On 1 November, Global Coffee Platform (GCP), alongside the Rainforest Alliance (RA) and Solidaridad, launched the Honduran Platform undefined
for Sustainable Coffee (PCSH) to improve the livelihoods of small coffee producers in Honduras.
“The platform is a space for collaboration and coordination to discuss relevant issues and possible solutions, such as high costs of production, climate change, and quality improvement,” says Rubén Gallozzi, Country Representative of RA in Honduras.
“We, as part of the organising committee of the PCSH in alliance with GCP and Solidaridad and 13 initial members, launched the platform, which has attracted the interest of many more actors.”
Members elected to PCSH’s Coordinating Commission includes Julia Vásquez of Anacafe and Zoyla Moreno of Do Marcala representing producers, and Roberto Salazar of Cocafelol representing cooperatives.
Spokespeople from Ahicafe, Miguel Pon of the Asociación de Exportadores de Café de Honduras, and Flor Zelaya of 18 Conejo will represent independent exporters, with Napoleón Molina of Rikolto representing service providers.
Waleska Tabora of Alianza de Mujeres en Café Hondurus will represent women’s organisations, and Edwin Pérez of the Association of Lenca Entrepreneurs of the Sierra will represent youth.
Jacobo Paz, Executive Secretary of the National Coffee Commission, Conacafe, will represent the government or public sector.
“[PCSH] is an open platform where all actors of the industry can participate: all growers, exporters, intermediates and non-government organisation's supporting the sector,” Paz says.
“Seventy per cent of our coffee is exported to Europe where the consumer demands it is sustainable, meaning it is produced environmentally friendly, does not hire child labour, and it offers fair prices for producers.”
Low prices were part of President of Honduras Juan Orlando Herández’s speech during a United Nations Assembly.
Honduras is currently the fifth largest producer country in the world and third at the regional level. RA says this attracts the interest of purchasing countries for which sustainability in all its supply chains is vital.