- Honduran coffee producer cuts fertilization costs in half by making organic fertilizers using regenerative practices recommended by MOCCA.
- In Honduras, MOCCA works in partnership with RGC Coffee and Café Ventura, providing technical training to more than 2,200 coffee producers.
At 28 years old, Osiris Gomes, from Sensenti, Ocotepeque, Honduras, has found in coffee cultivation a way to advance and build a better future for herself and her 9-year-old daughter. Since she was young, Osiris grew up surrounded by coffee farms, but it wasn’t until 2021 that she decided to start her own coffee plantation, with a clear mission: to transform this coffee-growing heritage into a source of opportunity and stability for her 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.
Thus, over 3 years ago, Osiris Gomes joined the MOCCA training program with the goal of learning new techniques to reduce the pest problems that were affecting her coffee farm.
In MOCCA’s training, Osiris learned tissue management to increase the productivity of her plantation and tissue sanitization, as well as grafting techniques and the production of organic fertilizers.
Organic Fertilizers as a Response to Rising Fertilizer Costs
“Now, thanks to MOCCA, we know how to make organic fertilizers, and this has allowed us to save up to 50% on purchasing fertilizers, which has been a huge relief for our economy because it enables us to make more profit,” says Osiris.
With the savings from purchasing fertilizers, the producer has made investments in her farm and continues to improve the infrastructure of her home.
In addition to being a coffee producer, Osiris is in charge of Certifications and Quality Control at the COCASANCOL Cooperative, an organization founded in 2011 that currently has more than 100 coffee growers. In the last harvest, the COCASANCOL Cooperative sold 2,000 quintals of coffee to Café Ventura, of which 1,200 were sold under Fair Trade certification, 600 under Starbucks’ label, and 200 as conventional coffee.}
“The support from MOCCA has been key in obtaining Fair Trade, Starbucks, and Café de Mujeres certifications. They helped us track compliance with certification standards and topographic surveys of our plots,” Osiris explains.
Osiris is aware that the role of women in coffee farming is changing. In her community, women were traditionally homemakers, but she has shown that they can also be leaders in agriculture. “Now, other male coffee growers value our participation,” she says with pride.
Osiris’s dream goes beyond her own achievements. She wants her daughter to become a professional and have access to opportunities that many women farmers have not had. For Osiris, each coffee bean is not just a source of income, but a seed of hope. She is building a legacy that proves that with determination, learning, and hard work, a more promising future can be cultivated.
