We work with five farmer cooperatives in Guatemala:
ADIPCO in Huehuetenango
Apecaform in San Marcos
Rio Azul in Huehuetenango
Guatemala Statistics:
Total Population – 12,036,000
Infant Mortality Rate – 36 per 1000
Life Expectancy – 66 years
GNI per Capita – US$1,750
Guatemala's modern experiment with democracy and land reform ended
fifty some years ago (June 1954) when the U.S. Eisenhower
administration authorized the CIA coup that condemned Guatemala to
decades of repressive military dictatorships. The signing of Peace
Accords in 1996 formally ended 32 years of civil war and have allowed
Guatemalans to experience increasing access to information and
participate in an internal discussion about important national issues.
Nevertheless, a half-century of bad habits die hard. State structures
are weak and corrupt. The Guatemalan military and the U.S. embassy
remain the power behind the throne. A preoccupation with protecting the
interests of big business and large landowners means that social
programs and the real-life problems of Guatemalans go all but ignored,
and the good intentions of individuals at many levels of government are
often blocked. The levels of criminal delinquency and the cruelty of
their acts are rising at an alarming rate and are becoming more
generalized across the country. The local population increasingly
voices growing insecurity and less satisfaction with the course the
country is taking. The more things change in Guatemala, the more it
seems that they remain the same.
Poverty is still a major problem for more than half of the population,
and almost 25% of the population lives in extreme poverty. In addition,
social indicators are among the worst in Central America in terms of
social public expenditure, access to health and basic services,
education, child and maternal mortality rates, distribution of wealth
and land. Indigenous peoples, who constitute 50% of the population
– one of the highest rates in Latin America - suffer from strong
racial, social, economic and cultural discrimination. Seven indigenous
people out of ten are poor and live on the margins of the society. An
estimated 67% of indigenous children (with the indigenous representing
the majority of the population) suffer from chronic malnutrition.
The lack of national policies coupled with international coffee prices
that often won’t even cover the costs of production, leaves the
country on shaky ground. To make matters worse, many regions lost up to
30 percent of their production with the passing of Hurricane Stan in
late 2005. Guatemala is a major producer of high quality, washed
arabicas. Some 270,000 hectares are planted with coffee and account for
about 24% of all exports. Yet smallholder coffee farmers produce only
30 percent of the total volume. The majority of coffee production and
export continues to be dominated by the large plantation owners.
Resources:
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/guatemala.html
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/guatemala/intro/index.htm#2
Read more about our trading partners:
ADIPCO in Huehuetenango
Apecaform in San Marcos
Rio Azul in Huehuetenango
