Honduras Coffee Proposal

Honduran Coffee Cooperatives, US Communities

and the Hope of a Better Future

According to the Honduran National Coffee Institute (IHCAFE), 95,912 coffee farmers are projected to produce 6.1 million 60-kg bags of coffee in 2016/2017 making the country the largest coffee exporter in Central America, the third largest in Latin America, and seventh in the world.

Four cooperatives – AHPROCAFE, ANACAFEH, CCCH-La Central and UNIOCOOP – have played a critical role in expanding Honduran coffee production areas, increasing overall productivity and improving quality. These efforts have helped create a sector that has average over $1 billion in annual exports over the last five years.

More than 1 million Hondurans – approximately 25 percent of the Economically Active Population in the country -- earn an important part of their livelihoods from growing, harvesting, processing, transporting and selling coffee. Wages paid to coffee harvesters for seasonal work amounted to $310,000,000 in 2016/2017 which provided critical income in the high poverty western departments.

The global coffee market is in a downward trend and this could have a significant impact on coffee farmers who are already working with very thin profit margins. A March 2017 report by the International Coffee Organization indicated that Arabica coffee producing countries have increased their exports and stocks in consuming countries are at a 14 year high with over 6.45 million bags in the US.

In addition to a downward market trend, Honduras is also facing a potential rebound in the coffee leaf fungus, La Roya, which in 2012 resulted in up to 60 percent yield reductions in some areas. The International Coffee Organization observed that Honduras with exports totaling 2.31 million bags (a 36 percent increase of the 2015/2016 season) may be unable to sustain this growth in exports due to the reported emergence of a new outbreak of leaf rust in Honduras.