The Union of Indigenous Communities of the Isthmus Region ( es, Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Región del Istmo, or UCIRI), is a farmer's cooperative in the state of
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 ...
,
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 ...
. It was established in 1982 to assist in production, marketing and distribution of locally produced coffee and other products.
UCIRI was a pioneer of organic coffee production and one of the first fair trade suppliers.
Early days
Until the late 1970s the small coffee farmers of the
Santa Maria Guienagati and
Guevea de Humboldt
Guevea de Humboldt is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.
It in the north of the Tehuantepec District, which is in the west of the Istmo Region.
History
The name Guevea comes from the variant of the Zapotec language of t ...
municipalities in the
Tehuantepec District
Tehuantepec District is located in the west of the Istmo Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.
It includes the cities of Salina Cruz and Tehuantepec
Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeas ...
of the
Istmo Region of Oaxaca did not have roads and transport to get their product to market, and lacked bargaining power with the freelance coffee buyers. However, loggers built rough roads in the 1970s, and the roads were maintained after the loggers left or were driven out. The producers began selling direct to Inmecafe, the Mexican Institute of Coffee, which paid more than the middlemen.
In 1982 the farmers of the two municipalities, with advice from a Jesuit mission team from the
Diocese of Tehuantepec, formed the UCIRI to help gain better prices for their coffee crop. They were later joined by farmers from other communities in the
Sierra Mixe
The Sierra Mixe or Mixes District is a district in the east of the Sierra Norte Region of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It comprises 17 municipalities and covers 4,930 km2 at an average elevation of 1,200 meters above sea level.
As of 2005 the dis ...
and northern Isthmus region.
UCIRI gained legal status in 1983 and established contact with ARIC (Asociaciones Rurales de Interés Colectivo), a growers organization which had part of the Mexican export quota under 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 ...
.
Early years were difficult. The cooperative struggled to obtain financing and faced bureaucratic obstacles. They had to learn the many processes involved in producing and delivering a consistent product, from buying sacks to quality control and transport.
They also had to learn all the financial aspects of running a business.
Expansion
By 1986 the cooperative was producing more than the 8,000 sacks of coffee that could be absorbed by the "alternative trade" movement.
The UCIRI launched an appeal that led directly to the creation of the Dutch
Max Havelaar Foundation, which now unites 23 fair trade producer and labelling initiatives.
The Max Havelaar label, the world's first Fairtrade Certification Mark, was officially launched by Stichting Max Havelaar on 15 November 1988.
One of the founders of Max Havelaar,
Frans van der Hoff Frans van der Hoff (born 13 July 1939), or Francisco VanderHoff Boersma as he is called in Latin America, is a Dutch missionary who, in collaboration with Nico Roozen and ecumenical development agency Solidaridad, launched Max Havelaar, the first ...
, later joined the staff of UCIRI.
At first the government was hostile to the cooperative. On two occasions army units occupied UCIRI installations.
Later it gained increasing respect from the state and federal governments.
In 1997 the President of Mexico,
Ernesto Zedillo
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (; born 27 December 1951) is a Mexican economist and politician. He was 61st president of Mexico from 1 December 1994 to 30 November 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from t ...
, awarded the UCIRI the National Prize for ecological merits.
By 1998 UCIRI included 49 communities in 19 municipalities with 2,050 members.
In 1999 the cooperative sold 279 tons under
FLO conditions.
The dependence on Fair Trade steadily dropped from 85% in 1988 to 43% in 1999, with increasing volumes sold in the organic and domestic markets. As a pioneer in organic production, UCIRI is able to command premium prices.
[
By 2002, the UCIRI had expanded beyond the original Santa Maria Guienagati and Guevea de Humboldt municipalities to include ]Santo Domingo Petapa
Santo Domingo Petapa is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. Geography
The municipality covers an area of 232.2 km², at an average altitude of 250 meters above sea level, and is part of the Juchitán District of the Istm ...
, Santiago Lachiguiri
Santiago Lachiguiri is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.
It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region.
Geography
The municipality covers an area of . The Cerro de las Flores is the highest moun ...
, Santiago Ixcuintepec
Santiago Ixcuintepec is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. It is part of the Sierra Mixe district within the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca Region.
Name
The name "Ixcuintepec" means "Dog Head Hill".
Environment
The municipality co ...
, Santiago Atitlan
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
, San Lucas Camotlan, San Juan Lachao
San Juan Lachao is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.
It is part of the Juquila District in the center of the Costa Region.
The municipality covers 190.1 km2 of hilly land. The town is at an elevation of 60 meters abov ...
, San Juan Mazatlan, San Juan Guichicovi
San Juan Guichicovi is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.
It is part of the Juchitán District in the west of the Istmo de Tehuantepec region.
The town was founded on 15 March 1825: Guichicovi means "New Town" in Zapote ...
, San Juan Cotzocon, Santa Catarina Juquila
Santa Catarina Juquila is a town in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, and is the seat of the municipality also called Santa Catarina Juquila.
It is part of the Juquila District in the center of the Costa Region.
The name "Juquila" comes from "Xuhquilil ...
, San Juan Juquila Mixes, San Carlos Yautepec
San Carlos Yautepec is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.
It is part of the Yautepec District in the east of the Sierra Sur Region.
The name "Yautepec" means "hill of black corn". Geography
The municipality covers an area ...
, Nejapa de Madero
Nejapa de Madero is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.
It is part of the Yautepec District in the east of the Sierra Sur Region, not far from the main highway between Oaxaca, Oaxaca and Salina Cruz.
The name "Nejapa" means ...
, San Miguel Quetzaltepec
San Miguel Quetzaltepec is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.
It is part of the Sierra Mixe district within the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca Region.
The name "Quetzaltepec" means "hill of the quetzal", a tiny bird with a large ...
, San Pedro Huilotepec
San Pedro Huilotepec is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico.
It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region.
"Huilotepec" means stone wasp.
Geography
The municipality covers an area of 103.06 km², ...
, Santa Maria Alotepec, Santiago Camotlan
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...
and Santo Domingo Tehuantepec.[
UCIRI now exports to Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA.][
]
Operations
The organization is structured along grassroots democratic lines.
Each community that is part of UCIRI names a board of directors and officials responsible for different aspects of the programs who serve for one or two years. Community representatives assemble in Lachiviza, Guienagati for two days each month to discuss issues and plans. The representatives then bring back reports from the assembly meetings for further discussion at local meetings.
At the central level, UCIRI has a four-person Administrative Council and a four-person Monitoring Council, each of whom are elected for three-year terms.[
The cooperative gives technical and financial assistance for local manufacture, handling storage and transportation as well as national and international marketing of the products, of which the most important is coffee.
As the UCIRI has matured it has paid increased attention to the requirements of women and youth, health, education and nutrition.][
The concepts pioneered by the UCIRI have been adopted by a number of other organizations in Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Guatemala.][
In 2003, the Fair Trade Research Group at ]Colorado State University
Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
conducted seven case studies of Latin American Fairtrade coffee producers including UCIRI and concluded that Fair Trade has "in a short time greatly improved the well-being of small-scale coffee farmers and their families".
References
{{reflist
Fair trade organizations
Oaxaca