Abstract

RAYMOND, Pierre. History of mountainside farming downfall: cotton in the Suarez river valley. Cuad. Desarro. Rural [online]. 2010, vol.7, n.64, pp.81-89. ISSN 0122-1450.

From pre-Colombian times until midtwentieth century, the Suarez river valley in Colombia was an important cotton production area characterized by its mountainside farming of crops such as sugar cane and other subsistence products. Such farming paralleled an important home-made textile production that had its downfall due to the competition from the English textile industry. A wealthy farm owner tried to update the state of the art of local textil industry in his lands, but he was unable to transform the agricultural aspect of the activity. The article describes farming techniques, competition from another regional enterprise for limited primary material, trading problems, difficulties emerging from a deficient transportation network, and the lack of capacity for this mountainside cotton to meet the needs of regional factories and to compete with the mechanical production of the flat lands.

Keywords : Colombia; Santander Department, Cotton; Ladera Cultivation; Commercialization; Textile Industry; Transport.

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