138 



INSTITUTE or SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 11 



both import and export of maize from the QuLroga 

 area. This is comphcated by the fact that Santa 

 Fe, San Jer6nimo, and San Andres market part of 

 their maize crop in Quiroga. We are not certain 

 that our area of study is normally self-sufficient, 

 and it is quite possible that maize from the good 

 lands of the Llano de Tzintzuntzan near Patam- 

 bicho and the Llano de Santa Fe fill out the deficit, 

 together with some ordinary maize and a little 

 popcorn from other parts of Mexico. 



We estimate the annual consumption of maize 

 in Quiroga and its ranchos to be between 12,000 

 and 13,000 janegas of dry shelled maize. This 

 figure was obtained in the following fashion. 

 We obtained a figure for the average amount of 

 dry maize (in liters) ground daOy from every one 

 of the 168 households (representing 998 persons) 

 in the ranchos. This amounted to 1,009 liters a 

 day, or 1.01 liter per person daily. Consump- 

 tion actually ranged from as little as 0.5 liter to 

 2.5 liters per adult, with most of the 439 children 

 eating a little less than a liter and the adults 

 eating somewhat more than 1 liter. We did not 

 make such a complete census in Quii'Oga town, 

 but we obtained estimates from the two maize 

 mills {molinos de nixtamal) where 214 to 307 of the 

 629 households had their nixtamal ground daily 

 into masa. The Torres mill figured 5.6 liters of 

 equivalent dry maize per household (the house- 

 holds in Quiroga average five persons each) which 

 amounted to 1.1 liter per person — a figiu'e very 

 close to that which we obtained from the ranchos. 

 The Torres mill, however, is situated where the 

 majority of its patrons are not eaters of wheat 

 bread. The Fuentes null figures worked out to 

 0.74 liter per person, but many of its patrons ate 

 wheat bread at one or more meals daily. The 

 1940 census showed that 84 percent of the people 

 in the town of Quu-oga ate no wheat bread. 

 Probably by 1945-46 this figure had decreased 

 to about 80 percent, which estimate is based on 

 examination of the current civil register records 

 where this item is now included in the various 

 forms. In addition we sampled 50 households 

 in the peripheral Calvario district (where nearly 

 all grinding is by metate) which yielded an aver- 

 age of 0.80 liter per person; 20 households in the 

 central part of town (where grinding was evenly 

 divided between mill and metate), which had an 

 average of 0.753 liter per person; and 14 house- 

 holds in the central district (which had all their 



maize ground at the mill), where the average 

 consumption was but 0.378 liter per capita. In 

 the light of these various returns w^e assigned 

 50 percent of the to^^Ti's population to the rate 

 of 0.801 liter (this group is composed of farmers 

 and day laborers who eat no wheat bread but 

 who cannot afford to eat as much maize as do 

 the rancheros) ; 30 percent were assigned to the 

 rate of 0.753 liter (this group is mainly composed 

 of wealthier farmers, artisans, and small mer- 

 chants who eat no wheat bread but who can afford 

 a wider variety of food than the previous group) ; 

 and 20 percent were assigned to the rate of 0.378 

 hter (this group comprises all of the wheat bread 

 eaters who tend to be the wealthiest artisans, 

 merchants, governmental employees, and the 

 like). It must be kept in mind that even the 

 wealthiest of Mexicans in the rural regions eat 

 tortillas at one or more meals, even though they 

 may be listed as eaters of wheat bread. The 

 above figures provide the totals of consumption as 

 follows: ranchos, 3,683 Janegas a year, Quiroga 

 "poor," 4,614 janegas, Quu-oga "intermediate," 

 2,602 Janegas, and Quiroga "relatively rich," 876 

 Janegas, for a grand total of 11,775 Janegas of 

 dried maize ground into masa yearly. This masa 

 or meal dough (used in tortillas, tamales, atoles, 

 stews, etc.) constitutes the chief form of maize 

 consumption. The other forms in which maize is 

 consumed (roasted, boiled, pozole, pinole, etc.) 

 amount to but a very small part of the total. 

 Pozole and pinole are Jiesta dishes usually pur- 

 chased in the plazas, and boiled or roasted ears 

 constitute the chief use within this group. We 

 would guess that maize consumed in these forms 

 does not amount to more than 5 percent (in 

 equivalent dry kernels) of the maize converted to 

 masa. This estimate would give a total annual 

 maize consumption of 12,364 Janegas. It is 

 extremely doubtful that the Quiroga consumption 

 would exceed 13,000 Janegas. 



Considering the variables in the estimates of 

 acreage and production, it would be a waste of 

 time to go deeply into the economics of maize 

 raising. We sampled a number of farmers and 

 their parcels as to costs and mcomes; but it was 

 impossible to rely on their information, our own 

 observations were not complete enough, and the 

 samples did not cover all the variations in rotation 

 systems, quality of soils, ability of the farmers, 

 sizes of parcels, types of landholding or land use 



