i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

Organic Fertilizers
Many coffee farmers fertilize their plants with synthetic urea. In fact, according to my
community survey, the majority of farmers in Las Grietas currently use urea to fertilize
their farms. Urea is a chemical compound that occurs naturally in the urine of mammals.
It is potent plant fertilizer. The synthetic variety is created from synthetic ammonia and
carbon dioxide. In the months leading up to the 1998–1999 harvest, most had purchased
urea on credit that would be repaid in harvest. Then, when Hurricane Mitch hit Las
Segovias in late 1998, it literally wiped out the entire harvest and farmers were left owing
more than they had earned. Many defaulted on their pre-harvest loans, and the defaulting
by some of the larger farmers helped cause the bankruptcy of some national banks. 67
The major focus of organic certification is to encourage the use of organic
fertilizers made from decomposed organic matter instead of using synthetic fertilizers.
This approach can liberate small farmers from dependence on synthetic urea and
encourages farmers to obtain locally available ingredients for biofertilizers or composts.
The shift from chemical fertilizer to organic fertilizer is arduous. Not only does it
require greater investment in manual labor and supervision, farmers also incur a
significant decrease in yield through the transition. In fact, the first few years after
farmers stop improving soil with synthetic urea have the lowest yields because the soils
have become dependent on the potent, synthetic urea. It takes about three years of soil
amendment before the coffee plants can rebound to a stable yield. According to Danilo,
once an organic farm is established the resulting yield is significantly less, up to two-
thirds, than it was when synthetic fertilizer was used
67 El Banco del Café and Interbank both went bankrupt after Hurricane Mitch and the
downturn in international coffee prices.
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