The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America - autonomous ...

9O Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America
TABLE i:
Comparisons between peasant farmers and plantation workers in
the Cauca Valley, Colombia, 1970-76
Peasant Farmer on
Two-Hectare Plot Plantation
Traditional Modern Worker
Annual net income, 1971
(Colombian pesos) $10,000 $ 8,000 $10,000
Number of hectares per
worker 1.0-2.0 1.0-2.0 3.2
Labor days required per
year 105 243 275
Individual's labor energy
output per working day
(kcal) 1,70
1,700 3,500
Individual's labor energy
output per year (kcal) 173,000 415,000 804,000
Note: Data on traditional peasant farming come from my monitoring of four plots
every two weeks for nine months in 1971. Data on modern peasant farming come
from similar on-site fieldwork in six plots in 1972 and 1976. Data on plantations
come from Fedesarrollo (1976) and from personal interviews with plantation personnel.
Labor energy expenditures (7.4 kcal per minute) for plantation workers were calculated
by Spurr et al. (1975 : 992) using respirometry techniques on local cane cutters
and loaders; those for peasant labor were indirectly calculated from tables in Durnin
and Passmore (1967). An alternative lower assessment for plantation workers by
Spurr et al. was ignored, as this was derived by methods conflicting with and not comparable
with those used by Durnin and Passmore. Sugar plantation energy efficiency
is calculated only on the basis of its three main energy inputs (and therefore has been
overestimated): (a) human labor, 197,000 kcal per ton of sugar; (b) electricity, 1 12,000
kcal per ton of sugar; (c) fuel oil, 452,000 kcal per ton of sugar. Traditional peasant
farming energy efficiency is calculated only on the energy input-output ratio involved
directly with cocoa production, assuming a low average yield of 290 kg per interplanted
hectare, as determined by fieldwork. Household tasks, such as drawing water,
were not included as energy inputs. The ratios came to 5 : r for sugar plantations, and
30: i for peasant cocoa farming.
vested—their "capital efficiency"—is the same as or higher than
that of the large farmers (depending on whether or not one budgets
the peasant landowner's own labor as a cost). This is just as true
when we compare the profit rates of the peasants on the new crops
with those of the sugar plantations. If we were to make the compari-