Organic Farming in Nicaragua: some insights about its spatial

determinants, institutions and problems of the activity

M.Sc. Agricultural Economics

Module: Problems and Perspectives in Organic Farming

Socioeconomics of Organic Farming
Prof. Dr. Christian Lippert

Student: Francisco Mendoza Tijerino

 Content
Agricultural Sector in Nicaragua
Organic Farming in Nicaragua
Examining the spatial determinants of organic
farmers
Conclusions
Source: Google maps. https://www.google.de/maps/@13.7298369,-83.2531071,5z
Agricultural Sector in Nicaragua
Agricultural sector (including livestock and
aquaculture activities are attributed an
important role in the country
Contributes with 20.5% to the GDP (2014)
Contributes with 31% of the working force
Value of agricultural good exported account for 44 of the
exports in period 1994-2010 (17 products of agricultural
origin)
Agricultural Sector in Nicaragua
DECLARED MAIN ACTIVITY OF THE FARM

Self consumption
Internal Market
Traditional Export
Non traditional export
Other agricultural
Dairy Cattle
Beef Cattle
Two purpose
Small Livestock
Breeding
Other livestock
Aquaculture
Forest
Bee products
Not in use

Source: Own estimation based on Agricultural Census 2011 (INIDE)

Agricultural Sector in Nicaragua
CHANGE IN LAND USE BETWEEN 2001 AND 2011
600000

400000

200000

0
Permanent crops Cultivated Pasture Forest Swamp
Annual/Temporal crops Fallow Natural Pasture Facilities

-200000

-400000

-600000

-800000
Source: Own estimation based on Agricultural Census 2001 and 2011 (INIDE)
Agricultural Sector in Nicaragua
TYPES OF FARMERS BASED ON LAND OWNERSHIP. 1 MZ. = 0.7 HA.

Source: Own estimation based on latest agricultural census of the Institute of Information and Statistics (INIDE),
2011)
Organic Farming in Nicaragua
Increase in certified farms from 2003-2008 in
16,000 ha (IICA, 2009)
In 2011 there were 12,160 certified agricultural
farms
Representing 4% of total farms in Nicaragua
Organic Farming in Nicaragua
The total area of land managed by these organic
farms reached by the same year the value of 546159
Mz. (around 382311.4 Ha)
Accounts to 6.3% of total area dedicated to
agriculture
Does not mean that this is the area under organic
production
Difficulty to estimate the value
Not differentiation in official statistics
Organic Farming in Nicaragua
Organic Farming in Nicaragua

Type Crops
Single Coffee, beans, fruits, corn, cotton, wheat honey, sesame,
produc tubers, legumes, vegetables, sorghum, strawberries, dragon
er fruit
Farmer Jamaica, sesame, corn, beans, cassava, cotton, maraon,
s cocoa bean, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric, ginger,
associa araz, boroj,coffe
tion
Cooper Citrus, cassava, jamaica, turmeric, fruits, coffe, corn, beans
atives
NGO's coffe and jamaica
Organic Farming in NIcaragua
Law Nr. 756, Law for the strengthening to the
Agroecological and Organic Production made
public on 2011 in the official Gaceta
Technical Compulsory Norm for Ecological
Agriculture in which requisites are established.
BCS (Oko Garantie), BioLatina, Control IMO,
Control Unin, Eco-Logica S.A., ECOCERT,
MAYACERT, NATURLAND and Organic Crop
Improvement Association (OCIA)
Organic Farming in Nicaragua

Source: Own estimation based on National Agricultural

Census 2011 (INIDE)
Organic Farming in Nicaragua

Source: Own estimation based on National Agricultural

Census 2011 (INIDE)
Organic Farming in Nicaragua

Source: Own estimation based on National Agricultural

Census 2011 (INIDE)
Organic Farming in Nicaragua
Farms Support Farmer Cooperativ
org association es

Farms 1

Support org 0.5085 1

Farmer association 0.4157 0.5499 1

Cooperatives 0.3031 0.632 0.34 1

Correlation between the number of certified farms and different organizations per
municipalitySource: Own estimation based on National Agricultural Census 2011
(INIDE)
Organic Farming in Nicaragua
Some limitations:
Cost for transform production systems
In case of cooperatives the payment schemes matters!
Lack of information (how to transform, benefits, risks)
Internal market?
Access to financial markets (75% in consumption in the
service/third sector)
Conclusion
Organic farming activities small in comparison
with conventional farming (4% of organic
certified farms for agricultural production)
Main agricultural goods: coffee, cocoa, sesame
Costs are an important factor limiting the
conversion to organic systems
Positive correlation between support
organizations and certified organic farms
References
Asamblea Nacional de Nicaragua (2015)
http://legislacion.asamblea.gob.ni/Normaweb.nsf/%28$All%29/01C8C534FD9ACB01062576AB0070B62A

IICA. (2009). Propuestas para el Fomento y Desarrollo de la Agricultura Orgnica en Nicaragua. Managua.

Mendoza, F. (2013). Reflexiones derivadas de los processo de inmersion en la comunidad de Cuatro Esquinas Ro Blando,
para el analisis y evaluacin del convenio de diversificacin y mejoramiento de los eslabones de la cadena del cacao.
Internal Document Institute of Researc. Managua.

Ministerio de Fomento, Industria y Comercio (2015). http://www.mific.gob.ni/es-ni/portal/organica.aspx

Ruiz, A. (2015). Redistribucin de tierras a jvenes rurales mediante herencia en los municipios de Somotillo y Ro Blanco en
Nicaragua. Managua. Retrieved from http://www.nitlapan.org.ni/index.php/redistribucion-de-tierras-a-jovenes-rurales-
mediante-herencia-en-los-municipios-de-somotillo-y-rio-blanco-en-nicaragua-serie-jovenes-rurales-y-acceso-a-la-tierra

Do file for estimations based on National Agricultural Census (2011) of the Institute

of Development Information. Software: Stata. Copyright: Francisco Mendoza

Tijerino

**Geting the total area of a EA in the data set of aprovechamiento**

use

"Z:\home\francisco\Documents\Economia

Aplicada

FAMT\Ier

Cuatrimestre

2011\Econometra 1\CENAGRO 2011\Nicaragua-CENAGRO BID completa\Cenagro11

Parcelas-Aprovechamiento de la tierra.dta"

edit

gen sum_use= S434A+ S434B+ S434C+ S434D+ S434E+ S434F+ S434G+ S434H

by S108, sort: egen land= sum(sum_use)

by S108, sort: gen n= _n

by S108, sort: egen anual_temp= sum( S434A)

by S108, sort: egen perm_semi= sum( S434B)

by S108, sort: egen pasto_cult= sum( S434C)

by S108, sort: egen pasto_nat= sum( S434D)

by S108, sort: egen tierra_descanso= sum( S434E)

by S108, sort: egen bosque= sum( S434F)

by S108, sort: egen inst= sum( S434G)

by S108, sort: egen otro= sum( S434H)

keep if n==1

tabstat anual_temp perm_semi pasto_cult pasto_nat tierra_descanso bosque inst otro,

stats(sum) by( S102)

tabstat anual_temp perm_semi pasto_cult pasto_nat tierra_descanso bosque inst otro,

stats(sum) by( S101)

**For generating the code of municipio in the agroindustry data base**

gen zero=0

egen ceros=concat(zero S102) if S102==5|S102==7

edit

tab ceros


gen p_cero=cero

gen real_cero=real(cero)
tab real_cer

egen rceros=concat(real_cero S102) if S102==5|S102==7

tab ceros
generate var18 = 05 in 20885
egen municipio= concat( S101 ceros)

gen rmun=real(municipio)

gen prof=rmun if real_cero==5 | real_cero==7

replace prof=0 if prof==.

replace S102=0 if S102==5| S102==7

gen var=prof+ S102

egen otro=concat( S101 var) if prof==0gen real_otro= real(otro)
replace real_otro=0 if real_otro==.
gen suma=real_otro+prof

rename suma MUNICIPIO

tab MUNICIPIO
*generate time)
replace S520C=0 if S520C==.

replace S520E=0 if S520E==.

replace S520D=0 if S520D==.
replace S520F=0 if S520F==.
gen min_inv= S520C*60+ S520D
gen min_ver= S520E*60+ S520F

gen h_inv= min_inv/60

gen h_ver= min_ver/600
drop h_ver

gen h_ver= min_ver/60

gen h_promedio= (h_inv+ h_ver)*0.5

by municipio, sort: egen mean_time= mean( h_promedio)
by municipio, sort: egen mean_time_acopio= mean( h_promedio) if S520==13
by municipio, sort: egen mean_time_credit= mean( h_promedio) if S520==4

by municipio, sort: egen mean_time_extension= mean( h_promedio) if S520==7

by municipio, sort: egen mean_time_farmers_ass= mean( h_promedio) if S520==18

by municipio, sort: egen mean_time_farmers_coop= mean( h_promedio) if S520==20

by
municipio, sort: egen mean_time_farmers_supportorg= mean( h_promedio) if
S520==21