ABSTRACT
Garlic was reported as an important export from Aguacatan as long ago as 1913. The present heavy commitment to garlic production dates to the mid 1940s when repeal of the national Vagrancy Law, which had made temporary labor migration compulsory for most rural Guatemalans, freed local farmers to devote labor to this activity if they had the irrigated land to do so. Where child labor contributes substantially to household productivity, as among the garlic-producing farmers of Aguacatan, this interaction of wealth and farming, and high fertility, should follow. If natural fertility is found across the community, fertility should be governed by budgetary constraints and vary positively with household income. The chapter examines the relationship between domestic economies and fertility in the village of Aguacatan in western Guatemala. Since World War II, both population and patterns of production have changed in Aguacatan.
