COFFEE IN PERU
I am a Peruvian coffee farmer. I was poor when I came here to the Amazon
Basin 40 years ago, and I am just as poor now. That has not changed at all.
But there is no other living to be made here.
Climb with me up the steep rainforest-coated slopes of the Tambopata River
Valley. Imagine climbing these steep slopes in this humid tropical heat –
something the other farmers and I must do all the time. Then imagine
pushing a wheelbarrow loaded with crates of Coca-Cola.
Welcome to my farm! No gringos like you have ever visited my farm before.
Creating a farm was precarious work. We had to thin the forest while still
preserving the shade needed by the coffee bushes, about 7 acres for each
farm. Then I needed a platform on which to dry my coffee beans. Finally, I
had to find a source for pure water. And then came the long wait – three
years at least tending the growing coffee plants like children -- until the
first fruits appeared. The hardships – the backbreaking labor without
reward – yes, such memories never die.
Up here, the plants will produce for 15 years. When the flowers come out in
September, it is as if the mountains were covered in snow.
The laborers come down from the mountains for about five months every
year during harvest time. They live in a shed beside the farmhouse. Every
farm must hire laborers.
The fate of this entire community rests on the coffee harvest. We also
produce coffee here for fair trade. We are careful to select only the best
cherries for them, the ones that are perfectly ripe. It is a risk for us.
There is only one day when they are perfect. If it rains on that day, then
they fall from the bushes and are lost. Sometimes it has rained for weeks
during the harvest.
After production – removing the pulp, drying the beans, and removing the
husks – we must rely on the New York Coffee Exchange to declare the price.
Now, it is just $143 a sack. After deducting the costs of transport and
processing, that means we will earn this season $2800. But we must still pay
the laborers as well as the mule who will transport the coffee beans to
market.
If your harvest earns you less than it costs you, if you have labored a year
without reward, then you have nothing left to treat your children when they
are ill; yellow fever is rampant here. The truth is, here, if you are sick, you
die. Whether or not we can keep our children in school – well, you know.
And, because no other industry supports our government, we farmers are
the only really source of tax revenue. When you must submit your life to
world coffee prices, you learn what true powerlessness is.
Out of Character:
Trade justice is about recognizing the right that farmers have to feed their
families and send their children to school. It is about allowing domestic
industries to develop. It is about access to essential services like water and
healthcare. And it is about the right to fair wages and dignified work. It is
the best way for poor countries to work their way out of poverty.