Pesticides remain an integral part of development efforts to renew economic growth in Central America and lift the region out of a severe economic crisis. This paper analyzes the implications of the continued reliance on pesticides for heightening economic and ecological problems in the agrarian sector.Relying on a case study of export melon production in Choluteca, Honduras, the author argues that current development strategies, which rely heavily on pesticides, are generating ecological disruption that creates conditions biased against small producers. Lack (...) of knowledge of the hazards inherent in the technology and the resulting emergence of pesticide resistant pests, crop losses, environmental contamination, and public health problems, pose serious obstacles to the survival of small-scale producers. Meanwhile transnational and other flexible, large scale operations often adapt to such conditions, and on occasion may even turn such problems to their benefit. The author concludes that economic growth may only be sustainable when questions of social equity and ecological viability are brought to the forefront of U.S. development strategies. (shrink)

This paper uses a cultural ecology of development approach to critique existing models of development. The critique identifies existing models as running counter to ecological and biological imperatives, placing an over-emphasis on growth as the solution to development, and resulting in considerable cultural wastage. An argument is made that many of the attempts to construct an alternative development paradigm can be grouped within the cultural ecology of development approach. Ten precepts that will enhance the long-term survivability of the earth are (...) proposed. The final portion of the paper looks at how compatible current trends in thinking about development are with these ten precepts and assesses the prospects for adoption of these precepts in an alternative development paradigm. (shrink)