| The tropics are rich repositories
for most of the world’s biological diversity. Unfortunately,
the rural tropics are also places of great economic disparities,
where many impoverished farmers live among a small number of wealthy
estates. With their small landholdings, these farmers often have
few economic options and must sell their land to developers. Researchers
at UGA’s Institute of Ecology are working to find better alternatives.
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| Ecology professor Ron Carroll and Rebeca
Justicia, UGA graduate student and president for conservation
and development of the Maquipucuna Foundation, have been working
since the late 1990s to find ways to help farmers earn a fair
price for their produce. (Photo by Peter Frey) |
Historically, coffee production has been a viable choice for these
poor highland farmers. Coffee is well suited to the altitude and
climate, and high rates of production are possible.
“Experts encouraged the farmers to maximize their production
and profits by growing coffee in full sun,” says ecology professor
Ron Carroll. “However, coffee plants are traditionally shade-loving
rainforest shrubs, so growing them in full sun was highly stressful.
Large amounts of pesticides and fertilizer were required to be applied
to the plants to overcome the effects of this stress.”
By the mid 1990s, overproduction by large coffee estates and the
emergence of new coffee-producing nations, especially Vietnam, resulted
in collapsing market prices for coffee. The small coffee farmers
were impacted especially severely, and many of them had to sell
their land.
In the late 1990s, UGA researchers began working with the Maquipucuna
Foundation in Ecuador to find ways to help the farmers earn a fair
price for their produce while making an ethical commitment to protect
the region’s biodiversity. The solution was to develop, produce,
distribute and sell shade-grown organic coffee using a direct market
model. The project has been successful, and today shade-grown, organic
Maquipucuna coffee, sold under the brand name of Choco Andes, is
available at Jittery Joe’s in the Student Learning Center.
“So far, more than 160 coffee-producing farm families have
joined the project,” says Carroll. “These farmers receive
more than four times more for their coffee than they previously
did and their production costs are less. Their exposure to toxic
chemicals is eliminated. The end retail price for the coffee is
less than the average cost of organic coffee because brokers are
eliminated, and quality is higher. And best of all, by making these
coffee plantations more like natural forests, they provide better
protection for tropical biodiversity.”
UGA scientists continue to work with the Maquipucuna Foundation
to develop better organic production practices to help these farmers.
For example, they have found that applying residue left over from
sugarcane processing to the soil around coffee plants reduces soil
erosion, conserves moisture and increases beneficial soil organisms
while decreasing some pest organisms. They have also taught farmers
to grade their coffee beans to receive higher prices for gourmet
quality coffee. Native shade trees are selected for the farms, based
upon their contribution to soil fertility and their ability to attract
many kinds of native birds, bats and other animals.
Faculty and students from UGA and Ecuador continue to investigate
ways to expand and develop the world’s organic coffee market
while they also protect the environment. Plans are being developed
to provide alternative sources of income for the farmers as well.
“While bird-watchers often come to parks and other protected
areas expecting to see tropical birds, they leave frustrated because
the birds are hidden in dense foliage,” says Carroll. “In
the more open canopy of Maquipucuna’s coffee farms, birds
are relatively easy to observe and many species can be seen, so
the coffee farmers may realize even more income through eco-tourism
fees for bird watching.”
Carroll also notes that eco-tourist visits to coffee farms provide
an outreach opportunity for tourists to learn about organic coffee
production and to contribute to coffee market growth. The Maquipucuna
Reserve has already won two international awards for eco-tourism’s
contribution to community development. By supplementing the coffee
income with eco-tourism dollars, Maquipu–cuna is making yet
another contribution to community development.
Biodiversity gains as well from these efforts. While deforestation
rates are high in most of the tropics, forest cutting in the communities
around the Reserve has dropped nearly to zero. This happened because
the farmers now have better economic alternatives than cutting trees
for lumber or charcoal and, because the farmers benefit from eco-tourism,
the biodiversity of the forest now has more value.
UGA scientists are planning to develop similar projects in other
places in Latin America. They have also initiated an organic chocolate
project.
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