He facilitated wealthy landowners and foreign inventors to buy up Mexico's land, take communal spaces from the poor and indigenous peasantry, and force these villagers to farm cash crops.
And there were also some older farmers who were launching into new types of farming ventures, like planting apple orchards, and growing some cash crops that could earn them a little bit more money.
They can supplement their income by growing cash crops like cotton or taking other jobs in the gold mines or other seasonal work, but most in Mali still rely upon farming and their livestock for daily life.