collective farming in northern and southern Yucatan, Mexico: ecological and administrative determinants of success and failure

Cross economic analyses that compare the productivity of Mexican collective ejidos (farms) with privately owned farms are insufficient to evaluate the success of Mexico's collective ejido program. They fail to account for differences in federal administrative incentives and constraints on the two sectors and differences in local ecologies. An anthropological comparison of local collective ejidos in the northern and southern zones of Yucatan state reveals that local variables are essential in determining the success or failure of ejidos. In both zones restrictive federal administrative policies inhibit the economic development of ejidos, but in zones where local ecological factors have encouraged rather than inhibited economic expansion, the ejidos show greater success.