SMA PROGRAMS: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:
Pine Nut Harvesting

Every seven years, hundreds of tons of piñon nuts are wild harvested in the Sierra. The pink nuts of the Sierra bring the highest value on the global market – 800 pesos per kilo in Mexico.

The problem is that thousands of harvesters from all over Chihuahua descend on the ejidos on the eastern foothills of the Sierra, most notably, Balleza, to harvest natural production in the ejidos. The local people also harvest, but receive nothing from outside harvesters. The Tarahumara and mestizos of the region want to control production and develop value added enterprises such as shelling, packaging, and production of chocolates, candies and other products with pine nuts.

Pinon pines produce large quantities of nuts every seven years.  In their shells, the nuts store for years, so a community can store the harvest and produce products on a sustainable level for five or six years.  Smaller intermittent harvests could sustain production during off years.

With support from SMA, Agronomist Nora Jacques has helped a group in Ejido Baquiriachi to organize, evaluate the feasibility of the project, and develop proposals to purchase ten tons of nuts from harvesters and to develop a processing plant. This project will likely be funded in 2007.