Commercial agriculture as creative destruction or destructive creation: A case study of chili cultivation and plant-pest disease in the southern Yucatan region

Agricultural change encompasses both social and ecological alterations, some negative, some positive. Studies of land change and land degradation treat plant pest and diseases triggered by agricultural change in an inconsistent fashion. A study of the southern Yucatan region of Mexico reveals that the shift to commercial chili cultivation yields both positive and negative consequences, akin to the concepts of creative destruction and destructive creation. The negative consequences are dramatically amplified by persistent plant pest and diseases apparently triggered by the means of cultivation and by the inclusion of the region into a national marketing structure. Thus, while providing economic benefits to some of the farmers of the region the short- and long-term impacts of chili cultivation on farmer households is mixed. Studies of agricultural land-use change and household economics will benefit by incorporating plant pests and diseases as one of the suite of factors involved in land degradation. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.