Environmentally Friendly Organic Coffee Farms in Guatemala

Environmentally Friendly Organic Coffee Farms in Guatemala Female: Humanity first fell in love with coffee back in the 9th Century in the highlands of Ethiopia. Today, coffee is the second most valuable globally traded commodity after petroleum. It is estimated that 500 billion cups are consumed every year around the world. It’s produced by over 20 million farmers worldwide. More than half of the world’s coffee farms, 5.8 million hectares are found here in Central America. And it is this industry, so vital to the economy of the region that is now leading the way in transforming how water and other natural resources are used on these volcanoes. A bit further down the mountainside, between 1000 to 2000 meters are the coffee plantations, so vital to this region. It’s shortly after dawn and coffee workers in Guatemala are heading to the fields. It’s harvest time. For over 100 years coffee has been at the core of Guatemala’s economy and today it generates one third of the country’s foreign currency. These pickers are part of the ‘La Igualdad’ farming community in the shadow of Tacana Volcano. Each day during harvest the farm produces between two and seven thousand kilos of coffee. Profits are shared out between its 150 owner/producers. ‘La Igualdad’ is spearheading the way coffee farms are now using their most precious resource, water. It used to take three million liters of water to produce the farm’s annual harvest of 70,000 kg of coffee. But in a remarkable turnaround, ‘La Igualdad’ now uses only 225,000 liters, a saving of nearly 93%. Renee Lopes: Farms used to behave very irresponsibly in terms of the environment. We have tried to look at ways of turning this around. This is why we are now working using a totally organic process. This means that we are all now responsible for looking after our environment. Female: They’ve achieved this turnaround by changing the way they use water, recycling it throughout the entire process. One kilo of coffee is produced by fermenting about 5 kilos of beans in fresh water, a process that generates enormous quantities of a highly polluted acidic coffee wastewater. Farms like ‘La Igualdad’ have traditionally dumped this toxic wastewater and pulp residue straight back into the rivers. Not any more. Now in ‘La Igualdad’, the full water is returned to the river it is stored in holding tanks to be thoroughly purified. The toxins that contaminate the water are further reduced by growing organic coffee. Conventional coffee is grown with more pesticides than any other agricultural crop. Organic coffee is produced under strict international guidelines without pesticides or fertilizers. The growing global demand for organic and fair trade coffee where producers are guaranteed returns as co-operative members is helping these farmers, and their environment. Renee Lopes: We are seeing from the company who buy off us that we have a strong market in Japan. And yes, the prices are acceptable. But we don’t just farm this way with the aim of making money, but also with the aim of saving our environment. Female: ‘La Igualdad’ hopes to be 100% organic by 2010. There is more to be done. Just over a third of their coffee beans are organic. Guatemala produces almost 10% of the world’s organic coffee, the second highest after its neighbor, Mexico.