ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to answer Bebbington's (1997) question about whether rural sustainable development efforts can be anything more than islands of sustainability in a sea of degradation. Social and human capital are extremely important in establishing the organic coffee sector in rural Mexico. Transportation difficulties, low product price, lack of financial instruments, and difficulty accessing markets, as well as lack of community organization, are cited as the most common constraints limiting the successful commercialization of Nontimber Forest Products (NTFP) in Mexico. Some organic fruit and vegetable producers, organic coffee producers, community forest enterprises, and community-based ecotourism operations have survived the shocks of liberalization and have become higher-quality and more efficient producers who have found niche markets. Organic agriculture climbed dramatically from 25,000 hectares in 1996 to 115,000 hectares in 2003 although it remains a tiny percentage of the total. The most easily tracked manifestation of sustainable agriculture is certified organic production.
