By Ángel Marín Díaz
The ejido is a private Mexican agrarian association made up of a group of people called ejidatarios. The ejido’s objective is to carry out economic activities, through the use of livestock and agricultural resources, for the benefit of the ejidatarios, and that of third parties. The ejido is represented by an ejido commissioner or president of the ejido. The resources or assets of the ejido include the parceled lands, known as “ejidal lands.”
These ejidal lands are comprised of the following: Cultivated Lands, including the urban ejidal zone or human settlements, which are sites within the ejido where urban development takes place. School Plots, which are territories of the ejido in which students are trained for agricultural work. Agricultural Units for Women, which are facilities for the service and protection of peasant women. Grazing Lands, which are for common use and include all lands that are not worked, houses and land annexes, and the waters of the ejido.
The ejido system was established on Jan. 6, 1915 during the Mexican Revolution. It was created as a system to identify land which could be used for the benefit of peasants to carry out agricultural work. Its purpose was to cancel the concessions of large portions of land which favored foreign landowners who exploited Mexicans in harvesting work. The ejido restored the territory to the Mexican government who then distributed it among Mexican peasants.
