CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
The primary purpose of this study is to explore the life experience as migrant workers of coffee-pickers in Nicaragua. The content of this chapter includes the background of the study, statement of the problem, research purpose, significance and delimitations of the study.
Definitions of key terms are also provided, which conducts to have a better understanding of the basis of the study, its objectives and it’s contribution to the field of Human Resources Development.
Background of the Study
It is known that since the beginning of humanity agriculture has been a subsistence activity and earth products have been the sustenance of world’s habitants. Through the evolution of the world it has also meant a communication source among people, trades related to earth resources has been practiced since our ancestors.
During the 1940’s and 1950’s in the absence of either theoretical constructs or empirical information on the determinants of agricultural output, the tendency was to equate the modern sector with productivity in industrial investment. Economists continued to assign to subsistence agriculture an essentially passive role as potential source of “unlimited labor” and “agricultural surplus” for the world economy (Thorbecke, 1970).
Now it has become increasingly evident in the lasts decades that the conception of economist and policy-makers regarding the role of agriculture in economic development has undergone an important position. Even thought in the past, agriculture was often viewed as the passive partner in the development process, it is now consider as an active and co-equal partner with the industrial sector (Thokerbecke, 1970). Nowadays, agriculture is not only considered as a subsistence activity but also as an important mainstay of the world’s society. Agriculture plays a vital role for the World Economy, being the most important economic activity for various countries and is expected to continue to be an engine of economic growth for the future years.
Agriculture is a big resource for countries’ economic development, employment and million of families’ remains a subsistence activity. As McRae (2003, p.4) said: “Today, about half the world’s population lives in abject poverty. Roughly three-fourths of these poor people live in rural areas dependent upon agriculture”.
An important agricultural product for many countries’ economy labeled by many as the
“golden bean” as a representation of money for centuries is coffee. This product is part of peoples’ daily life, its also the subject matter of many experts in the area, the economic livelihood of over 25 million people in the world coffee, source of employment of others and most important a mainstay of some countries’ economic balance. This agricultural product also creates a phenomenon of workforce mobilization; when the coffee harvesting comes laborers migrate to coffee production areas, which will be the main focus on this research study.
Coffee is an important commodity and a popular beverage around the world. Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world every day. Over 90% of coffee production takes place in developing countries, while consumption happens mainly in the industrialized economies. Worldwide, 25 million small commodity producers rely on coffee for a living (Economics of coffee, 2012).
World coffee exports amounted to 7.94 million bags in September 2012, compared with 7.71 million in September 2011. Coffee exportations in the coffee harvest 2011/12 (Oct/11 to Sept/12) have increased by 2.95% to 107.8 million bags compared to 104.7 million bags in 2010/11 (International Coffee Organization [ICO] 2012).
In 2009 Brazil was the world leader in production of green coffee, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia and Colombia. For instance, in Brazil alone, where almost a third of all the world's coffee is produced, over 5 million people are employed in the cultivation and harvesting of over 3 billion coffee plants (Economics of coffee, 2012).
Coffee is also bought and sold as a commodity on the New York Board of Trade. This is where coffee futures contracts are traded, which are a financial asset involving a standardized contract for the future sale or purchase of a unit of coffee at an agreed price. According to Goldschein (2011) coffee shops is the fastest growing niche in the restaurant business; it has a seven percent annual growth rate, therefore we can analyze the importance of the coffee production around the world and its vital role of the coffee industry in the agricultural growth of many countries.
One of the world’s main coffee producer countries is Nicaragua. The quality of Nicaraguan coffee has attracted attention around the world. This is considered a "classic" cup:
great body, clean flavor, and balance. It is unique among Central American coffees because of its
highest grown (SHG grade: Strictly High Grown) which avoids the acidity sometimes found in the coffee produced by other countries (Coffee production in Nicaragua, 2012).
Since coffee came to Nicaragua in the mid 1800s, it has played a significant role in Nicaragua’s economy and environment. Coffee has been an engine for Nicaragua’s national economic development process (Equal Exchange, n.d). The coffee production in Nicaragua is one of the most important sectors for it’s economic development, as well as source of job generation. Coffee is the number one product for foreign exchange and it provides the economic backbone for thousands of rural communities.
More than 40,000 coffee farmer families cultivate this golden bean often in a way that preserves Nicaragua’s precious forests and threatened biodiversity. In the late 1990s, coffee annually contributed US$140 million to the national economy and provided the equivalent of 280,000 permanent agricultural jobs (Equal Exchange, n.d).
The coffee production involves a process of cultivation of eight months (February to September), and the harvest season has a duration of three to four months (from October to February), this varies depending upon altitude of the land. There are some farms still producing in March, mostly at very high elevations (Haworth, 2012).
In the economic sphere, globalization is not only characterized by liberalization of trade, services, investment, and capital, but also by transnational movements of people in search of better lives and employment opportunities elsewhere (Cholewinski, 2005). The harvest or coffee picking season is the most important in terms generation of jobs, because is when the coffee farms start employing farmworkers in order pick all the coffee that was cultivated during the year. This season involves a phenomenon of workforce mobilization. Especially when the coffee harvest starts, Nicaragua is not exempt of the labor migration phenomenon.
In Nicaragua, during the coffee-picking season the internal migration predominates. As, transnational migration, national (internal) migration plays an important role in poverty reduction and economic development. For some countries, internal migrants outnumber those who migrate internationally. For example according to the International Labour organization, 120 million people were estimated to migrate internally in China compared to 458,000 people who migrated internationally for work.
Rural-rural migration is another phenomenon that occurs in many countries which is related to the agricultural industry; for example, in Senegal, rural-rural migration occurs when
laborers from poorer regions travel to agriculturally rich and irrigated areas, where job opportunities are better. In Nicaragua, coffee pickers travel around coffee producing areas in order to look for farms, where they can be employed during the season. This could be classified as national rural-rural migration, as these workers only move around rural areas because of the nature of the work to be performed.
During this season, all the coffee production farms works towards attracting as much workforce as possible, because if there is lack of employees the coffee will fall down and this represents a big economic loss for these coffee producers. In Nicaragua the coffee harvesting requires around 200, 000 laborers, quantity that becomes very difficult to reach, in comparison to other countries such as Costa Rica where the payment per lata is around 1.42 US and Honduras 50 lempiras, which means 50 cordobas (Ibarra, 2012) .In their efforts to attract and retain employees the farms offer different benefits such as housing, transportation, meals and gatherings.
The hiring of this workforce is very particular, because is usually very informal and there isn’t any kind of contract. The salary also depends on the quantity of the coffee that has been picked by the employee and its family, including children that attend to the farm in order to assist them to pick more quantity of coffee and increase their income.
As stated by the International Labour Organization the turnover rate in many of these migrant jobs is very high due to harsh working conditions. This enhances the phenomenon of labor migration due to the lack of benefits given by the employees to these farmworkers and it’s rights stated by the Nicaraguan laws that are not fulfilled by the employers (International Labour Organization [ ILO ] , n.d).
Statement of the Problem
Nicaragua has three primary geographic regions: the Pacific plains, central northern mountains and the Atlantic coastal lowlands. Rains are relatively infrequent in Nicaragua’s drier Pacific Northwest region and almost continuous in the coastal lowlands. For most of the rest of the country, the rainy season begins in May and ends sometime in December. Coffee cherries are generally harvested from October through February (Equal Exchange, n.d).
This is a very important period for the country, as it is the biggest agricultural production during the year. More than 200, 000 labors were needed at the coffee producer farms, for the highest pick on the 2011-2012 season (Navas, 2011).
The existent data in this field merely emphasizes the importance of the agricultural industry and the coffee production worldwide, leaving behind the workers that work in this kind of industries. There is only limited research conducted on the employees of the farms in Nicaragua.
As previously mentioned these laborers usually migrate. Many come away from the Comarca or reservation for the season to earn money. Understanding the reasons why they migrate leads us to explore undercurrent issues. Most of these laborers migrate with all their families to different areas of the country looking for better salaries and benefits offered by the employers (owners of the coffee farms). Their earning potential is their main concern (Haworth, 2012). Children are involved in this process and are taken to the farms in order to help their parents to pick up coffee cherries.
There is not enough literature regarding the lifestyle and difficulties that these laborers face, especially in Nicaragua were the research interest is reduced. The importance of the welfare of coffee-pickers and their children has not been a focus for academics in the field.
These laborers don’t receive the adequate treatment as temporary labor, there is no contract of employment, health protection, unregulated alimentation provided by the farms as a benefit and the living conditions at the farms are very extreme; The overcrowding at the encampment can lead to many consequences. Efforts to enforce sanitary conditions, prevent child labor, and protect the workers from exploitation were met with slight success only until the 1960s (Cornelius, 1989).
The coffee picking season’s migrant laborers should be seen as an important workforce that brings many benefits to the agricultural sector and the economic development of the Republic of Nicaragua. Hence, there is a need for more studies about the lifestyle of migrant workers in Nicaragua and the different difficulties faced by those. In addition, there is also a need of carrying out more exploration in the child labor issue that Nicaragua rural sector is facing, despite of the constants efforts of many organizations to eradicate child labor, this is a common practice carried out by the parents of the Nicaraguan Children as well as it is permitted by the employers. Therefore based on everything mentioned above it is necessary to conduct more research in order to analyze: the farm workers’ labor migration, the fulfillment of the laws that protect these laborers and difficulties faced by coffee-pickers as migrant labor.
Purpose of the Study
This study intends to mainly understand the experiences of coffee picking season labors as migrant labor focusing specially on the difficulties faced by these laborers. Addressing different issues such as the process of their frequent labor migration, their life at farms, and as employees of the big coffee production farms.
The main reasons why these employees migrate have been investigated, as well as their satisfaction with the treatment of the employers, salary, and life conditions at farms. Another issue explored is the migration of the whole family, including children, from their homes to other areas and from one farm to another, within the same area, as part of the law compliance issues that are currently presented in the industry.
Based on all the mentioned before, the primary purpose of this study is to examine: The reasons why coffee pickers migrate, the difficulties faced by the employees in this process of labor migration, along with the issues carried out by this kind of labor such as the protection of these workers and the law compliance from the employers’ side.
Research Questions
The research study will be based on the following research questions, generated from the research purpose:
1. What are the reasons why coffee farmworkers migrate?
2. What are the difficulties that coffee farmworkers experience during the migration process?
3. Are the laws of the Nicaragua employment practices code o fulfilled by the owners of coffee farms?
The coffee producer areas in Nicaragua are three but the study was conducted only in farms in the department of Matagalpa, which is located in the Northern Region of the country.
Besides, the data collected trough observation method by the researcher. The sample was interviewed by two experts on the field, (one coffee farm owner / agricultural engineer and a lawyer of the Republic of Nicaragua). The study is delimited only to laborers in the coffee-picking season in North region of Nicaragua, because of the migration phenomenon given in this season.
Significance of the Study
The last coffee harvesting 2010-2011 contributed four hundred and thirty million $U.S to the Nicaraguan economy, being this first exportation product of the country, generating more than 280,000 jobs for Nicaraguan laborers (Canales, 2012). Regardless of the influence and importance that this industry has on the economy of Nicaragua, still the research using coffee-picking laborers, as an object of study is limited.
The objective of the study is to understand why these farmworkers migrate, the process of migration and the difficulties that are carried out by this lifestyle along with the treatment of these laborers by the coffee production farm owners, in terms of law compliance. This labor migration has implications for the employers and employees. This will help the employers to find the real causes why the employees leave their jobs and move to another farms. The employees were able to show their life styles and express themselves regarding their satisfaction as coffee picking farmworkers. The study intends to defend these population human and laboral rights.
The study also contributes to the different governmental and non- governmental organizations in the labor industry sector to have more knowledge of this typical population and a better understanding of its characteristics. This will benefit the Government in creation of new policies in order to manage the private sector fulfillment of the laws stated by the national codes as well as regulate the protection of farmworkers and their families as migrant labor as this population is a valuable resource of workforce for the agricultural sector growth in Nicaragua.
Understanding the process that these employees go trough when they migrate, their high turnover rate is vital for the Nicaraguan Economic Development. Based on the data collected from the sample, this research also provides suggestions regarding the situation of this employees looking forward to the possibility of improvement in the treatment of this workforce.
Definition of Terms Coffee Harvest
Coffee ripe cherries are either harvested by hand, stripped from the tree with both unripe and overripe beans, or all the coffee beans are collected using a harvesting machine. These processes are called selective picking, stripping, and mechanical harvesting, respectively. To
maximize the amount of ripe coffee harvested, it is necessary to selectively pick the ripe coffee beans from the tree by hand and leave behind unripe, green beans to be harvested at a later time. (Griffin, n.d)
Coffee grows in around eighty countries in South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. Arabica coffee accounts for about three-quarters of coffee cultivated worldwide.
It is grown throughout Latin America, Central and East Africa, India and, to some extent, Indonesia. (The Institute for Scientific information on Coffee [ ISIC ] n.d )
Migrant Labor
According to The "United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families" defines migrant worker as follows: The term
“migrant worker” refers to a person who is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national. (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)
Migrant labor has been also defined as a person who moves from place to place to get work, especially a farm laborer who harvests crops seasonally. An itinerant agricultural worker who travels from one district to another. (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2012)