the world of organic agriculture - Organic Eprints

16 Organic Farming in Latin America
and citrus fruits, Mexico also has apples, avocados and bananas on the world market. 70 percent
of the bananas produced in the Dominican Republic are organic. 1.7 million kg of bananas are
exported yearly from Costa Rica for baby food production in Europe and America. Pineapple is a
growing export possibility in Central America.
Argentina, Brazil and Chile are strong vegetable exporters, both fresh and dried. But also Costa
Rica, and other Central American countries sell smaller quantities of fresh vegetables to the
external market.
16.3.2 Grains and Cereals
Paraguay is a big soybean producer, together with Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, which also
produce and export corn and wheat. Organic grain farmers in the south of the continent are
having a big confrontation with the Genetically Modified cultivars of soy (RR) and corn (bt), that
have become mainstream in the area.
16.3.3 Coffee
Mexico is the largest coffee producer in the world, with tens of thousands of tons of coffee beans,
mostly harvested by small indigenous farmers, reaching the world’s biggest supermarkets and
coffee shops. It produces 40 percent of the total coffee production in Latin America. Guatemala
and other Central American countries have important coffee production with much the same
characteristics. It is mostly done in an ecological forest management system, thus creating a
valuable alternative to the deforestation process taking place in the region.
In a recent study by Jorge Vieto, from Centro de Inteligencia Sobre Mercados Sostenibles (CIMS),
there are around 63’000 organic coffee producers in Latin America, averaging 2 to 4 hectares
of certified land. These small producers are responsible for 90 percent of the total production.
There are more than 300 certified exporters, mainly co-operatives and farmers associations, but
also some private companies.
A large part of Peru’s coffee production is already organic. In Bolivia, the 20 percent of the total
coffee production is organic. When, like in 2001, the price of the coffee is too low, farmers get
more income from their diversified production, selling tropical fruits to small processing plants.
In Costa Rica this alternative is called “Organic Integrated Farms”.
16.3.4 Cocoa
Most of the coffee producing countries also cultivate cocoa for chocolate, usually processed in
Europe under fair trade logos and certified by European companies. It is also a very important
source of income for small farmers throughout Central America and the tropical areas of South
America, although it has been impossible up to now to add value locally.
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