The coordinator of this research has gathered during fifteen years a considerable mass of information concerning the cultivation of sugarcane, the production of panela (non-centrifugalized brown sugar), and socio-economic problems related to this activity. Fieldwork was mostly undertaken within the area influenced by a market-place situated in the Santander department of central north-east Colombia. Yet, in spite of this local bias, this research constantly links local problems to the general situation of Colombian agriculture.

The results were published in 1997 by the Universidad Industrial de Santander (History Department) and the Univesidad Javeriana (Institute for rural studies): Pierre Raymond, with the collaboration of Juan Manuel Silva and Henri Poupon: Hacienda tradicional y aparcería.

The following problems are studied in this book

In the context of the transition from traditional to contemporary agriculture (a shift from self-reliance to market economy, though the past did have some market production and the present campesinos still produce a strong proportion of their food), this research analyses the reasons for the relative stagnation of regions which have not fully overcome semi-feudal relationships of production. The call of the market is nonetheless present and induces changes in agricultural production and the use of the land. Another important obstacle to change in the local rural economy has been the deficient transport network whose improvement has been dramatically slow.

The study shows that the great landowners have maintained their domination in spite of division of land on inheritance, the gradual apparition of small-holdings, and the timid attempts of land reform. Haciendas as especially devoted to cattle rearing, to sugarcane cultivation and panel production. Sugarcane is cultivated by share-croppers whereas the panela is produced in the landowner’s sugar mill. History and legal aspects of share-cropping are carefully studied. The reasons for the persistence of share-cropping in the traditional panela producing haciendas and the logic of the “hacienda economy” are examined in this book.

Part of the research describes the cultivation system of the share-croppers, analyses the traditional production logics, the encounter between modern agronomical technology and the traditional methods of agriculture, as well as the conflicts caused by the partly conflicting interests of the two poles of the share-cropping relationship. These conflicts and contradictions of interests have had negative consequences on rural development and progress of local economy.

The techniques of panel production and their historical evolution are also considered. It is thus made obvious that there is a relationship between the poor supply of innovation in the process of panela production and the lack of interest of great landowners to modernize their haciendas. Nothing comes to compensate this situation: technological research can count neither on the State, nor on producers’ groupings, nor on universities, nor on private initiatives. The history of CIMPA (Centro de Investigación para el Mejoramiento de la Industria Panelera; research centre for the improvement of the panela industry) which is reported in this book is revealing of the deficiency in research and in the diffusion of its results.

What has said so far clearly shows that there is a crisis in the traditional panela producing hacienda. The fluctuations that affect panela prices strengthen this situation. Various proposals have been put forward to stabilize prices and find new outlets for panela. Unfortunately, they were never adopted for reasons that are analyzed in this research. Faced by this situation, landowners either tend to leave the region, investing their capital in elsewhere, or to convert their haciendas into extensive cattle ranches. This situation greatly contributes to rural exodus as this kind of activity requires few workers, whereas panela production is a valuable source of employment: in Colombia, it represents the second largest source of employment after coffee.

This investigation ends by showing that the crisis caused by the local decrease of panela production and the increasing rejection of the conditions of the share-cropping system are causing social unrest, which contributes to the aggravation of the crisis suffered by the hacienda. Many peasants have joined organizations created by local priests, and later on by the diocesan office of social affairs (Pastoral Social).

After a description of the older forms of conflict, in so far as they can be reconstructed from the archives, a chapter is devoted to the description of the different forms of peasant organization with their successes, failures and contradictions.

The last chapter deals with agrarian reform. It shows that its effects have been rather limited. Attempts to create collective farms and the fact of imposing to the peasants activities and crops not in line with their wishes have been obstacles to the progress of the reformed land areas.

The book includes various appendixes amongst which one relates the history of sugarcane varieties in use by panela producers and another describes the changes that the region has undergone between the beginning of field work (1980) and the year of the publication (1997).