The ejido has been the indivisible unit of land ownership in Mexico ever since the approval of the 1917 Constitution. More than one-hundred million hectares of fertile ground were granted to groups of people under a very clear set of rules: the land would belong to the state, and by eliminating private ownership over it, conflict, division, and indiscriminate usufruct would be avoided. The specific use of the land would be decided upon by the beneficiary farmers of the ejido, provided that it remained agricultural; the land could not be sold nor divided. Ejidos are not “latifundiums” (large parcels of generally unused land) nor minifundios (smaller versions of latifundiums). It may not be given industrial use nor annexed to neighboring cities (which tend to grow horizontally). The people east of Lake Texcoco established themselves under this model of land ownership, thus consolidating themselves as communities dedicated to farming and raising livestock. They thus remain protected from being absorbed by Mexico City’s strong forces of urbanization, despite the proximity to its eastern outskirts. Ejidos, however, are not exempt from corruption within their local assemblies, nor from pressure from large-scale agricultural companies. [...]
Ejido
in ENCYCLOPEDIA