[stuff deleted]
It is a crime to grow the really profitable crops, but it may be the
only option a campesino really has. [more deleted]
I think we are going to have to start paying a lot of money for
organic coffee. But we must remember that we are paying for other
things as well: Peace, birds, healthy people, and hopefully not just
a smart marketing expert somewhere in the middle. [end of IV's
comments]
I have had the privilege of working with Colombian coffee growers in
Valle del Cauca, in the hills above Popayan. The area us prime coca
country, relatively convenient to Cali, and the remarkable thing is
that the campesinos often prefer coffee to coca culture.
That, in spite of the fact that 'pergamino' coffee (which
requires a tremendous amount of post-harvest handling, and almost
always includes a long hike, with a heavy load, to the road) fetches about
12,000 pesos (roughly US$12) per arroba (12.5 kg). Coca leaves, on
the other hand, require only picking, and usually bring about 25,000
pesos per arroba.
Unfortunately, the guerrilla and narco-terrorista situation has made
things awfully "hot" in the area, and it is much harder for the
campesinos to market their coffee or get the organic agronomic
support they both need and want. IMO the drug trade and accompanying
guerrilla activity has done at least as much damage (by destroying
social and physical infrastructure) as the cafe tecnificado
("technified coffee") grown at lower elevations where it's harder for
the narcos and the guerrilla to hide from the government. I have
personal experience with this phenomenon in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and to a
lesser degree Chiapas.
Diversified polycultures with heavy shade cover and 45-degree slopes
make for great cover, eliminate government APCs and tanks from the
equation, and provide pretty reliable food and water. The issue is
far more complex than corporate coffee vs campesino coffee. Each
country -- heck, each *valley* -- is a different situation.
However, certified organic coffee from Latin America is almost always
purely campesino coffee. There's a story behind every bean, and Bill
Deusing is right, your choice of coffee really does make a
difference.
least as much damage to small-scale coffee production (
=============================================================================
Bart Hall, National Center for Appropriate Technology
PO Box 3657, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 72702, USA
501-442-9824 barth@ncatfyv.uark.edu
"Restore the real meaning of words, to live in Truth." Vaclav Havel
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