Land Registry Delays Lock Thousands of Tierra Verde Farmers Out of Fair-Price Schemes

In the coffee valleys south of San Vicente, Rosa Díaz has harvested her three hectares of organic beans every year for a decade. She owns the land outright, paid for it in cash, and has the original deed in a folder at home. Yet when she tried to register with the Tierra Verde Cooperative Council this spring to sell through the federal fair-price scheme, she was told her land could not be verified in the Federal Office for Cooperative Affairs' registry.

The office, which maintains the official record of smallholder landholdings across Tierra Verde, has a backlog of more than eight thousand registration applications. Some have been pending since early 2025. Without federal verification, farmers like Díaz cannot access guaranteed prices or participate in the cooperative export pools that set their income floor.

The delay has created a two-tier market: registered farmers receive stable prices set by federal formula, while unregistered smallholders must sell to local middlemen or direct buyers at whatever price the market offers that week. For families living on the margin, the difference is the difference between keeping a farm and selling it.