GIGANTE, Colombia -- It's Holy Week in Gigante, a tiny town in southern Colombia. Most of the businesses have already closed for the holidays. It's just a matter of hours before the others do, too.

	Nate Guidry, Post-Gazette photos 12-year-old Camilo Hoyos picks coffee beans on a small farm in Gigante, Colombia. The economic stability of this area depends on coffee and other agricultural products. Gigante is in the state of Huila, which has 35 counties; 32 of them produces coffee. Click photo for larger image.

A line at a local bank stretches for three blocks. Only one person is allowed to enter at a time. Two armed guards with assault rifles ensure that order and bank policy are maintained.

On a lush green mountain slope a few thousand feet above, 12-year-old Camilo Hoyos and others stand in near egg-frying temperatures, harvesting beans in one of this country's most fertile coffee-growing areas. But fertility doesn't always translate into fatter deposits for those banks down below.

Coffee production remains one of Colombia's most important industries, after oil. But a steady decline in prices, competition from Vietnam and other coffee-producing nations and four decades of armed struggles between leftist guerillas and right-wing paramilitary groups have conspired to undermine a way of life for tens of thousands in this South American country.

"Planting coffee has been a tradition in my family for generations but it's becoming increasingly difficult to continue," said Alvaro Espita, who has been farming for 43 years and owns a 24-acre farm not far from Neiva. "With the price to produce coffee on the rise and the return so low, sometimes I get desperate. ... Now I am planting other crops like kidney beans, plantain and corn to make ends meet."

Help may be on the way through a figure long familiar to Americans -- Juan Valdez. A federation representing Colombian coffee growers is opening high-end coffee shops named after the fictional poncho-wearing Juan Valdez and his sidekick "Lana" the mule. A flagship store opened last year in an upscale area of Bogota, and during a recent visit it was bustling with lunchtime business.

New stores have since opened around the country, including in the Bogota, Medellin and Cali airports. Gabriel Silva, general manager of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, said 10 new stores are slated to open this year in the United States, Europe and Panama, including in New York, Washington, D.C., Miami and Seattle.

	Carmella Hoyos, 6, take a break under the shade of coffee branches on a mountain top in Gigante. More than 62,000 familes are involved in the production of coffee in the state of Huila. Agriculture is also the biggest producer of jobs. Click photo for larger image.

"We might open a store next to Starbucks," Silva said jokingly, before taking a sip of coffee in his office at the federation's headquarters in Bogota. "Starbucks has led the revolution of innovation in the coffee industry. We have to push it forward."

The hope is that the stores and the merchandise they sell will eliminate the middlemen and pump more profits into the hands of growers such as Espita. At present, only a couple of cents from the sale of each cup of coffee makes its way back to the farmers -- the federation wants to raise that number to between 4 to 5 cents per cup.

The farmers each have ownership in the stores, whose profits will also be used to build roads, hospitals, electric power supplies, housing and schools in coffee-growing regions.

In the United States, they see tremendous opportunity -- if the Valdez stores can break Starbucks' grip on the nation. Clearly, Americans have shown an appreciation for Colombian coffee.

Last year, Colombia accounted for 152 million kilograms, or about 335 million pounds, of the nearly 684 million kilograms of coffee the United States imported from 54 coffee-producing nations.

Colombia, coffee and mountain grown have long been synonymous in the minds of baby boomers, who grew up on commercials featuring Juan Valdez and Folger's Mrs. Olson.

It's not hard to understand why coffee does so well in this country. Most beans are grown at elevations from 3,000 to 5,400 feet in six principal regions throughout the country -- Magdalena, Medellin, Bucaramanga, Popayan, Narino and Huila.

It is exactly this topography, with its microclimates, rich volcanic soil, altitude and daily exposure to sun, that produces larger, richer berries, farmers and agronomists say.

"More than 62,500 families [in the Huila region] are directly or indirectly involved in the production of coffee," said Ganzalo Chavarro, a technical director for the coffee growers federation.

His group works with more than 500,000 farmers throughout the country to ensure quality control standards are maintained. A representative of the federation visits each plantation to verify sanitary conditions, health of the crops and the quality of the harvest. The federation also oversees export quality control, research, marketing and economic development.

Chavarro said most of the farms in Gigante and the Colombian state of Huila, which includes 35 counties, 32 of which produce coffee, are smaller, mom-and-pop type plantations ranging in size from 2.5 to 5 acres. It is not uncommon for entire families to work the fields.

"When you have families working their own fields, we've found that leads to better cared-for fields," said Alfonso Barragan as he drives his truck up a twisting mountain top. "The economy of this region depends on coffee production. Agriculture is also the biggest job producer."

This region also is home to some members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly known as FARC. Left-wing rebels have waged a prolonged war against the government and the right-wing paramilitary group United Self-Defense forces. The conflict kills about 3,000 people every year.

Two years ago in Gigante, according to published reports, the guerrillas placed telephone calls to the mayor, council members and inspectors: "Quit your job, or die," the messages stated. The next day, the mayor, police inspector and the entire council quit. Municipal services, including street paving and state hospital services, were suspended for weeks.

Last year, in nearby Neiva, the capital of this region, FARC was blamed for the death of 16 people after a house exploded under the flight paths of jets landing at the airport. Police said the rebels had planned to assassinate President Alvaro Uribe as his plane passed overhead.

Still, residents and farmers go about their lives. A tractor capable of negotiating these rolling hills and steep slopes is a pipe dream, so pickers toil for hours harvesting beans destined for ports around the world.

There is little doubt that they are picking some of the world's finest coffee beans, but for many growers, known as cafeteros, the prices remain lower than the production cost. They are lucky if they receive 65 cents for a pound of coffee. It costs roughly 75 cents to grow a pound of beans.

Espita, the coffee grower near Neiva, worries that if things continue this way, his family may have to do something else. "I was raised in this culture. I have four sons and they are farmers. Farming is all I ever wanted to do."

The story Espita tells has become common in Colombia and other coffee producing nations -- those of third and fourth-generation farmers who fear their offspring may not be able to continue.

"We are all really concerned for the coffee growers," said Santa Maria Mayor Gildardo Santofimio over lunch one afternoon in Neiva. Santofimio was in town trying to secure a loan for farmers. "It's easy to plant coffee but it isn't easy to maintain.

	Teachers at the National Federation of Coffee Growers school in Gigante prepare lesson plans. Students who are preparing for a career in agriculture and coffee farming attend this school. Click photo for larger image.

"Five years or so ago, farmers were doing better so they began to produce more, and now there's overproduction. Now you have farmers raising chickens and planting other crops in order to survive."

Elberto Tovar, who owns a large farm in the mountains above Gigante, said he, too, had to diversify to make it.

"I started a dairy farm and recently my mother and I started growing exotic plants," Tovar said, stopping to inspect a row of flowers recently planted.

"It isn't easy and it never has been. For a lot of farmers, it's either plant coffee or plant what Colombia is widely recognized for" -- a reference to coca and poppy, the raw ingredients for cocaine and heroin.

Tovar said he continues to farm for two reasons: his commitment to the area and the consequences of walking away. If he abandoned the coffee crop, the loans would immediately become due.

"The seasonal work that I am able to provide to workers is all they have. It means a great deal to me to be able to help these families. But honestly, I can't afford to walk away. If I quit today, I would have to repay the bank."

For 12-year-old Camilo Hoyos, these concerns are as far away as a cool breeze as he continues picking beans on the mountainside above Gigante on this hot day during Holy Week.

He stretches to reach the top of a tree, offering an affecting, gentle smile but little conversation. The soft, gentle clatter of coffee beans falls into an old plastic bucket.

Nearby, his little sister, Carmella, takes a break under the shade of coffee trees. She tries to hide as a stranger approaches. "Muy bien, gracias," she says, when asked how she is doing.

It is a response that the coffee growers throughout Colombia hope to soon be using when asked about their new Juan Valdez stores.