Shade-Grown Coffee Plantations: Reservoirs of Three Important Fibers for the Production of Amate Paper

Abstract

The socioeconomic and ecological importance of shade-grown coffee systems in Mexico has been significant since the introduction of coffee to the country. This productive system was adopted by various Indigenous communities, who integrated it in a manner similar to the milpa, due to the diversity of products that can be obtained from coffee agroforestry plots. Among these products, tree bark stands out for its year-round availability and its use as raw material for the production of amate paper in the Sierra Norte de Puebla. Amate paper has a long tradition of use among Mesoamerican peoples, who employed it as a fundamental medium for the transmission of knowledge, as evidenced by codices that are still preserved in different parts of the world. Its ritual and artisanal use has also persisted to the present day. In this context, the community of San Pablito, located in the municipality of Pahuatlán, represents the only place in Mexico where amate paper is produced commercially as a handicraft. However, the extraction of raw materials for its production has generated ecological pressures on shade-grown coffee systems. Currently, three species of tropical trees that grow within these systems are the most commonly used for fiber extraction: Trema micrantha (L.) Blume, Morus celtidifolia Kunth, and Sapium oligoneuron K. Schum. & Pitier.