sources. Guanajuato has a high rate of nude migration and since the late eighties households have generally experienced the migration of more than one of their members. Male migration changes the division of labor based on gender and age for activities such as irrigation. Wastewater use is the focus of an analysis of the tail-end ejido whose members cannot obtain canal water due to physical, economic and political factors. Competition for water also extends to wastewater with smallholders located near the city at an advantage. Smallholders with access to well water are engaged in contract farming with large farmers for the production of vegetable exports. Evident in this case study as well as the others presented is that government policies have shifted risk more to smallholders. |
