Like many people in the
world Ramiro has a long commute to work. But unlike most, he
doesn't get into a car. He loads up his burro and hikes an hour
and a half towards his coffee plot in the Coastal Sierra Sur
mountain range in the state of Oaxaca.
Ramiro's commute takes him down several camino reales, paths
created for transportation between neighboring communities before
roads were established. The paths Ramiro uses cross spring-fed
streams, pass over cloud-shrouded mountains, and wind through
thick forests filled with bird songs and clean air.
Communities like Ramiro's are world renowned for producing high
quality coffee, while also preserving the natural environment.
Fair trade, organic certified coffee is a labor intensive product
that needs constant attention. Ask any coffee farmer and he
or she will tell you each step of the process, from the flowering
of the coffee plants in spring to the cleaning and drying of
the beans post-harvest.
FORESTS
One of the main attractions of these Oaxacan coffee communities
is the surrounding forest.
Fair-trade, organic certified coffee is grown under shade trees.
This shade canopy, together with the right altitude (between
3,000 and 5,000 feet), provide ideal conditions for growing
high quality Arabica coffee. By growing their coffee under shade,
farmers have been able to better preserve their lands and natural
springs, reduce runoff, and maintain forest habitats for birds
and animals, while providing a marketable agricultural crop
to help maintain their families.
MIGRATION
Unfortunately, small coffee growers throughout the world are
finding it increasingly difficult to sustain their livelihoods.
Two main threats to family-based coffee production in Mexico
are unstable coffee prices and migration from coffee communities.
Increasingly coffee farmers in Oaxaca are deciding to leave
their fields for more stable, better paying jobs that cannot
be found in these small hamlets.
Migration has created both positive and negative impacts in
these communities. On the positive side, the increase in income
for some migrant families is allowing them to improve their
basic living standards, and in some cases is facilitating home
construction and development of small businesses. Conversely,
migration is breaking up families, leaving coffee land abandoned,
and creating a labor shortage within the communities.
The drawbacks of emigration have put extra strain on the coffee
farmers. Abandoned coffee plots are rife with insects (broca)
which then invade active plots. Oaxacan coffee farmers must
also pay rising daily wages due to the labor shortage in their
communities.
In several regions the labor costs have risen drastically in
the last five years, making it increasingly difficult to turn
a profit in coffee. The last two years coffee farmers have seen
better prices in the market, but even these prices are not enough
to offset the labor costs when migration is present. If coffee
is not worth the work for these farmers, then what is?
CREATING ALTERNATIVES
Creating alternative incomes in these remote communities is
essential to their survival amidst the ups and downs of the
coffee market. Community based eco-tourism is one avenue for
generating this much-needed income, while educating visitors
about the unique natural and cultural traits of rural Mexico.
The biggest attraction these communities have retained through
their organic coffee production is what most ecologically minded
travelers cannot get enough of: natural beauty.
In addition to the natural beauty of these communities, residents
are willing and eager to share with tourists how they live and
work. Creating an opportunity for tourists to explore and better
understand small-scale coffee production can help to link the
very different worlds of coffee consumers and coffee producers,
making the brew taste all the better.
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