In Santa Martha, Jinotega, a rural community in Nicaragua, where coffee plantations dominate the mountainous landscape, Bertilda Flores challenges gender stereotypes in the agricultural world.
Since its founding in 2000, CACAONICA has been a pillar in the lives of hundreds of local farmers. With 369 certified producers, the cooperative has established itself as a benchmark in cocoa production under agroforestry systems.
The good agronomic practices for coffee cultivation learned in the MOCCA and Volcafe trainings helped Ruperta Álvarez, a Guatemalan producer, double her productivity.
MOCCA program and Agroexportadores de Occidente, AGEO, announced the establishment of an alliance whose main objective is to strengthen the agricultural supply chain, with a special focus on coffee production.
Peruvian coffee and cocoa producers now have access to better financing opportunities, thanks to the partnership between MOCCA and the Peruvian Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI).
Honduran coffee farmer doubled her productivity by reducing the presence of pests on her farm and implementing tissue management techniques learned in MOCCA and Becamo training.
Armando went from selling 900 cocoa plants in 2021 to almost 3,000 in 2023. The production of other plants in the nursery has also doubled.
Coffee farmer José Méndez Cardona increased the yields of his coffee farm by 40% thanks to the good fertilization practices learned in the MOCCA program training.
Eusebio is part of the producers who are trained under the alliance established by MOCCA and Mercon, through which more than 5 thousand coffee producers have received training and established direct commercial links.
Husband and wife coffee growers José Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez have reduced the incidence of coffee berry borer in their coffee plantation by implementing the good pest management and residue management practices learned at MOCCA.
Through the MOCCA alliance, it will contribute to strengthening AHPROCAFE’s capabilities to provide its business and union base bodies with technical and financial support services.
CheckCAFE Program will provide technical assistance and verification of genetic conformity to coffee nurseries in 5 countries.
CEPROAA connected with TCHO, a U.S. company which in 2022 placed a first order of 12 tons of cacao and by 2023 has already reached 50 tons.
30,691 leaf samples were taken in 169 seed and plant production sites in: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru, with the purpose of determining the genetic purity of the varieties.
The good coffee growing practices learned through the MOCCA and Becamo alliance helped Honduran producer José Valerio Díaz to double his productivity.
Husband and wife team Matilde Martínez and Irma Recinos increased the productivity of their farm and their income, thanks to training provided by the MOCCA program and ofi.
MOCCA and Promecafe launched the Competitive Fund to Support Coffee Research, to co-finance research to improve the profitability of coffee producers in the region.
MOCCA program trainings helped Nicaraguan cocoa farmer Hermes Meza increase the productivity of his plantation and obtain up to 68% more income.
In 2021, with MOCCA´s support, the Popoyán nursery was awarded the WCR Verified verification of genetic purity and good agronomic practices in the reproduction of the Central American H1 variety.
The Alianza Café and MOCCA projects, both led by TechnoServe, are promoting the use of Vetiver in Peru for the treatment of coffee honey water, which represents 25% of the post-harvest contaminant load and which, if left untreated, threatens coffee farm ecosystems.
We spoke with Mauricio Calderón Sansivirini, Director of the Salvadoran Coffee Institute, to learn about the contributions of this new institution and its impact on the development of the coffee sector in El Salvador.
Salvadoran coffee farmer Alejandro Huezo increased the productivity of his plantation thanks to the pruning techniques taught by the MOCCA program.
Los aliados financieros del programa MOCCA se reunieron en El Salvador para compartir experiencias, reflexiones y aprendizajes para maximizar el acceso a financiamiento y reducir las brechas entre la oferta y la demanda del crédito agrícola.
After receiving training in ten topics related to the production of quality cocoa plants, Alejandro Madrid, his wife and four children established a nursery to diversify the family’s income.
Good agricultural practices and a production analysis helped Nicaraguan coffee farmer Luis Cruz increase yields by 30% in his farm.
Salvadoran coffee growers increase the productivity of their plantations by applying the pruning techniques taught in the MOCCA training program.
Azucena’s short-term goal is to increase the number of plants produced in her nursery to provide other growers in her community with high quality planting materials.
An initiative to sign purchase/sale contracts connects Guatemalan coffee producers with the exporter Peter Schoenfeld S.A., a member of the Volcafe Group. 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
The good fertilization practices that Dominga Díaz learned in the training at MOCCA allowed her to double the cocoa yields of her farm and improve her family’s income. 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
MOCCA and Mercon Coffee Group provide technical training to coffee producers in Jinotega (Nicaragua), to help them increase their productivity and profitability. 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
The good agricultural practices learned in the trainings provided by MOCCA, Lutheran World Relief and Cacao Verapaz, allowed cocoa farmers in Alta Verapaz (Guatemala) to double their production and increase their income. MOCCA is a 7-year initiative funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Food for Progress Program, which seeks to
With the support of the MOCCA program and Lutheran World Relief, the CACAONICA cooperative, from Waslala, Nicaragua, expanded its reach from 290 cocoa farmers to almost 500 producers in 2 years. 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
Cacao in Honduras is cultivated under traditional shade tree species (Inga sp., Erythrina sp., Gliricidia sp.), fruit and timber species deliberately planted or selected and managed from natural regeneration. Typically, the shade canopy of these cacao plantations is poorly managed resulting in high tree density and heavy shading, thus affecting cacao yield performance overtime. We
200 coffee producers located in Huehuetenango and Baja Verapaz have received loans for working capital through the alliance between MOCCA and Fundación Génesis Empresarial. 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
MOCCA supports more than 1,000 coffee producers in the departments of Ocotepeque, Copán, and Lempira to help them eliminate the barriers that prevent them from becoming more productive and profitable. 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
MOCCA and The National Center For Agricultural And Forestry Technology (CENTA) is driving research efforts towards increasing cocoa productivity. 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
USDA and MOCCA, support the WCR Verified program for large nurseries, by increasing the supply of quality planting material in 5 countries. The renewal and establishment of areas using verified seeds is expected to help reduce disease management costs and increase productivity. September 21, 2022. San Salvador, El Salvador Selecting the right variety is the
Milagro and Elmer increased their income in 80% by improving their chocolate bar´s production management. Elmer and Milagro, or the “Martínez Domínguez family” as they are known in their community for their entrepreneurial energy and willingness to share their knowledge, have great enthusiasm in managing their cocoa plantation, becoming leading producers, artisanal processors and innovative
We interviewed Engineer Albertino Meza Ojeda, the coordinator of the Production and Sustainability Unit of CENFROCAFE, within the MOCCA framework project, about the importance of the initiatives carried out with World Coffee Research and the impact of seed production and coffee nurseries. By Jesslin Cruz Zeledón | Country Agronomist -World Coffee Research CENFROCAFE is a
The partnership between MOCCA and CENTA is driving research efforts towards increasing productivity. Cacao producers can access more productive high quality clones, resilient to climate change. Native, old, new and international highly valuable cocoas are being preserved in El Salvador, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the technical support from the
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
Morazán is a department located in the eastern part of El Salvador, divided into 26 municipalitieswhere mainly agricultural activities predominate, including coffee production. Sonia Ramírez, a 45-year-old woman born in Comunidad las Quebradas, municipality of San Simón, comes from a family with a long coffee-growing tradition. She began harvesting coffee more than 25 years ago,
This initiative, which is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), Keurig Dr. Pepper, and Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG), provides financing, training, and planting materials to participants, 35% of whom are women San Pedro Sula, Honduras Coffee is the leading export crop and the source of livelihood for more than
We traveled to Caserío La Laguna, a small village in the District of Chirinos, Peru, to meet with Carmen Águila Huamán, a woman coffee producer who joined the MOCCA & MIDAGRI training program through the Prosperidad de Chirinos Cooperative. Carmen Águila, has faced great challenges throughout her life that have defined her as the persevering
MOCCA has been collaborating with Fundación ProPetén since 2020, supporting different processes along the cacao value chain in the Petén area of Guatemala. Lutheran World Relief also works with a network of community trainers who receive monthly training in the use of the Cacao Móvil application – www.cacaomovil.com, and technical topics related to the phenological
Roberto Reyes, a member of the Cacahuatl de Rl producers’ organization in the community of San Pedro Nonualco, El Salvador, tells us about his beginnings in the cacao sector and rural promotion. “Currently I have a three-year-old cocoa plot of 1 mz of land established under agroforestry systems. I like to apply the knowledge I
Ecuador is recognized worldwide for its outstanding national fine aroma cacao. Historically, it is one of the most economically and culturally important products in the country. In 2011 Olam Ecuador began marketing cacao from small farmers in 8 provinces of the country; as of 2014 they started their sustainability programs in alliance with different clients.
The WCR Verified program is a World Coffee Research initiative in charge of certifying that coffee seed producers and nurseries are producing genetically pure, healthy plants. This certification program is designed to provide independent, science-based quality control and assurance at the beginning of the coffee supply chain. Elena Landaverde, head of the José Ángel Saavedra
Cajamarca is a department of Peru located in the northwest of the country. It nests in the Quechua region, located on both sides of the Peruvian Andes mountain range (between 2300-3,500 m a.s.l.), and boasts a temperate climate, sunny during the day but cold at night. Clotilde Huaman Peña, a 54-year-old coffee producer, arrived in
In Guatemala, Maximizing Opportunities in Coffee and Cacao in the Americas Program (MOCCA) works in partnership with the company Peter Schoenfeld S.A., a member of the VOLCAFE group, to strengthen the technical skills of more than two thousand coffee growers and improve their productivity and quality, thus facilitating access to planting material, financing under better
Sensenti is a town located in the department of Ocotepeque in western Honduras, an area that produces specialty coffees with different cup profiles, characterized by their exotic fruit flavors and delicate acidity. Zoyla Maldonado and Yaneth Lemus are two women who, like many others in their locality, have followed family tradition and dedicated themselves to
Cadmium is a heavy metal with a blue hue, closely associated with zinc. In the Andean region, Ecuador is leading the charge in the mitigation of cadmium in cacao crops due to a national multi-stakeholder research and dissemination agenda. In this field, Rikolto and MOCCA support research to ensure product access to European markets. Access
Located seventy kilometers away from Guatemala City in the department of Chimaltenango, is the municipality of San Martín Jilotepeque, a historic place with a rich ancestral tradition and important archaeological sites, keeper of the legacy of the indigenous Mayan peoples of the highlands of the Central American country. In San Martín, more than 80% of
Audelina Ruiz is a 51-year-old coffee grower from Cubulco, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. She is the mother of 8 children and started in the coffee growing business with her husband approximately 5 years ago. “In the beginning we had many losses at our coffee farm, we did not know how to control the pests and we
“Now we are better prepared to face the market,” says Abdón Heras, Chairman of Chocoben. The company is preparing its first export to Bolivia and he tells us how the program “Maximizing Opportunities in Coffee and Cacao in the Americas” (MOCCA) helped them make the leap. Chocoben is an Ecuadorian company with more than 20
The municipality of Cubulco, Baja Verapaz, is located at the geographic center of the Republic of Guatemala, surrounded by mountains and lush vegetation and famous for its colorful traditions and folkloric dances. “Have you heard of the “Palo Volador” dance? In this dance, men hang by their feet from ropes attached to a 30-meter-high structure…”
“At the beginning we suffered great hardship. There was no food, we couldn’t take the products to the market due to the license plate restriction imposed, we had to get up very early.” This is how Gabriela Ordoñez, producer of the Aromatic Agricultural Producers Association (ASOAROMATIC), narrates the beginning of 2020. Although it was not
El cacao es el cultivo con más hectáreas sembradas en el Ecuador. La cadena de valor involucra a 180.000 familias, muchas de las cuáles enfrentan el reto de renovar y rehabilitar sus fincas con escasos recursos. Sin embargo, postular a un crédito no es siempre una opción atractiva, por los requisitos que existen y el tiempo que toma su aprobación…
MOCCA and the Ministry of Agriculture signed an agreement to develop a strategy with a short and long term financial focus for coffee farmers. Among other projects, the joint search for financial solutions for coffee farmers, improvements to the training mechanism for farmers; development of standards, requirements and/or certification systems for coffee nurseries; as well
