Heralded as the ‘place of many trees,’ Guatemala was my third stop in the evaluation of the biodiversity impacts of the CAMBio project in Central America.
From dry pine-oak forest in the Western highlands to dense, moist rainforest in the Northern lowlands, the country accounts for a large expanse of Central America’s forest lands. In the last decade, deforestation here has skyrocketed as roads created for excavation activities opened up forest lands for livestock grazing and plantations for export-led agriculture. Coupled with demographic pressures, the unique and diverse forest systems of Guatemala are at risk to the unintended consequences of rural communities carving out a means of survival in a stressed landscape.
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the EcoAgriculture Blog. It is re-published here with permission.
Guatemala’s forests fell subject to clearing when roads were built for excavation activities in central Guatemala, opening up the frontier to ranching and farming activities. This photo was sourced from David Amsler’s Flickr Account.
Journeying through the dynamic countryside of Guatemala
After a brief breather in the office from my trip to Honduras, it was time to fly off to visit the next study cluster of the CAMBio Project evaluation. Nestled between the southern reaches of the Petén rainforest and the Western highlands, the department of El Quiché is generally characterized by a temperate climate, although the mountainous topography of the area warrants a variety of microclimates that can support unique vegetation types.
Among these are pockets of warm, moist and lush forests that are conducive to the growth of cardamom. CAMBIO Project funds directed to Guatemalan producers were granted as loans to cooperatives, which primarily allocated the money to small farmers working in cardamom.
The highlands have areas of high plant diversity and moisture, conditions that are conducive to the growth of cardamom.
Our team gathered in Antigua, then headed to the Western highlands of the country. Our first stop was in the town of Santa Cruz del Quiche to visit with the local financial intermediary. After an afternoon of learning more about the financing and technical assistance administered in the area, we prepared for a long day of travel high into the hillsides of Quiche and the “Zona Reina” to visit farmers that benefited from the program.
The people of this town reflect the dynamic culture of the region, an identity steeped in Mayan, African, colonial and Western influences. Left and right of me I picked up traces of words that I could periodically recognize as Spanish, while other conversations were shrouded in the sharp consonants and heavy “che’s” of Quiché dialects, a derivative of the Mayan language. The main occupation here is agriculture, with farmlands being managed for subsistence and for cash crops. Families are invested in this venture, with an average of 6-8 children (per family) looped in to managing smallholder farmlands.
A turn of events for cardamom growers
Despite its origins tracing from southern India, Guatemala is the leading producer of cardamom in the world. Growers in El Quiche export this specialty spice to Saudi Arabia and other western Arabic nations. Due to the stable demand, the spice represents an important cash crop that has defined the recent socio-economic conditions of farming communities.
Until recently, the high price of cardamom seemed to carry the local economy of the region, but a sudden turn of events in 2011 burst a grim bubble: drug traffickers were busted.
As it turns out, a violent group of insurgents, fueled by drug money, were inflating the price of cardamom to launder money over the Guatemalan border. With drug operations eradicated, the price of cardamom fell drastically, leaving farmers out to dry in the aftermath of a wave of drug violence. CAMBio provided financial assistance to the farmers left behind, many of which were grappling with a means to reinstate the cardamom business in the area.
These workers are filtering through the harvest to select cardamom seeds for the market.
Continue reading on the EcoAgriculture Blog.
The photos in this post, unless otherwise attributed, were taken by Lee Gross on his recent trip to Guatemala.
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