Silke Mason Westphal
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262026338
- eISBN:
- 9780262267526
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262026338.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
This chapter analyzes coffee agroforestry in Meseta, western Nicaragua by using household survey data from small shade-grown coffee growers of different social backgrounds, and presents information ...
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This chapter analyzes coffee agroforestry in Meseta, western Nicaragua by using household survey data from small shade-grown coffee growers of different social backgrounds, and presents information on the convergence of the shade-grown coffee system by two groups of growers. The first are the parceleros, originally known to be landless wage workers, who worked under the Sandinistas and received individual land plots; this was followed by plantations re-distribution in 1900s. The second group inherited or purchased their farms. The only catalyst common to both these groups was the collapse of agricultural modernization policies, resulting in withdrawal of rural credit and purchased inputs subsidies. The chapter concludes that adoption of shade-grown management by both these groups shows their adaptive power to respond to the changing circumstances and needs of the households.Less
This chapter analyzes coffee agroforestry in Meseta, western Nicaragua by using household survey data from small shade-grown coffee growers of different social backgrounds, and presents information on the convergence of the shade-grown coffee system by two groups of growers. The first are the parceleros, originally known to be landless wage workers, who worked under the Sandinistas and received individual land plots; this was followed by plantations re-distribution in 1900s. The second group inherited or purchased their farms. The only catalyst common to both these groups was the collapse of agricultural modernization policies, resulting in withdrawal of rural credit and purchased inputs subsidies. The chapter concludes that adoption of shade-grown management by both these groups shows their adaptive power to respond to the changing circumstances and needs of the households.
