ABSTRACT
Over the past twenty years Mexico has been one of several countries in the tropical regions of Latin America to witness a drastic transformation of its wetlands and marsh forests into pasture land for large cattle ranches. This process of ganade-rizacion has reduced the availability of good farm land for small peasant farmers who are being pushed towards outlying areas where the land is not suitable for agriculture. In the state of Tabasco in south-east Mexico these displaced peasant farmers, notably the Chontale Indians, have tried to farm the marshlands which cover up to 30% of the total surface area of Tabasco. Rwandan peasant farmers have traditionally used marshlands in the valley bottoms during the dry season. The Medico-Social Centre of Kirarambogo had for years been faced with the problem of inadequate nutrition for the local population, and it requested that marshlands be converted into agro-piscicultural systems.
