Fairtrade co-op in Honduras raises agriculture awareness with coffee schools

A Fairtrade co-operative in Honduras is attempting to reinvigorate young people's attention in coffee farming.

In an interview with Delmi Regalado of COCAFELOL at the SCAE Coffee Event in Vienna, Austria, Fairtrade International heard about how the co-operative is raising awareness of the sector.

Ms Regalado talked about the new initiative to attract more children towards a career in the coffee sector. Ms Regalado said that nowadays children tend to choose careers path that have nothing to do with coffee.

“Once they grow up, they don’t have an interest in working in coffee,” she said. Thus COCAFELOL is trying to give them a taste of the industry by running the coffee skills schools. The co-op is also helping to build new sport centres and playing fields for children.

Ms Regaladon added that 2012 has been the first year with Fairtrade certification for the co-op and that it proved to be a good experience for the producers. 

"We are already selling 20 per cent of our coffee with the Fairtrade seal,” she added.

The co-op has around 500 coffee producers out of which 205 are certified.