MEXICO: Agave Sweetens Economic Prospects of Indigenous Women

By Emilio Godoy* – Tierramérica
EL CARDONAL, Mexico, Feb 5 (IPS) With a wooden spoon in hand, Hortencia
Rómulo briskly stirs the amber-coloured liquid cooking in an enormous
steel pot.

"It has to reach a heavy boil so that the water evaporates, leaving
the syrup," Rómulo, 45, an indigenous Otomí woman, told
Tierramérica, explaining the process for turning the nectar of the
maguey, or pulque agave plant (Agave atrovirens), into something the
consistency of honey.

Rómulo is one of the founders of the cooperative Milpa de Maguey
Tierno de la Mujer, made up of 22 women and one man who harvest this
spiny-leaved plant in the community of San Andrés Daboxtha from a
73-hectare field, located about 120 kilometres northeast of Mexico City.

The pulque agave products have become the leading source of revenue for
the Otomí indigenous peoples in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo,
complemented by maize crops, sheep ranching and ecological tourism.

"It has been a long process and they have learned about many areas.
They have received training and have strengthened the organisation. The
women themselves do the marketing," said Jocelyne Soto, delegate of
the non-governmental organisation Enlace Rural Regional (Regional Rural
Link, ERRAC), founded in 1988 to promote productive initiatives in
impoverished areas.

ERRAC, which also has a presence in the states of Querétaro, in
central Mexico, and Oaxaca, in the south, has backed the cooperative since
1989, when efforts began in this arid zone to replant with maguey and
lechuguilla agave.

The maguey, which does not need much water to grow, is cultivated
primarily in Hidalgo and the neighbouring state of Tlaxcala, on about
6,000 hectares for a total of 12 million plants, according to figures from
the Secretariat (ministry) of Agriculture and the National Institute of
Statistics and Geography.

The maguey nectar, made with the "aguamiel" (honey water)
extracted from the plant, is a sweetener 1.4 times stronger than refined
sugar and is rich in fibre and proteins. In addition, the plant's
fructose does not stimulate insulin production like other sweeteners do.

The agave nectar was widely consumed by the native peoples of the region
prior to the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors. They also considered it
an energy-giving cure.

The indigenous communities used most of the aguamiel to make the beverage
later substituted by the Spaniards with sugarcane.

"For many years, maguey has been an important source of income,"
Francisco Luna, an expert with the Technological University of Valle del
Mezquital, told Tierramérica.

There are approximately five million families in Mexico working in the
rural economy, according to the National Institute of Statistics and
Geography.

By 1995, growers were looking for better crop options, because pulque, the
alcoholic beverage traditionally made by fermenting the juice extracted
from the heart of the maguey, had been displaced by other alcoholic
drinks. So they learned how to extract the aguamiel and to make the maguey
syrup.

Incorporated since 2000 and with a "green seal" from the German
Certification of Environmental Standards, the women operate a plant with
the capacity to produce one ton per week, with stoves run on solar energy
and natural gas. Most of their products are sold in central Mexico and the
northern state of Sonora.

The juice can be extracted from the plant after 10 years of growth. Each
plant can undergo scraping to extract the juice twice a day. The nectar
taken in the morning is made into syrup, and the afternoon nectar is made
into pulque.

Ten litres of aguamiel produce one litre of syrup. Each day, the members
of the cooperative cook 400 to 500 litres of the raw material.

"These days, we haven't received any orders, but we have the
product stored and it can be sent as soon as they tell us," said
Rómulo, who also grows maize, oats and beans.

Several maguey-growing cooperatives have emerged in Hidalgo, focusing on
the added-value potential and making the most of an expanding market.

The advantage of the maguey is that the entire plant can be utilised, from
the fibres of its long, pointed leaves, to the sweet aguamiel.

"We need more infrastructure. Despite our efforts, the project is not
yet sustainable," said ERRAC's Soto. The cooperative hopes to
expand this year, requiring an injection of about 13,000 dollars.

The Swiss organisation Globosol provided soft credits in 2006 for 15,000
euros (20,130 dollars at today's exchange rate) to install the solar
mirrors, which made the cooperative the first to use solar energy in food
processing.

"There are only a few industrial initiatives (for maguey). The
government's support is not enough, and we could take better
advantage of the market," said university expert Luna.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that
are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a
specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United
Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and
the World Bank.)