By José Luis Zárate, Coffee Kids International Program Director

In mid-October, I visited our partner ICSUR in Chiapas, Mexico. Men and women there are learning to raise chickens and edible mushrooms and to utilize traditional medicine for common illnesses. Their edible mushroom project, which was financed by Coffee Kids in the past, became completely self-sustaining last year. It was great to see how that project has grown and how families have moved onto new projects to diversify income and provide for better health care and food security.

For seven years, ICSUR has collaborated on a number of projects with indigenous communities in the Zoque region. The technical staff at ICSUR does an impressive job of maintaining excitement for the projects while respecting the preferences and priorities of the communities.

They have helped them solicit government funding for local infrastructure and technical staff who support and advise on the cultivation of coffee in the region. Their coffee is sold under the name Cooperativa Federación Selva Negra. Some of ICSUR’s most important work in this area has been helping families create alternatives to coffee and bolster economic independence.

Given the global economic crisis, this year has been especially difficult for Selva Negra. The government has stopped offering financial support for technical staff and the fees associated with coffee certification. Besides this, coffee buyers have had to cancel two large coffee contracts and coffee was sold for national consumption instead of for export. Many families suffered a heavy loss.

In moments like these, many families not only suffer a loss of income, but also lose motivation to continue farming coffee. The economic woes have convinced many families of the importance of economic diversification and more and more of them are taking advantage of Coffee Kids-supported projects in chicken-raising and traditional medicines.

ICSUR is working with the families to reach their goals so that they can continue farming coffee without being completely dependent on it.

Read more about ICSUR’s efforts and see photos on our Flickr page.