A poor village: Its reality and problems

Tezonteopan had 1,495 inhabitants when the study was initiated in 1968. The village was very isolated, even though it was only 9 km from a paved road to Mexico City, only 2.5 hours away.

Tezonteopan covers 200 ha of agricultural land and was founded in 1884 by 18 families that ran away from a neighboring hacienda. In 1938 the government provided the village with an additional 552 ha of agricultural land. Agriculture is the main source of income for the villagers, who grow corn, beans, and squash for subsistence and peanuts as a cash crop.

The vast majority of the families are poor and have access to only 2 or 3 ha of land. Income received from crops is just enough to pay for the loans that are provided in kind or as cash by the local shop owners. These loans are usually used to acquire consumption and production goods and to cover expenses related to social events and health care.

In 1968 most of the dwellings were built of reeds or adobe and had only one room. The quality of life, including the level of hygiene, was very poor and the village lacked basic infrastructure such as electricity and potable water. At the beginning of the study, the average family income was 1 US$ per day.

In the two years prior to the initiation of the study, overall mortality was 18.5/1,000, infant mortality was 126/1,000 births, and the preschool mortality was 16.9/1,000 inhabitants. The annual birth rate was 58.8/1,000, which in pert can tee explained by the predominantly young population living in the village. Despite the high mortality, the birth rate was still high and the population increased. The secular trends (19661990) of fertility and mortality are presented in Table 1.

The period of fertility was short because the onset of menarche usually was late, at about 15.5 years of age, and the women reached menopause at the relatively young age of 40.5 years (A Chávez and Martínez, 1973). The period of postpartum amenorrhea was very long and lasted for 13.5 months. Therefore the birth intervals were long, with a mean duration of 27 months. The fecundity rates were high because the women had nine children in their short reproductive lives, only five of whom survived until adolescence or early adulthood.

TABLE 1 Demographic Data on the Community (Mean of 5 Years Around the Annual Rate)

The diet in the village was deficient in nutrients because meat products were hardly ever consumed. Corn provided two-thirds of the daily energy intake, and the remaining calories were provided by beans, sugar (in coffee and tea), and sometimes pasta, bread, and wild vegetables. The infant feeding patterns were very consistent in the village. Infants were given only breast milk up to 8 to 10 months of age. At this age other foods-atole (corn gruel), soups, and tortillas-were gradually introduced into the diet.

Since the project was designed around a nutritional intervention, it was decided to minimize the inclusion of other types of interventions such as health care and community development. For this reason, only basic health care was provided, and community events were supported only when this was specifically requested by the villagers.

Important changes took place in the community during the study. This was undoubtedly the result of the presence of the research team and the interest of the Mexican government in the community development of rural areas. At the beginning, these changes were slow; electricity and potable water were not requested by the villagers until the third and fifth year of the study, respectively. After this period the villagers wanted to experience a faster rate of community development, and by 1980 several projects were planned. These included the introduction of irrigation pumps, more profitable crops such as tomatoes, machines for removing peanut husks, and trucks for transporting agricultural products. The research center fully supported and communicated all these requests to the authorities in charge of making these decisions.

The process of change in the village was interrupted in 1982 as a result of a national economic crisis. The sharp increment in outmigration by young villagers that took place around this time probably reflected the fear and anguish caused by this crisis. In 1982, the first peasants went to work in a neighboring community, and now, 10 years after the first migrations, there are 150 villagers working in the United States and Canada.

In spite of the several changes that have taken place since 1975 as a result of social and economic openness, many aspects of basic life in the village have not changed. For example, in the 1990s almost all families have television and video sets. However, the villagers still sleep on a mat on the floor, and the houses still have the same appearance and size, even though they now use more brick and concrete. Most of the houses still lack windows and are as contaminated as before. The food habits and environmental conditions of the people are still the same, even though they now have higher incomes and water taps inside the households.

Infant feeding habits have changed: infants are now given more foods in addition to breast milk and are introduced to these foods at earlier ages. The families are now more likely to give cows' milk as a complement to breast milk. These changes in infant feeding practices are due to the fact that the families have seen the superior development of the children who were supplemented in the study.

There have been important improvements in health in the village. It is paradoxical that small changes could bring about such large effects. The community is still trying to produce more agricultural products, in spite of the national economic crisis of the last 10 years. However, the villagers are also obtaining resources by more diversified strategies that include migration. These recent migration patterns have brought about the most important changes that have benefited the village. In spite of the scarcity of credit and the decline in the prices of agricultural products, the community is now less isolated and more likely to seek external resources. Chronic or moderate malnutrition still persists today at about the same level as before, but there has been a decline in the number of cases of severe malnutrition. Regretfully, these changes have not been enough to promote the healthy development of the survivors.