Oscar Olindo López Castillo was born in the department of Huehuetenango, located in the northwestern region of Guatemala. He is 45 years old and lives with his wife and 4 children in a small village known as El Rincón, in the municipality of Unión Cantinil.
Oscar learned the main coffee production activities from his father and at the age of 20 he started his own plantation.
Like other Guatemalan coffee growers, Oscar has faced several difficulties during his life as a coffee producer. Low prices and the lack of opportunities to access higher value markets have made it challenging to profitably market his coffee.
“When we did the math on coffee sales, we had little profit left and sometimes it was only enough to pay for production costs. We were very discouraged to sell our coffee at low prices because we did not earn enough money and we could not make new investments to improve the farm”
Oscar López | Coffee producer
Huehuetenango, Guatemala
Oscar joined the activities of the Maximizing Opportunities in Coffee and Cocoa in the Americas (MOCCA) project during the 2020-2021 harvest, through a partnership with ofi and its initiatives to support coffee producers in the Huehuetenango area of Guatemala.
Contracts were signed in 2021 with coffee producers in Huehuetenango, as part of the strategic actions of the MOCCA and ofi partnership, with the purpose of facilitating direct marketing links to gain better income from coffee sales.
“Thanks to MOCCA and ofi, with the signing of contracts we were able to sell 1,500 quintals of coffee at better prices. The family income increased and with the profits we bought another plot of land, agricultural inputs and we are making some improvements to our house”
Oscar López | Coffee producer
Huehuetenango, Guatemala
MOCCA and ofi provide technical assistance to 4,500 coffee growers in good agricultural practices to increase their productivity and profitability, and facilitate their access to better markets in the coffee-growing areas of Huehuetenango, by applying principles of ethics, respect for human beings, the environment and the community surroundings.
MOCCA in Guatemala
MOCCA has entered into partnerships with buyers and other organizations in Guatemala, through which it will train more than 17,500 coffee producers (40% women), providing integration into higher value markets, technical assistance, research, access to quality genetic material, and the promotion of catalytic financing models.
