Organic coffee : sustainable development by Mayan farmers / Maria Elena Martinez-Torres.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Martínez-Torres, Maria Elena.

Series:

Research in international studies. Latin America series ; no. 45.

Ohio University research in international studies. Latin America series ; no. 45

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coffee industry--Mexico--Chiapas.

Coffee industry.

Coffee growers--Mexico--Chiapas.

Coffee growers.

Organic farming--Mexico--Chiapas.

Organic farming.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (190 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Center for International Studies, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Despite deepening poverty and environmental degradation throughout rural Latin America, Mayan peasant farmers in Chiapas, Mexico, are finding environmental and economic success by growing organic coffee. Organic Coffee: Sustainable Development by Mayan Farmers provides a unique and vivid insight into how this coffee is grown, harvested, processed, and marketed to consumers in Mexico and in the north. Maria Elena Martinez-Torres explains how Mayan farmers have built upon their ethnic networks to make a crucial change in their approach to agriculture. Taking us inside Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state and scene of the 1994 Zapatista uprising, she examines the anatomy of the ongoing organic coffee boom and the fair-trade movement. The organic coffee boom arose as very poor farmers formed cooperatives, revalued their ethnic identity, and improved their land through organic farming. The result has been significant economic benefits for their families and ecological benefits for the future sustainability of agriculture in the region. Organic Coffee refutes the myth that organic farming is less productive than chemical-based agriculture and gives us reasons to be hopeful for indigenous peoples and peasant farmers

Contents:

Introduction : understanding the organic coffee boom in Chiapas

1. The spread of coffee

2. How coffee is produced

3. The international coffee market

4. The geography and history of coffee in Chiapas

5. State, society, and rural development in Mexico and Chiapas

6. Sustainable development : building social and natural capital

7. A study of coffee cooperatives in Chiapas

8. The economic benefits of organic farming

9. The ecological benefits of organic farming

10. Conclusions : sustainable development by Mayan farmers.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-89680-449-6

OCLC:

182530940