Coffee Business Improves in Quality and Quantity

Seny Romel Cabrera Colindres, has been a coffee producer for 18 years living in the community of Moroceli, Honduras. Mr. Romel has dedicated his entire life to growing coffee. He finished his primary education and began helping his parents in the family coffee plantation at age 12, then, on turning 17, Romel started his own coffee growing business.

For many years, Mr. Romel was unable to expand his coffee plantation since he did not have enough resources. In 2012, Romel met VisionFund Honduras and has been a client for over six years expanding his coffee plantation from two hectares to 12 hectares today.

Romel said this about VisionFund Honduras, "What we liked about the methodology is that it is a very serious institution, very responsible, what has promised us that has been fulfilled and we hope that we as producers continue working as long as possible and that they allow us to work with you, we are very happy with the support we have received from both the officers and the institution in terms of financing.”

He decided to call his coffee farm, "La Amistad" because it has been one of the most visited farms by other non-governmental support institutions as a model project. In times of harvest, he employs more than 11 coffee cutters from his community, including members of his relatives, neighbors and friends; this year he expects to have a production of 200 quintals of coffee that would be one of the largest since he started growing coffee 18 years ago.

"Little by little we have been achieving it, I have been building the benefited part, it was the first thing I tried to improve, because right now the coffee market is demanding and they are asking for coffee quality, so two years ago I was able to build the benefited and last year I built the drying structure, a solar dryer that has helped a lot to improve the quality part of the coffee."

All his family is involved in the cultivation of coffee, his wife Maria Eugenia Ferrera Cuello is in charge of the coffee washing and drying production and also keeps the production accounts as well as the payment of the workers, his son Carlos Eduardo Cabrera Colindres also helps his father. 

"I am grateful to FUNED, because I have been working with credits for six years and that has helped me to improve my productivity and I have managed to expand my farm thanks to the credits I have obtained. They give us credit at the opportune time where we needed to buy supplies for the fertilizers and then for the labor of the farm and I feel that this has helped me improve the quality of my coffee and helped my family have a better life."