Social Capital in Ecuador

Running Head : SOCIAL CAPITAL IN ECUADOR

Social Capital and Agricultural Development in Ecuador

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Discribe how factors of social capital work for agricultural development especially in Equador with several examples

Do not need to explain the difinition of social capital itself . Instead just explain about the characteristics of social capital in Ecuador , and how those contribute to the agricultural development there

Social Capital and Agricultural Development in Ecuador

Social capital is a particularly important concept with respect to agricultural development . High levels of social

capital - the development and use of social networks and their resources , or the willingness and ability of a community to work together - can have a positive impact on the ability of a community to act collectively . When a community can act collectively , certain types of activities become easier , and agricultural development can be benefited in a number of ways . For example , communities acting collectively can more easily adopt , absorb and integrate new agricultural innovations and financial techniques , and can therefore derive greater benefits from these advances (Parthasarathy Chopde , 2000 , 1 . This is particularly true with respect to technologies such as watershed and irrigation management , pest and disease management , and other types of innovations that require coordinated action (Parthasarathy Chopde , 2000 ,

. 1 Additionally , where agricultural development projects financed by the outside sources proceed in communities with high levels of social capital , benefits may be distributed with greater knowledge of individual needs and with a greater concern for egalitarianism (Uquillas Van Niewkoop , 2003 ,

. 20 . This can lead to increases in poverty reduction , as communities can distribute and manage their resources with a better sense of local needs

Conversely , in situations where there are high levels of social capital but the organizational structures and coordinating capacity of community-level groups are ignored or undermined by development approaches , the existence of this capital can work at cross-purposes with the agricultural development plan . Disregarding or attempting to re-arrange already-existing community organizations can lead to problems of inefficiency and counter-productivity , as well as feelings within the community that the proposed changes are illegitimate (Parthasarathy Chopde , 2000 ,

. 7 . Furthermore , paternalistic restrictions on local institutions ' can lead to an inability of local communities to maintain traditional controls on negative externalities (for example in the environmental context (Southgate Ramos , 2000 ,

. 2 . This can result in a situation where resources designated for agricultural development are wasted , and where poverty-reduction and improvements in agricultural techniques proceed much more slowly than expected

The effects of high levels of social capital on agricultural development - and also the effects of policies that ignore and marginalize social capital - can be demonstrated through an analysis of the situation of the indigenous and Afro-Ecuadoran communities in Ecuador . In Ecuador indigenous communities and Afro-Ecuadoran peoples together represent nearly 30 percent of the population , and a large proportion of these people live in rural areas and engage in agricultural activities (Uquillas Van Niewkoop , 2003 ,

. 3 . Agricultural development has therefore been of particular importance for these groups . These...