A priest, a coop and a peasantry that regulates the elites
2017 Febrero Panamá
Which peasant cooperative in Central America is the strongest in trade? Which one is in charge of all stages of coffee processing—removing the pulp,...
Zero Hunger: How are the women doing?
2015 Marzo Nicaragua
In 2007, Daniel Ortega’s government launched the “Zero Hunger” Food Production Program (PPA), as the main instrument of its food security policy. The...
Deceit, disappointment and anger are again accumulating in rural Nicaragua
2014 Mayo Nicaragua
The history of the Nicaraguan peasantry is one of continuous processes of expropriation and usurpation of its resources. In recent history, the multiethnic...
We don’t want today’s tripartite system; the social economy is a major actor too
2014 Abril Nicaragua
First of all let me tell you a bit about myself, so you’ll know where I’m coming from. I own a farm in Masaya where I have nearly two hectares of oranges,...
Who’s responsible for the coffee rust plague and what can be done?
2013 Marzo Nicaragua
Every day now, the news leads with articles about the advance and consequences of the rust plague that’s
severely affecting coffee crops from Mexico...
Coffee with the aroma of coops
2012 Julio Nicaragua
When in 1761 Scottish workers organized the first cooperative, selling oatmeal at discount prices and later including credit, savings, migration and...
Without structural changes there’ll be no sustainable reduction of rural poverty
2011 Mayo Nicaragua
Nicaragua proudly claims its identity as an agricultural country and boasts its exports of coffee, cheese and beans. But if we observe the public policies...
The Contradictory Legacy of the Sandinista Agrarian Reform
2010 Julio Nicaragua
Nicaragua embarked on an agrarian reform adventure during the 1980s, inspired by a revolutionary government longing to lead great transformations. The...
They Sow Promises, We Harvest Disillusion
2010 Mayo Nicaragua
Nicaragua was affected yet again last year by that recurring climatic phenomenon known as El Niño,
an ocean current that causes drought across Central...
The Odyssey of a Peasant Navigating the Seas of Power
2006 Septiembre Nicaragua
Matagalpa, August 2, 2006. Bearing corn stalks and banners proclaiming “you won’t intimidate me,” a crowd of over a hundred peasants, human rights activists...
“CAFTA Will Be Like a Brand-Name Hurricane Mitch”
2005 Septiembre Nicaragua
The Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States (now known as DR-CAFTA following the inclusion of the Dominican Republic) contained...
Victims of Nemagon Hit the Road
2005 Junio Nicaragua
The march began in February. More than three thousand men, women, children and elderly people walked the 150 kilometers from Chinandega to the capital...
Through the Looking Glass: Images of the Agricultural Frontier
2004 Abril Nicaragua
Most of us tend to understand the agricultural frontier as that none-too-thin “red line” separating forest from crops. And we understand its advance...
"We're Saying No to CAFTA With Arguments and Conditions"
2003 Octubre Nicaragua
In UNAG we have analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States—which we’re already...
Central American-US Free Trade Agreement: Opportunity or Nightmare for Nicaragua?
2003 Septiembre Nicaragua
Kenneth Hoadley, a professional with no leftist leanings, is the rector of the El Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School, a prestigious agronomy and...
Brazil’s Landless Movement: “Our Aim Is to Topple Three Walls...”
2003 Enero América Latina
One of the great challenges Lula faces is how to achieve agrarian reform in Brazil, where 500 latifundistas (large estate owners) own unproductive...
The Chronicle of Coffee: History, Responsibility and Questions
2001 Agosto Nicaragua
In the early morning of August 18, 1881, exactly 120 years ago, nearly three thousands indigenous people armed with bow and arrows and shotguns and calling...
Ways Out of the Rural Crisis: Reforest, Educate and Don’t Steal
2001 Junio Nicaragua
Almost two years ago, having analyzed my economic situation as a producer, I decided to give up agriculture. I was deeply in debt and couldn’t find a...
The Agricultural Sector: Dominated by the QWERTY Economy
2001 Marzo Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s agricultural sector is having to fight in very adverse conditions today, not just because of everything going on in the country, but also...
Agriculture to the Emergency Ward: Intensive Care Required
2001 Enero Nicaragua
As the year 2000 ended, spokespeople for Nicaragua’s Central Bank presented their figures on national economic growth with the usual hurrahs that only...
The Banco de Café Scandal: A Cure that Nearly Killed the Patient
2000 Noviembre Nicaragua
Until late in the afternoon, November 17 seemed like any other day in the imposing new Managua headquarters of the Banco de Café (Bancafé). There was...
Land Occupation Opens the Way For Agrarian Reform
2000 Septiembre Honduras
A round mid night on May 14, 700 landless peasants of Aguán, on Honduras’ northern coast, occupied lands that belonged to the now dismantled Regional...
Transgenic Crops: Critical Voices from the South
2000 Julio Internacional
There is talk in the world about a second "green revolution." Two elements characterized the first one, which translated into the boom of fruit cultivation...
Transgenic Foodstuffs: Gateway to a Controversy
2000 Julio Internacional
Emotions and feelings are unquestionably important in human life. They are also important in approaching the ethical dilemmas resulting from the extraordinary...
Agrarian Reforms: The Latin American Legacy (part 2)
1999 Agosto América Latina
Although agrarian reform may be a prerequisite for sustainable development, it is certainly not a panacea for all of the disasters suffered by Latin...
Agrarian Reforms: The Latin American Experience
1999 Julio América Latina
How well was Latin American agriculture performing before the agrarian reforms were implemented? The figures reflecting agricultural growth in the post-war...
The Cattle Business: We Must Risk Another Model
1998 Octubre Nicaragua
Cattle ranching came to Nicaragua four hundred years ago, with the Spanish conquerors, and quickly penetrated the Nicaraguan culture and economy. In...
Central America's Granary: Reflections from Europe
1998 Mayo Centroamérica
...
Is Being the Granary of Central America a Good Thing?
1998 Abril Nicaragua
IN HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, ARNOLDO ALEMÁN REPEATEDLY PROMISED THAT HE would make Nicaragua "Central America's granary" again. Nicaragua's return to...
On the Death of BANADES (r.i.p.)
1998 Marzo Nicaragua
The poor person is despicable because of his poverty.
If a poor person is seen sitting around
they say he's lazy.
If he takes a drink, he is...
Banks, Mini-Banks and Rural Producers
1998 Enero Nicaragua
A NEW PRIVATE BANK OPENS YEARLY IN NICARAGUA, JUST LIKE IN OTHER COUNTRIES. Financing is a very lucrative sector for those with money to invest. Yet...
Coffe and Sesame: Mirrors on the Solution
1997 Julio Nicaragua
The new tax law and the debate it unleashed demonstrate once again how hard it is for Nicaragua to find agreement among all the socioeconomic actors...
Is a Pro-Agriculture Policy Possible?
1997 Junio Nicaragua
On april 3, the liberal government presented a set of measures for the 1997-98 agricultural cycle that sought to lay the foundation for making agricultural...
From Penniless Plot Holders To Peasant Producers
1996 Septiembre Nicaragua
The idea isn't to sell the land, but to work it and bequeath it to our children," says 42 year old Juan Gómez, former hacienda worker, agrarian reform...
The Coffee that Comes Out on a Mule
1996 Septiembre Nicaragua
Traveling through the country, we find many areas with no bank branches or agencies. Small producers have nowhere to go to get credit. Even if they...
Peasant Farmers Must be Included
1996 Julio Nicaragua
Peasants make up the social force with the greatest economic and productive potential to energize Nicaragua's agricultural sector, but this force has...
Agrarian Property and Stability
1995 Diciembre Nicaragua
Agrarian property in Nicaragua has been subjected to numerous upheavals since 1979. By diverse methods, the Sandinista government came into possession...
Two Just Laws: 85 and 86
1995 Diciembre Nicaragua
Over the past five years, a small but powerful group of Nicaraguans has dedicated a considerable amount of energy to delegitimizing Laws 85 and 86, passed...
Sustainable Agriculture: The Way Out?
1995 Octubre Nicaragua
The crop systems used by peasants in the community of Las Cañas, Matagalpa, are being transformed. The peasants are using neither neolithic agriculture...
Decollectivization: Agrarian Reform
1994 Diciembre Nicaragua
The Nicaraguan peasantry's permanent demand for property has meant that in the last 13 years more than 200,000 peasant families have obtained over 4...
Organic Agriculture: A labor of Love
1994 Abril Nicaragua
The green revolution, begun in the 1950s, was marketed at the time as the solution to all problems of hunger and production. Despite its pretensions...
Nicaragua's Real Property Debate
1993 Enero Nicaragua
In last year's final round of negotiations between the FSLN and the government, Sandinista leaders raised more objections than ever before about the...
The “Revueltos”: Just the Tip of the Iceberg
1992 Junio Nicaragua
In recent weeks, thousands of "revueltos" have taken over farms, villages and cities and blocked roads and highways throughout the country. The...
How Sugar Workers Think
1992 Mayo Nicaragua
Numbering some 13,000 full-time and seasonal laborers, sugar workers are the single most important industrial work force in Nicaragua. In the last two...
The Environment: Saving Nicaragua's Soils
1991 Diciembre Nicaragua
Due to deforestation and inappropriate agricultural practices, Nicaragua's best soils have been massively flushing into its two bordering oceans for...
Daniel Ortega: "Everything Depends on Our Ability to Fight Back"
1991 Junio Nicaragua
envío: During the early months of 1991, there seemed to be great confusion among the Sandinista rank and file and a lack of guidance from the...
Development that Destroys*
1991 Mayo Nicaragua
By the late 1980s, general concern over the future of the world's environment and natural resources had risen to such a degree that it entered the vocabulary...
Daniel Núñez: The Farmers’ View
1991 Marzo Nicaragua
Founded in 1981, the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG) is one of the most powerful pro-Sandinista mass organizations, representing the interests...
Backward or Forward?
1989 Agosto Nicaragua
—Members of the Subtiava indigenous community in León, Nicaragua, sue in court for the return of a 700-acre private farm that they claim as part of their...
Making the Economy Our Own: Interviews with UNAG Leaders
1989 Junio Nicaragua
The National Union of Farmers and Cattle Ranchers (UNAG) is one of the strongest and most outspoken organizations in the country. Including nearly 125,000...
Economic Reform: Taking It to the Streets
1988 Abril Nicaragua
Ten years after the anti-Somocista insurrections of 1978, Nicaragua has begun what could become an economic insurrection with a truly grassroots quality.
Economic...
Rural Workers Confront the Economic Crisis
1987 Mayo Nicaragua
Nicaragua’s agrarian structure, traditionally geared to export crops—coffee, cotton, sugar—that require seasonal labor, created a great number of agricultural...
Hermanos Martinez Cooperative: A Microcosm Of The Agrarian Reform
1983 Julio Nicaragua
Somoto is the last stop in Nicaragua on the Pan American highway before reaching Honduras. As the capital of Madriz, Somoto functioned as a way station...
The Agrarian Reform Law In Nicaragua
1981 Agosto Nicaragua
On July 19, 1981, Daniel Ortega, Junta Coordinator, announced the new Agrarian Reform law before half a million people who had gathered in the Plaza...