Last Saturday I went up into the mountains around Catacamas with Arturo, one of Diaconia Nacional's project coordinators. We had to leave at 5:30am to make it all the way up to the coffee farmer by 9:30am. The distance isn't so bad but the dirt road is littered with giant pot holes and can get pretty steep as carves its way around the mountains.
Arturo and I met with three coffee farmers from El Carrizal about their plans for the upcoming coffee crop. These men are part of a group of about 12 local growers that are interested in exporting directly to Canada with the help of Diaconia and the Carpenteros organization in Ontario. The vision for this project also includes plans for fair trade and organic certification. It turns out that one of the major hurdles in this project is that most farmers don't have facilities to roast their own coffee; they've always just shelled, washed and sold the raw beans. Diaconia hopes to facilitate this project by offering loans for the farmers to purchase solar-powered roasters. However, some farmers are concerned about the capacity of these smaller solar units and also that the cloud cover in these mountains could cause a problem. They suggested a larger industrial unit but that poses its own challenges when you have to routinely transport diesel up the mountian.
As you can tell there are few more details to work out but all parties involved are interested in seeing this project to completion. Arturo and I will likely visit the commuity again for more meetings and to start certification training this summer.
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