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DEALING WITH RISK:
SMALL-SCALE COFFEE PRODUCTION
SYSTEMS IN MEXICO 1
ALBA GONZÁLEZ JÁCOME 2
Background:
In this article, the history of coffee production in Mexico is not only a background
but also a framework to understand the adjustments peasants had to make through time to
deal with risk. Furthermore, some questions in the changes of different types of risks are
basic for the understanding of contemporary coffee production and the impacts it has on the
management of the relationship between nature, culture and socioeconomic forces.
Dealing with risk is a continuous process acting in coffee production; but in the case of the
small-scale cultivation it becomes basic to understand the decision making process
involving land use, labor allocation, amount to harvest, time to sell, quantities to sell, other
market crops options, and coffee monoculture or intermixing coffee with other plants
(staples, natural vegetation, other commercial crops, and so on).
Dealing with risk is the result of a series of environmental, social, cultural and
ideological adjustments peasants have to make in order to produce food, reproduce their
own families and obtain monetary resources to subsidize biological, economic, social and
cultural necessities. Moreover, these adjustments change through time according to changes
1 Alba González Jácome is responsible for the historical research on coffee, she also organized the data on different
coffee cultivation areas in Mexico and she is responsible for the interpretations in this chapter. The case studies are
based on current research that is being carried out by José Luis Blanco Rosas in Ocotal Chico, Veracruz and Ramón
Mariaca Méndez in Santa Marta Chenalhó, who obtained the information on contemporary small-scale coffee
cultivation in the highlands of Chiapas, where he has a current research project in Santa Martha Chenalhó. The
Xopilapa case study was studied by Jorge Aníbal Servín Segovia for his MA Thesis on Social Anthropology at the
Iberoamericana University in Mexico City. The three researches gave Alba González license to use their case study
findings in this chapter.
2 Alba González Jácome, Posgrado en Antropología Social, Departamento de Ciencias Sociales y Políticas,
Universidad Iberoamericana, Prolongación Paseo de la Reforma 880, Lomas de Santa Fe, México D.F. 01210.
alba.gonzalez@uia.mx
2 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
in nature, availability of natural resources, fluctuations in the market system, national and
international economic policies, relations between rural and urban societies, demographic
characteristics and the structure of local population, impacts from modernization programs,
technological advances applied to local activities, and culture change.
Mexican coffee production is presently in the hands of small-scale producers.
According to Martínez Morales (1998:44-45, 50) 69% of the coffee producers work plots
which have less than two hectares, 2% grow coffee in less than 10-hectare parcels and, 90%
of Mexican coffee producers have lands whose size is less than five hectares. This means
that coffee production is mainly in the hands of peasants, many of whom are Indians. In
1990, Mexico had 357 municipalities in which coffee was cultivated and 200 of them had
Indian population (IMECAFÉ, Coffee Census, 1990). The peasant agricultural production
relies on unpaid family labor and also, on local collective labor-sharing ways of social
organization (tequio, macoa, mano vueltai).
Some strategies developed by peasants through time are related to agricultural
activity and to the management of environmental and economic risks in order to obtain
subsistence and market commodities at the same time. Small-scale coffee cultivation is not
an exception; but the crop itself has local, national and international characteristics and
mechanisms to adjust to, which must be studied in order to understand its role in the
economy and life of this. Small-scale coffee producers had been characterized of being
poor, using traditional techniques, with no access to financial help from banks, with a
minimum use of fertilizers and fungicides and lower coffee plant renovation (Martínez
Morales, 1998:50). However, small-scale coffee production in Mexico is a much more
complicated matter than its purely economic aspect in societies and it can represent local
adjustments to peasant economy as a whole.
Introducing coffee in Mexico:
The beginning and the first steps during the XIX century
Coffee was consumed in New Spain as an exotic beverage at least since the end of
the Colonial times. It was imported from Cuba, already ground and packed. Coffee was
expensive and it was only consumed by rich people. During Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez’
government (1785-1786) one public establishment to drink coffee and smoke cigars was
founded (E.M., Vol. II, 1987:1142). A royal order from the Spanish Crown, which was
signed in 1792, exempted taxes to the imports of appliances for sugar and also for manual
coffee mills (Real Orden, 1792).
The introduction of commercial coffee cultivation in New Spain could be situated in
the year 1795. Available data consider the rural estate (hacienda) of Guadalupe -near the
city of Orizaba in Central Veracruz- was the first place in which coffee was grown. The
Spaniard Juan Antonio de Gómez de Guevara seems to have been the first coffee grower in
the country; he introduced coffee cultivation in Córdoba, which was an ideal place for its
24º C annual average temperature, and its altitude of 827 meters above sea level.ii (Baz y
Gallo, 1874:124, 128-129). Coffee production was exported in small quantities through the
Port of Veracruz in the years of 1802, 1803 and 1805 (272, 493 and 336 quintal3
3 One quintal equals 46 kilograms or equals 100 pounds.
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 3
respectively) (Escamilla, 1993:15; Martínez Morales, 1998:18; Moguel y Toledo, No. 11,
1999:4).
The Spaniard Jaime Salvet introduced coffee cultivation in his country estates of San
Diego de Barreto and Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Xuchimancas in the neighboring zone
of Cuernavaca, in the State of Morelos. During 1808-1809, 4,000 coffee trees were
cultivated by Salvet in the State of Morelos (AGN, Industria y Comercio, ff 444-469).
Jaime Salvet’s success in coffee cultivation made him write a petition to the Viceroy in
order to obtain a 25-year-excemption for paying taxes and tithing to the Church. However,
the 15 of July, 1809, the Church Council (Cabildo Eclesiástico) denied Salvet’s petition
adducing that coffee was cultivated in Ahualulco, Oaxaca, since 1800 (EM, Vol. II,
1987:1142).
Coffee was planted at the Archdiocese of Oaxaca in 1800. Francisco Antonio Rodal
was sent to verify the situation of the crops. He reported the existence of some small-scale
plantations the majority of which had only 9,000 coffee trees. Eleven years later, at the
beginning of Independent Mexico, Jerónimo Manchinelli introduced coffee cultivation in
Chiapas during 1820, and Miguel Teviño did it in Michoacán in the year of 1860 (MNCP,
1996).
The German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt traveled in the New Spain between
1803 and 1804. In his famous book published in Paris in 1822 he wrote that coffee was rare
in Mexico at that time; but he also wrote that coffee cultivation would be very successful in
places like Xalapa (Veracruz) and Chilpancingo (Guerrero), (Humboldt, 1978:291).
In 1826, a half million coffee plants were cultivated in the neighboring region of
Córdoba in the State of Veracruz. Between the 1820’s and the 1850’s coffee cultivation
spread to the States of Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco and Michoacán (EM, Vol. II,
1987:1142). Mocha coffee was introduced into the region of Uruapan, in the State of
Michoacán, by the General José Mariano Michelena after a trip to the Middle East. The
State of Colima promoted coffee cultivation in 1873, when the local Congress exempted
coffee growers of paying taxes for ten years and it also accepted to pay a premium of 500
pesos to the first coffee growers able to prove a 100 quintal coffee-bean harvest (EM., Vol.
II, 1987:1142).
Since the beginning coffee was planted with the idea of exportation. On the Pacific
Coast it was a hope to capture the USA coffee market. The partial bankruptcy of Brazilian
coffee plantations in the year of 1866 was also an important factor to increase coffee
cultivation in Mexico. By 1874, Coatepec, in Central Veracruz, also started coffee
cultivation. During the same year, Mexico had eight States with 148 places in which
3,125,998 coffee trees were planted. Economic policies about coffee production support its
cultivation. In Central Veracruz the area for the coffee cultivation increased from Córdoba
to Orizaba, Huatusco Xalapa and Coatepec. Governmental support thought tax exemption
was given to coffee producers in the States of Colima, Morelos, Oaxaca, Tabasco and
Veracruz (EM., Vol. II, 1987:1142).
Furthermore, historical sources show that, at least in the rural communities of Central
Veracruz, coffee trees also spread from the country estates to the small-scale peasant home
gardens; however, this process seems to be most important after 1910. According to
travelers’ descriptions of the region, it seems to be that in the XIX Century there were at
least two different ways of coffee cultivation: one way carried out through cutting the forest
and growing coffee without tree shade and, the other way was through the intermixing of
the coffee plant with banana, orange and mango trees. Technological advances were
4 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
absent and coffee beans were dried in terraces which were free of vegetation and also in
small plains and yards, using only solar heat and wind to complete the process.
During the last years of New Spain and the beginning of the XIX Century -after the
Independence of Mexico- coffee was a crop cultivated by the estate owners. During this
period of coffee introduction in the country, environmental risk was the most important
factor acting when the coffee cherries were in the process of being dried. At this point,
there is not available data to understand the difficulties coffee introducers had to deal with
the adaptation of the coffee plants to the subtropical environment in which they were
cultivated. There is also no information to know something about the cultural routes
through which the new beverage was introduced in the consumers’ taste.
The first steps toward the creation of a coffee market:
In 1808, the estate of Acazónica, which was located in Central Veracruz, cleared its
surrounding forest to grow coffee trees (Informe, 1809). In 1810 Acazónica was a large
rural estate whose owners were Francisco de Arrillaga and his partner Bazán (Scharrer,
1982:250-25). Acazónica occupied an extensive area from the cold lands near Perote to the
tropical lands in La Antigua. At the end of 1829, Carl Christian Sartorius and Karl Lavater
bought 4,500 hectares of the old country estate from Arrillaga; this land was located in a
place called Paso de los Monos (The Passage of the Monkeys), whose name was changed to
El Mirador (The Observation Balcony) (Scharrer, 1982:250-251). An old road passed from
Paso del Macho (Passage of the Mule) to the Cerro de los Micos (Hill of the Monkeys) in a
zigzag design, which avoided the ravines and the basin of the Atoyac river -100 meters
deep- which was covered with tropical vegetation (Baz y Gallo, 1874:122-123).
From the total of El Mirador’s land only 25 hectares were cultivated with sugar-cane,
coffee and pineapple. The coffee cultivation at El Mirador acquired economic importance
only after 1870, when this product was directed for exportation (Scharrer, 1982:250-251,
257). In his famous book Mexico about 1850, the German Carl Christian Sartorius
(1961:168) described the agriculture of the coastal regions to the altitude of 4,000 feet as
having crops of cocoa, vanilla, indigo, sugar, rice, banana, tobacco and coffee. Sartorius
(1961:175) wrote that coffee was at that time a new crop, its cultivation was “insignificant”
and “none is exported”. However, his description of the coffee tree explains that it “thrives
exceedingly well, producing a small, hard, very aromatic bean.” Sartorius’ book is a good
source to understand the ways in which coffee was cultivated at that time.
Small-scale coffee cultivators in Veracruz grow a few hundred trees near their houses.
Coffee plantations looked like gardens (coffee-gardens). The picking of the ripe cherries,
their cleaning and the drying of coffee beans was carried out by women and children
between November and March. The Indian coffee gardens around Orizaba were intermixed
with orange, banana and mango trees. Coffee trees started blooming from February until
April and their appearance was “magnificent”. Each coffee tree produced between pounds
to a pound and a half of dry coffee whose price at the time of harvesting was six-dollars-per
hundredweight. A thousand coffee trees were able to be cultivated in one acre and the
small-scale planter was able to take care of 5,000 trees, with only external labor needed
during the harvest time (Sartorius, 1961:175).
An important legal impulse to coffee cultivation was the expedition of Decree
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 5
number 170, signed by Governor Miguel Palacio on April 16, 1852. In this document the
State of Veracruz exempted the coffee grower of paying taxes for a period of two years
(IMECAFÉ, 1976).
After 1854, the estate of El Mirador started to send small quantities of coffee to its
commercial agents in the Port of Veracruz. A year later Sartorius’ opinion about the
Huatusco region was that coffee “is like cash” because the European market had maintained
high prices for it (Sartorius, 1870:160). After 1870 El Mirador increased the area in which
coffee trees were planted. The planting and harvesting of coffee needed more labor than the
people used to live in a permanent way on the estate lands; the share-crop agreements
(contratos de aparcería) were used to obtain the necessary labor. El Mirador also had
planters, from which coffee trees were taken and given as a gift to the laborers for the
planting and re-planting in their rented lands (Scharrer, 1982:257).
Coffee plants needed from three to four years to start producing. During these years
tobacco, corn and beans were also interplant. Supplies (ministraciones) to coffee
production were also given to small-scale coffee planters. These supplies were loaned to
land renters for a period of three years, after which they had to pay the debt using as a base
the coffee prices of the market. Land renters also had to sell their product to the owner of
the land. The drying and grinding of the coffee beans also had to be done in El Mirador; the
half of the expenses needed for the harvesting and for the transportation of coffee from the
plots to the yards of the estate was paid by the enterprise (Scharrer, 1982:257-258).
The American Colonel and journalist Albert S. Evans (1992:214) traveled in Mexico
during 1869. In his book on the country he writes that coffee trees were cultivated from
Orizaba to the Paso del Macho, in Central Veracruz. He added that the cultivation of coffee
was carried out with not much care on the plants, which produced sufficient coffee to cover
the internal market; but Evans added that with more favorable social conditions, the
country would be capable of exporting coffee in great quantities. However, the time to the
coffee “boom” in the Mexican economy was only starting; better ways of communication
and the expansion of coffee cultivation were related facts in this history.
Furthermore, Cambrezy-Bernal and Lascuráin (1992: VII) considered that from 1870
to 1910 the modern rural estate in Mexico had its peak, and the plantations and ranches
increased their economic importance while the rural towns decreased. It is possible to
consider that modern agriculture and new commercial crops such as coffee were organized
at this time. The reorganization of the Mexican economy and the economic policies tied to
this production change had very important impacts on the Mexican local and regional
landscapes.
The coffee cultivation from 1870 to 1910:
January first of 1873, Gilbert Haven (1992:277, 299-300) an American protestant
pastor arrived in the Port of Veracruz. The same day the President of Mexico –Sebastián
Lerdo de Tejada- arrived in the Port for the first inaugural trip of the Mexico City to
Veracruz railroad. Haven’s book was published in New York two years later. On one of his
trips -going from Fortín de las Flores to Orizaba- Haven described the vegetation along the
road as teeming with big banana, coffee and mango trees; the peasant houses were hidden
in this exuberant vegetation. Coffee plantations were located along the road. Coffee plants
were no more than six to eight feet high and they were protected from the sun with the
6 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
shade of banana trees and different types of broad-leaf trees.
Haven (1992:300) describes the way in which coffee was drunk at that time. The
beverage was very strongly prepared (extract), but it was served mixed with two thirds of
hot milk. Good coffee drinkers diminished the quantity of milk to almost nothing; coffee in
the houses was served using two pots, one for the milk and the other for the coffee. In his
opinion the best Mexican coffee was produced in Colima, on the west coast. Its price was
one-and-a-half pesos per pound and the quality of this coffee was better than of the Rio de
Janeiro’s coffee, as a result of its taste and mildness. However, Haven considered that
Mexican coffee was not as good as Java and Mocha coffees. Furthermore, Mexican coffee
was not mixed with chicory or garbanzo, as happened in the USA where pure coffee was
very expensive.
A year later (December 1873 to January 1874) the British traveler John Lewis Geiger
(1992:309, 320) crossed the country from the port of Manzanillo to Veracruz. Geiger wrote
a Chronicle which was published in London in 1874. He described Córdoba as a very
famous place for its coffee, which according to him was as good as Colima and Mocha
coffees. At that time Córdoba had numerous country estates dedicated to the cultivation of
coffee, whose exportation to the USA was favored by the railroad. At that time numerous
foreigners were buying properties in the region.
Governmental protectionism was applied to coffee cultivation in the States of Colima,
Morelos, Tabasco, Oaxaca and Veracruz. Coffee producers from Miahuatlán, in Oaxaca,
were organized in a group. The coffee from Uruapan, Soconusco and Coatepec was known
as the best in the country (EM., Vol.2, 1987:1142). In October 1875, an urban railroad from
Xalapa to Coatepec started being built to facilitate communication between the two cities
and agricultural exportation (Baz and Gallo, 1874:278).
In 1873, a magnificent description of coffee cultivation in Orizaba was made by Baz
and Gallo (1874:164-166). Lescano, a coffee cultivator, was the main source for Baz and
Gallo’s narration. Coffee, tobacco and sugar-cane were the most important agricultural
commercial productions in the Orizaba region. Coffee was easy to cultivate and the price
was rising and for these reasons new areas were opened for this crop at that time. Coffee
was able to be cultivated in different types of soil: red and dried or black and humid, but
coffee plants were best adapted to profound crumb soils which did not need irrigation.
Previously, coffee planters had to be installed and no coffee cherries which fell to the
soil naturally would be used, because their quality was inadequate for transplanting.
Planters were located in open areas with mediocre soil quality because a process of
crumbling the soil would start before planks (canteros, tablas) could be made. Mature
coffee cherries harvested directly from the coffee trees had the pulp removed, were
dampened, and wrapped with ash fifteen days before the planting. Three coffee beans were
planted in each hole. The planters had to be irrigated every afternoon, but flooding the soil
under the planks was not adequate. After ten months, the coffee plants could be
transplanted to the fields, but soils had to be humid, or had to be irrigated before that. The
coffee plants had to be at least 75 centimeters high. Transplanting was carried out during
the hot months of the year and also during the rainy season (Baz and Gallo, 1874:164).
There were two methods for avoiding coffee plant drying: trimming the roots or
taking care that the roots were not hurt. The second method was the one recommended by
Lescano. The coffee plantation zone was formed of rectangles, according to the weather
and to the micro topography of the place. The dried-soil rectangles were smaller than those
in humid soils. In level terrains the coffee trees were planted with more density than in hilly
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 7
terrains. In humid soils the digging of trenches was basic for controlling water excess.
Coffee trees were planted in meter-deep holes which were organized in rows with a
distance of one meter to one-meter-and-a-half from each other, to favor the clearing of the
coffee plantation soil. Each hole had to have manure (mantillo), covering the coffee plant
(Baz and Gallo, 1874:165).
The coffee plantation had to be free of plant remains because insects and pests used
to live there. Fallen leaves had to be removed and dried or decomposed outside the
plantation and only after that, this green manure could be applied to the soil. In this way
dirt was an excellent green manure for the coffee plantation. The inter-planting of coffee
trees with plants like the pineapple was a good way to control insects because they
preferred the pineapple as a host and also because the insects died. This agricultural
practice was applied by some Cuban coffee cultivators at that time. Plant lice attacked the
roots of the coffee tree; it was a current problem and the way to control it was through
carving the infected root to find the wound and covering it with mud (Baz and Gallo,
1874:165).
Altitude was very important to decide if the coffee trees needed shade or not. There
were zones in which no shade was necessary for the coffee trees. In places in which coffee
trees needed only a little shade banana trees were planted; however, banana leaves were
very long and they diminished the circulation of air and light intensity, and also the soil
maintained too much humidity. Lescano recommended an inter-planting of coffee plants
with shade trees because air, light and humidity were basic to obtain good coffee
production. A coffee plantation had a life span of 15 and 60 years, depending on the
received care (Baz and Gallo, 1874:166).
This care included a harvesting in which coffee trees were softly moved when the
coffee cherries were red and mature. The maturing process had to be uniform to obtain
good quality coffee, because mixing green with red coffee cherries would produce the loss
of the coffee aroma. Coffee beans were sun dried in special places called driers (secadores),
but the grains were removed everyday using a rake to obtain uniformity. The peeling of the
coffee cherries was done by machines (despulpadoras), (Baz and Gallo, 1874:166).
According to the 1907 Statistics (AGVE, Hacienda, 1908), the rural estates in the
Municipality of Córdoba were concentrating their agricultural production in the cultivation
of coffee. In 22 of the total of 23 officially registered estates, coffee was the main crop, and
only on one of the estates was coffee combined with tobacco. The Potrero rural estate had
3,988,00 hectares planted with coffee and it was the biggest coffee producer in the
Municipality. The rural estate of Monte Blanco was the second one, with 2,598.11.72
hectares dedicated to coffee cultivation. Both estates belonged to persons whose last name
–Adams and Braniff- were of foreigner origin. Zopilote, belonging to José Antonio
Márquez Hoyos, had the smallest surface dedicated to coffee cultivation, with 15,321.50
hectares (Statistic of 1907, AGVE, Hacienda, 1908).
The Municipality of Córdoba had a total of 17,606. 85.52 (97.38%) hectares with
mono coffee cultivation, 473. 75.61 (2.62%) hectares inter-planted with coffee and tobacco
and a total of 18, 080.61.13 hectares (100%) with both types of coffee cultivation. This data
shows that mono coffee cultivation in the rural estates of the Municipality increased very
drastically from 1874 to 1907 (Statistic of 1907, AGVE, Hacienda, 1908).
8 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
Figure 1:
Coffee production in the rural estates
of Córdoba in 1907
Rural estate Total Hectares
Coffee Coffee/
tobacco
El Potrero 3,988.00.00 3,988.00.00
Monte Blanco 2,598.11.72 2,598.11.72
San Francisco 1,635.43.50 1,635.43.50
San Francisco 1,369.44.30 1,369.44.30
Las Ánimas 1,198.28.26 1,198.28.26
Zapoapita 1,048.48.50 1,048.48.50
Tapia 648.72.50 648.72.50
San Miguelito 548.99.82 548.99.82
La Capilla 502.82.49 502.82.49
San José 492.00.00 492.00.00
Buenavista 473.75.61 473.75.61
Presidio 461.05.40 461.05.40
Ocampo 423.97.56 423.97.56
Cacahuatal 385.15.77 385.15.77
Toluquilla 371.50.00 371.50.00
La Trinidad 353.06.12 353.06.12
María 351.75.19 351.75.19
Zacatepec 342.15.77 342.15.77
La Ceiba 224.67.62 224.67.62
Guadalupe 216.80.70 216.80.70
Zopilote 153.21.50 153.21.50
Ojo de Agua 110.59.40 110.59.40
Ojo de Agua 110.59.40 110.59.40
TOTAL 18,080.61.13 17,606.85.52
473.75.61
Percent 100.00% 97.38% 2.62%
Source: Statistic of 1907, AGVE, Hacienda, 1908.
Since 1874, the coffee region in Veracruz has extended to include Coatepec. The
same year, the number of coffee trees in the State of Veracruz was of 1,322,806. The region
Xalapa-Coatepec had a temperate climatic characteristic. With less heat and more humidity
the region is located at an average of 1,400 meters above sea level. The precipitation ranged
from 1,500 to 2,000 annual millimeters; although the dry periods were short and drizzle
(chipi chipi) was not very long, it was sufficient to maintain humidity. Xalapa and
Coatepec are situated in the abrupt slopes of the Cofre de Perote which produces an
undulate topography with fertile soils very adequate for agriculture. Altitudinal changes
produce immediate changes in the type of soils and vegetation (Cambrezy-Bernal and
Lascuráin, 1992:26-27).
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 9
The country estates in the Xalapa-Coatepec region had a Caribbean-Spanish
construction style which was characterized by lush vegetation, appropriate water
management, and the abundance of open yards and portals (Cambrezy-Bernal and
Lascuráin, 1992). The estates cultivated not only coffee; there are data which permit us to
see the strategy of inter-planting coffee with other agricultural products and with other
economic activities their owners developed. This was a way to deal with economic risk and
it is presently the normal strategy followed by the medium and the large-scale coffee
cultivators in this region (Segrove, 2003).
Figure 2
Country estates producing coffee
in the Xalapa-Coatepec region: 1870-1910
Name Localization
Agricultural
activity Other economic
activities
Lucas Martín Road
Banderilla to
Xalapa
Sugar-cane, coffee,
fruit, cattle
Textile industry since
1841.
Smelter.
Las Ánimas
Entrance road
Veracruz to
Xalapa
Sugar-cane, coffee
(since 1919) Sugar-cane factory
Coffee factory (since
1985)
Consolapa
Road Xalapa to
Coatepec
La Orduña
Road Xalapa to
Coatepec
Monte Verde y
Pasagera*
Cantón de
Xalapa Coffee, cattle
Pacho Sugar-cane, fruit
trees, cattle, coffee
(since 1870).
Sugar grinding
Pacho Nuevo*
Cantón de
Xalapa Coffee
Quimiapan Coffee
Zimpizahua Sugar-cane, coffee,
fruit, cattle Coffee factory
Mahuiztlán Sugar-cane Sugar mill
Tuzamapan Sugar-cane, coffee
Sugar mill, hotel, and
distillery.
Sources: Cambrezy-Bernal and Lascuráin, 1992:27-28, 88, 94, 105, 117, 125;
Estadística de 1907, GEV, Hacienda, 1908 (*).
In 1880, at the beginning of Porfiriato,iii the State of Veracruz was considered as the
most advanced place for the cultivation of coffee in Mexico. Veracruz was providing two
thirds of the total coffee production in the country. The State of Colima produced one sixth
of the total and the rest of the coffee production was provided by the States of Chiapas,
Guerrero, Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca and Tabasco. Ten years later coffee cultivation was
10 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
extended to the States of Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Durango and Mexico. The northern States of
Nayarit (Tepic), Sinaloa and Coahuila were also included; however, in this last northern
State coffee cultivation was abandoned very soon (López Rosado, 1968:98; d’Olwer,
1974:99).
In 1877, International coffee prices decreased as a consequence of the increase of
world areas in which coffee trees were cultivated 10 years before. During 1883, Mexican
coffee supplied 1.6% of the World production. In the next year, Mexican coffee supplied
4.0% of the World production. At this time the coffee from Michoacán was considered the
finest in the world and Mexican coffee the mildest produced in the world. Coffee from
Michoacán and Colima was sent to the national market while Córdoba, Orizaba, Coatepec
and Oaxaca coffees were destined to international markets, but the major part was
consumed in the USA; minor coffee quantities were sold in Spain, France and Germany,
and the British market still was much reduced (d’Olwer, 1974:98).
On January 9, 1879, a group of 70 American entrepreneurs, industrialists, merchants
and journalists traveled from New Orleans to the Port of Veracruz under the command of
Colonel Whiting, to open commercial relations with the Mexican government directed by
Porfirio Díaz (Finerty, 1992:9-13). The Irish-American journalist from the Chicago Times,
John F. Finerty, came with the group and visited the country from Veracruz to Chihuahua
passing through Querétaro, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and Durango. During his 30-day trip
he sent 14 articles to the newspaper; in 1904, he put together the articles and wrote a book
titled Mexican Flash Lights. A Narrative of Travel, Adventure and Observation in Mexico,
Old and New (1904).
On his way to the Orizaba volcano, Finerty (1992:22-23) described the coffee region
surrounding Córdoba. The writer considered coffee from this region as the best in the north
of the continent. For the eyes of the journalist, the coffee plantations were attended with
great care, banana and coffee trees were cultivated in intermixed rows, and banana trees
gave shade to the neighboring coffee plants. The laborers (peones) were in charge of
harvesting the coffee cherries. The owners of the country estates were lazy to supervise the
crop and many times they rented the land to speculators. Using data from the American
naturalist Frederick Ober, who also visited the zone around Orizaba, Finerty (1992:23)
described the home gardens cultivated with corn, coffee, pears, sugar-cane, grapes and
mango trees.
A Belgian traveler -Jules Joseph Leclercq- who was the president of the Belgium
Geographical Society and a member of the Geographical Society in Paris traveled through
Mexico in 1883 (Leclercq, 1992:119-156). His book was published in Paris in 1885.
Leclercq came from New York to Mexico City and from there he took the train and went to
the Port of Veracruz. This traveler visited Orizaba, Córdoba, Xalapa, Medellín, and
Alvarado. According to Leclercq (1992:127), Córdoba had an exuberant vegetation
including native and foreign species like the Chilean Araucarias, the coffee trees from
Liberia (Moka tancifolaiv), pepper and mango trees, Cryptomeria japonica, Carica papaya,
banana trees (Musa ensete), medlar-trees, laurel-trees, azaleas, and Ortodoxia regia, among
others.
Leclercq (1992:127-128) went to visit a coffee plantation which was a property of his
host; it was located within walking distance from Córdoba. The coffee plantation was
described as “a botanical garden” of 500 hectares, irrigated by a nearby river with several
falls whose borders were abundant in tropical vegetation like giant arbores cent ferns and
figs. The coffee trees were trimmed to control their height and also in order to obtain the
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 11
growth of horizontal branches which facilitated the harvest. Coffee beans were harvest
from November to April and after harvesting the coffee beans were sun dried in yards.
Coffee trees “liked” to be under the shade of an acacia (Puanciana imperialis) but in order
to obtain another production, coffee growers used to plant banana trees instead.
In this region banana plantations were always coffee plantations also (Leclercq,
1992:129). Leclercq’s host was introducing a variety of coffee from Liberia whose leaves
were longer than other varieties and also with flowers which had seven to nine petals
instead of only five. In order to counteract the lower prices of coffee at that time,
Leclercq’s host was also growing quinine trees whose price in the international market was
sufficiently high to cover coffee production losses (Leclercq, 1992:129-130). The rest of
the tropical vegetation in the country estate was composed of mango trees (Mangifera
indica), coconut palms, date palms, fiber palms, Ravenala madagascaris, bread trees,
avocado trees, milk trees (Galactodendron utile), banana trees, brown sapota-trees
(chicozapote), cherimoya (chirimoya), guava, pomegranate, pineapple and orange trees.
According to Leclercq’s host, -a foremen by the way- after traveling all around the
world, this region was the most beautiful land of all; however, the host added “it is a pity
that Mexico was crowded with Mexicans”. For this man, the main problem to maintain his
property was the pillage of corn during the harvest timev; but the most terrible enemies for
the coffee trees were the ants and the moles. A year before the man spent 15,000 francs to
combat them with no good results; although Indians took in their hands the capturing of
moles which they ate (Leclercq, 1992:131).
On his way to Xalapa, Leclercq (1992:137) passed through Huatusco, a place with a
humid climate very favorable for coffee cultivation, which was at 1,200 meters above sea
level. Xalapa was a city with a population of 10,000; the town of Coatepec was near it. A
man from Switzerland named Robert was in charge of a steam plant used to classify coffee
beans; the plant belonged to the Ritter House in Veracruz. According to Leclercq the steam
plant was magnificent and also it was the best in Mexico.
In 1887, the Jesuit Charles Croonenberghs visited Mexico. His book on his trip was
published in France in 1893. Croonenberghs (19992:166-167) went to Orizaba and Córdoba
where he was invited to stay at the Las Ánimas estate, a property of a Spaniard named
Ignacio Vivanco. A few hectares of the estate were dedicated to coffee cultivation, which
was planted in intermixed rows with banana trees. The coffee trees required a
seven-to-eight-year period for obtaining a plentiful production. Coffee trees were trimmed
to maintain a height no more than 10 to 12 feet. The period of harvesting was from
November to April. The drying of the coffee cherries was carried out on paved terraces
under the wind and the sun. Later, the coffee beans were stored in ventilated granaries.
After a while the beans were taken out of their cascarilla bark; when perfectly dried, the
coffee beans were weighed and packed in sacks in order to be transported to Europe.
Croonenberghs (1992:167) considered the coffee from Michoacán as the best of the country
because was strong and aromatic.
A Bostonian journalist, Maturing Murray Ballou, published the book Aztec Land in
1890, after a pleasure trip to Mexico. Murray (1992:183-185) visited Orizaba, Córdoba and
Xalapa. Murray’s descriptions of coffee production in the area tell us that a plantation was
25 to 30 acres located in the level land, the coffee trees were planted in rows mixed with
banana, orange and mango trees and some other shade trees. The coffee trees were trimmed
to maintain a certain height. The plantation had also quinine trees which were harvested
four times a year; quinine trees were very profitable.
12 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
In 1890, the Minister of Economics in Mexico published a book written by Alfonso
Luis Velasco about the geography and statistics of each one of the States in the country.
Volume III was dedicated to Veracruz, which at that time was organized in 18 political
regions (cantones), 197 municipalities and 1,174 congregations. The richest regions of the
State of Veracruz were: Veracruz, Orizaba and Córdoba (Velasco, 1890:59). The main
agricultural products were: corn (307,000,000 kg.), cotton (16,000,000 kg.), beans
(11,952,000 kg.), coffee (6,700,000 kg.), tobacco (4,200,000 kg.) and dried chilies
(2,760,000 kg.), (Velasco, 1890:60).
Coffee was planted in the regions of Córdoba, Orizaba, Huatusco, Coatepec, and in
small quantities in the Tuxtlas (Velasco, 1890:61,127). The region of Córdoba had 15
municipalities, 83 congregations and 41,374 inhabitants, 204 of whom were foreigners (143
Spaniards, 31 Frenchmen, 15 Italians, five Germans, two Englishmen and eight Americans).
In 1890, coffee was the most important agricultural product (1,700,000 kg.), followed by
tobacco (1,100,000 kg.), corn (210,000 hectoliter) and rice (200,000 kilograms) (Velasco,
1890:165-168). The city of Córdoba had 5,800 inhabitants and it was built in the middle of
home gardens, coffee gardens, and cocoa groves; its economy was based on the production
sent to Mexico City, and exported to the United States and Europe of coffee, tobacco, rice
and fruit (mango, orange, pineapple, lemon, banana, coconut and mamey) (Velasco,
1890:172).
The region of Orizaba had 53,267 inhabitants, of which 393 were foreigners (157
Spaniards, 48 Frenchmen, two Belgians, 31 Italians, one Portuguese, 31 Germans, 66
Englishmen, two Austrians, two Swiss, four Turks, 48 Americans and one Polynesian).
Sugar, coffee and tobacco were the main agricultural products in the region. There were 15
estates dedicated to the cultivation of coffee (700,000 kg. annually) and tobacco (260,000
kg. annually). The city of Orizaba was surrounded by coffee plantations, home gardens,
sugar-cane and tobacco fields, gardens and cocoa groves (Velasco, 1890:178, 179).
In 1890, the Municipality of Coatepec had 34,484 inhabitants, 20 of them were
foreigners (12 Spaniards, one Frenchmen, one Belgians, one Englishman, one Swiss, one
Russian, two Americans and one Guatemalan). Coffee was the main agricultural product
(2,300,000 kg.) followed by sugar-cane (800,000 kg.), tobacco, corn, black beans, rice,
chili, yucca, peanut, root of Xalapa, castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis) and fruit (orange,
lime, avocado, banana, pear, apple, and sour cherry). The city of Coatepec had 5,400
inhabitants. Exportation of coffee, tobacco and sugar were of most importance for the
economy of the city (Velasco, 1890:157-159).
A few years later, in 1907, the Italian Adolfo Dollero (1992, Vol. VIII: 206-207)
traveled in Veracruz. He described Coatepec as a town surrounded by large coffee and
orange plantations, which was located at 1,252 meters above sea level, and had a
population of 7,600 people. Coffee, tropical fruit, sugar-cane and cattle were Coatepec’s
main products. The natural forest included liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflora u
orientalis), and many foraging and medicinal plants. Coatepec had several installations
dedicated to coffee industrial processes (beneficios). Near Coatepec was Teocelo, a small
town with 3,300 inhabitants, in which coffee was the most important economic resource. In
Teocelo, coffee was grown without the shade of the trees, and this was an unusual situation
in this part of Veracruz.
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 13
Figure 3
Coffee production in Mexico: 1897
State Tons % of the total
Veracruz 14,303
65.63%
Oaxaca 2,770
12.71%
Chiapas 2,465
11.31%
Puebla 704
3.23%
San Luis Potosí 404
1.85%
Michoacán 363
1.67%
Tepic 264
1.21%
Jalisco 166
0.76%
Hidalgo 156
0.72%
Tabasco 70
0.32%
México 60
0.27%
Colima 58
0.26%
Guerrero 12
0.06%
TOTAL 21,795
100%
Source: K. Kaerger, 1986 (original 1901):77
The Tehuantepec Isthmus and the coffee corridor between Veracruz and
Chiapas
The agronomist Karl Kaerger published a book in 1901 about the German investment
possibilities in Hispanic America. The section dedicated to Mexico describes the
agricultural products which at that time were exported and also the economic activities
directed toward the internal market. Coffee was included as well as sugar-cane, cereals,
Agaves, cotton, henequen, cacao, rubber, vanilla production and northern cattle rising.
According to Kaerger (1986:77-78), in 1897, the Municipality of Minatitlán was included
as a coffee producer in the State of Veracruz. The entrance of the railroad to the
Tehuantepec Isthmus and the construction of the ports of Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf coast
and Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast by the Englishman Pearson opened up this region to
coffee cultivation.
Americans arrived in Minatitlán starting the coffee cultivation on the lower slopes of
the mountains near the Isthmus. These coffee plantations were extended into eastern
Chiapas and Tabasco. Even if the main Chiapas and Oaxaca coffee regions were located on
the Pacific coast. Soconusco was the most important coffee region in Chiapas, while
Pochutla was the most important coffee region in Oaxaca at that time. In the State of
Oaxaca small-scale Indian land owners were cultivating coffee in the communities of Villa
Alta, Choapan, Tuxtepec and Teotitlan. A big international coffee factory was installed in
Oaxaca and the cultivation of coffee was extended to Cuicatlan (Kaerger, 1986:78).
Kaerger traveled from Oaxaca to Guatemala crossing through Chiapas in order to
investigate some of the environmental conditions in the coffee cultivation regions. He made
14 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
soil analyses in order to see the possibilities for the application of chemical fertilizers on a
coffee plantation which belonged to a German entrepreneur. The soil analyses were done in
the Albert Company in Germany, and the result was a lack of equilibrium in the soil
nutrients. According to Kaerger (1986:80-81), the coffee which was planted in zones with
shade and a constant humidity produced soils with better chemical conditions than the
coffee planted in zones where the coffee plants were exposed to the sun during the
mornings.
A pamphlet called Cultivo y Beneficio del Café, written by the agronomist Gabriel
Gómez, was published and distributed by the Mexican Government to teach people in this
region how to cultivate coffee. However, this pamphlet did not take into account the sun
and shade impact on coffee cultivation. Kaerger (1986:81) assured that German coffee
cultivators agreed with him in this matter. Furthermore, Kaerger (1986:82) also added that
humidity was the cause of nitrogen richness in the soils when shade was associated in the
coffee cultivation zones. The geological origin of the soil and the degree of slope
inclination in each zone were also related to the life span of the coffee trees.
According to Kaerger (1986:82), the final result of all these environmental conditions
in the cultivation of coffee in the Isthmus region was the short or the long life of the plants.
The inadequate conditions permitted only a life span for the coffee plant of seven years, of
which only three of four were productive. Moreover, one coffee tree was able to produce
only one pound of coffee but the coffee producers were happy when that was only half a
pound. A common harvesting practice among the coffee producers in Oaxaca was
harvesting the cherries when they had a light red color, because they thought that the deep
red color in the coffee cherries was caused by too much sap losses.
Kaerger’s idea -also supported by Hilario Cuevas (1895), a coffee producer who was
the owner of a rural estate in Cuicatlan- was that the lack of humidity and a resulting
dryness of the soil due to insulation and the lack of shade trees in places like Juquila and
Pochutla were the cause. He also found a lack of labor in the region which was associated
with the problem. Moreover, some foreigners coffee producers started planting banana and
rubber trees (Castilloa elastica) as shade for the coffee plant. Introduction of irrigation was
not a common practice in the region and only the Indian Rubber Company at La Esmeralda
rural estate was applying irrigation to the crops (Kaerger, 1986:84-85).
Irrigation of the coffee trees was carried out using the topography of the terrain to
catch rain water in holes (cajetes) which were open near the coffee plant. Slope inclination
permitted the capture of water in the holes; but, some terraces had to be constructed in
places with severe inclination. Terraces were easily constructed using edges made with
earth and weeded vegetation during the clearing time on the coffee plantation. The gradual
accumulation of soil and weeds produced the necessary terraces with not much human and
monetary investment. According to Kaerger (1986:86-87) if the holes were covered with
weeds and a superior layer of lime and soil, their water retention capacity would continue
but the increase of nutritive soil substances would be better used by the coffee trees due to
the bacteriological and chemical processes.
Kaerger (1986:86-87) also recommended the use of animal manure instead of
chemical fertilizers. As in Juquila, no intensive cattle production was available; the German
agronomist recommended the use of mules and other beasts of burden to obtain the
necessary manure for the coffee trees. The development of lateral branches in the coffee
trees was due to the depth of the coffee plant roots because they had to grow deeply in
order to obtain the necessary humidity; dry soils would produce high coffee trees, deep
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 15
roots and no lateral branches. Trimming the coffee trees would permit the development of
lateral branches and less height and length in them; it also would permit better sap
circulation in the plant.
The German agronomist found a very close relationship between humus quantity and
soil humidity in the coffee plantations with productivity. Five German plantations in
Pochutla with a total of 400,000 coffee trees were able to produce 30,000 quintals of
coffee; the average was of three quarters of a quintal of dry coffee beans per tree. The
coffee trees in the Pochutla region had a life span of 12 to 15 years. The plantations lacked
irrigation but annual average rainfall was higher in Pochutla than in Juquila (Kaerger,
1986:88-89).
Some descriptions about human labor in the State of Oaxaca coffee plantations were
written by Kaerger (1986:88). The plantations were not able to have permanent workers
living on their terrains although they were offering plots for the cultivation of corn and
beans. Nevertheless the labor during harvesting times was normally enough to cover the
seasonal activities. The daily salary for the seasonal labor was of three reales (37 and a half
cents) with no food included. This salary was paid for several tasks:
The opening of 40 to 50 holes according to the soil hardness; each hole was an square
of .42 meters (media vara) per side, with .63 meters deep (three quarters of a vara). The
clearing of a square terrain surface of 21.84 meters per side (26 varas), which was called
tarea. The tarea was done with the help of a grub hoe or by a coa (stick with a hardened
end). The clearing of a square terrain with 32.76 meters per side (one and a half tarea),
with no cutting of the weeds very close to the soil surface and using the machete. The
clearing of a terrain with 100 coffee trees using a grub hoe or a coa. The clearing of a
terrain with 150 coffee trees using a machete (Kaerger, 1986:88).
The harvesting of coffee cherries was paid with a price of .05 cents per 8 kg. (Almud),
but the number of kilograms per each almud varies from one plantation to another. The
coffee cherries must be mature but a process of bean selection was done and no red beans
were harvested. Coffee plantation machinery was good but not as good as that which was
used in the major coffee regions of the country. According to Kaerger (1986:88) labor
salary conditions were better in Oaxaca than in the rest of the coffee production regions of
the country due to the small size of the coffee production areas and the lack of demand of
their related jobs.
The southern regions and the coffee cultivation
In 1892, the Southern Railroad Line was inaugurated, promoting coffee cultivation in
Chiapas. Large scale coffee cultivation was carried out in at least two ways: plantations
(fincas rústicas) mainly located on the Mexican border with Guatemala, where coffee
monoculture was an established system, and country estates in which coffee was mixed
with other commercial crops. The large-scale coffee monoculture plantations cleared the
soil of subtropical vegetation leaving the coffee crops lacking of shade trees; fertilizers and
manure were not applied, the hardened soils were not removed, and the crops lacked
irrigation. Estate owners sold the coffee production to national and international markets
(d’Olwer, 1974:101).
In 1908, when the railroad from Soconusco (Chiapas) to Coatzacoalcos (Gulf coast)
was inaugurated, there were 66 plantations dedicated to coffee cultivation in southern
16 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
Chiapas (Renard, 2002:15). These country coffee estates belonged to foreigners; their long
extension permitted leaving extensive areas without cultivation, pasture zones and land for
the corn cultivation destined to fulfill the permanent workers’ subsistence. The railroad
permitted the exportation of coffee to San Francisco, New Orleans and New York in the
USA and to Hamburg, Bremen and Rotterdam in Europe, through the Guatemalan Pacific
ports of Ocós and San José and the Mexican port of Madero.
The coffee peak in the international market is also related to the Brazilian coffee
crisis of 1886. Some local situations occurred in southern Mexico like the growth of
regional cities as happened in Tapachula, due to the arrival of merchants. The expansion of
coffee cultivation in the Mame area at Highland Chiapas occurred after 1910 (Renard,
2002:15-16). Furthermore, in 1911, the coffee from the Soconusco provided to the State of
Chiapas economy with more than half of its budget. Palenque, Chilón, Tonalá, Tuxtla,
Pichucalco, Simojovel, Chiapa, Mariscal, Mezcalapa, Las Casas and La Libertad were also
growing coffee through country estates (fincas rústicas). Coffee entrepreneurs were the
most prosperous economic group in Chiapas at that time (Grollová, 2002:195).
In the Soconusco, the Central American Railroad Line (1908) facilitated the
transportation of coffee production from Puerto Mexico (Coatzacoalcos) on the Gulf coast
to Hamburg and Bremen, and from Salina Cruz on the Pacific Coast to the East coast of the
United States (Walter, 2002:27). The shortening of the period of transportation of the
coffee beans from the Chiapanecan plantations to Europe -which originally was nearly four
months-, was the trigger for the increase of coffee cultivation in this region. In 1900, the
Soconusco had 26 coffee plantations which increased to 94 in 1927 (Waibl, 1936).
The last days of the Porfiriato:
At the beginning of the XX Century, the coffee production in Mexico had some
characteristics: (1) very limited zones were producing the best coffee in the country
(Xalapa, Coatepec, Uruapan, Miahuatlan, Soconusco, Tuxtla, Mezcalapa, and the Valley of
Tulijá), (2) the cultivation of coffee was very much in a stage of experimentation, (3) the
coffee prices were capricious, (4) the coffee for international markets had problems with its
presentation, (5) the economic policies for coffee cultivation differed from one State to
another, (6) the zones producing coffee all around the country suffered from a lack of
labor, but after a time some activities such as the harvesting of coffee cherries were done
by women and children (d’Olwer, 1974:99-101).
The coffee cultivation in Mexico between 1880 to 1910 was carried out at least in
three different ways: (1) large-scale coffee plantations (monoculture), (2) diversification of
crops in country estates whose commercial production included coffee and many other
agricultural products such as oranges and bananas (Xalapa and Coatepec) or sugar-cane,
tobacco and quinine (Córdoba and Orizaba) and, (3) small-scale coffee cultivation in home
gardens which could be tied to the estates through land renting, labor arrangements such
as share-cropping, and the control of the market by hoarders. Moreover, the coffee regions
of Veracruz, Tehuantepec Isthmus and southern Chiapas were developed. These regions
were related to the international coffee markets through the ports on the Atlantic and the
Pacific coasts and with the support of the railroads.
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 17
The expansion of the coffee region in Veracruz
The consolidation of the coffee region in the Gulf coast can be understood through
travelers’ descriptions of the region. In January 1909, the French climatologist Vitold de
Szyszlo (1992:169-193), arrived in the Port of Veracruz from Havana. The French traveler
stayed in Mexico for a year, visiting Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero and Baja
California. In 1913, his book was published in France and two chapters were dedicated to
the careful economic descriptions of the Port of Veracruz, Xalapa, Coatepec, Xico, Teocelo
and Perote.
Szyszlo (1992:188) wrote that agricultural productions in the State of Veracruz had a
value of 120,000,000 francs from which 35,000,000 francs (29.2%) corresponded to coffee
production. Coffee was followed in importance by sugar-cane (25%), corn (16.6%),
tropical woods (12.5%), tobacco (10.8%), vanilla (8.3%) and beans (4.2%). This
information shows the importance that coffee cultivation acquired for the State of Veracruz
just before the Mexican Revolution. It also permitted the understanding of the huge
economic importance that commercial agriculture exportation had acquired in the country,
which at that time had two Atlantic ports from where coffee exports were sent: Veracruz
and Coatzacoalcos.
Vitold de Szyszlo (1992:188-189) described the risks that agriculture had to deal
with at that time. These were: climatic conditions; lower prices; speculation and political
insecurity. In the area surrounding the city of Xalapa the popular disturbances usually
caused the real owners of the estates the loss of the harvests. But, at the same time, climatic
conditions, soil conditions and humidity explained why the Xalapa region was very good
for coffee cultivation and no irrigation had to be applied to the crops. It is also possible to
distinguish the existence of at least three coffee cultivation systems at that time.
(1) Large-scale monoculture agro-ecosystems. The properties in the Xalapa and Coatepec
region with an average surface of 400 hectares -and more- were cleared. The process of
clearing started by using axes for the cutting of higher trees; the lower vegetation was also
cleared by using machetes, and after that, fire was used to destroy the weeds from the lower
vegetation stratum (slash and burn). A cleared terrain had a market price four to five times
higher than that which was not. The wood obtained from clearing was sold, giving an
additional economic benefit to the company. Afterward the terrains were ready to be
cultivated with some commercial crop (Vitold de Szyszlo, 1992:188-189).
(2) Large-scale intermixed agro-ecosystems. The biggest coffee plantations in Coatepec
mixed coffee plant with tree crops which protected them from the sun; these crops were
banana and orange trees. Orange cultivation was a good business because an
eight-meter-high orange tree was able to produce 2,000 oranges which were harvested from
the beginning of September (Vitold de Szyszlo, 1992:192-193). The substitution of natural
shade trees by commercial crops gave shade to coffee trees and money to the coffee
producer; however, the cultivation of only commercial crops doubled the economic risk to
producers, leaving them in the hands of market price fluctuations.
18 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
During the Porfiriato, diversification of crops -including coffee cultivation- was also
a common practice in several country estates in Veracruz. The fluctuation of the coffee
prices in the international market was an important economic risk to deal with; however at
least one of the other agricultural products of the country estates was able to succeed in the
market. Some commercial products such as sugar-cane, tobacco and quinine were highly
priced in the national and international markets.
Furthermore, as the estate owners controlled the coffee production obtained from the
neighboring communities and also from the peasants living on their estate lands, they were
able to fix prices at the small-scale level. Some pests attacked the coffee plants such as ants
and moles; pest control was expensive but it also was not successful. Political instability in
the Coatepec region during the beginning of the XX Century was another factor of risk the
estate owners and the peasants had to deal with. In 1920, some army movements occurred
in the region of Xico, Teocelo and Coatepec where revolutionary factions were operating
(Blázquez, 1992:73).
(3) Small-scale agro-ecosystems were organized by peasantry through home gardens,
intermixing coffee plants with staples (corn), fruit trees and broad-leaf trees. At that time,
for peasants’ coffee was a secondary crop, which produced additional monetary sources for
their families. Peasants sold the coffee production to the neighboring country estates. Some
parts of the process were also controlled by the estate owners such as the coffee plant they
were giving to the peasants and the drying of the coffee cherries in their own estate yards
and terraces. Labor for planting and harvesting coffee in the communities was non-paid
because peasant families were in charge of them. Ants and moles were controlled by
peasants through non-costly traditional hand methods. Technological advances applied to
the drying of the coffee beans, packing and transporting were in the hands of the estate
owners.
Before the Mexican Revolution (1910-1921), coffee production for exportation to the
international markets was increasing; but at the same time, the international market was
centralized in the USA. World War I, from 1914 to 1918, was another important factor to
explain the reduction of the European coffee market and the expansion of the American one.
The Mexican internal coffee market also diminished from 1.5 kilograms per person per year
before 1920, to 0.4 kilograms per person per year during the 1920’s (EM, Vol. 2,
1987:1142).
Coffee cultivation after the Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution between 1910 and the 1920’s had a very strong impact on
the land tenure of the country. In 1916, the first Agrarian Law was declared and the owners
of the rural estates had to return part of their lands to the communities which had been the
original owners. However, the communities needed to prove their legal property rights on
the claimed land (Carranza, 1916). After 1920, the country estate (haciendas) land had to
be divided among other solicitors, and the estate owners who were affected at that time
only retained the buildings and some part of the land. The agricultural landscape
significantly changed in Central Mexico where communal land (ejido) was granted to
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 19
peasantry. However, the Mexican Land Reform gradually occurred in the different States of
the country from 1916 to the 1970’s.
Figure 4
Coffee Production and coffee exports in Mexico:1802-1920
Year /
Period
Total
Production
Export %
export
Place of
exportation
1802 272 quintals
350 quintals
Spain
Other countries
1803 493 quintals
Spain
Other countries
1805 336 quintals
Spain
Other countries
1813 12,425
quintals
1860 1,322
quintals
1870 9,138
quintals
1874 63,450
quintals 16,616
quintals 26.2%
USA, Spain,
France,
Germany.
1880 9,000 tons
1888 14,904 tons
USA, Germany,
Spain, Portugal
1897 24,000 tons
USA, Germany,
Spain, Portugal
1899 28782 tons
1908 35,162 tons
24,262 tons
69% USA, France,
Spain, Germany,
England
1911-15
44,800 tons
1916-20
40,000 tons
30,800 tons
77% USA
Sources: EM, Vol. 2, 1987:1142; DGEA, 1973.
The Mexican agrarian land grant revolt was done in stages through the communal
property (ejido). From the 1930’s to the 1970’s many peasant communities throughout the
country received communal parcels. Land for granting was taken from the rural estates; but
it was not at the same time all over Mexico. In Central Veracruz the grant process occurred
since 1916; however in the south of the State the grant process occurred later. In northern
Chiapas, the first Agrarian grant occurred in 1934 and as a consequence the coffee
plantation owners decreased their investments (Pérez Castro, 1989:80; Walter, 2002:28).
20 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
Many authors agree with the idea that the Mexican Revolution caused the rise and the
expansion of small-scale coffee cultivation in the country (Martínez, 1998; Moguel and
Toledo, 1999). Furthermore, another idea emerged from this one, that coffee cultivation
was “taken by the Indian peasantry” although coffee was not a native Mexican plant. It
becomes very difficult to discuss the types of coffee agro-ecosystems, their ecological,
social and cultural characteristics in all the country, mainly because there are 357
municipalities and 4,326 communities which at least in 1990 (IMECAFÉ, Coffee Census,
1990) were coffee cultivators.
Figure 5
Coffee production: volume and value: 1921-1950
(Thousand tons and thousand pesos)
Period
Production
(thousand tons)
Value
(thousand pesos)
1921-25
200 100,338
1926-30
2567 92,671
1931-35
241 147,643
1936-40
287 173,297
1941-45
271 104,674
1946-50
290 150,217
Source: Juan Gómez Cobo, DGEA, 1961.
The rise and expansion of small-scale coffee cultivation
In 1990, 276,655 persons were coffee cultivators in Mexico. The coffee cultivated
surface was of 573,000 hectares and the production was of 1, 395, 804 quintal (SARH,
1990). The Coffee Census of 1992 established that the main coffee regions of the country
were: (1) Gulf coast, (2) Pacific Ocean, (3) Center, and North of Chiapas, and (4)
Soconusco in southern Chiapas. These coffee regions are distributed in 12 States of the
country and they comprise 398 municipalities and 282,000 coffee producers. The Gulf
coast included the regions with major coffee production in the States of Hidalgo, Puebla,
Veracruz and Oaxaca. The Pacific Ocean coast included the States of Nayarit, Jalisco and
Colima. The Northern and Center of Chiapas comprises the border area between the States
of Oaxaca, Veracruz and Tabasco (Teapa and Tacotalco). The Soconusco region is in the
Mexican southern border with Guatemala (Martínez Morales, 1996:37-40).
The coffee production in Mexico occupies only 0.39% of the total surface of the
country and only the 3.2% of the agricultural cultivated land. The States of Chiapas,
Veracruz and Oaxaca are the only ones in which coffee is cultivated in more than the 10%
of their agricultural land (Martínez Morales, 1999:39). The present coffee production
regions in Mexico have been characterized as follows: (1) low development degree, (2) low
public inversion during the last 20 years, (3) paying the lowest salaries in the country, (4)
very low wealth indexes, (5) bad communication and ways of transportation for the coffee
production, (6) coffee production regions are also Indian populated regions, and (7)
technological coffee production culture has been deeply influenced by these Indian cultures
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 21
in managements like: trimming, replanting the rootstalk (recepa), the type of shade, the
number of coffee trees by hectare, and pest and illness control (Martínez Morales, 1996:
38-39; Moguel and Toledo, 1998:4-6,12).
Coffee production in Mexico is very important for the national economy. The
amount of exportation varies between 300 and 400 million dollars yearly. International
coffee price fluctuation varies yearly according to world coffee production volume, specific
market necessities, and international agreements. Some programs to develop coffee
production and coffee quality have been implemented in Mexico. These programs explain
-at least partially- the inner fluctuation in the coffee production volumes after the 1970’s to
date. What happens in the local economy of different coffee regions in Mexico is still a
question of research.
Case studies:
Case studies are a good way for the understanding of ecological, economical, social
and cultural local processes which are related to small-scale coffee production. The abrupt
regions of Soteapan in southern Veracruz, Xopilapa in central Veracruz and Santa Martha
Chenalhó in Highland Chiapas will be examples of how small-scale coffee production is
presently carried out by peasants and how they are dealing with ecological and economic
risks. The three cases are based on current research and they show that many of the
contemporary agricultural practices applied to coffee cultivation are not traditional,
because they were developed and spread by federal institutions in the XX Century. Some of
these agricultural practices are tied to the modernization programs of the post-revolutionary
Mexican governments.
Soteapan and the rise of small-scale coffee cultivation
In the region of the Tuxtlas from the Lake of Catemaco to the Santa Marta mountain
range -which is located in southern of the State of Veracruz-, some time around the
beginning of the XX Century the Popoluca Indian group started with coffee cultivation in
the home gardens of their communities and later in the hilly forested zones. During planting
and harvesting times the women and men were seasonal salaried workers in the neighboring
country estate of Los Andes. The American corporation owning the estate prohibited them
from taking any coffee plants for themselves. Although the workers were carefully frisked,
the Popolucas men stole coffee cherries by eating them and the women also hid the coffee
cherries in her bodies (Blanco, 2004).
In the year of 1924 the Dane Franz Blom and the American Oliver la Farge made a
trip to the Mayan areas which were part of a major research project paid by the University
of Tulane. In February 1925, the travelers crossed the Sierra San Martín -in southern
Veracruz- on their way to Tabasco. Nine Popoluca communities were found by them:
Ocozotepec, Soteapan, Amameloya, Ocotal Grande, Ocotal Chico, Aguacate, Cuilonia,
Buena Vista and Piedra Labrada. Corn was the main staple and the most important crop in
the region. It was planted mixed with squash, melon, papaya, pineapple and sweet potato
(Ipomoea batatas); a bush with red fruit called ajón was also planted, and it was used to
season meats. These crops were located near the houses in the major surface plots. The
22 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
Popolucas obtained two crops per year. Coffee trees were planted in small-scale,
intermixed with the forest. The coffee-forest production was sold in the neighboring towns
(Blom and la Farge, 1992, Vol. VIII: 348, 355).
Coffee was consumed in the mornings by the Popolucas. The coffee beans were
toasted in flat clay dishes (comales), ground and boiled with water and brown- sugar cakes
(panela, piloncillo). This style of coffee was very light and sweet, no milk was added to it.
It was considered too strong to drink at night; but another beverage called “corn coffee”
(café de maíz) was prepared instead. Corn coffee was prepared with toasted and ground
tortillas and boiled in the same way as coffee. A midday beverage consisted of cornstarch
diluted with water (pozole) was consumed. Popoluca coffee cultivation was carried out at
first in the home gardens but after -when coffee was cultivated for commercial purposes- in
forests mixing the coffee trees with natural vegetation, in the hills higher than 800 meters
above sea level. No fertilizers were added to soils at that time (Blanco, 2004).
During the Mexican Revolution, the revolutionary soldiers in the Tuxtlas region
killed Hilario C. Salas in order to rob the coffee bean production which was sold by these
soldiers to obtain money for their revolutionary purposes (Blanco, 1999:1). At that time,
coffee was planted intermixed with other crops like oranges, bananas and jinicuil (Inga
leptoloba). These crops, together with the natural vegetation produced the shade coffee
plant needed to grow. The most common shade trees were jonote (Heliocarpus
donell-smithii), yellow plum (Spondias mombin), ixpepe (Trema micranta), palo mulato
(Bursera simaruba), sangregado (Croton draco), tepezuchil (Terminalia amazonia) and
ocote (Liquidambar styraciflua) (García Campos et.al, 2001:115).
Both the diversified farming in the coffee-home gardens (huertos de café) and the
coffee trees inter-planted among the natural vegetation (bosque de café) were the traditional
agro-ecosystems for coffee cultivation in southern Veracruz. Both agro-ecosystems are still
practiced today. Data from 1996 show a present surface of 2,662.5 hectares being
cultivated with the coffee-forest agro-ecosystem (bosque de café). Furthermore, this surface
is located in the Soteapan, Catemaco and Hueyapan de Ocampo municipalities (CVC,
1996). A recent research in the Soteapan municipality found 300 plants belonging to 72
botanic families and 155 genders which are associated with coffee cultivation just in one
Popoluca community (Beaucage and López Cruz, 1999:35-39).
A current study of Ocotal Chico –one of the 10 communities forming part of the
Municipality of Soteapan- about corn and coffee cultivation shows the way through which
local economy had been impacted during the past century by these crops. Ocotal Chico is
located on the Santa Marta Sierra slopes at 600 and 800 meters above sea level (Blanco,
2003). Before the 1970’s coffee production was the principal source of obtaining money for
the Popoluca peasants. Money from coffee was used to buy soap, salt, machetes, farming
implements, textiles for the women’s dresses and clothes for the men. Coffee production
was sold in Soteapan to the local merchants or it was taken by beasts of burden to the
Acayucan big coffee exporters. Corn was only for self-consumption, and it was
complemented by vegetable and fruit from the home gardens, and the gathering and hunting
from the forest, thus the population’s year-long nutritional necessities were covered
(Blanco, 2004).
During the 1960’s the land Agrarian reform reorganized land tenure at Ocotal Chico.
Land was sold instead of being granted by the Mexican government, and as a result some
Popoluca peasants acquired land while others lost it. Forest-coffee trees were included with
the land reorganization, and the new owner had to pay per each coffee tree to the first land
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 23
user. Popolucas without money were not able to pay neither for the land nor for the coffee
trees. After the reorganization of land tenure the community had people with land and
people with no land at all. The population at Ocotal Chico was 85 persons in 1930, but in
1960 it reached 361 persons and 748 persons in 2000 (Blanco, 2003). Furthermore, some of
the peasants acquired a debt difficult for them to pay quickly, and at least two social and
economical groups in the community were formed (Blanco, 2004).
In 2003, the monetary income of the peasant families at Ocotal Chico was obtained
as follows: 1% from cattle raising, 2% from wood selling, 2% from salaries obtained with
agricultural work, 5% from the selling of several agricultural produces (one variety of corn
called chiyukmok, sugar-cane, pineapple and sweet potato), 18% from PROCAMPO
governmental Program, 18% from COVERCAFÉ governmental Program, 19% from coffee
productions sales, and 35% from different seasonal activities –including migration- and
also from governmental educational grants given to families with children (Blanco, 2003).
As a result, governmental programs give to the Popolucas more than 60% of their monetary
income, and the impact on corn and coffee cultivation is very strong because many people
are abandoning agricultural activity (Blanco, 2004).
At present, coffee is grown in the community coffee-home gardens and also in the
nearby sub-tropical forest (coffee-forest). Coffee production in the community is
considered very low with respect to the annual average of the State of Veracruz. The annual
average of the Ocotal Chico coffee production is only of five quintals per hectare per year,
while the annual average of the State of Veracruz is of 10 and 13 quintals per hectare
(Blanco, 2003).
As a consequence of this low annual coffee production average, Ocotal Chico and
also its neighboring communities dispersed on the Santa Marta Sierra region are considered
as being marginal coffee producers. These communities are 56, which politically depends
on seven municipalities. The Municipality of Soteapan -in which Ocotal Chico is located-
includes 10 coffee producer communities and it has 2,798 hectares with coffee cultivation
and 951 persons involved in coffee production with an average of three coffee producers
per hectare (Blanco, 2004).
National economic developmental programs were applied in the Soteapan
Municipality to help Popoluca coffee producers. The communities at Santa Marta Sierra
were favored by a 1976 development program directed by IMECAFE (Mexican Coffee
Institute); rural poverty and social injustice were the main objectives to solve in the region.
New techniques to improve the quality of coffee trees were taught to a small group of
coffee producers by PIDER (Rural Development Program) technicians. The very small
initial group of coffee producers in the program slowly grew, mainly because at the
beginning of the program a peasant resistance which acted against it was formed (Blanco,
2004).
In Soteapan, IMECAFE built in the 1980’s an industrial plant (Beneficio Húmedo)
for coffee industrialization. Its economic goals were also the regulation of regional coffee
prices, and the organization of loans and credits for the coffee producers. No interests were
applied to the monetary credits that IMECAFE loaned to the coffee producers; but, credits
were subject to the organization of the peasantry into units called UEPC’s (Coffee
Production and Commercializing Units). These units were also used for political purposes
(Blanco, 2004).
Between 1988 and 1989 the coffee productivity in the State of Veracruz decreased
from 19.2 to 15.9 sacks per hectare (60 kilograms per each sack) (Martínez Morales, 1999:
24 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
figure 9). In 1989, the Mexican government diminished its economic support to IMECAFE
and the coffee producers in Soteapan were in charge of the coffee industry organization. In
1992 the Mexican Agrarian laws were reformed and the NAFTA was signed by the
Mexican and American governments. Between 1991 and 1992 the coffee productivity in the
State of Veracruz decreased to obtain only 10.8 sacks per hectare (Martínez Morales, 1999:
figure 9). The same phenomenon occurred in all the coffee regions in Mexico, but the most
dramatic data on the decrease of coffee productivity was obtained in Chiapas. See figure 6.
Figure 6: Coffee productivity
(60 kilograms sacks per hectare),
1988-1989 and 1991-1992.
State 1988-1989 1989-1990 1991-1992
Chiapas 109.0 11.7 9.4
Veracruz 19.2 15.9 10.8
Oaxaca 7.0 8.3 5.2
Puebla 18.4 15.4 7.0
Guerrero 4.7 5.5 5.8
Hidalgo 5.4 3.2 3.1
San Luis
Potosí 4.9 2.1 3.0
Nayarit 6.9 6.2 5.9
Jalisco 1.4 2.2 2.0
Colima 2.8 3.7 2.3
Tabasco 3.2 5.5 4.3
Querétaro 7.6 0.0 0.0
TOTAL 10.8 10.2 7.9
Source: Martínez Morales, 1999: Figure 9.
International coffee prices decreased at the end of the 1980’s and the beginning of
the 1990’s. July 3, 1989, the International Coffee Organization stopped the control of
coffee exportation quotas which before that were defined on the bases of international
demand. Over production and over exportation produced coffee price decrease. NAFTA
agreement among Mexico, the United States and Canada was signed in 1992, but Brazilian
and Central American coffees captured the American market (Santoyo et.al., 1991). In
1993, IMECAFÉ was closed by the Mexican government and the CMC (Mexican Coffee
Council) was created instead. Regional programs tied to IMECAFE disappeared and
technical advice, financial credit also disappeared (Martínez Morales, 1999). Small-scale
coffee growers in Ocotal Chico had to adjust to these changes and monetary earnings from
migration appeared in the economy of several families.
The Xopilapa case and the creation of a diverse agro-ecosystem
A very important article written by Moguel and Toledo (1999, No11:4.12) classifies
the present Mexican coffee agro-ecosystems in five types: (1) rustic coffee systems or
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 25
coffee systems in hilly areas, (2) traditional poly-cultural coffee home gardens, (3)
commercial poly-cultural coffee systems, (4) shade coffee monoculture, and (5) sun coffee
monoculture. This classification is based on the idea that the coffee production types one
and two are traditional and the coffee production types three to five are modern. Moreover,
types one and two are practiced by Indian coffee producers while types three to five are not
necessarily in the hands of Indian producers. Shade and sun, biological diversity, chemical
fertilizers and production are also related to this classification.
The first type (rustic coffee systems) corresponds to the old coffee-forest type in
which coffee trees are intermixed with natural vegetation (bosque de café). Moguel and
Toledo (1999:6)vi consider that this system is characterized by the following elements. A
minimum impact on the forest occurs due to the way through which only the lower
vegetation strata near to the soil surface (Soto Bosque) is removed to plant the coffee trees.
No agro chemicals are applied but productivity is very low. Moguel and Toledo (1999:6)
also adduce that this is a way of coffee cultivation in Mexico practiced in very few and
isolate Indian communities.
In 2000, a study was done of Xopilapa, a peasant community in Central Veracruz
which is located at 400 meters above sea level, in the basin of a ravine -through which the
river of Los Pescados runs on its way to the Gulf coast. The community was chosen
because it is located in an “isolated” place and because ravines had been considered
difficult places for people to live. Moreover, agriculture in Xochilapa rests on
self-consumption; that includes a combination between basic and commercial products. The
main commercial agricultural products are coffee, mango, banana, tamarind and lime.
Coffee and mango are planted intermixed in the nearby sub-tropical forest (Servín,
2000:60-64).
The basin of the river is found at 400 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by a
level zone (vega) in which the houses are semi dispersed. Next to the houses there are home
gardens with intermixed crops such as banana, tamarind, mamey, peanut, tangerine, annona,
the native yellow plum (Spondias), avocado, and lime trees; there are also medicinal herbs
and flowers. Nearby plots are cultivated with corn, beans, squash, and pipián squash. The
sub-tropical forest is located in the southern slopes of the Tlaltecotino ravine -in the
Cotlamanis and also in the Mata coyote hills. In the northern slopes there are two ravines
-Mayatla and Ixcacatitla- with the slopes covered with sub-tropical vegetation (in the place
named Hill of The Walls, at 450 and 600 meters above sea level). The river waters and a
lagoon are permanent fishing sources for the people in the community (Servín, 2000: 64,
98). Coffee and mango are cultivated through an agro-ecosystem locally named
banquetera. The banqueteras are places in the slopes in which geological conditions of the
volcanic hills are acting together with the water that runs and the soil erosion to form
natural terraces. The human action is being directed for controlling the soil erosion through
the reinforcement of the borders of these natural terraces, putting stones around their
borders and planting coffee and mango trees in the levels. Natural vegetation easily grows
and after a few years the banqueteras are intermixed in the sub-tropical forest. From a
distance, the landscape of banqueteras looks like a patchwork with several green tones in
it. The sub-tropical micro environment is managed through the terrace agro-ecosystem
-locally developed- which is the result of a very sophisticated local knowledge of the
environment and also on its related diversity and conservation. It becomes evident that this
26 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
is not a rustic coffee system in a hilly zone. Furthermore, the economy of the community
has to be understood as an all, and this includes the use and the management of all micro
environments in the ravine: river, level basin river, slopes of the hills and the sub-tropical
forest. The use of resources is also locally controlled through ideological elements and a
system of local laws about when, how and the amount of hunting taken from the forest and
fishing in the river, which were accepted by the community members (González-Jácome,
2004).
Figure 6: Agricultural products in Xopilapa, Veracruz, 2000.
Crop Production Expenditure
Market price Earnings
Corn 3,500
kilograms/hectare
250.00
pesos
Self-consumption
Self-consumption
Coffee 5,000 kilograms *
400.00
pesos
3.00 per kg **
14,600.00
Mango 5,000 kilograms ***
1,250
.00
pesos
2.25 per kg.
11,250.00
Banana 750 kilograms °
0
1.75 per kg.
1,312.50
Tamarind
60 kilograms °
0
1.00 per kg.
60.00
Lemon 400 kilograms °
0
1.05 per kg.
600.00
Total
1,900.00
pesos
27,822.50
Source: Jorge Aníbal Servín Segovia, 2000:99-108.
* Annual average.
**2000 year price. The price varies every year from 1.50 to 4.00 per kilogram.
***The mango is packed in boxes (rejas) 20 kilograms each one. Data for 40
harvested mango trees.
° Only for the market because the rest of the production is for the family
consumption.
Data from Servín’s (2000) research in Xopilapa show that coffee and mango
productions are the most important monetary sources for the families. Both crops are
obtained in the banqueteras and they make up 92.9% of the annual monetary earnings for
the community members, while the agricultural products in the home gardens are only 7.1%
of the total earnings. However, home garden production and river fish are the most
important sources for the family food all year long. Coffee and mango prices are fluctuating
all year, and every year, and earnings too; but the economic risk is counteracted by annual
food stability.
Moguel and Toledo’s (1999:6) model of the “rustic coffee system”, and its
description and characteristics had to be reconsidered. More case studies had to be done of
this coffee-forest agro-ecosystem, in different coffee-forest zones in Mexico. However, for
these studies it would be important to take into account not only the biological diversity but
also the cultural diversity. The understanding of coffee production systems in Mexico is
still mainly focused on economic or ecologic aspects, but social and cultural aspects are in
a weak situation.
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 27
The Chenalhó case and the coffee cultivation with mono shade
Coffee cultivation in Chiapas was controlled by the rural estates until the agrarian
land grants started in 1939. Agrarian grants affected coffee plantation land but not the
coffee factories (beneficios) and the new small-scale coffee cultivators depended on them
for industrializing and selling the coffee. Old rural estate owners changed their activity
from planting coffee to controlling its production. Middle size coffee plantations (fincas)
were not affected by the agrarian grants because they had less than 300 hectares of land
under their control. In 1942, during the Second World War, 66 coffee plantations belonging
to German citizens passed under control of the Mexican government through the Coffee
Fiduciary. The German employees were substituted by Mexicans. At the end of the war the
coffee plantations were returned to their German owners but many of the plantations were
bankrupt (Renard, 2002:18-19).
IMECAFÉ was created in 1959 and this governmental institution changed the
dynamics of coffee production in Chiapas starting in the 1960’s but mainly in the 1970’s.
IMECAFÉ programs were dedicated to give technical support for coffee growers, to the
renewing of the coffee plants, to pest and plagues control and to the elimination of
middle-men. Loans and credit were given to small-scale coffee producers but they would be
organized in UEPC’s (Coffee Production and Commercializing Units) as it also occurred in
all the coffee regions of the country. In 1971 only 4.9% of the small-scale coffee growers in
Chiapas were associated with one UEPC, but in 1981 the percentage of associates rose to
70% (Renard, 2002:20-21).
Before the 1960’s, coffee varieties planted in Chiapas were Coffea arabica, C. tipica
and C. Bourbon; but after the 1960’s these varieties were substituted by Caturras. In the
1980’s the Soconusco coffee region started the modernization of coffee cultivation through
importing genetic coffee materials from Guatemala and Costa Rica. Guatemalan consulters
visited the coffee production units -for one or two days- to teach peasants how to obtain
higher coffee productivity which was the main goal in this modernization. The results were
(1) coffee planting in rows, (2) higher density of plants in the plots, (3) abandonment of the
use of level altitudinal curves for coffee planting, (4) introduction of new coffee varieties
with less height, faster time for the beginning of production and higher coffee productivity,
(5) abandonment and destruction of traditional shade for coffee trees, (6) higher quantities
of chemical fertilizers for coffee plants, (7) the use of herbicides, (8) faster renovation of
coffee plants, (9) larger amounts of cheap human labor (Renard, 2002:21).
The introduction of these practices was directed toward the obtaining of higher
quantities of coffee production. Quality of coffee was put aside in this goal because the
American coffee market, at which Mexican coffee production was directed, had less
exigencies than the European coffee market. The International Coffee Organization had
quotas based on quantity but not on the high quality of coffee production; as a matter of
fact coffee beans were mixed to obtain a homogeneous medium quality coffee. This
practice of mixing coffee beans was as old as IMECAFÉ and covers the period from the
1960’ to the 1980’s. In 1989, with the disappearance of the International Coffee
Organization’ annual quotas, the coffee market was glutted and coffee prices decreased
from 110 and 120 centavos per pound to 55 centavos per pound (Renard, 2002:22).
At the beginning of the 1990’s, a severe impact occurred in the economy of the
small-scale coffee producers. In 1993 IMECAFÉ disappeared and governmental economic
help to them also disappeared. From a total of 60 Mexican coffee exporters in Chiapas
28 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
before 1989 none of them survived after 1993. Instead several international coffee
enterprises appeared in the Mexican coffee regions and with them the creation of a network
of merchants and middle-men that again are controlling the local coffee production.
Luttman’s California Coffee Industry, Neumann Gruppe, Volkart (ERB), AMSA, Atlantic
Coffee, and Nestle, among others, are controlling coffee exportation at present. The Nestle
Corporation in connection with the Mexican Commerce Ministry is importing low quality
coffees from South America and Vietnam to produce soluble-coffee, and decreasing
national coffee prices (Renard, 2002:23; Balente, 2003:21).
The small-scale coffee production in the Highlands Chiapas started in the 1960’s as a
result of sugar-cane cultivation abandonment. Coffee introduction in the Highlands was
done by peasants who seasonally worked during harvesting times on the Soconusco coffee
plantations. There are six political municipalities forming part of Highland Chiapas:
Larraínzar, Chenalhó, Oxchuc, San Juan Cancuc, Huixtán, and San Cristóbal Las Casas,
where there are 4,000 small-scale coffee cultivation units. These units are involved in 100
organizations and six of them have storage place for coffee production, but only three are
organic coffee producers (Balente, 2003:18-19).
The small-scale coffee production in Highland Chiapas is presently in the hands of
the Indian peasantry. Montane deciduous forest is the natural vegetation in this region; it is
constituted of pines, oaks (Quercus Skinnerii, Q. acatenangensis, Q. candicans, Q. oocarpa,
Q. corrugata), and sweet gum (Liquidambar). From 1,300 to 2,300 meters above sea level,
the highlands habitat is cloud-bathed, wet and cool, with an annual precipitation around
2,000 millimeters and there are no frosts. In the northern slopes between 1,000 and 2000
meters above sea level the precipitation has an annual average of 1,200 and 2,000
millimeters, there is little cloudiness, and frequent frosts; the vegetation is exposed to
strong north winds. Pine forest is widespread occupying shallower soils than oaks; some
pines (Pinus ayacahuite and P. strobus) are restricted to humid zones with an annual
average precipitation higher than 1,200 millimeters (Wagner, 1971:238-239).
Indian communities are dispersed in the abrupt topography of the zone, with slopes
from 10% and 45% of inclination. There are ravines and intermountain plains through
which rainfall water is drained (Mera, 1984). More than half of the agricultural surface in
the highlands is dedicated to corn, beans, chili and squash cultivation through the slash and
burn system. These are self-consumption crops and they are supplemented with vegetables
and fruits from home gardens to conform the daily diet for the Tzotzil communities
(Pérez-Grovas, 1988:7).
The economic risk caused by market fluctuations in the demand and prices for
commercial crops has been managed by the Tzotzil through the diversification of
agricultural products in their plots. Native and foreign origin fruit are planted, such as Hass
avocado (Persea Americana), guanabana (Annona muricata), litchi (Litchi chinensis),
mandarine (Citrus reticulata), lime (Citrus latifolia), and banana (Musa spp.). Tree species
are also planted because their price as wood is an important source for the family economy.
These trees include red cedar (Cedrella odorata), spring (Tabebuia donell-smithii), caoba
(Swietenia spp.) and pink cedar (Acrocarpus fraxinifolius) (Balente, 2003).
Santa Marta Chenalhó is a Tzotzil community which it is located in a ravine that is
six kilometers long and which descends from 2,000 and 850 meters above sea level. The
rivers San Pedro and Cotzilnam run in the middle of the ravine. The zone has a surface of
4,171 hectares. Volcanic and sedimentary rocks form the level of the ravine. The annual
average temperature is 20º C in the high zone of the ravine and 22ºC in the lower zone; the
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 29
winter and lower average temperature is 9ºC in the highest part of the ravine and 12ºC in
the lower; the summer temperature average is of 24ºC and 27ºC respectively. The climate
changes gradually from temperate and sub-humid to warm and sub-humid (Cw2, C (A) w2,
A(C) w2 and Aw2) (INEGI, 1984, 1989, 1997). People in the community classify weather
as cold and hot; 1,500 meters above sea level being the limit between the two local
classifications.
Pine and oak forest as well as liquidambar forest were the original vegetation of the
region. At the present time, small patches of natural vegetation are located in the upper
parts of the ravine. There is a mist forest of 2,000 hectares and a river-gallery forest which
surrounds the San Pedro River and has about 15 meters on each side. Coffee-forest covers
the rest of the ravine since 1975, when coffee cultivation was introduced. The area has been
highly perturbed by centuries of agricultural activities which had been based on slash and
burn to clear the soils for sugar-cane monoculture cultivation.
The polyculture of corn, beans, squash, chili and broad bean, is complemented with
other edible and medicinal plants. There are at least three beans species and two squash
species planted in the family plots. Slash and burn is used to clearing the land before
cultivation. The families can have one or two annual crops: one during spring and the other
during winter, or they can only have the spring crop. Family necessities and availability of
labor are the factors involved in that production decision. The agricultural products
obtained in these parcels are directed toward self consumption. Home gardens products are
also used for self consumption.
Pérez-Grovas’ (1998:9) research in Highland Chiapas assures than at least two thirds
of the lands in this region are dedicated to self consumption agricultural activities. He also
added that the introduction of herbicides by the peasants is changing the polyculture corn
cultivation into corn monoculture and bean monoculture. According to Pérez-Grovas
(1998:10-11), home gardens in the region include the cultivation of fruit trees (banana,
orange, lemon, tangerine, lime, annona and sapota-trees), edible, medicinal, ornamental
and ritual herbs and a small group of domestic fauna (fowl, pigs, horses and maybe one
cow).
The introduction of coffee cultivation in Highland Chiapas is related to these home
gardens. Peasants who worked seasonally in the Soconusco plantations took some coffee
plants with them and planted them in their home gardens. At the beginning they only used
coffee for self consumption, as a dinner beverage. Home gardens used to have several
useful tree species as coffee shade. The IMECAFÉ policies to expand coffee production in
Chiapas and the monetary earnings from coffee sales were the main incentives for the
conversion of coffee from subsistence to a commercial crop. Between 1970 and 1989
IMECAFÉ favored the coffee cultivation only associated with Chalun (Inga sp.) as a tree
shade (Pérez-Grovas, 1998:11-12; Zúñiga, 1998).
The case of Santa Marta Chenalhó, a Tzotzil community in Highland Chiapas, is
important to understand local differences with the regional model. Chenalhó was founded
in the middle of the XVI Century by Dominican friars. In 1549, the disperse Tzotzil
population in the region was concentrated by the friars in one town named by them as
Xolotepec –a Nahuatl name- with a local name of Chu’pic –a Tzotzil name. Santa Marta
was chosen by the friars as the patron saint of the community. During Colonial times
Xolotepec changed its name to Jolotepec and later to Yolotepec (Calnek, 1990:105-133;
Casanova, 1998; Zúñiga, 1998).
30 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
Finally, at the end of the XIX Century, the old name of Yolotepec disappeared and
the community was known for its patron saint: Santa Marta. In the 1950’s the community
of Santa Marta was politically dependent on the Municipal Agency of Chenalhó, and with
this fact the name was completed to Santa Marta Chenalhó. More than 50 years after the
Mexican Revolution, the peasants of Santa Marta received their land grants. In 1973 and
1975 they were granted with communal lands which were called Manuel Utrilla (Calnek,
1990:105-133; Casanova, 1998; Zúñiga, 1998).
Between 1910 and the 1960’s, the Santa Marta Tzotzil Indians were cultivating red
sugar-cane to produce an alcoholic beverage called posh. White sugar-cane was introduced
in the 1960’s. Santa Marta’s peasants started with coffee cultivation in 1975, because a
group of them learned how to grow coffee on the Soconusco plantations where they were
working seasonally. To date, self-consumption is based on the poly cultivation of corn
intermixed with beans, in an agro-ecosystem which is locally known as milpa. Small
sugar-cane and pasture surfaces complement the economic bases of the peasant families in
Santa Marta.
Santa Marta Chenalhó has 1,068 plots for cultivation and 419 of them (39%) have
coffee trees as a main crop. Before 1975 corn polyculture was located in the level areas and
coffee trees were planted in the slopes, but at the present, coffee cultivation is displacing
corn to the most abrupt zones of the region. In the first year the planting of coffee starts
with slash and burn activities; the plot is planted with corn and banana trees. In the second
year corn is intermixed with coffee and one shade tree (Inga sp.). Diversification of shade
trees is recently starting with a program of ECOSUR (College of the South Border). Coffee
trees are affected by roya that it is controlled by agro chemicals
Before 2002, the cherry-coffee was sold to middle-men in San Cristóbal Las Casas,
and the price paid for it to coffee producers was $9.00 pesos (.80 US cents) per kilogram.
That price was higher than the one they paid in the year of 2003, when coffee price was of
only $6.00 (.50 US cents) per kilo. When the coffee price is lower than $7.00 pesos ($.60
US cents) per kilogram, the coffee producers in Santa Marta do not harvest it. Monetary
earnings from coffee are used to acquire some commodities, to buy clothes, to complement
daily diet with industrial food products and to pay expenses for the education of their
children in the schools of San Cristóbal Las Casas.
A group of 18 coffee producers decided to convert conventional coffee cultivation
into organic coffee cultivation, because the organic-coffee price is higher in the market.
They organized themselves into a cooperative and they started buying coffee from other
producers. In 2003, these 18 coffee cultivators obtained a total coffee production of 23,304
kilograms in 115 plots, with an average of 203 kilograms per plot and 1,295 kilograms per
each coffee producer. At the present time, coffee is toasted, ground and packed by the
Santa Marta cooperative members, and it is sold by them directly. In 2004, a kilogram of
packed coffee had a net production cost of $22.00 pesos ($2.00 US dollars) and it has been
sold in $40.00 pesos ($3.50 US dollars) per kilogram, with a net earning of $18.00 pesos
($1.50 US dollars) per kilogram. They still need to learn better commercialization ways.
Data from figure 7 shows that polyculture corn cultivation and home gardens
together comprise 55.3% of the cultivated plots and 64.3% of the total surface in the
community. These percentages are greater than the 40.4% of plots and 31.4% of the total
surface that are dedicated to the cultivation of commercial crops. Applying slash and burn
as a generalized system for agriculture and growing coffee with only one shade tree would
be critical to the community and also to its biological diversity. The present land in
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 31
“resting” (idle) time (4.3%), the decreasing of poly cultural corn cultivation and the
conversion of nearby forested areas in conventional coffee cultivation plots would be
critical to support agriculture and the population in the community for a long period of
time.
Figure 7: Land uses in Santa Marta Chenalhó
Agro-ecosystems, 1997
Agro ecosystems Number
of plots
% of the
total of
cultivated
plots
Cultivated
surface in
hectares
+
% of
the
total
surface
Corn polyculture
(milpa) 573
53.7%
389.68 ha
53.5%
Coffee forest 419
39.2
226.64
31.1
Home gardens with
banana trees,
vegetables and
pasture zones
17
1.6
78.8
10.81
Sugar-cane
monoculture
13
1.2
2.48
0.3
Non-
cultivated areas
**
46
4.3
31.05
4.3
TOTAL: 1,068
100 %
728.65
100 %
Sources: Community census done by Ramón Mariaca and his research team, 1997.
** Land in resting time.
+ The community measuring system is based on tareas. One tarea equal to 625 m2.
At the present time Santa Marta Chenalhó is organized by a traditional obligation
system (sistema de cargos); however, related to this system there are three well defined
religious groups: Catholics, Presbyterians and Pentecostals. The last religious group does
not agree with the participation of its parishioners in the traditional obligation system.
These religious groups are also tied to the political parties in the community: PRI
(Institutional Revolutionary Party) and PRD (Democratic Revolution Party); furthermore,
influence from the EZLN (Zapata’s Army for the National Liberation) on the daily life and
economy of Santa Marta’s peasants has been very important since 1994.
There are two federal institutions in charge of helping peasants with monetary grants
in order to compensate environmental and economic risks: CONCAFÉ for the coffee
producers and PROCAMPO for agricultural development and climatic disasters affecting
the crops. The grant amount for coffee producers depends on the size of registered land
used to grow coffee. The amount of money of the grant varies from $80.00 pesos ($7.00 US
32 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
dollars) and $1,200.00 pesos ($104.00 US dollars). When Santa Marta’s peasants receive
minor amounts of money they do not go to pick them up because transportation from the
community to San Cristóbal Las Casas is expensive and it cost could be more than the grant
amount itself.
Some final considerations:
Mexican coffee agro-ecosystems have been adjusted through time to economic and to
environmental risks. In dealing with risk, coffee producers have been applying different
coffee cultivation strategies and techniques, but coffee plant varieties have been more
dependent on market necessities than on the environmental characteristics such as soil,
water availability, topography, altitude, natural vegetation, climatic events, and type and
intensity of sun and shade in a specific region. Coffee cultivation landscapes have been
changing through time, as can be perceived from travelers’ descriptions and also from
geographical and agronomic studies. Adaptation to micro environments was very important
to understand coffee cultivation successful in the Mexican economy, and also in the daily
life of coffee producers and coffee consumers.
Although this type of coffee agro-ecosystem dependence on market necessities had
existed since the XIX Century, it increased after the 1960’s -partially due to the
international coffee market conditions, the USA control of the international coffee market,
and to the impact of the Mexican governmental policies and programs applied to the rural
areas in the country. Certainly it is very important to understand the weight and impact that
external coffee market pressures had been having on the Mexican coffee production. But it
also is important to understand coffee cultivators’ responses to these pressures.
Diversifying crops for self-consumption and also for commercial purposes had been one of
the most recurrent small-scale coffee cultivators’ responses through time. Diversifying
shade vegetation in coffee-forests and coffee agro-ecosystems had been another response
but population increases in the peasant communities acts against this.
Mexican coffee had been basically an exportation product. International markets for
Mexican coffee have been changing since the XIX Century. European countries were the
main Mexican coffee consumers from 1802 to 1870; however, Porfirio Díaz’ government
facilitated the entrance of the American entrepreneurs’ control for the Mexican coffee
production and market, and obviously for American investment in coffee plantations and
industries. Before the Mexican Revolution of 1910, coffee investments in the country were
in the hands of Spaniards, Germans and Americans and also the coffee exports were
directed to Atlantic Europe and to the USA. These markets have been impacting the
Mexican coffee cultivation in two different directions: quality and quantity of coffee
production.
During the first hundred years of coffee cultivation in Mexico, the European market
for Mexican coffee was centralized in Spain, Germany, France and England. Furthermore,
after 1969 other European countries Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Holland, Italy, Norway,
Sweden and Switzerland were also included. However, the political and economic
American dominance on the Mexican coffee market started after the Second World War
and it was stronger after 1992 as a result of the NAFTA. American cultural response to
daily coffee consumption requires a homogeneous medium quality but also large quantities
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 33
of coffee. At the present, 84% of the Mexican coffee exports are directed toward the
American market while the rest -organic coffee- is directed to Germany and England, with
the appearance of Japan as a new market for Mexican coffee.
Figure 8: International Markets for Mexican Coffee in the XX Century.
Mexican coffee exports: 1969-1995
0
1000000
2000000
3000000
4000000
12345
1969-70, 1979-80, 1989-90, 1993-94, 1994-95
coffee sacks
(60kilos each)
European countries USA Other countries
34 PERSPECTIVAS LATINOAMERICANAS NÚMERO 1, 2004
In 1959, with the creation of IMECAFÉ, the governmental programs were directed to
the modernization of coffee production, but its agricultural practices increased the coffee
cultivation regions and diminished the shade tree diversity. Coffee production modern
programs were directed toward the coffee plant renovation, the planting of Central America
coffee plant varieties -without shade or with only one tree shade- acted against biological
diversity in several coffee-forest regions of Mexico. However, the control of coffee prices
regulated by IMECAFÉ for 34 years counteracted the impact of the coffee market
fluctuations at the local level. IMECAFÉ policies about coffee production in Mexico need
to be understood in relation to national economic policies and their impacts on different
coffee regions of the country.
Dealing with risk is a part of the daily life in peasant societies. Environmental, social,
economic, political and ideological responses of peasantry vary from time to time, and
coffee cultivation is not free of these responses. Diversification has been a generalized way
to deal with risk in the coffee agro-ecosystems in different regions of Mexico.
Monoculture practices in coffee cultivation -including shade trees- and hand coffee
cultivation management and technology have been considered by experts as being
“traditional”; however, many of them were the result of modernization programs in the
coffee regions of the country during the XX Century.
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México D.F.
i There are several names to design mutual aid social organization units which are related to unpaid labor of kin and
friends to help someone with agricultural work, building houses, and economic activities.
ii Furthermore, some years later -between 1856 and 1857- a Mexican naturalist named José Apolinario Nieto was able
to establish the first Acclimation Garden in the country in Córdoba. He also was responsible for the acclimatization of
the Cinchona de los Andes (Cinchona officinalis) in the Córdoba region (Baz y Gallo, 1874:124, 128-129).
iii Porfiriato is the term used to name the almost 30 years of Porfirio Díaz governmental period in Mexico. This
period ended in 1910 with the Mexican Revolution.
iv This is the classification of the travelers at that time.
v In many rural communities there is a custom for harvesting the corn left at the fields after the main corn harvest
was finished. This action is not considered a robbery but a social redistribution in which poor people are able to obtain
GONZÁLEZ: DEALING WITH RISK 39
some grains for their own subsistence. It is difficult for a foreigner to distinguish this redistribution custom with
robbery.
vi Moguel and Toledo’s model of Five coffee production systems is very well known and it was based on Nolasco’s
study Café y Sociedad en México, published in 1985 by the Centro de Ecodesarrollo in Mexico.
Alba González-Jácome appreciates the linguistic help of William Loyd Crothers in English.
