Latin-American Studies

The ongoing civil war and the ever spreading drug trade in Colombia are factors contributing to the gradual decline of the coffee economy in the country.

Bean production has repositioned between different countries over the past half century, with effects of the phenomena varying from the making of supernormal profits by large multinational companies, to the almost opposite state of affairs amongst the smallholder coffee farmers themselves, not to mention the vast amount of environmental degradation that results from the action of clearing large tracts of indigenous forests with the uncalculated assumption that the land therein is fertile enough to support growth of cash crops (Ezra 2009).

Furthermore, in the Colombian setting, the export industry has been dealt a tough blow by the said multinational companies which ventured into the country in a bid to secure the most inexpensive beans possible (Bergquist 1986). Historical accounts detail a period of time in the 1970s decade when over half of the Colombian legal exports were attributable to coffee, nevertheless, two decades later, this industry witnessed its abrupt demise, what with the coffees stake as a percentage of the exports dropping to a measly seven percent. Consequently, tens of thousands of the smallholder coffee farmers either changed over to other more remunerative crop varieties, including opium and coca, or took flight from the country altogether. Present circumstances detail oil as being the chief legal export from the country, notwithstanding the fact that a pregnant chunk of all those in employment in Colombia are in the coffee sector (Palacios 1982).

The 1960-1970 temporal frames can be singled out as the most lucrative era of coffee production in Colombia, when the Colombia Coffee Federation (FNC) oversaw all transactions regarding the commodity in the country a pound went for a handsome 3. Flash-forwarding to present day, the same pound of the substance only goes for a stingy 0.62

Agriculture served as the go-to industry back in the early half of the 20th century when the organization (FNC) was founded, acting as the voice for the thousands of rural farmers, especially in the political arena, but the situation today is such that the immense demands from the global domain has substantially crippled the Colombian coffee sector, facilitated by the imposition of the neoliberal model, encompassing the infliction of a diverse multiplicity of trade factors and conditionality. These include privatization, imprimatur of the free market system, dismissal of taxation and inadvertence of the governmental role and duty, not forgetting the deregulation of sectors (Brink 2003).

In accession, Colombian external debt amounts to over 35 billion, give or take resultantly, the international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have increasingly become more and more vocal as to the initiatives that should be adopted by the country (Colombia) to make good on this huge deficit, for instance (William 1995), through expansion of exports to generate revenue purposely meant to finance the outstanding loans (Frank 2004).

Socio-cultural and political implications of the development of the coffee export economy
Coffee is undoubtedly the catalyst for political and economic development in Colombia the National Coffee Federation even pays subsidies to the aforementioned smallholder farmers in instances where international prices are deflated. The federation also goes the extra mile in providing infrastructural meliorations and related social services in all the coffee growing parts of the nation, initiatives it achieves through the process of proportionately taxing exports whenever international prices hit the ceiling. To this end, EXPOCAFE, the Federations export agency, presides over exportation of 50 of Colombias coffee (Sutti 2000).

The nations estimated 600,000 coffee farms actively contribute to rural development, not to mention cementing the countrys status as the second largest coffee producer worldwide. The road network has benefitted colossally through the building of the road and rail infrastructure, connecting the Pacific coast where ships dock in readiness to export the trade good, to Antioquia, the main coffee belt. Revenue derived from the exportation of coffee has in turn bankrolled the building of schools, hospitals and or rural clinics and dispensaries, and contributed to the exploitation of other exports. Subsequently, stability in the said coffee belt has gradually been fostered over the years (Ezra 2009).

Moreover, the small scale farmers in the country are more prominent in terms of production, juxtaposed against the situation in a variety of the other Latin American nations where plantation farming remains the most dominant livelihood, specializing in bananas, coffee and sugar.

The socio-cultural development has also witnessed the formation of many cooperatives in the country, as the coffee farmers strategically unionize so as to better their social welfare (Bergquist 1986). Notwithstanding this, the current global situation as hinted at earlier is largely undermining the said achievements made courtesy of the coffee sector in the country.

Effects of long-term civil war and drug trade on the Colombian coffee economy
The La Valencia phase, which begun in 1946 and lasted to the mid 1960s, saw the inhumane annihilation of over 300,000 Colombians, after which the drug trade crept into the political platform, facilitating corruption of those in power. About 4,000 Colombian civilians are killed every year cemented by unconfirmed estimates revealing that between 1992 and 2002, some 40,000 Colombians were killed and a million more displaced by the civil war (Skidmore 2009).

As a result, the environment created by these two factors (civil war and drug trade) has largely undermined the sustenance of economic development, not forgetting the difficulty of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) amidst the unrelenting kidnappings, guerrilla terrorist attacks and deteriorated social conditions in general (Brink 2003).

The civil war between the guerilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government, spanning over forty years, has evolved into a tussle by the opposing girded factions for control of the lucrative multi-billion dollar cocaine industry (Frank 2004). Close to five million people have consequently been displaced, transmigrating to urban slum areas, mostly in fear of the drug-related violence prevalent in the fertile rural areas.

In this regard, growth of the coffee economy has been undermined significantly, especially with the scarcity of willing manpower to stay in the said rural areas, where the drug trade flourishes, and thus, the divide between the urban rich and rural poor continues to widen by the day.