Elite-led development and Mexico’s independent coffee organisations in the wake of the rust epidemic

Abstract

Between 2012 and 2016 a virulent strain of coffee rust reduced Mexican yields by more than 50%, and it is still devastating production. The government has responded by replacing traditional arabica plants vulnerable to the pathogen with resistant, high-yielding varieties to recover the sector and encourage long-term adaptation to a disease that cannot be eradicated. However, this contribution will attempt to show that the intractable nature of the epidemic and the biological characteristics of resistant varieties threaten the survival of independent coffee organisations and their agroecological shade coffee systems. With little or no possibility of recovering production without the use of resistant plants, the alternative production and marketing models that these organisations have constructed over the past three decades face unprecedented challenges.     

评析“中国模式”

随着中国成功应对金融危机,“中国模式”再度成为热点,其中关于“中国模式”的界定、特点、教训等问题的争论异常激烈,对此,本文对一些常见问题陈述己见。