interior

Fewer Ngöbes picking coffee

LA PRENSA

slim pickings:In two years, the number of Ngöbes picking coffee in Costa Rica has plummeted. 976778

Every year about 7,000 Ngöbe Buglés cross into Costa Rica to work on plantations harvesting coffee.

Many of them travel with their children, which has raised concerns among some social workers.

Yadira Carrera, national coordinator of the Departamento de Niñez y Adolescencia of the Ministerio de Salud, said the children, who comprise about half of the people who work on the harvest, should be in school instead.

Nischma Villarreal, children's director in the Ministerio de Desarrollo Social (Mides), recently traveled to Costa Rica to learn more about the treatment of Ngöbes on the coffee plantations. She visited two farms in the area of San Marcos and reported that the conditions were uneven, in some cases good and in others terrible. The country has an estimated 14,000 such plantations.

Villarreal said that many of the migrants do not necessarily make the trip only for the wages.

"It is an adventure," she said. "In some cases they see it as a holiday."

If it is a holiday, however, fewer people are in a festive mood.

In 2005, as many as 16,000 Ngöbes made the trip. That number fell to 7,000 last year.One reason for the substantial drop is the increased number of opportunities in Panama, which has seen its economy improve dramatically over the past several years. The government also said that its Red de Oportunidades program, which is aimed at people living in extreme poverty, has helped families avoid having to cross the border for jobs.