Intibucá Yamaranguila

Description

Yamaranguila is an area that covers ~115 square miles within Intibucá on the southern border with El Salvador. This is the coldest region within Honduras (national average 22C)—famous for being the only place that can produce strawberries—and home to Honduras’ highest elevation city (La Esperanza, 1710 MASL) and Mountain (Cordilleras Range, 2,900 MASL). It’s also home to Maira Gómez, manager of a small 80 person cooperative called Comipronil. Comipronil started as and remains at its core a healthcare network for indigenous Lenca producers in the community. But in 2019 Maira met and befriended the team at a near-by coffee cooperative called CAFESMO, who provided infrastructure and training to help Comipronil get started in specialty coffee.

In 2022 the core of the coffee community in Yamaranguila revolves around four families; those of: Lillian Gomez Orellana, Dimas Rodriguez Sánchez, David Rodriguez, & Doña Escolástica. Their farms are small, between .7 – 2.75 hectares, and so yields are small as well. But every year the group has brought home premiums, encouraging others to get more interested, and have invested in their farms, leading to steady and perceivable progress.

CAFESMO is a collaboration of 250+ members based out of Southern Honduras in the regions of Ocotepeque, where central operations provide support to members in the form of technical assistance and certification, post-harvest processing, storage, and ultimately through to milling, marketing and export. They’re proud of their work and want to make a name for their region. Their team is diverse; young and old, from across nearly all relevant disciplines. And they have momentum. All that’s lacking is financing, which they can get through pre-harvest contracts, which they can get by finding reliable repeat customers, which they can get by taking the first step and dedicating themselves to quality.