Reuters AlertNet Lite - Oaxaca coffee exports unaffected by protests

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Oaxaca coffee exports unaffected by protests

09 Nov 2006 20:56:05 GMT
Source: Reuters

OAXACA, Mexico, Nov 9 (Reuters) - A violent political crisis in the Mexican coffee-growing state of Oaxaca, which has seen protesters hijacking cars and trucks, does not threaten bean exports, the state coffee council said.

The council said output was set to rise this harvest.

Large parts of Oaxaca's pretty capital of the same name were seized months ago by protesters who built street barricades, chased out police and closed government buildings in a bid to oust the state governor.

Federal police have since gained control of the city's colonial center, but protesters still dominate some neighborhoods and frequently hijack trucks and buses to strengthen their roadblocks.

Coffee council head Fortino Figueroa said the harvest beginning in the next few weeks would not be affected by the crisis, which has seen at least a dozen people killed, most of them protesters.

"The critical problem in Oaxaca is limited to the city, it is not in coffee growing zones and has not affected the coffee," he told Reuters.

Workers said the coffee council is one of the few government offices not closed by the protesters, who accuse state Gov. Ulises Ruiz of corruption and repression.

Oaxaca exports 80 percent of its coffee outside Mexico, but Figueroa said most exports go either via the neighboring state of Veracruz or along the Pacific coast, without passing through the capital.

Coffee output in Oaxaca, a mountainous southern state with numerous microclimates, plunged when many farmers abandoned the crop in the wake of a price crisis at the start of the decade.

Bad weather also helped push output down to around 295,000 60-kg bags in the last two harvests, from an average of 345,00 bags in previous years.

The industry has been hurt by a wave of migration from poor rural areas to the United States, leaving many farms without the labor needed to harvest or tend crops.

But Figueroa predicted a better crop this year. He said regular rainfall had helped flowering and the coffee trees he had seen on farm visits were laden with ripening berries.

"The sun and rain have been favorable and wind damage is low, which gives us the chance to raise the harvest to 300,000 or even 345,000 bags," he said.

Most of Oaxaca's coffee is grown on small family farms in indigenous regions. Some is sold via cooperatives to Fair Trade and organic roasters.

The coffee is washed in small mills and sun-dried on farm patios. The parchment is removed in regional dry-mills.

Figueroa said the coffee council was pressing ahead with a program to help farmers certify their coffee as organic or shade-grown despite the protests, which have frozen the activities of many government offices.

Oaxaca's most famous coffee is Cafe Pluma, grown in the foothills above the state's Pacific coast surfer hangouts.

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Last updated:Thu Nov 9 20:57:48 2006