Abstract

LOPEZ BARRIOS, Cledi; ZAMORA LOMELI, Carla; CORTINA VILLAR, Sergio  and  PAT FERNANDEZ, Lucio. Peasants going against the tide. Maya Vinic rural indigenous cooperative’s organizational, productive and commercial strategies. Región y sociedad [online]. 2019, vol.31, e1079. ISSN 2448-4849.  https://doi.org/10.22198/rys2019/31/1079.

The purpose of this article is to examine the organizational, productive and commercial strategies implemented by the Maya Vinic cooperative so that organic honey they produce remains in a fair trade scheme. The analytical approach used is the theory of collective action aimed at mobilizing resources, complemented with information from semi-structured interviews and participant observation. This paper contributes elements to understand the dynamics of a rural small producers’ organization in order to remain in fair trade, which provides them with stability and guarantees the validity of peasant activity. The results show that, through collective action, the cooperative has managed to strengthen social capital, receive support from solidarity organizations and external advisers, generate economies of scale and achieve capitalization. It follows that strategies are required so as to help young people take root in their communities, as well as mechanisms to adapt apiculture to market demands and community members’ precariousness of resources.

Keywords : fair trade; collective action; cooperativism; organic honey; apiculture; case study; Chiapas.

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