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The golden bean : coffee, cooperatives and small-farmer decision making in Costa Rica / Coffee, cooperatives and small-farmer decision making in Costa Rica.

Coffee production in Costa Rica has brought prosperity to many small farmers, but conflicts of interest with the companies which process and market coffee are still a problem. In addition, producers and processors are plagued by the periodic market cycles of agricultural commodities. Various agencies have promoted cooperatives to help small farmers deal with these problems, but they often fail due to poor management and lack of participation. / This thesis, a multi-layered study of coffee production, processing, and marketing, examines how household producers manage the constraints and opportunities posed by the international market, the Costa Rican state, and the coffee tree itself. A comparative analysis between cooperative and private coffee processors; between two rural communities; and among households in these communities provides the ethnographic context in which the effectiveness of cooperatives as mediating institutions between producers and the world market is analyzed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.41768
Date January 1993
CreatorsSick, Deborah, 1956-
ContributorsBossen, Laurel (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageDoctor of Philosophy (Department of Anthropology.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001403449, proquestno: NN94713, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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