Travel to Honduras
Honduras holds a special place in our hearts. We visit and buy coffee from Norma and other small farmers in Honduras every year. We have fallen in love with Honduras because of its rugged beauty, hard-working and gracious people, and amazing coffee. The last time we traveled to Honduras, we took along a videographer to help share the experience. As we were interviewing people for the videos, we realized how unique the Honduran coffee industry is in Central America. Women are welcomed into the ranks of landowners and respected coffee farmers within the communities.
Women in Coffee
We were able to interview four amazing women in coffee. Delmy wears many hats. Along with being a landowner and coffee producer herself, she also runs the show at Beneficio San Marcos, is the Director at AMPROCAL co-op, and is the President of the Honduras chapter of International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA). Watch this video to see and hear for yourself how women engage with the coffee community in Honduras.
Women’s Co-op
AMPROCAL is a women’s co-op that was birthed from Cocafelol. Established in 2017, it’s a group of women coffee producers who strive to make a difference in their families and communities. Emeran was there to celebrate the launch of this amazing cooperative. AMPROCAL is in La Labor, in the Department (state) of Ocotopeque. It lies in western Honduras on the boards of El Salvador and Guatemala. Currently, there are over 130 women producers in the co-op. Norma and Delmy are members and sell their coffee through this co-op. (AMPROCAL stands for Asociación de mujeres procesadores de café la labor or “ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN PROCESSORS OF CAFÉ LA LABOR” )
Buy Norma’s Coffee
Among the many amazing thing the AMPROCAL does, below is a list of just a few important initiatives:
- The co-op hired an agronomist to teach the members how to improve production, sustainability, and quality.
- The co-op produces organic fertilizer with the pulp and honey water from processing.
- The AMPROCAL office is powered by biogas produced from honey water to reduce their carbon footprint.
- In addition to farming education, AMPROCAL also gives back to the community by donating to teachers salaries, school supplies, sports programs. These initiatives are focused on giving kids a chance to improve their quality of life now and in the future.
You can check out the other videos from our trip on our You Tube channel:
A&E Coffee & Tea You Tube Channel
Finally, for all of these critically important initiatives to happen, the women in the co-op need to sell their coffee. You can make a conscientious effort to buy coffee with a cause.