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University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Anthropology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 7-1-2012 Coffee nda the Countryside: Small Farmers and Sustainable Development in Las Segovias de Nicaragua Patrick Staib Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Staib, Patrick. "Coffee and the Countryside: Small Farmers and Sustainable Development in Las Segovias de Nicaragua." (2012). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds/66 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Patrick W. Staib Candidate Anthropology Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Dr. Les W. Field , Chairperson Dr. Carole Nagengast Dr. Marta Weigle Dr. David Henkel i COFFEE AND THE COUNTRYSIDE: SMALL FARMERS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN LAS SEGOVIAS DE NICARAGUA by PATRICK W. STAIB B.A., Spanish and Religion, Dickinson College, 1995 M.A., Latin American studies, University of New Mexico, 2000 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Anthropology The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July, 2012 ii COFFEE AND THE COUNTRYSIDE: SMALL FARMERS AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN LAS SEGOVIAS DE NICARAGUA by Patrick W. Staib B.A., DICKINSON COLLEGE, 1995 M.A., UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2000 Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2012 ABSTRACT Las Segovias de Nicaragua is a highland tropical region along the Río Coco and the Honduran border in the northern part of the country. Over the past decade and a half, efforts to introduce and establish organic coffee production methods and cooperative organization models have focused on the impoverished rural inhabitants of this region. This approach represents a significant shift in international development policies toward Third World producer nations. I engaged in this context to question the viability of organic coffee farming given the legacy of deceit, violence, and natural disasters that have plagued this region since the Spanish Conquest. The historical and cultural antecedents to this development mode inform the pace and direction in which presumably ‘sustainable’ innovations to this traditionally exploitative, century-old coffee industry take form. I conducted ethnographic research over two years with the small-scale coffee farmer community of Las Grietas within the municipality of San Juan del Río Coco to understand how these innovations are received and embraced by the inhabitants of this iii region. From 2004-2006, I lived and worked with the farmers of Las Grietas. I relied on community surveys, formal interviews, and casual conversation while involved in day-to- day farm tasks to obtain firsthand data on small farmers’ responses and receptivity to the current development paradigm. Most small-scale coffee farmers in this region were on opposite sides of the Contra War only two decades ago. Today they are members of the same farmer co-ops that work to access secure markets, pre-harvest financing, and development aid. I recount my experiences in cooperative development, marketing, and farm labors as way to present this particular region’s challenges and potentials for success in the realm of organic coffee production and cooperative organization. Ultimately, I argue that as long as development modes are designed far from the sites of their application, it will be difficult to obtain community-wide acceptance for these innovations. Instead, development agencies may find greater results should they incorporate local peoples’ perspectives based on their own realities into the implementation of development schemes. Lastly, I confirmed three dominant themes inform the execution of development agendas in Las Segovias: first, pre-existing structures will influence the application of development efforts; second, more affluent farmers benefit to a greater extent from partnering with poorer farmers to export to specialty markets, like Fair Trade and organic; third, there has been a shift in campesinos relations with the state and international entities in that the descendants of those who rose up in armed revolt against the expansion of the coffee industry into indigenous hinterlands are now championed for their potential stewardship of the remaining stretches of old-growth cloud forest in Nicaragua. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I heartily acknowledge Dr. Les Field, my advisor and dissertation chair, for inspiring me to engage in ethnographic fieldwork in rural Nicaragua. I value his critical and compassionate support through the long processes of drafting and editing my dissertation. His guidance and mentorship will continue to influence my career. I also thank my committee members. Dr. Carole Nagengast was my first professor at the University of New Mexico and opened my eyes to the rights-based approaches to social sciences. I am indebted to her for the fervor and enthusiasm with which she practices the anthropological discipline. Dr. Marta Weigle provided valuable editorial support. She guided my writing with consideration for the audience and the reader. Dr David Henkel, who I met late in my graduate career, has been a important contributor to my analysis of the dynamics of community-based development. To my editor, June-el Piper, I offer my gratitude for your hard work in making my message consistent and assisting me to convey the important points in my dissertation. To my parents, Walter and Gloria Staib, thank you for the love and support you have provided throughout the research and writing process. Finally, to my wife, Kelly Schaeffer, I thank you for your dedication to this project and your committed photo documentation of all that we saw and experienced. Your love and support are the greatest gifts of all. v Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables................................................................................................ viii Preface................................................................................................................................ ix Chapter Overview .......................................................................................................... xi Introduction: The Fieldwork ............................................................................................... 1 Research Methods ......................................................................................................... 16 Part One, Socio-Historical Context................................................................................... 22 Chapter 1. Regional Identity Formation and Land Tenure in Las Segovias ................. 31 Las Segovias’ Native Inhabitants.............................................................................. 31 Land Use in the Colonial and Independence Periods ............................................... 36 Coffee and the Nicaraguan Countryside ................................................................... 42 The Indigenous Revolt of 1881 and Its Aftermath ................................................... 47 National versus Segovian Identity Formation........................................................... 49 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 54 Chapter 2. Rebellion and Agrarian Reform in Twentieth-Century Nicaragua ............. 58 Sandino’s Influential Rebellion ................................................................................ 59 Agrarian Reform and Civil War in Las Segovias ..................................................... 64 Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary Land Redistribution .................................... 71 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 73 Chapter 3. Personal Histories of Agrarian Reform and Land Tenure, 1980-2000 ....... 75 Personal Accounts of Samarkanda Confiscation ...................................................... 76 Sandinista Development Perspective ........................................................................ 84 La Piñata: Land Acquisition after the Fall of the Revolution .................................. 87 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 92 Part Two, Development: International and National Influences ...................................... 93 Chapter 4. Small-Scale Organic Coffee Farming as Sustainable Development ........... 96 Small-Scale Agrarian Communities, Development and Anthropology .................... 97 Hurricane Mitch and the International Coffee Crisis .............................................. 115 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 117 Chapter 5. Class and Labor Relations in Segovian Organic Coffee Production ........ 118 The Farmers of Las Grietas ..................................................................................... 119 Laborers: The Foundation of the Industry .............................................................. 122 The Farmers: Scale and Productive Capacity ........................................................

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