The southern Mexican state of Chiapas is the country’s largest producer of coffee. It is grown mostly by small scale farmers, with land holdings of two hectares or less, and more than 90 percent of the total production is exported to the United States and Europe. During the last two decades, more than 10,000 of these farmers have opted for organic production systems and have since benefited from a better price for their coffee. The change in production systems has taken place without any specific governmental support and the state has not defined a particular policy related to organic agriculture. On the other hand, this change has been supported by the work of many NGOs and promoted alternatives to the intensive conventional agriculture predominating in the country to the market mechanisms associated with it. Their work has been shaped by their interest in the local population’s natural resource management and in their local knowledge.
