But the country is rough and poor and not suited to a farming population, and therefore the tribe has been utterly ruined and in fact has almost been obliterated.
Specialists estimated that areas dominated by minifundios would have to lose an estimated three-fourths of their farming population if they were to compete effectively with foreign producers.
It has over the past 100 years achieved increased productivity and yields, but with little concern for the side effects on the resource base and the farming population.
Farming allows people to store grain in times of plenty which would have helped to keep the farming population high, and so maintaining genetic diversity.
If we do not have students in agricultural colleges we will not have a well-trained farming population to utilise and manage our farms in the years ahead.