LA ROYA – affects people, too

La Roya, or leaf rust, is spreading like wildfire through Central America, badly attacking coffee plants and therby affecting the livelihoods of individuals from all walks of life. This color photo essay focuses on the very hard work the coffee culture provides in and around San Pedro de la Laguna, Guatemala. Each and every one of these workers, and the economy as a whole, will take a severe beating unless a solution is soon found to this terrible airborne fungus.

 

 

 

Elias, coffee farmer and small landowner stands among the plants of his small plot holding up a coffee leaf badly affected by “la roya” or leaf rust, an epidemic that has recently been sweeping through the region, decimating production and badly affecting growers.

 

 

 

Young coffee picker seen through boughs so laden with ripe coffee beans that they are drooping under the weight.

 

 

 

An individual coffee picker brings his daily sack of beans to the local mill, where it is weighed and payed cash.

 

 

 

 

The lady on the right is a “buyer” who purchases coffee beans from the pickers in the mountains, drives them to the mill in her pickup truck, and resells it for a premium.

 

 

 

 

When the mill is started, a strong jet of water is sprayed through the beans, allowing them to flow to the mill, which is at a lower level.

 

 

 

 

The belt-driven mechanical mill separates the red sugary husks from the whiteish beans. These will be left to ferment overnight and then washed and sun-dried.

 

 

 

 

After a night in large concrete tanks, the coffee beans are pumped – with large amounts of water – into long narrow troughs. The water washes the beans and separates the better ones (which are heavier) from the lower-quality ones.

 

 

 

 

There are no wheelbarrows or other carts: all the coffee is carried on the back. In case of wet beans, this means hoisting quite a hefty load: upwards of sixty pounds. In the background, an operator washes the fermenting beans towards the pump that will propel them to the washing troughs.

 

 

 

 

For drying, the wet coffee beans are spread out on large plastic tarps held in place by large rocks.

 

 

 

 

The sacks of wet, fresh beans are dumped onto the plastic tarps and then spread into a thin layer by means of hand-made rakes, in the foreground.

 

 

 

 

In order to ensure proper, speedy drying, the coffee beans must be turned over with a rake every few hours. Complete drying requires a few days, and the coffee must be sacked every night.

 

 

 

 

A large expanse of sun drying coffee beans on the shores of Lake Atitlan, in San Pedro de la Laguna, Solola’, Guatemala. An operator is raking the beans for ideal drying.

 

 

 

 

Traditionally, coffee beans are dried with the husks still on the beans, as here, in the streets of San Pedro de la Laguna, Solola’, Guatemala.

 

 

 

 

The husks are a by-product of coffee production. Rich in sugar, they ferment rapidly, giving off steam in the cool early morning air. They are recycled as compost.

 

 

 

 

In San Pedro de la Laguna, all available space is dedicated to the drying of coffee beans, such as this empty lot.

 

 

 

 

Top quality beans are a light straw yellow in color when dry. The beans will need to be milled again to remove the final, thin, husk.

 

 

 

 

When the coffee beans are dry, they are rounded up and sacked. If the drying is on a concrete floor, handmade wooden spatulas are used. This is “segunda” (second) quality coffee: the beans retain a few more husks and on the whole appear slightly darker even though thoroughly dry. Segunda coffee beans are not for export and are consumed locally.

 

 

 

 

Once the coffee beans are dry, they are placed in sacks and the sacks are sowed shut with needle and thread.

 

 

 

 

The dry coffee beans are driven to Guatemala city, where the final de-husking will take place. Toasting, grinding and perhaps blending will follow.

 

 

 

 

Several coffee mills – as this one – have been abandoned and now stand, idle, collecting leaves and dust. One of the early victims of “La Roya.”

 

 

 

 

I had published some of these before, in monochrome and in instalments. This is a set i put together to apply for a grant. The reportage was of a geographic/editorial character when i shot it – aiming to describe the various phases of labor intensive operations behind our daily cups of coffee. The call for entries to apply for the grant, however, explicitly asked for a report concerning a social issue. Any social issue, taken in any date, on any topic. To be told in no more than twenty pictures, carefully arranged in a meaningful sequence.

I only had two photos on the roya proper, and many on coffee production, but i’m hoping strategic placement – as the opening and closing images to the set – will help convert this into a “social” photo essay. What do you think – is this too gimmicky or might it just pull it off?

How effective was the ploy? I don’t know yet, but if i pull it off, you’ll be among the very first to know…

Alessandro Ciapanna