Women coffee growers beating the odds in Honduras

September 29, 2019
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“Ever since I was a little girl, I knew that farming was my thing to do. What I liked most was being in the field.”

Jeidy Marilú Domínguez Morales, coffee farmer. (Photo: Kath Clark/SeedChange)

Jeidy Marilú Domínguez Morales always dreamed of being a farmer in her Honduran hometown. She loved the land and spending time in the field, among the crops.

But Jeidy couldn’t see a future for herself in Honduras. As a young woman, Jeidy didn’t have job opportunities in her village, Campanario 2. She would need to migrate to make any kind of living.

That is, until Victoria Aguirre showed her there was opportunity right in her own backyard.

Victoria grows coffee and helps other women farmers grow sustainable, high quality coffee too. She leads a local women’s farming group, supported by SeedChange.

Victoria Aguirre, farmer and mentor, sitting in front of the village’s new solar coffee dryer. (Photo: Kath Clark/SeedChange)

With encouragement from Victoria, Jeidy dove into training made possible by SeedChange donors, like you. She learned about sustainable farming and shade-grown coffee. Today, Jeidy is 22 years-old and one of just 14 per cent of Honduran women who own land. She grows coffee, fruit trees and a variety of veggies.

And she dries her coffee in the solar dryer that SeedChange donors helped make possible.

“The dryer keeps the coffee’s quality,” says Jeidy. Well-dried coffee can fetch a better, fairer, and more liveable price.

“That is the prize for the producer – keeping the quality is key. Therefore the dryer is perfect.”