Honduras

This Women's History Month, we highlight our work promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment throughout the coffee value chain.

In an important ecological buffer zone of northeastern Honduras, farmers are learning how to improve their coffee productivity while preserving the natural landscape. A TechnoServe program helped farmers raise productivity by 200% while still ensuring the environmental sustainability of the largest protected land in the country.

Global coffee prices are rising after several years at near-historic lows that prompted many farmers in Central America to immigrate elsewhere. But higher prices alone are not enough to sustain progress. To ensure long-term, profitable incomes, farmers need support establishing long-lasting market connections, developing climate-resilient growing techniques, and diversifying their incomes.

In this series, we check back with TechnoServe program participants who were previously featured on our blog, documenting how their lives have changed and progressed. María Castillo is a farmer and the president of the Mujeres Valientes association, which sells drought-resistant beans and other agricultural supplies to farmers in southern Honduras.

In Honduras, TechnoServe is helping coffee farmers like Luis Olvera improve their coffee and join local producer organizations. In doing so, they can connect to better markets and sell their coffee in bulk directly to exporters, gaining better prices and better livelihoods.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the potential for a global food crisis. In Honduras, bean producers play an important role in increasing food security. We talked to Tomás Membreño, chief of party for the MAS 2.0 program, to learn how they are improving their livelihoods and contributing to food security through this crisis.

The ESCOBCAFE school teaches the sons and daughters of coffee growers how to become coffee cuppers, a step up in an important industry.

A few years ago, Reyna Oristela García was struggling to make a living from growing coffee. Today, her coffee farm is flourishing and her family is reaping the benefits.

Honduran coffee farmers like Rito Girón Hernández are improving their farm productivity and increasing their incomes through the PROLEMPA program.

In Honduras, TechnoServe is supporting entrepreneurs like Gustavo Zelaya through Impulsa tu Empresa — a program that provides small and growing businesses with essential mentorship and business training.