Maize Diversity and the Political Economy of Agrarian Restructuring in Guatemala

The neoliberal restructuring of agriculture is often predicated on the promise of a more efficient food system: other objectives, such as access to food, the environmental sustainability of production practices, the nutritional composition of diets and the rights of food producers, are largely ignored. In this paper, I document how the liberalization of trade and agricultural policies in Guatemala has undermined the latter set of objectives, thereby compromising domestic food sovereignty and global food security. In particular, I demonstrate how neoliberal policies have undermined maize agriculture and contributed to the loss of crop genetic resources in the Guatemalan megacentre' of agricultural biodiversity. In its place, small-scale farmers have been encouraged to conform to the country's purported comparative advantage in non-traditional export crops. The results have been widening inequality, a growing dependence upon imported grain and agrochemicals, environmental degradation and decreased food security.