Project visit to partner Fundación Co.Honducafé

In the first week of March, TRANS SUSTAIN  team member Janina Grabs had the opportunity to visit our project partner in Honduras, Fundación Co.Honducafé, in San Pedro Sula.

A number of productive meetings were held with the Foundation’s president, Terence Fuchisch, its lead research coordinator, Edgar Joel Castro Osorio, and a number of agronomists and technicians both in the office and the field. This collaboration allowed for the in-depth discussion and adaptation of both the project design and the questionnaire to be used.

On two field days, the researchers carried out in-field validation of the project questionnaire and received important feedback from farmers and technicians alike.

A main challenge is aligning the researchers’ need for reliable indicators with the technicians’ and farmers’ preference for a streamlined, time-efficient process. This will be achieved through a stronger reliance on observational over reported indicators.

The capstone of this first visit was the Festival de Café Suyapa Hawit in a small coffee village called Subirana in the Yoro region. The experience of this community exemplifies the importance of long-term investments in sustainable and quality-improving production practices.

The fruitful collaboration with the Fundación Co.Honducafé will continue in April, when the data-gathering process is scheduled to start.