LAND SPECULATION AND INTENSIFICATION AT THE FRONTIER - A SEEMING PARADOX IN THE COLOMBIAN SAVANNA

Frontier areas in Latin America have been characterized by land specul ation, abandonment and exploitation, This paper analyzes a frontier ca ttle ranching area in the savanna where intensification has occurred i n spite of land speculation, A whole-farm livestock production model i s used to quantify the determinants of intensification. Results show t hat land speculation has simultaneously increased the profitability of cattle ranching, while slowing down intensification and impeding the adoption of sustainable practices. Intensification occurred because th e production gains offered by improved pastures over native grasses we re large enough to overcome the negative effect of land speculation on intensification. By contrast, in the Amazon, improved technologies ha ve to overcome the high fertility of newly deforested land. Thus, tech nology, land speculation and characteristics of the resource base inte ract in a complex way to determine the speed and nature of intensifica tion. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.