Las Amazonas - Honduras 2008 Verified listing

Las Amazonas Ezri Moises bought the farm in 1992 after he came from Guatemala ,where he worked for an exporter, he saw that the land was good for coffee .His wife has a tradition in coffee that goes back to the 1950s with very favorable conditions of weather and climate, and he has expanded. Of his family of two kids, and wife, they are all involved in the coffee crop. Ezri Moises fertilizes twice a year , starting in June all based in the soil test results, He does his farms weed control by hand, applies tree pruning, with selective and sanitary purposes, also regulates shade. He does a very active sampling for plagues and pest, even that he doesnt have plague yet, its just a prevention. His harvest starts in december until the end of April sometimes, collecting only the red cherries, his pickers do the picking along with people from the community. then he moves his crop by car to wet mill, taking him approximately ten minutes . The pulper work without water, so the process is using the less water possible from a protected water source coming from a near by stream. Fermentation takes place in cement tanks, an average of 12 hours, under close supervision, depending on the weather and moisture., but the first part they use a mechanical remover for mucilage. Then the coffee is taken into cement patios to dry but he also uses Guardiola dryers. it takes him about 30 minutes to take by truck his coffee to the nearest exporter. He says his success lays in picking only the red cherries, good farm management, keeping the farm well nourished. He and his family and workers are aware of the protection of the environment and give the proper process to pulp and residue waters. Actually coffee production doesnt give enough yield for maintaining the necessary family income, specially fertilizer prices. This also affects the workers because he is not able to give them much paid work.