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Nicaragua CASE STUDY #1 |
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| 2.
Nicaragua is known for its coffee. An organization sends experts to help
develop coffee plantations and export markets so that farmers can afford
to buy more food. Nicaraguan coffee is wonderful, as anyone who drinks Fair Trade coffee knows. However, by focusing only on the export crop, a number of problems arise. Coffee is an intensive crop that often requires expensive fertilizers etc. to allow it to flourish. Where will farmers find the money to buy those expensive imports? Coffee is a commodity the price of which goes up and down. Prices paid to individual producers tend to be small, with the "middle men" making the real money while the "little guy" works for little return. And even if the farmer is paid a decent price for the coffee, where will s/he buy the food for the family? Who will have grown it? And how will the farmer's family afford to buy food before their coffee crop is ready to be sold? |
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