Cultivated in Copán: How access to finance is creating employment, entrepreneurs and equity in Honduras

Honduras is home to diverse landscapes, from the mountainous mainland to the northern Caribbean lowlands and southern Pacific coastal plains. Named by Christopher Columbus after discovering the deep waters surrounding its coast, Honduras was the first recorded European connection to Central America in 1502 and aptly translates into ‘depths’ in Spanish. 

This symbolic name holds relevance across many facets of Honduran culture today, from the richness of Honduran coffee to the profound beauty and lusciousness of the environments within which it is produced.

Yet, Honduras has had a long history of military rule, corruption, poverty and crime. Poverty remains a significant challenge for the nation, with the World Bank recording 51.9% of the population as living below the poverty line of $6.85 a day in 2023, and 14.1% of the population living in extreme poverty – earning less than $2.15 a day.

Rural areas, in particular, face food insecurity and limited access to basic services: challenges which are intensifying with the increasing impacts of climate change, pushing more Honduran families into extreme poverty.

With 39% of its 10-million population working in the agricultural sector, including around two million smallholder farmers, producer co-operatives are fundamental in ensuring the welfare of the majority of Honduran families, providing opportunities for them to trade their way out of poverty. 

However, limited access to finance continues to obstruct co-operatives from reaching small-scale farmers, building their resilience or growing their enterprises.

Bordering Guatemala to the west of the country, the department of Copán is one of Honduras’ most famous coffee-growing regions, home to mountainous terrains, rich volcanic soils, an ancient Mayan history and six coffee-producing Shared Interest customers.

Honduras: Updates from our team

In March, Shared Interest’s Central and North America Lending Team shared an update with colleagues about Honduras and the impact of our support of coffee producers in the region.

Jason Murillo, Customer Representative for Central and North America, said:

“While the overall quality of coffee remains high in Honduras, an extended drought during the flowering period and heavy rains during the harvest season affected fruit formation in some areas of the country. In addition, immigration has increased as Honduran producers seek better opportunities outside the country.

“The availability of pickers is also lower compared to previous coffee cycles. This situation has slowed harvesting and processing. It is yet to be seen how Trump’s new immigration policies will affect this situation in the short-to-mid-term. Finally, the upward trend of international coffee prices has brought new challenges for our customers.”

In recent years, coffee prices in Honduras have risen as a result of the impacts of extreme weather on crop yield, intersecting with rising global demand. 

Whilst higher average selling prices are expected to boost farmer incomes, economic pressures such as higher production costs and capacity constraints mean many businesses will not be able to fulfil their orders, secure new contracts or actually welcome an increase in profits.

Capucas: Solutions from our customers

In response to these threats, our customers are implementing several strategies to build resilience. These include better planning for rotating short-term credit, controlling margins and managing price risk. Producers are negotiating the minimum price at the beginning of the harvest and fixing the contract price after coffee has been collected.

One such customer is Cooperativa Cafetalera Capucas Limitada (Capucas), a Honduran coffee co-operative supporting 948 farmers based in Copán. Shared Interest has supported Capucas since 2015 with finance to help the co-operative secure contracts and cope with rises in coffee prices and production costs.

Capucas are committed to developing specialty coffee. Since 2008, this commitment has been evidenced and extended domestically through a countrywide competition organised by the co-operative, which has evolved to represent a platform for the learning, promotion and innovation of specialty coffee production. Buyers around the world are invited to attend, whilst participants compete to produce micro-lots and earn the title of ‘Best Coffee in Honduras’.

Today, Capucas boasts a dozen certifications, including Fairtrade and Organic, as well as a highly diversified portfolio of 29 international buyers. On a farm level, Capucas has delivered technical assistance to help members improve their coffee quality and productivity, enabling local farmers to access international markets and negotiate better prices.

In addition to pioneering coffee quality, Capucas can be characterised by their dedication to gender equality, with three women spearheading the Management team and Board of Directors respectively. Capucas also welcomed an 11% increase in the membership of women coffee farmers in 2024 alone. Yet, from its establishment in 1999, Capucas has upheld – and invested in – gender equity principles and projects.

Omar Rodriguez, Capucas General Manager, said:

“My mother is the owner of the farm that we were [raised on] since we were born. Since the beginning [Capucas] created a group of women and the leader of the group [was] my mother. So, she starts to process the coffee and sell in the internal market with that group of women. 

“Now, they are more than 150 women that have their own company; Capucas only supports them, but [is not] part of the decision(s) [they make]. We did it because we believe that if you give more opportunities for different groups, you can create more jobs, more opportunities.”

In March, Omar spoke to the Shared Interest team about the work of Capucas and the role of Shared Interest finance. He said:

“The idea since the beginning has been ‘who will buy our coffee – who can get this product?’ … [And] you discover that if you don’t have finance or support, it is almost impossible. If the importer doesn’t help you … it is impossible because farmers are waiting for the payment.

“Through the commercialisation of the coffee [and] the advice you give us every year … year by year we feel that we are a better co-op and have a better service for the farmers.”

Capucas’ commitment to improving its farmer members’ knowledge, skills and quality of life extends to the community, whereby the co-operative has constructed a medical centre, launched a coffee academy, funded 18 primary school scholarships and invested in income diversification initiatives.

Speaking to supporters of Shared Interest, Omar said:

“For us, since we work with Shared Interest, we are thankful to you, through your support we can support the farmers here first … and with that we start to develop projects and go deeper into the problems that they have.”

Support our work

Looking to the future, Omar told us that Capucas’ primary goals are to develop more projects, jobs and entrepreneurs in the community, whilst continuing to produce the highest quality coffee for global markets. Shared Interest remains dedicated to pushing co-operatives like Capucas further towards their goals, with the driving force of our members’ generosity and passion rallying behind us.