FORMEN UND EFFIZIENZ STAATLICHER AGRARKOLONISATION IN DEN ÖSTLICHEN REGENWALDGEBIETEN DER TROPISCHEN ANDENLÄNDER

The greatest part of the small and isolated inhabited regions in the Amazon forest on the Eastern borders of the Cordilleras has been settled by squatters. It was not before the nineteenfifties, that the governments of the tropical Andean states – with the exception of Ecuador – began to promote colonization projects. All these countries need to extend their agricultural area, but there are different degrees in urgency and in political support. Therefore, the colonization programs have not been carried out with the same intensity in each country, and they have led to various types of projects ranging in scope from the completely planned projects in Peru and Bolivia, partly combined with organized resettlement, to the financial and technical aid for squatters in Colombia. This last type is considered to be the more realistic and the more effective one: it is cheaper and it can be applied to undeveloped squatter-regions outside the national economies. Pioneer colonists are considered to be more capable to cope with the problems of undeveloped areas than are resettled persons, and finally, the aid for squatters would be the better system to support a further extension of colonization in the Eastern parts of the Amazonian lowlands.