Position & Issues

The Eastern Region and the Lempa northern region are the two least developed regions in El Salvador. Also, both are livestock regions in the Country. The Eastern Region appears to be less developed in terms of economic indices, but poverty depth is not as significant as in the Lempa northern region and even two other regions (Western and South-central), presumably reflecting its inherently favorable natural conditions with extensive lowland of good soil conditions.

The Eastern Region and the Western region are comparable in terms of population, household income and poverty incidence. However, the Eastern Region is clearly less developed with much smaller shares of manufacturing, commercial and services establishments and employment than the Western region, except for services employment. The larger share of services employment in the Eastern Region may be due to its comparatively larger government services.

Important Characteristics and Development Issues

Through the rapid development diagnosis by region reported in the previous section, the characteristics of the Eastern Region have been clarified in relation to other regions. The fieldtrip conducted in November 2002 also clarified some specific aspects of regional characteristics. Below, the main characteristics are described and the development issues to be addressed in the Study presented.

(1) Livestock region

The Eastern Region is a livestock region. It accounts for over 40% respectively of the cattle population and the area cultivated with maize, which is dominantly domestic maize as a feed crop. Main production areas are the southern area along lower reaches of Rio Grande in San Miguel and part of Usulutan and the northern area centering on Morazan. In the southern area, the high input-high yield mode of cattle production is well established. Large cattle farmers cultivate forage in grazing land to make it effectively managed pasture, and combine with supplemental feeding in sheds for high productivity. The breed is well improved. Use of feed concentrates and silage is common, and as such they do not face shortages of feed or water. They suffer, however, from competition with Honduran and Nicaraguan cheese. Inundation of pasture by flooding of Rio Grande is another constraint.

Livestock farmers in the northern area face shortages of water and feed. Grazing in grassland rather than managed pasture is more common, and silage production has just started in some areas. They experience dry spells even during the rainy season. In addition to the competition with cheese from Honduras and Nicaragua, reliance on brokers for marketing is another constraint.

The high input-high yield mode should be further promoted to develop the livestock sector in the Eastern Region. Silage production should be promoted in the northern area as well. The best combination of maize production for feed and managed pasture may be yet to be established. The Eastern Region may be specialized in dairy farming for quality products. Establishment of a dairy processing plant, as pursued by livestock farmers in San Miguel, needs to be assessed along this line.

(2) Largely neglected and low productivity crop production

The Eastern Region has most extensive lowland areas potentially suitable for crop production. Most lands are suitable for production of various fruits, including slopelands in the northern area. Highlands in the north with cool climate are suitable for vegetable production. These potentials, however, are not well developed and people in the region consume increasing amount of agricultural products imported from Honduras and Nicaragua. Maize is produced dominantly as feed grains together with sorghum and in low yields. Abandoned cotton fields have been only partially converted to sugarcane and are not fully utilized. Fruit trees are largely neglected presumably due to the lack of market and shortages of manpower resulting from the outmigration. Some lowland areas are subject to habitual flooding, hindering any productive use of the land.

For promoting fruit production, a key may be specialization in a few selected fruits based on land suitability and market opportunities. Fruit trees on the northern slopes would serve effectively for productive reforestation. To produce the selected fruits in marketable quantity and quality, farmer organizing would be a prerequisite together with extension and training. Cashew is among the most promising for land suitability and diverse opportunities for processing and other uses such as wine/vinegar from apple, leaves for forage and industrial oil from kernel as well as nuts.

Promotion of vegetable production in the northern highlands is subject to the development of urban market within the region. With this respect, vegetable production in the northern part of La Union seems to be quite promising as the La Union city is expected to develop rapidly as the port is revitalized. Organic vegetable production may be pursued to appeal to health-conscious international communities there. Sugarcane cultivation is suited for the climatic conditions in the region, and its expansion is conditional on land suitability and full utilization of processing opportunities including production of high quality feed, liquor and energy from molasses. The concept of complete cycle processing may be applicable.

To enhance the land productivity further, integrated farming of various types may be promoted. Grazing cattle in maize fields after harvesting is one type undertaken already. Goat raising under cashew trees to use leaves as forage is another. Apiculture may become promising if it is combined with fruit trees and flower production for another type of integrated farming.

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(3) Rich but underutilized water resources

Other than the Lempa northern region, the Eastern Region is the only region drained by a sizable river, Rio Grande de San Miguel. Water resources in Rio Grande, however, are not properly managed and used. Forest degradation aggravates habitual flooding in the lower basin, and dry spells occur in the upper basin even during the rainy season. Irrigation is very limited throughout the basin. Hydropower development of a sizable scale is found to be infeasible due to the topography. The degrading quality of river water is another concern. The municipalities that constitute the Rio Grande basin are planning to take a step to dispose solid waste and to treat sewage properly through joint efforts.

A basin-wide approach is indispensable to deal with both the quality and the quantity problems in the Rio Grande basin. Ongoing efforts by the municipal association are commendable. The Olomega lagoon should be taken as an integral part of the Rio Grande river system.

Irrigation development in the basin is to be pursued in the form of supplemental irrigation to bridge dry spells during the rainy season and to extend cropping season by a few months at most rather than irrigating crops in the middle of the dry season. At present, some farmers in more favorable downstream areas produce second crops effectively by utilizing residual soil moisture at the beginning of the dry season. Introduction of a tank system, i.e., small ponds interconnected by contour canals, may be effective for the purpose of supplemental irrigation.

(4) Organizational strength

People in the Eastern Region appear to be more organized, presumably reflecting the solidarity during the civil war. This is an advantage to be utilized for the development. Ongoing initiatives of municipal associations and other organized movements will ensure the viability of the participatory development. The organizational strength is present also among entrepreneurs in San Miguel and Santa Rosa de Lima and livestock farmers in San Miguel. This will help ensure equal partnership with foreign investors for any joint venture arrangement.

The tank system for supplemental irrigation mentioned above may be constructed, operated and maintained by organized farmers. Naturally, proper farmer organizing is a prerequisite to water allocation and on-farm water management. The viability of such arrangements is manifested for instance by the irrigators' association in Hacienda Nueva, Usulutan. Organized farmers may undertake joint procurement of agricultural input and joint marketing of their products. This may prove to be an effective way to establish specialty products even for export.

The organizational strength may extend to overseas Salvadorans as well. At present, the Eastern Region depends most heavily on remittance from them. While the remittance tends to be used mostly for consumptive purposes, cases of overseas Salvadorans and returnees contributing to investments are not rare either. A few examples are a touristic/experimental farm in Monteca, a hotel in Meanguera, and road improvement in Olomega. New mechanism may be introduced to increase the portion of overseas remittance used for investments rather than consumption.

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(5) Environmental concerns and tourism

The Eastern Region has most diversified environmental resources, ranging from volcanic mountains to coastal areas and islands, from part of the Central America biological corridor to coastal wetlands including the Jiquilisco bay area and the Jocotal lagoon, and from highland with cool climate to hot and humid lowland. Protection and enhancement of these resources and their effective use for production activities are essential for sustainable development of the Eastern Region. Concerns of local people and municipalities on these aspects are reflected, among others, in municipal associations for joint treatment of solid wastes and organized activities to promote tourism in different areas of the region.

For proper solid waste management, a sanitary, state-of-the-art landfill should be applied in the Eastern Region as well, as a matter of principle. Separation of wastes of different kinds at source is also common in most developed and some developing countries, but proper levels of separation vary depending on local conditions. At least, separation of non-biodegradable wastes should be established as a norm, and hospital wastes should be separately treated in any case. Enhancement of people's awareness is an important component.

Tourism in the Eastern Region may be pursued with the concept of alternative tourism rather than mass tourism. Eco-tourism, agro-eco-tourism and rural tourism as conceived by various tourism promoters are in the right direction. A next step would be to develop tourism products, with brands if possible, in the form of tourism circuits, combining different tourism objects. These are mainly for domestic tourism. For international tourism, cruise industry may develop along the Pacific coast of Central America with the revitalized La Union port as a base although stops within El Salvador may be limited such as the Jiquilisco bay in the Eastern Region.

The Fonseca gulf with many islands is considered environmental and tourism assets for the Eastern Region and the Country as a whole. Cooperative management of the Fonseca gulf with Honduras and Nicaragua should be pursued to protect and use these assets jointly. A tripartite event may be planned such as an inter-island yacht race as an initial breakthrough for tourism promotion as well as cooperative management of the gulf.

(6) Key infrastructure to link with other regions

The Eastern Region has not benefited much from links with other regions, and the lack of key infrastructure is a factor for this poor communications. This situation was aggravated by physical and political separation during the civil war. The Western region has the port of Acajutla, and the Balsamo (La Libertad) region benefits from its location along the main route linking the port and the SSMR. The three central regions, Balsamo, South-central (Comalapa) and the SSMR, and Cuscatlan benefit from their proximity to the capital. One specific example is the prevalence of hybrid maize. The South-central region has the international airport.

The revitalization of the La Union port and the northern longitudinal road will drastically change this situation. To make such changes benefit the local people the most and realize the sustainable development of the Eastern Region as a whole, its spatial structure needs to be strengthened. This would include selective strengthening of urban functions as indicated in Look at Nation: Analysis on Urban Hierarchy, full rehabilitation of the Pan American highway, and enhancement of land productivity through proper management of water and land resources and land use rationalization.

These physical changes need to be supported by institutional arrangements to allow effective planning, implementation and management of spatial development. The ongoing administrative reform with municipal associations as micro-regions should be pursued along this line, together with enhanced people's participation built into it. Especially for the La Union port and its hinterland a new institutional mechanism may be introduced to allow people's participation in development management.

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