Capacity Building and Productivity

Cooperativa Cafetalera Capucas Limitada (COCAFCAL) is a coffee cooperative that includes over 950 members across 16 communities in the Copán region. Coffee producers are often organized in cooperatives, which provide many benefits, one of the most important one being providing a fair market even when coffee prices are low. When coffee prices are high, as they currently are, there is a risk that cooperative members my sell their coffee to an independent buyer who offers a higher price. To ensure they are able to compete with high prices and also strengthen the cooperative, COCAFCAL's producer groups have decide to reinvest Fair Trade Premiums to provide a better purchase price to the producers to direct towards management and improvement of their farms. Operating costs for production have increased due to the prevention and control of pests and diseases caused by climate change. An investment of $429,300 USD of Community Development Funds were allocated to 312 of the cooperative's members to boost their incomes. In addition to this producer income focus, other community projects provided by the cooperative, with the support of Fair Trade premium funds, include health care coverage for physical exams at the Capucas Health Center, and other productivity investments such as a warehouse for storage of finished products and warehouse adaptation, basic training in the preparation and distribution of organic fertilizers for the younger generation of coffee farmers.