Friday, August 15, 2008

Mexico Acknowledges Effects of Food Crisis

I’m a little behind in posting this, but I was reminded of it again just the other day. In July, I posted a blog about the international food crisis and its effects on coffee-farming families we work with in Mexico (“Coffee Families Confront the International Food Crisis”). The Mexican government has stepped in to help regulate prices on basic commodities by putting a price freeze on 150 items, including tortillas, coffee and beans.

The article, “Mexico, Industry Agree to Freeze Prices on 150 Items,” at Bloomberg.com, looks at the effects of high inflation and a decrease in money being sent home by immigrants. According to the article, prices have increased 4.95 percent. Price increases are felt more acutely in the remote communities where coffee is produced.

The author has a series of articles and also recently published a story looking into the effect of falling remittances (money sent home by immigrants) on the Mexican economy. The article cites a 2.2 percent drop in remittances for the first half of the year, which is the first decline in remittances since the government began tracking the data in 1995.

Anti-immigration forces may applaud the effectiveness of stopgap border patrol policies, but unfortunately this means that families in Mexico will suffer as people are shut off from reliable work and businesses in the US will be without labor as we enter the harvest season. And since we are entering the countdown to November elections, legislators will continue to avoid confronting the problem for fear of losing voters on both sides of the issue.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Program Update: Chajulense Association and STIAP, Guatemala

From July 21-27, Jose Carlos Leon Vargas and I spent nine days visiting Coffee Kids’ counterparts, the Chajulense Association and Union of Independent Workers of Alianza Ranch (STIAP) in Guatemala.

The Chajulense Association was formed by a group of coffee growers 20 years ago in the department of El Quiche, Guatemala, to better market their coffee. In the past years, Chajulense Association has promoted economic and social alternatives particularly amongst women of the community.

Last year, Chajulense Association and the women of Chajul initiated a project in textile production supported by Coffee Kids and benefiting 50 women in two communities.

During the first day, the women took us to the workshop where they produce bags, cushions, scarves, table clothes, napkins, baby shoes, and many other objects. In one year, and with the help of other organizations, the women have standardized their offerings and put together a detailed catalogue allowing them to market their products in Guatemala and abroad.

On the second day, representatives from the group accompanied us to visit women who produce fabric using waist looms in the communities of Chajul and Pulay. This ancient practice allows women work at home and take care of their family without having to commute to a workshop or factory.

Over the past months, the Chajulense Association renovated a foot-operated loom and built a new one. This loom, along with the training the women received, will increase the textile production to satisfy the demand for handicrafts in the region.

At the end of our stay, the women announced that their group had acquired legal status and will be now called the Chajulense Association of Women United for Life. This achievement shows the increasing confidence among women that up until two decades ago had been living under the scourge of civil war.

On the second leg of the trip we drove southwest to the community of El Palmar Quetzaltenango, where STIAP leads a biodiesel project supported by Coffee Kids.

STIAP’s biodiesel production project began in 2005 with the help of a volunteer and researchers from the University of San Carlos in Quetzaltenango. In 2007 the community was producing 100 gallons per week, but this year Coffee Kids provided funds for a new reactor that was built by the community and they now produce 134 gallons per week.

During the first day at El Palmar, a talented high school student, who is in charge of the processing, explained the details of transforming used kitchen oil into fuel. He also told us how the community plans to use its lower-quality macadamia nuts to produce biodiesel reducing the need for large quantities of used oil from restaurants and shops.

STIAP cultivates macadamia nuts for national sale and export, but some of these nuts are rejected and can be used in the production of biodiesel. STIAP has also created a youth group interested in biodiesel production to ensure a healthy future for the program. At the meeting, these 10 students, ages 12 to 18, told us that the most experienced from the group are now training others in the production process.

Our stay in El Palmar provided us with a clear picture of how a community can link different projects to improve the overall living conditions of its people. The biodiesel not only provides a cleaner fuel for the cars, but it also feeds the generator that provides electricity to the community and its eco-hotel, nut-sorting machinery, water purification plant and administrative offices.

Click on these links for more photos of STIAP and Association Chajulense