One of the reasons for the poverty, particularly in the Honduran coffee industry, is coffee's extremely low price on commodities markets. In most cases, this doesn't even cover the cost of production. Other factors weigh heavily on production, for instance a poor transport infrastructure and long distances lead to an increase in costs. These distances are also a major obstacle when it comes to finding good workers and one of the reasons why many people decide against working on coffee plantations. Last but not least, one of the greatest threats to the coffee industry is found in nature itself: La Roya, the Spanish name for the fungus that causes coffee rust, has been wreaking havoc for several years and has occasionally destroyed entire crops. Production faces yet another hurdle in the form of middlemen, who try to drive down prices even further to increase their share of the profits. Because of a lack of alternatives and their direct dependence on middlemen, coffee farmers have no choice but to bow to the pressure, thus further weakening their position. In the past, the only way they could escape this price-dumping and the resulting poverty was to abandon their plantations and move elsewhere. Ever since we started buying coffee directly from these coffee farmers and transferring 50% of the project contributions directly to them, these smallholders have become much more independent and they can now plan further ahead.

All our projects focus on the needs of the coffee farmers, who themselves play an active role in shaping these projects. This guarantees constant transparency, promotes mutual trust and ensures that the projects' funds and resources are used in a targeted and practical way. The financial support for these projects is based on the principle of having a long-term impact. Our goal is not only to improve the conditions for farmers and their families but also to empower them within the coffee sector and thus strengthen the coffee industry itself. The employed funds significantly alleviate the impact of a loss of income and crop failure. Today, smallholders can easily hire farmhands to replace temporarily absent workers. One positive long-term impact is that coffee growers continue running their plantations because they are no longer forced to move away. Our Projects in La Laguna