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maintain a research and development (R&D) department with a limited number of agents that test
products, sometimes on farmers’ fields, develop recommendations from best-practices and applications,
and diffuse the information to farmers. At times, the international companies that produce the inputs
second sales technicians to help the importers marketing their products. For that purpose, SYNGENTA
(agrochemical company from Switzerland) or COSMOCEL (agrochemical company from Mexico) maintain
each one sales technician in Honduras with the duty to support the importers to distribute their products,
train small shop owners, conduct demonstration days with farmers, etc.. The input importers, with their
R&D departments, constitute hubs where a lot of relevant information on best practices in coffee
production is accumulated. This level of technicians is also able to absorb knowledge from research
conducted outside the country, for example from CENICAFE in Colombia or ANACAFE in Guatemala. The
work of adapting the application of inputs under local conditions makes them clearly part of the
innovation system. Not only do they work with chemical inputs, from Colombia for example, they import
biological pest control remedies.
3.4 Government and development cooperation-led innovation trajectory
The Instituto Hondureno del Café (IHCAFE) is the key organization in Honduras with the public mandate to
strengthen the coffee sector. The core operation of this privately organized but government-controlled
organization is to improve productivity and quality, as well as to promote Honduran coffee at an
international level. Finally, IHCAFE has helped farmers diversify production. Not only does IHCAFE engage
in R&D, including, among others, the development of new coffee varieties, it also conducts extension and
training, analysis of soils, plants and water, quality analysis, enterprise development and market
intelligence. Recently it also manages the coffee levy which among others is used to finance IHCAFE’s
operations, the national coffee fund, Fondo Cafetero Nacional (FCN), a fund that finances road
infrastructure improvement in coffee zones. The levy is taken at the level of export; basically the
exporters pay 13.5 USD per every sack of coffee exporters. 4.5 USD is used for IHCAFE and FCN, the rest is
paid back to the growers via IHCAFE at the end of the year thus allowing growers to use the payback as
collateral with banks that have financed their coffee operations.
IHCAFE is the one public organization that promotes innovation among coffee growers. IHCAFE offices are
found in 15 out of the 18 geographical departments in Honduras. There are 6 regional centers, 35
extension offices, and 6 R&D and training centers. Given the amount of coffee producers in the country -
it is estimated that there are that about 80,000 coffee growers (IHCAFE 2009) - one finds that the number
of field workers is not enough to pass information to the majority of the producers. Coffee growers are
registered with IHCAFE and get invited to training activities that IHCAFE organizes in partnership with
input providers, certifiers and development agencies. However, it is true that IHCAFE is overburdened
(and maybe always has been) to organize a full-fledged extension service for the benefit of all coffee
growers in the country. This fact may explain the low level of improved management in coffee fields and
the appearance of private companies, sometimes related to the input and buyer scene, that complement
their services. Often it is IHCAFE which links up growers with private and public providers of advisory
services.
There are also a number of international development agencies such as UNDP, the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA), GTZ, the Foundation for Rural Entrepreneurship Development (FUNDER),
HEIFER International, the Farmer Training and Development Unit of FINTRAC, an agency related to the
Millennium Development Goals Program of the USA, and the Central American Training and Education
Institute (CATIE) and many others operating in the coffee sector. Each of these programs has their own
sources of knowledge and information and enriches the basis of knowledge and technology from which
innovations for the Honduran coffee sector can be drawn. They also have their own goals and agenda:
HEIFER International, for example, has been active in southern Honduras, helping coffee farmers find
alternative income sources. In general, these agencies work on the basis of programs that are affiliated to
IHCAFE, and recently more prominently, to private buyers. The lack of advisory service capacity on the
local level has also lead to the appearance of private local advisory service consultants such as for
example ICADE which focuses on conserving biodiversity and ensuring sustainable livelihoods by
transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.
3.5 Farmers led innovation trajectory
While the cooperative movement in Honduras, due to factors of mismanagement and government
influence, has lost much of its attractiveness to farmers, coffee growers continue to be associated in
producer’s organizations under different legal forms. These associations have recently experienced
revitalization due to the boom of certification and direct relations to buyers. There are two major unions
which regroup coffee growers’ associations in Honduras, AHPROCAFE and ANACAFEH. AHPROCAFE for
example, has concentrated on enabling growers to access funding of FCN to improve road infrastructure.
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