Ecological consequences of gendered work and social change among Totonac coffee growers of Veracruz, Mexico: A political ecology approach

This study examines the environmental impact and social change upon local communities and households in the Totonacan region of Veracruz, Mexico, resulting from the economic crisis facing the Mexican coffee industry. In particular this study focuses on Zapotal, a community in the Zozocolco Municipality, where coffee is grown at low altitudes.;Through a political ecology framework, the project analyzes how political decisions aimed at promoting the production of commodities, such as coffee or maize husks, have had a range of effects on the local and regional environments. Community interdependence on the regional, national and global markets and fluctuations in these markets affect the household level, including the gender division of labor and control over income-generating activities.;This study is based on fifteen months of field research, including residence in the community of Zapotal. The methodology is based on participant observation and the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. Interviews of 104 persons provided the information about social and economic differentiation based on land tenure, diversified economic productive activities, and survival strategies men and women develop in order to cope with impoverished conditions. Of particular interest is women's changing participation in local and household economies.;The project was concerned with methods of cultivation that have proven sustainability. Totonac peasants deplay and revise a traditional cyclic system to cultivate maize and sugar cane; coffee production can be folded into this cycle. This successful system is analyzed with the results indicating the advisability of using similar methods in lowland coffee groves. Coffee plantations present enormous benefits in terms of environmental protection and conservation of local and regional biodiversity. However, the areas planted with coffee in Zapotal have declined. Local people, the study indicates, have developed productive alternatives to cope with low coffee prices, including the increased use of land for allspice but also, especially, for maize, with maize husks becoming the main commercial product. These commodities, in turn are oriented to the national and global markets. Producers thus, remain subject to these market fluctuations. This study provides an analytical basis and key insights that would encourage local and regional authorities to design and promote more sustainable productive alternatives for Totonac indigenous people.