Innovation Trajectories in Honduras’ Coffee Value Chain. Public and Private Influence on the Use of New Knowledge and Technology among Coffee Growers

Frank Hartwich et al. / Int. J. Food System Dynamics 3 (2010) 237-251

However, producers still depend on financing from local buyers and much of the coffee is still sold to
middlemen at low prices.

The second community studied, Las Crucitas, is located in the department of Santa Barbara, in western
Honduras. This area is the second largest in terms of coffee producers, accounting for about 15% of the
total. The next greater town, Santa Barbara, is 8 kilometers away from the community. In Las Crucitas the
producers sold almost exclusively to intermediaries. On average, they grew coffee on 4 manzanas, but in
contrast to El Pacon, the productivity was higher, the average yield being 17 coffee sacks per manzana. 7
out of the 28 producers were women, in contrast to El Pacon where seven out of the 25 producers were
women. In the case of Las Crucitas, Las Crucitas profits from an increased presence of IHCAFE, which runs
a regional office only a few kilometers away in Santa Barbara, one of the largest towns in this coffee-
producing area. IHCAFE’s extension agents visit members of this community on a regular basis and have
developed a relationship of trust with them. Another development agent that has exchanged information
with producers in Las Crucitas is SIDA. One notable difference between Las Crucitas and El Pacon is that
SEAGRO, an input provider, has a close relationship with the producers and they exchange information
with them. SEAGRO’s activities of selling farm input goes beyond that and they also provide training to
producers. Several producers acknowledged that they have participated in training sessions organized by
SEAGRO.

The third community, San Marcos de Colon, located in the department of El Pa^so, is characterized by
the strong presence of development agents, notably IHCAFE and ASONOG-FOR with farmers’
organizations, in form of the cooperative COCASAM and the producers Union AHPROCAFE, also playing
major roles. Coffee quality in the region is good and there are a number of buyers and exporters present
in the region facilitating procurement and financing. On average, coffee was produced in small-scale farms
of 6 manzanas. The average yield in this community was lower than in the other two, 7 sacks per
manzana. All of the producers in San Marcos de Colon sold directly to the local cooperativa.

4.2 Degree of innovativeness among coffee growers in the three communities

We collected data on the level of innovativeness of farmers in the three communities. Coffee growers
were asked to describe the nature of the innovations they had implemented over a lapse of five years.
The innovations included changes in the agricultural practices, as well as acquisition of certifications, and
marketing and management aspects. On a scale from 1 to 5, the enumerators rated how much growers
had innovated, 1 being no improvements and 5 being many improvements. Out of eight dimensions an
overall innovation score was built and normalized to present a discrete value between 0 and 1. Average
innovation scores for each dimension in the three villages are depicted in Table 1:

Table 1.

Innovation scores among coffee producers in three communities

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