In pictures, avocado is the beautiful green fruit on top of a toast for breakfast, not something placed next to drug cartels. In words, avocado is put next to titles such as “superfood” and “health benefits”, not “kidnapping”, “murder” or “extortion”. We love avocados, but we don’t know their story.
The celebrity in the world of fruits
Avocado is a rising star! In recent years, avocado has been taking over the Internet and social media with keywords such as “superfood”, “health benefits”, “eat clean”, “delicious avocado toast”, “avocado salad”, etc. If there is one celebrity in the world of fruits, it is avocado. Avocado had been around since 10,000 BC but it was not that in demand until it appeared in the Super Bowl under the form of “guacamole bowl”. And just like that, avocado started its journey on the walk of fame. Once promoted, avocado quickly wins one’s heart with its nutritional and aesthetic value. Who wouldn’t root for a celebrity that is pleasant to the eyes, exotic, versatile and especially good for your health. Being famous for its richness in vitamin E, monounsaturated fats, carotene, potassium and iron, avocado soon becomes the best friend of anyone that wants to eat clean or have a healthier diet. When you are popular, there will be fans as well as haters. Much as we love avocado, it is an undeniable fact that avocado is not utterly sustainable. An avocado has a carbon footprint that is twice the amount of a kilo of bananas, it has demanding cultivation conditions and it travels thousand miles to import countries, thus producing a large amount of carbon emission. In this case, haters have their point.
The cost to be famous
Keywords such as “drug cartels”, “crime groups”, “kidnap”, “violence” are not something you think of when you talk about avocados. Being famous means that demand for avocado started growing exponentially, thus increasing the export of avocado. Mexico is the biggest producer of avocado in the world, so it contributes greatly to the economy of Mexico. Like any other rising stars, with such a huge potential for profitability, avocados attract bad guys that want to make money from them by taking control over the avocado production in some specific areas, of which the most pressing location is Michoacán – where it produces most of Mexico’s avocados. These bad guys are drug cartels who want to add avocado production to their group’s portfolio besides drug trafficking. Forests are cleared, and lands are taken over illegally to make way for cultivation of avocado because it is the new money-making machine or “Green Gold”. Consequently, competition among crime groups leads to property damage, kidnappings, robbery, violence and even murders. From a key avocado production point, Michoacán becomes a hot spot filled with crime groups and drug gangs. Farmers are extorted from the profit of the avocados that they produce but they have no other choice if they want to secure their income, save their life as well as their families’.
Knowing that the money pours into the pockets of drug cartels every time we buy an avocado does not mean we should boycott Mexican avocados as this will do farmers more harm than good. What we can do as consumers is to voice our opinion, require companies to be transparent about the origin of avocado and to be more actively involved in the fight for the sovereignty of avocado farmers in Michoacán.
The True Cost of Avocadoes | Business Insider
"Avocados are a $2.4 billion business in Mexico. That kind of cash has attracted drug cartels that are stealing land and forcing farmers to hand over their profits. To defend themselves, locals are arming and forming vigilante groups to protect their avocados."
References
Manning, L. (2021, May 28). Avocado consumption hits record highs, driven by health trends. Food Dive. https://www.fooddive.com/news/avocado-consumption-hits-record-highs-driven-by-health-trends/600858/.
Blogger, G. (2017, September 22). How Avocados Became So Popular. Javelina. https://javelina.co/avocados-became-popular/.
Rozeboom, G. (2021, May 5). Rotten: The Avocado War produced by Netflix - Plant Based. Plantbased. https://www.plantbased.com/rotten-the-avocado-war/.
Guardian News and Media. (2019, December 30). Are Mexican avocados the world's new conflict commodity? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/30/are-mexican-avocados-the-worlds-new-conflict-commodity.
This publication is part of Noria's Mexico & Central America Program. , & Alexander Curry holds a PhD from the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS). (2021, March 17). Violence and Avocado Capitalism in Michoacán, Mexico. Noria Research. https://noria-research.com/violence-and-avocado-capitalism-in-mexico/.