May 2012 C&CI • Honduras • 35
The co-operatives visited by Twin use drying patios to get the moisture content down
great results. The mill is state-of-the-art and very efficiently managed. It currently processes around 150,000 bags. It will only accept quality from co-operatives. It has quite high milling costs, though they are not exorbitant. Mr Urquia has built up an alliance mainly
with six co-ops, which commit their volume to be processed at BSR, including Capucas and Marcala, both of which are sought after for their quality. He is in the process of help- ing them create a ‘federation’, in essence a secondary co-op, though milling will stay with BSR, which one assumes is to remain in private hands. He is also general manag- er of Honduras Quality Coffee (HQC), which is a department that works on projects through donor sources, mainly on quality and also some other areas (including cli- mate change).
Organic certification
Of the co-ops in the BSR group, three were visited including COCAFELOL, a co- operative that is very into organic and effi- cient use of resources. They have installed a system to extract bioethanol (from fermented water) and gas from cof- fee pulp, which they will install to use to power drying and milling. COCAFELOL is in the Central Ocotepeque region, near the El Guisayote reserve and produces around 25,000 bags. It has Fairtrade, organic, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ certi- fication. ARUCO was founded in 2005 and named
after the river that runs through their area. I visited a model farm where the owner was innovating on a number of productivity ideas, with smaller farms then following him on the more successful innovations. ARUCO is in the Rio Aruco de Corquín region, produces around 25,000 bags and has Fairtrade, organic and Rainforest Alliance certification.
Extensive use is made of vertical pre-dryers and cylindrical dryers such as this one The third is COCAFCAL, which is one of
the well-developed co-ops. They have a strong reputation for quality and recently installed a new wet mill financed by an initia- tive backed by the World Bank and Swiss Co-operation. This includes soft loans for most of the investment (2 per cent) plus an additional investment from the co-op mem- bers. The co-op is in the Copan region, near the Celaque National Park, produces around 45,000 bags and has Fairtrade, organic, Rainforest and UTZ certification.
Poor infrastructure
ECODOME is not yet formally a co-op and for the time being is selling through COCAFELOL. They have a relatively poor milling infrastructure but were looking at working with BSR to secure World Bank/Swiss financing to at improve their drying patios and water source. They were not on the local electricity supply so were reliant on small diesel generators to power the wet mill. They are in an area close to the Guatemalan border in the department of Ocotepeque. They currently produce 2,500 bags and are certified by UTZ. Mr Urquia also recommended CARSBIL
in the Intibuca, who, he said, have great potential, a view that was backed up by a blind cupping session in which their coffee came out well. This co-op produces around 3,000 bags of Fairtrade certified coffee.
Overcoming debt
Following the collapse of a secondary co- op, La Central in 2007, three co-ops, COA- GRICSAL, COPROCAEL and CAFEL have retained an alliance (largely through strong relationships between their general man- agers) and have grown strongly over the past three years despite inheriting significant debts from La Central.
Most co-operatives will have wet milling facilities
This season they set up an export opera-
tion called Beneficio Exportador del Occidente (BEO). Unlike BSR, the export and mill functions will be owned by the three co-ops as shareholders. They hope that in the future to export for other co-operatives. Lack of working capital, drying capacity and international customers has meant that they sell quite a bit of coffee locally, particularly to Molinos (Volcafe) and Honducafe (the largest exporter in Central America). COAGRICSAL is one of the largest co-
ops in Honduras but not as strong on quali- ty as some of those in BSR. However, they are improving their milling capacity, includ- ing the introduction of a new dry mill which will serve as the mill for BEO exports. They have invested in converting lower grown areas to cocoa as a diversification strategy. Located in the Copan, Santa Barbara and Intibuca regions, they produce around 100,000 bags certified by Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ and CAFE Practices. CAFEL, one of the smallest of such organisations, almost went under following the collapse of La Central. Located in the San Fernando, Copan region, they pro- duce around 25,0000 bags of Fairtrade certified coffee and have the potential to produce more, high quality coffee, although they need to invest a bit more and lack funding. C&CI
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