- Salvadoran coffee farmer Alejandro Huezo increased the productivity of his plantation thanks to the pruning techniques taught by the MOCCA program.
Tissue management through pruning consists of eliminating unproductive or diseased parts of the coffee plant and stimulating the growth of new healthy and productive tissues within a given period of time. For Alejandro Huazo, coffee grower from Santa Ana, El Salvador, selecting the type of pruning according to the state of his plants has been decisive in increasing his productivity.
“My yields increased by more than 60% after implementing good tissue management in my coffee plantation. Some plants were almost dead, but I managed to recover them and avoid losses by applying the technique known as lung pruning, that I had learned in MOCCA’s training”
Alejandro Huezo
Coffee producer
Santa Ana, El Salvador
With the profits obtained, Alejandro has bought inputs and tools for his farm and has invested in better food and health for his family.
MOCCA is a 7-year initiative funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Food for Progress Program, which seeks to improve agricultural productivity and expand trade in agricultural products. The MOCCA project is being executed by a consortium led by TechnoServe. Lutheran World Relief leads the cocoa activities.
Huezo is 61 years old and remembers that since he was a child he accompanied his father in the coffee growing activities, which is why his knowledge in coffee cultivation is great. He has 11 children and lives with his wife in a small community called San José Las Flores. In addition to coffee production, Alejandro and his family are dedicated to the cultivation of basic grains, livestock, and beekeeping.
“I like to participate in MOCCA trainings because I always learn something new. They taught us how to make traps for pests like the coffee berry borer, tips for establishing new coffee plantations and how to preserve the soil to prevent erosion and preserve nutrients,” says Alejandro.
Alejandro is one of the 1,300 coffee producers in El Salvador that have been trained by the MOCCA program and its alliance with the Banco de Fomento Agropecuario (BFA), in which 40% of the trained producers are women. In El Salvador, MOCCA works in support of the Coffee Transformation and Sustainable Takeoff Plan, within the framework of the Agricultural Rescue Master Plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, whose goal is to renew 50,000 manzanas of coffee.
Not knowing the benefits of tissue management and not applying pruning techniques in a timely manner reduces the productivity capacity of coffee plants and therefore the income of coffee growers. For more information on the pruning techniques recommended by the MOCCA program, please consult our manual on Tissue Management at www.mocca.org/recursos/cafe/
