The Coffee Harvest

A few weeks ago, I volunteered to help the family pick coffee. Doña Candelaria seemed a little confused as to why I would want to go with them, but I explained that I was raised in an urban environment, that I have no experience in farming or agriculture, and that I am here in Guatemala precisely for the reason of learning new things. She seemed satisfied with my reply, so she let me tag along the next morning. So at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, Don Lorenzo, Doña Candelaria, Eliseo (host-brother-in-law, 24, married to Lesbia, 24), Greysi (host sister, 13) and I set out for the coffee fields.

Coffee is a cherry-esque fruit that is harvested between December and February when it ripens to a brilliant red hue. It is pulled off the branches of coffee trees by hand, and collected in woven wicker baskets. I’m not so sure how much help I was to them that day… Not only did they give me the smallest basket to fill, but it took me the longest to fill it! I do think, however, that they enjoyed watching me fumble with the basket and accidentally spilling coffee beans all over the ground. I think they were amused with my lack of coordination and the number of times I – almost – tripped and fell down the hill to and from their fields. It was tough, but together we picked 291 pounds of coffee that day.

Coffee is weighed and sold the day it is picked, and then taken to be processed (the fruit is removed, leaving the coffee bean, which is then dried, husked, and roasted). Coffee is the major cash crop here in the highlands, and most buyers pay about one quetzal ($0.13 cents) per pound of coffee, hardly a fair price, and definitely not enough to live on. The good news is that the parish has a fair trade coffee cooperative that buys coffee at double the price, for two quetzales per pound. The co-op limits how many pounds of coffee each family is able to sell to them, so as to open the market to more families. As a result, our host family sells what coffee it can to the parish, and the rest to other buyers who sell to corporations such as Starbucks and Nescafé.

Giving farmers a fair price for their coffee harvest is vital, since many families’ only annual income comes from the coffee harvested during the months of December, January, and February. Farming is also a risky business, where much of the harvest’s fate is left up to mother nature. Two weeks ago, we had three consecutive days of unusually strong winds, which stripped many coffee plants of their leaves. People walked to their fields and stood in tears, staring at the destroyed plants that they depend upon to feed their children. When the leaves are blown off of the coffee plant, it takes three years for the plant to recoup and bear a normal amount of fruit again. And so life here will continue, but many families will be significantly hungrier during these next few years.

If you are interested in contributing to hard-working families such as ours, you can buy the delicious fair trade coffee from the parish cooperative, “Juan Ana Coffee.” Just go to: http://www.juananacoffee.com/