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(Re)making landscapes into resources: the role of Hass avocado plantations in Salamina, Colombia

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  • Suarez, Andres

Abstract

The landscape of Salamina (Caldas, Colombia) has historically fulfilled multiple functions and undergone diverse transformations. The expansion of Hass avocado plantations (HAP) has marked a significant shift, redefining the landscape from a space of peasant self-sufficiency and social reproduction—characterized by landscape use-values—to a market-driven asset centered on the extraction of ecological surplus, represented as landscape exchange-values. This transition has been propelled by market compulsions, reinforced in recent years by the Hass avocado boom. This article applies a critical resource geography perspective to examine how land is reconfigured through the process of resource-making. It identifies the socio-historical, political, economic, and material factors that converge to facilitate HAP expansion, emphasizing the role of the state-capital nexus in enabling the commodification and exploitation of Salamina’s landscape.

Suggested Citation

  • Suarez, Andres, 2025. "(Re)making landscapes into resources: the role of Hass avocado plantations in Salamina, Colombia," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:39:y:2025:i:c:s2452292925000402
    DOI: 10.1016/j.wdp.2025.100695
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. World Bank, 2021. "Building an Equitable Society in Colombia," World Bank Publications - Reports 36535, The World Bank Group.
    2. Timuçin Everest, 2021. "Suitable site selection for pistachio (Pistacia vera) by using GIS and multi-criteria decision analyses (a case study in Turkey)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7686-7705, May.
    3. Andres Suarez, 2024. "Understanding the Normalization of Plantation Agriculture: The Case of Hass Avocado in Colombia," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Nancy Lee Peluso, 2012. "What's Nature Got To Do With It? A Situated Historical Perspective on Socio-natural Commodities," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 79-104, January.
    5. Rasmussen, Mattias Borg & Lund, Christian, 2018. "Reconfiguring Frontier Spaces: The territorialization of resource control," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 388-399.
    6. Alfonso De la Vega-Rivera & Leticia Merino-Pérez, 2021. "Socio-Environmental Impacts of the Avocado Boom in the Meseta Purépecha, Michoacán, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-18, June.
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