One of the many downsides of cheap coffee...
Mexico's Rivers Threatened By Coffee
(first published February, 1994)
Every year between November and April, untreated waste from coffee processing plants floods into Mexican rivers in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
"If the government wishes to step in and enforce the national water law, all of our state's coffee producers would have to go out of business," explained Fernando Celis Callejas, spokesman for the National Coordination of Coffee Organizers (CNOC).
"It's very simple," he said. "The coffee industry is in a crisis because of the low international price. We don't have the financial resources to modernize our facilities."
Veracruz produces 40 percent of the nation's coffee supply. The state's humid climate does not accommodate the traditional method of drying coffee beans in the sun.
Instead, the beans are first crushed in a pulping machine and then fermented in tanks of river water. The liquid residue, called stillage, is then dumped back into the rivers.
For each kilogram of coffee produced, six-to-eight liters of stillage are created as a by-product.
"Some of our rivers are biologically dead," said biologist Eugenia Olguin, director of the Department of Environmental Biotechnology at the Institute of Ecology. "There's been a surge of agricultural industries in the last 30 years, and now the ecosystem is out of balance."
Olguin explained that the rivers are now overtaxed by the large amounts of organic material.
As a result, the seasonal wastes rob the rivers of their oxygen, leading to the suffocation of aquatic creatures. Fishermen complain that they have lost their livelihoods.
In October 1991, Mexico's secretariat in charge of environmental matters, Sedesol, launched the "Polluter Pays" principle. This established a fine for industries which discharge residual effluents into any body of water without meeting government standards.
"The coffee industry could not be in a worse condition," Celis said. "The cost has dropped to a quarter of its value four years ago. There are almost 300,000 coffee producers in Mexico and almost three million Mexicans who depend on this industry, but if the price does not rise, more producers will abandon their fields and more people will be unemployed."
Financial credits to coffee farmers have been paltry. According to the National Coordination of Coffee Organizers, the government's Solidarity program has given small coffee producers 322 dollars per hectare, while in the last six years, producers have lost 2,580 dollars per hectare.
"Of course producers haven't used this money to modernize their facilities," Celis said. "Farmers are using this money just to survive."
(first published February, 1994)
Every year between November and April, untreated waste from coffee processing plants floods into Mexican rivers in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
"If the government wishes to step in and enforce the national water law, all of our state's coffee producers would have to go out of business," explained Fernando Celis Callejas, spokesman for the National Coordination of Coffee Organizers (CNOC).
"It's very simple," he said. "The coffee industry is in a crisis because of the low international price. We don't have the financial resources to modernize our facilities."
Veracruz produces 40 percent of the nation's coffee supply. The state's humid climate does not accommodate the traditional method of drying coffee beans in the sun.
Instead, the beans are first crushed in a pulping machine and then fermented in tanks of river water. The liquid residue, called stillage, is then dumped back into the rivers.
For each kilogram of coffee produced, six-to-eight liters of stillage are created as a by-product.
"Some of our rivers are biologically dead," said biologist Eugenia Olguin, director of the Department of Environmental Biotechnology at the Institute of Ecology. "There's been a surge of agricultural industries in the last 30 years, and now the ecosystem is out of balance."
Olguin explained that the rivers are now overtaxed by the large amounts of organic material.
As a result, the seasonal wastes rob the rivers of their oxygen, leading to the suffocation of aquatic creatures. Fishermen complain that they have lost their livelihoods.
In October 1991, Mexico's secretariat in charge of environmental matters, Sedesol, launched the "Polluter Pays" principle. This established a fine for industries which discharge residual effluents into any body of water without meeting government standards.
"The coffee industry could not be in a worse condition," Celis said. "The cost has dropped to a quarter of its value four years ago. There are almost 300,000 coffee producers in Mexico and almost three million Mexicans who depend on this industry, but if the price does not rise, more producers will abandon their fields and more people will be unemployed."
Financial credits to coffee farmers have been paltry. According to the National Coordination of Coffee Organizers, the government's Solidarity program has given small coffee producers 322 dollars per hectare, while in the last six years, producers have lost 2,580 dollars per hectare.
"Of course producers haven't used this money to modernize their facilities," Celis said. "Farmers are using this money just to survive."
posted by George | 11:42 AM
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