Central America January 2010
Central America in 12 days – January 2010.
A challenge to visit 3 countries in such a short period, but with careful planning and a willingness to do the miles with early starts & late finishes it is possible. We arrived in Nicaragua a day earlier and spent it looking at volcanoes, ancient towns and lakes. This a vivid reminder that the seismic activity in Central America has been and will continue to be a big part of everyone’s lives.
Early start the next day to visit a Cooperative who exports conventional, Fairtrade and Organic. Their dry mill is located some 15 kms outside the small town of Matagalpa where the land is flat and the weather hot and dry – perfect for sundrying parchment. Along this road are located all the main exporters mills displaying the piles of parchment wrapped in black plastic drying in the sun – rather morbidly it looks like thousands of body bags laid out. Then to a primary coop and their wet mill where the general manager explained the difficulties the farmers had endured protecting and recovering their land after it had been taken from them by the Sandanistas. Quality controls from seedling selection to green bean and environmental/social issues are clearly high on the agenda. The following day we visited some Rainforest certified private farms and their dry mill. The same ethics are applied to social housing, nutrition, education and health care as in a Fairtrade coop. The commitment to producing quality coffee was second to none. Production is down a little across the board. Drug money is becoming a problem. Roads are good except when you get onto the local roads. The GDP would suggest that Nicaragua is a very poor country – I felt it had a gentle air of industrialisation and positive attitudes. Toņa is the new beer on the block, but definitely the best !
We then flew to Guatemala where we visited a 1000 hectare estate producing some 20,000 export bags of Rainforest certified coffee plus macadamia. Again we see active social programmes as well as quality coffee measures. Then onto coops whose care and principles are paramount to their way of life. Without reducing quality the small farmers strive to compete in a market dominated by the multinationals. All exporters are suffering from drug money laundering where the coyotes pay an exaggerated US$ cash price for the coffee which is either pushing up the prices we see, or is substantially reducing exporters’ profits or worryingly, both. Production is down a little with the smallholders but plantations appear OK. Roads are excellent and this is a vibrant country. After consideration, Gallo was deemed the best beer.
Unusually, we took a Pullman coach from Guatemala City to San Salvador which only takes 4.5 hours including 1 hour at the border crossing. This is only a small country. 90 minutes in any direction to any coffee farm basically, and all the best coffee is on the volcanic slopes North West of the city which is where we spent our time, except for 1 day when we stumbled across a beach purely by accident ?
Here we visited 3 coops and two private farms covering the Fairtrade, Organic and Rainforest production of coffee. Bourbon is the dominant variety with pacas and pacamara a close second – no wonder this country is so good for the espresso based drinks. Much of the coffee land is of average altitude but this does not detract from the quality of the coffee cup, providing the controls are in place to remove the defects – in actual fact most of the defects were not even picked. Because of the vast valleys between the volcanoes the wind can be a major problem here and wind breaks are very much evident. Some small holders had lost about 60% of their crop this year partly due to the high winds. Suprema is definitely the best beer.
In conclusion : Rains in December have caused quality/crop concerns for all countries, some producers more so than others, which may well affect next season too. Whilst this may increase the cost to the consumer countries, spare a thought for the small producers who will have less income to live on and reinvest in the crops which provide us with a living. Producers are getting frustrated with the increased bureaucracy and unrealistic demands by Fairtrade inspectors for a reduced return on their coffees. Yet again, it emphasises that D.R.Wakefield’s partners in origin are the right ones to be dealing with.
Sun, sea, coffee waved good-bye and a welcome home to cloud, rain and London Pride beer !