At the beginning of the 20th century, our country was experiencing a critical political, social and economic situation, since Porfirio Díaz had remained in power; the majority of the population was poor and illiterate; and the wealth was concentrated in a few hands.
Origin of the agrarian reform
Consequently, the Mexican Revolution broke out, an armed movement that represented the country’s peasant and worker struggle for more equitable living and working conditions. Likewise, among the revolutionary groups, the Villistas and Zapatistas stood out mainly, who advocated for the restitution of the land.
Likewise, this slogan, that of giving land to the dispossessed, was an indispensable condition for the pacification of the country and the reestablishment of a national government, embodied by the then president Venustiano Carranza, who would promulgate the Agrarian Law in 1915, restoring land and water to peasants, ejidatarios and community members throughout the national territory, making the agrarian reform a reality.
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Consecration in the constitution
Two years later, the bases of the Agrarian Reform in Mexico would be reflected in Article 27 of the Constitution of 1917, establishing that the nation was responsible for territorial control and it was the nation that granted property to individuals.
Later, in 1934, during the mandate of Abelardo L. Rodríguez, said article was reformed, creating the ejido and establishing the procedure for agrarian distribution.
That same year, with the arrival of General Lázaro Cárdenas to the presidency, a milestone was marked in agrarian distribution, as more than 51,400 farmers benefited from 18 million hectares of land.
Characteristics of the Agrarian Reform
- The restitution began in 1911, when some revolutionary military leaders, such as Lucio Blanco, began the distribution of lands.
- This reform sought to return to the people the lands that had been concentrated in the haciendas; so that they could obtain autonomy through the direct consumption of basic foods of their own production.
- A new class of small and medium-sized farmers was created who displaced the landowners.
- Starting in the 1930s, public policies emerged that sought the development of the countryside, thus peasant cooperatives and the Ejidal Bank were created.
- According to anthropologist Arturo Warman, until 1992, more than 100 million hectares of land were given to farmers, where some 30,000 ejidos and communities were established.
Balance of the reform
More than a century after the restitution and distribution of lands, experts point out that the objective of promoting the development of the Mexican countryside was not fully achieved for several reasons.
One of the most important was that the peasants encountered the difficulty of joining the new demands of the capitalist market, competing at a clear disadvantage with the agricultural businessmen. Finally, rural development was marginalized from the industrialization that the country experienced in the 20th century.
