Fragile Lands of Latin America Strategies for ... - PART - USAID

184 Janis B. Alcorn
range from one to fifteen hectares, and average six hectares. Despite
the existence of individual landholdings, however, use rights to land
are shared to a certain extent. In addition, some land is held by the
school, a communally-owned parcel the profits from which are used
for community purposes such as maintenance of the school and other
required buildings.
The population density supported by the Huastec system is difficult
to determine as records are not easily available. Data from two mun-
icipios (a municipio being the equivalent of a county or parish) of the
eight occupied by Huastec in San Luis Potosi (S.L.P.) are probably
indicative of densities generally. In Huastec communities in San An-
tonio municipio, S.L.P., there is approximately one hectare per person
( 100 persons per square kilometer). Stresser-PCan ( 1967) reported a
density of 100 persons per square kilometer on Indian lands in the
neighboring Santos de Tancanhuits municipio, S.L.P.; given population
increases, that density would now be higher.
Huastec Production
The Huastec have a mixed economy; they produce goods for a market
and buy goods with cash, while at the same time producing directly
other goods for their own consumption. Their primary source of cash
income is the sale of raw sugar produced with farmgrown sugarcane
and household labor, although in some areas coffee is the major source
of income. Huastec also derive cash income from short-term jobs
(usually outside the community), and the sale of honey, fruits, and a
variety of other minor products (milk, eggs, poultry, wood, etc). Prod-
ucts produced for direct consumption include maize (for making the
staple bread, the tortilla), a wide variety of domesticated and wild
foods, construction materials, herbal medicines, craft materials, and
firewood. Firewood is harvested from managed forest plots and from
fallowed maize fields of the milpa swidden system, a sort of sequential
agroforesty system that integrates secondary successional forest with
maize production in Middle America. The Huastec primarily use a
short fallow, or "bush fallow" form of milpa. The secondary regrowth
is slashed back, firewood is harvested, and the remaining slash is
burned. After the maize is planted, secondary regrowth is slashed back
only once (when the maize is 6 weeks old), and then it is allowed to
grow freely for three to four years when it is again slashed back for
firewood harvest. Maize production from these fields meets less than
half of the family's needs. But this level of production is deemed
important for its "insurance" function so the family can continue to
eat when working members are ill. They supplement the maize grown