Miraflor isn’t far from Estelí, it’s around 25 kilometres away or about an hour and a half driving along bumpy roads.
As you climb up those roads and travel further into Miraflor you pass through three different zones or climates: the dry lower one, a middle humid zone and the top cold forest. As you cross each zone the climate and, therefore, the plants, animals and birds, gradually change. Each zone has its own unique attributes be it orchids or ‘barba viejo’ or ‘old beard’ a type of lichen that hangs down from the branches of trees making them look like some of Tolkein’s Elks. Here are some rather bumpy videos we took our of the side of the truck as we headed into Miraflor…
Miraflor is a protected nature reserve, famous for its biodiversity with over 200 species of orchids, 236 species of birds which amazingly represents almost 40% of all bird species in the country. The area of 254km squared is home to only around 12,000 people. These communities seek a balance between forms of agriculture that will provide a living for their families and protecting one of Nicaragua’s most precious environments and areas of virgin forest. Crops that are grown in mono-culture conditions, such as potatoes, have had a very damaging affect on the area. Deforestation is a constant danger with whole areas of land being completely cleared to make room for new fields when these fields are then farmed intensively the situation gets worse. Without trees and plants to help protect the soil from erosion valuable top-soil is lost quickly reducing the fertility of the soil making it unfarmable, sometimes within a few years. Due to the lack of trees and leaves lack of leaf litter means that the topsoil doesn’t replenish. High use of pesticides to protect the crop from insects, bacteria and weeds indiscriminately kill all types of wildlife including insects and native plants that are actually beneficial. Despite these risks to mono-culture if you need to clear a field’s worth of forest to put food on your family’s plates then it’s not a hard choice…
There are, however, people in Miraflor who are working to protect it’s beautiful environment. In 1994, Miraflor was established as a protected nature reserve by farmers who were worried about protecting its environment and natural resources. These farmers were members of UCA Miraflor, a union of 12 co-operatives of small-scale producers in the area: 10 of these 12 co-operatives are involved in coffee production. Unlike some of it’s mono-culture alternatives, coffee is a tool for economic, social and environmental development in Miraflor. This is partly because all the coffee that UCA Miraflor produces is both organic and shade-grown. Before looking into it I’d heard the phrase ‘shade-grown coffee’ a lot and knew it was good for birds but I didn’t realise how holistic the benefits of this type of farming is with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre describing it as the next best thing to natural forest.
Coffee has traditionally been grown in shade. When it was first discovered it was a forest floor crop. Farmers eventually selectively bred coffee so that it could be grown in full sun as a mono-culture. These farms can productively exist for around 10-15 years and then soil depletion will render them almost unusable*2. The cycle of slash and burn repeats itself and new land has to be found. Sun-grown coffee is generally believed to be more profitable as it produced a larger harvest. But as X points out:
The farmers in UCA Miraflor are growing their coffee in a way that creates a huge amount of value for their community and environment other than just the delicious coffee that we end up drinking. The plants and trees that surround the coffee provide vital habitat for animals, birds and insects. A study in nearby Guatemala found that there was a 30% higher diversity of birds in shade-grown environments. The presence of trees on the steep hills in Miraflor (where it rains a lot!) are also crucial for reducing the amount of soil erosion. A Nicaraguan study found that sun-grown coffee lost more than twice as much soil. Studies in Nicaragua have also found the soil is more fertile with 18% higher carbon content. I know, soil erosion might not be the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning but for a farmer this can mean an area of land remaining fertile for almost twice the length of time. This matters to all of us but particularly for family whose main asset is the land they own rely on their land and want to pass it on to their children in a fit state. The trees (many of which are fruit trees) also provide families with a source of food or income if they sell the fruit or the wood from the trees.
