Sustainability: From concept to perception in organic coffee growers of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas

Abstract

Coffee growers’ organizations and organic coffee farming constitute spaces in which the process of building sustainability in the peasant context takes place. This paper aims to identify the structural variables that limit or enhance the life aspirations of organic coffee growers in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. A participatory workshop was held with women and men from three age groups. The coffee growers perceive that the conflicts that impede achieving their life aspirations are unfavorable public policies and the loss of knowledge in coffee farming, which have a great impact on family health, migration and the availability of economic resources for productive activities. Strengths and weaknesses are observed in a different way; for example, men perceive in the organization a space to develop their potentialities, while women focus on the community and the household.