![El café en México](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/El_caf%C3%A9_en_M%C3%A9xico.png)
The coffee production in Mexico is the world's 8th largest with 252,000
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s produced in 2009, and is mainly concentrated to the south central to southern regions of the country. The coffee is mainly
arabica, which grows particularly well in the coastal region of
Soconusco
Soconusco is a region in the southwest corner of the state of Chiapas in Mexico along its border with Guatemala. It is a narrow strip of land wedged between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It is the southernmost pa ...
,
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
, near the border of
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
.
[Mexico: Other crops](_blank)
/ref>
At the end of the 18th century, coffee came to Mexico from the Antilles
The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...
, but was not exported in great quantities until the 1870s. During the 1980s, coffee became the country's most valuable export crop. Today Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
is the largest source of U.S. coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
imports. Notable beans include Altura, Liquidambar MS and Pluma Coixtepec.
History
At the end of the 18th century, coffee was first introduced into Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
, a state in Mexico. In 1954, when the price of coffee peaked as it emerged in the international market, production was moved to Mexico, where it cost significantly less. Since coffee has been introduced into Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
at the end of the 19th century, it has become the major region of coffee cultivation in Mexico. During the early 1980s, coffee plantations in Mexico spread rapidly over 12 states.
In 1982, the total amount of land in Mexico used for coffee production was 497,456 hectares. In addition, during the 1970s and 1980s, coffee production played a significant role in the national economy and became a major source of income for more than two million people in Mexico. Coffee plantations contributed to Mexican export trade with a great amount of foreign currency. At the same time, the commercialized coffee industry offered many employment opportunities in Mexico.
Instituto Mexicano del Cafe (INMECAFE)
The Mexican Coffee Institute (Instituto Mexicano del Cafe) ——INMECAFE, was a government regulated agency, responsible for providing technical assistance, administrating the Mexican export quotas of coffee, and keeping coffee price high and stable in the market. Because of the INMECAFE efforts to integrate new land into coffee cultivation, coffee productivity rapidly increased. As the result, the three main states, Chiapas, Veracruz and Oaxaca
Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...
, contributed 73% of the total amount of agriculture land for coffee production.
Between 1970 and 1982, the Mexican agriculture land devoted to coffee production increased by 141,203 hectares and national coffee production has grown approximately 6,000 tons of green coffee per year. In addition, INMECAFE encouraged the use of agrochemical
An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical refers to biocides ( pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicides) an ...
technologies and the organization provided technical assistance to farmers to achieve higher productivity. Respectively, 50% of coffee cultivation in Chiapas, 22% in Veracruz, and 22% in Oaxaca has accepted the technical assistance from INMECAFE. INMECAFE's technical assistance covered approximately 28% of coffee production regions in Mexico in 1982.
In 1989 INMECAFE disintegrated after president Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Carlos Salinas de Gortari CYC DMN (; born 3 April 1948) is a Mexican economist and politician who served as 60th president of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), earlier in his career he wor ...
declared that the Mexican government would give up control of its coffee market while they respond to the World Bank and other international financial institutions’ construction adjustments.
This policy change left farmers without protection from the highly voilatable international coffee price and had devastating effects especially for small-scale producers.
Coffee crisis
The International Coffee Agreement
The International Coffee Agreement (ICA) is an international commodity agreement between coffee producing countries and consuming countries. First signed in 1962, it was originally aimed at maintaining exporting countries' quotas and keeping coff ...
(ICA), created in 1962, was a protocol for maintaining coffee export countries’ quotas and keeping coffee prices high and stable in the market. However, ICA was dismantled in 1989, and as a result of the deficiency in management, coffee has been overproduced while coffee prices continuously fell, and a coffee crisis emerged in Mexico. The coffee crisis intensified between 1999 and 2003 and generated huge social and economic problems in Mexico. Between 1989 and 1995, the coffee production declined by 6.6% in Mexico, the Coordination of Coffee Grower Organizations predicted that coffee producers would have lost 65% of their income since the crisis happened.
As a consequence of having lower income, 71% of coffee producers in Mexico ceased to use fertilizers, 40% of them reduced the maintenance to weeding, and 75% of them stopped investing in pest prevention. As a result of the poor maintenance on coffee plantations, the quality of coffee declined and coffee production decreased. By the end of 2005, Mexico saw its lowest exported shipment of coffee in the past three decades, totaling 1.7 million bags. During 2006, coffee export in Mexico has grown to 4.2 million bags, but it was still low, compared to 5 years earlier.
See also
* Zapatista coffee cooperatives
Zapatista Coffee Cooperatives primarily operate in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico following Zapatismo ideology.
The economic importance of coffee
Mexico is a significant coffee producer (7th place worldwide). Specifically, the clim ...
* Agriculture in Mexico
''Agriculture in Mexico'' has been an important sector of the country’s economy historically and politically even though it now accounts for a very small percentage of Mexico’s GDP. Mexico is one of the cradles of agriculture with the Mesoa ...
* Human rights in Mexico
Human Rights in Mexico refers to moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, December 13, 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rightsp, Retrieved August 14, 2014 that describe c ...
References
External links
Mexican biggest wholesale coffee supplier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffee Production In Mexico
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
Agriculture in Mexico