At last, I’ve been given my permanent site! And, although it wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, it’s pretty close. I’m going to be stationed in one of the four sites in Chimaltenango(the closest department to my current location), as I mentioned before, each of which are 30 minutes – 1 ½ hours away from each other. My site is a town of 22,000 people that lies 20 minutes north of the commercial center of Tecpán, Chimaltenango.
As for my assignment, I’ll be working in the office of an NGO called Strategies for International Development, dealing specifically with the advancement of the local coffee market.
So, to get you up to speed, here’s my thirty second summary on the coffee market down here: Coffee farmers are very proud to produce such a fine, world renowned product (Guatemalan coffee is ranked third in quality worldwide). The trade is often kept in the family and passed down with the land for generations. The farmers harvest their coffee crops, that is, what’s left of what thieves have stolen, and generally sell to a middle man, either a coyote(basically any guy with a phone and pickup truck) or a beneficiary(an organization of glorified coyotes with a fancy name). These middlemen severely undercut the market price of coffee when they purchase from the small scale farmers and then go on to sell it to a large exporter in huge quantities. Although the coyotes and beneficiaries are paying very little, the system is rather stable and farmers generally have friendly relationships with them. Most farmers lack information sources and current data and thus, very easily trust the word of their middleman. So, you can see the issue. There is an extreme discrepancy in the value of what farmers are producing and the compensation they're receiving, mostly being scammed by their own countrymen. Not to mention the fact that coffee is in such high demand that none of the good stuff stays here - a typical coffee farming family won't even consume their own product.
Once I begin work, I will be assisting them in forming a cooperative, a very crucial step for coffee farmers down here. One of the major obstacles will be fighting the image of corruption in groups and getting the farmers in the organizations to begin to trust each other. Forming a coop is the only way to win legitimacy and pull in the market down here, and I'm guessing that will be my main task for at least the first year.
Additionally, I'll have the opportunity to work with various women's groups and a group of pomegranate farmers. So, as it turns out, this really is a job, not just a paid vacation with complimentary spanish classes. More to come after my site visit next week!
Until next time..
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2 comments:
Congrats on the awesome site assignment! Figures you'd end up in the coffee business. Don't let them find out you prefer Dunkin Donuts coffee...
Whoa, this is some pretty serious stuff. Can I chime in with some ideas and concerns? To form a co-operative of farmers to attack the coyotes seems like a pretty dangerous thing to me, lets think about this, you are going to cut out people who are bullies and who do nothing else but bully for their living and to cut their livelihood out seems like a means for a need to want to do stupid things like...oh say...kidnap the white girl or burn the farm land out of spite, lol. Now, I don't claim to have the best answers but I think the only way the farmers and the coyotoes will be both happy with changes if they are implemented is if they work together, not against.
Say you tell them all that you think that the coffee is worth more and that in the farmer selling at a higher price to someone else will benefit both, why? Because what you could do is use the coyotoes as security and have the farmers negotiate prices with bigger players and have the farmers give a cut to the security officials, aka coyotoes. This way everyone is happy, crops aren't stolen and farmers and security guards enjoy the fruits of a higher pricing environment. Now, it may not be something that the Peace Corps wants because it considers these coyotoes as bad evil men, which I agree 100% with. BUT in politics especially in a third world country you have to work with the bad guys because it is either that or starvation and death. Now one curve ball to all of this is the coyotoes reluctance to negotiate because someone higher than them has something else threatening them. We can discuss if you want. I actually want to listen to your thoughts and strategies, this really is an interesting project and I think you are more than capable. I just worry about the consequences of implementing a capitalistic system in a corrupt environment, especially when the white girl comes into town with all of these ideas, :)
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