Nicaraguan Coffee Photo Free Trade and Organic Coffee

Coffee became Nicaragua's principle crop in the 1870's, holding that position until 1992 despite the increased production of other crops, such as rum, tobacco, and cotton. Currently coffee accounts for 30% of Nicaragua's agricultural exports. The culture of coffee has greatly impacted the Nicaraguan economy and environment, supporting over 48,000 families who own and operate small farms.

 In the late 1990's, for example, coffee annually contributed $140 million to Nicaragua's economy resulting in 280,000 permanent agricultural jobs. Coffee experts suggest the organic practices associated with shade grown coffee plantations produces some of the most flavorful coffee while supporting fair trade practices improves the financial well-being of the coffee farmers.

Location, Location, Location

Although Nicaragua's first coffee cherries were planted on the Pacific's plain mesa, most coffee is grown in the three regions within Nicaragua's Central northern mountains - the Segovias, Matagalpa, and Jinotega regions. Coffee from the Segovias (Estel, Madriz and Nueva Segovia) is known for its floral aromas, distinctive flavor,

 and bright acidity. The Matagalpa and Jinotega regions possess rich volcanic soils, a humid tropical forest climate, and lush vegetation, including a great variety of lichens, moss, ferns, and orchids. The outer regions of Matagalpa County border the BOSAWAS Natural Reserve, the largest land preservation initiative in Central America.

Shade Grown Coffee and Commerce in Nicaragua

Coffee farming supports the more than 45,000 families who own and operate small coffee farms, a major impact in a country of 6 million people with close to 50% unemployment. Ninety-five percent of Nicaragua's coffee cultivation is considered "shade grown" 

where farmers cultivate shade coffee under the canopy of native and exotic trees. These trees combined with specific management practices help to sustain the ecosystem, impacting almost 267,000 acres of land, increasingly important in a country with high rates of deforestation, soil erosion, and water contamination. This is a far cry from the 76,000 acres of land used to produce coffee in 1891.

Coffee is produced in a variety of ways due to the commercialization chains, but, in general, farm size directly relates to the different forms of coffee production and commercialization. Medium, large, and agro-industrial coffee plantations are more likely to maintain a permanent labor force than are the smaller farms. These larger farms even occasionally export their own coffee while providing living quarters and food to farm worker families.

 Rural landless workers, however, continue to live in extreme poverty. During coffee harvest the larger plantations employ hundreds, sometimes thousands of coffee pickers.

Estimates suggest 95% of Nicaragua's coffee farmers are micro and small-scale producers where the family is the main labor source. These households often produce corn and beans in addition to working on the farm. The small-scale farmers tend to employ day laborers during the coffee harvest. Many Nicaraguan small-scale farmers grow more than half of the food they eat, integrating bananas, oranges, mangos, and trees for firewood and construction within their coffee farms.

Equal Exchange and the Growth of Fair Trade Cooperatives

Co-ops in Northern Nicaragua date back to the 1920s when Augusto Cesar Sandino formed Nicaragua's first co-op in Wiwil. By the early 1970s, however, only 11 cooperatives with an estimated 460 members were in existence in Nicaragua. 

The Nicaraguan revolution in 1979 and subsequent Sandinista government, which lasted from 1980 to 1990, significantly influenced many of the current cooperatives. During this time, cooperatives were given land that was redistributed to those who were once farm workers.