HONDURAS – The green tropic

In Honduras we saw particularly nice cherries, the most beautiful we ever saw. Red, solid, marvellous. Their ripeness was incredibly uniform. Honduras is a beautiful country and has been a fantastic producer for the last 10 years: it had a great technological development and continues to invest in its coffee market, which is relatively young compared to the other South American countries. In this sector they are less tied to traditions and they are fresher, faster and more modern. They study how to create the best conditions for farming: sun, ground, climate. The yield per hectare is higher. Rainforest Alliance is well settled here.
In Honduras you have to take precautions for your personal safety. The hacienda where we stayed offered us an armed escort, even inside the plantation, where whole families worked.
In this plantation there was a small area surrounded by orange groves: here El Naranjal, a precious coffee cru that is produced for only 60 bags per year, is cultivated. Needless to say, if you want one of these bags you have to reserve it.
The Naranjal farmer is called Arnold Paz, agricultural engineer who studied in the US. He is developing new working methods, different from the common ones, and long processes that include passages in wood cases.
These methods are shared with all the other producers, because Arnold knows that with a larger customer attraction, the whole region will benefit from it, including himself. He also knows that his peculiarity is his terroir. Sharing technical knowledge does not threaten competitiveness.