Mexico's Small Coffee Growers:
Working together for the future...
In 1988, several regional organizations of small coffee growers with many years of experience in production and marketing came together to form the Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Cafetaleras (CNOC)
CNOC is an autonomous national network of 126 regional peasant organizations that unites 75,000 small coffee producers from the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí and Veracruz.
These coffee producers manage an average of two hectares of cultivated land, and nearly 80 percent belong to an indigenous ethnic group, such as tzotzil, tzeltal, tojolabal, chol, huasteco, nahuatl, totonaco, tlapaneco, mazateco, zapoteco, mixteco, chinanteco and triqui. The majority speak Spanish as a second language.
In July of 1989 twenty-six regional organizations --some with as much as 10 years of experience-- united to form CNOC. CNOC's organizations all share the principles of joint action to confront common problems, mutual support amongst member organizations, democratic decision-making, autonomy, and political pluralism.
CNOC's primary objetives include promoting regional economic development with collective capital and improving social welfare through the
organization of peasant families. The strategy for achieving these goals focuses on "self-appropiation" by the producers of each stage of the coffee production process: cultivation, processing, marketing, and financing.
Mexico is the world's fourth largest coffee-producing country. Approximately 282,000 Mexicans cultivate coffee on 760,000 hectares. Mexico's average national production for the past five years is approximately 4.6 million "quintales," or 60 kilo bags. 97 percent of the coffee is Arabica, three percent Robusta. Nearly 92 percent of Mexico's coffee producers manage land parcels of 5 hectares or less.
CNOC's members cultivate 142,000 hectares and produce over 876,000 quintales, nearly 15 percent of the national total. The exports of CNOC's organizations exceed 143,000 quintales across five separate markets: solidarity, organic, gourmet, traditional green bean, and roasted and ground coffee.
CNOC exports its coffee via its sales office, Promotora Comercial de
Cafés Suaves Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V. CNOC also has a marketing and
sales office in San Francisco, California, which sells roasted and ground coffee throughout the United States using CNOC's own brand label: Aztec Harvests.
CNOC works to facilitate resolution of problems within and communications between its constituent regional organizations. CNOC also seeks to open new spaces for representation for its members via its participation in institutions such as the National Coffee Trust Fund (Fideicomiso del Café (FIDECAFé)) and the Regional and National Operating Groups, which coordinate public financial and technical assistance programs. CNOC also participates in the Executive Committee of the Mexican Coffee Council, which is the principal public-sector institution created to replace the disincorporated state enterprise INMECAFé (The Mexican Coffee Institute), and in FOGACAFé, a new national guarantee fund for the coffee sector.
Environmental protection is a central element of CNOC's production strategies. Nearly 10 percent of CNOC's members produce organic coffee. CNOC is a member of the Mexican Association of Ecological Agriculturalists (AMAE), some of the members are faunders of ECOMEX (Campesinos e indígenas ecológicos de México) and several of its associate organizations participate in the International Federation of Agricultural Movements (IFOAM).
CNOC supports the convergence of regional, national and international organizations via its participation in networks such as the Union of Small-Scale Coffee Producers of Central America, Mexico and the Carribean (UPROCAFé) and the Cooperative Society of Small-Scale Producers (SCPP) comprised of small-scale producers from all of Latin America.
CNOC is also involved in a public outreach campaign to promote consumption of Mexican products in the domestic market and to narrow the gap between coffee producers and coffee consumers. With this goal in mind, CNOC is organizing in cordination wiht the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares (MNCP) an exposition entitled La vida en un sorbo or life in a sip.