Portillo - Honduras 2008 Verified listing

Overview

Bertilio initiated cultivating coffee in the year of 1996, when he bought the land he had been managing for the lass 12 years. Married to Maria Guadalupe, he works and lives off his coffee land and production. He works his farm personally and it is the main income source for his family of two members, even though it is a very small farm (3.2 Hectares). He has 2 permanent employees and 10 temporary employees during harvest. Bertilio has participated previously in the Cup of Excellence Program, coming in to 7th place in last years competition. Bertilio fertilizes once a year, in the month of June, during the rainy season, using the technique know as half moon at the base of the tree. He does his farms weed control by hand, applies tree pruning, with selective and sanitary purposes, also regulates shade. He does a very active Coffee Borer Beetle control even though he doesnt have an evident problem with it, just for prevention. His harvest starts in November and runs until May sometimes. He needs to hire workers that live in other towns because theres lack of workers in his community. Collecting only the red cherries, he then moves his crop in a pick up truck, 30 minutes, to the wet mill, were he uses the least possible water from a protected water source in his farm. His fermentations are done in cement tanks for an average of 12-14 hours, depending on weather and moisture conditions. Then the coffee is washed and taken into cement patios to dry, this is done in the exporters patios. It takes Bertilio at least one hour to transport by a rented pick up truck, his coffee to the nearest facility or exporter. He says his success lies in picking only the ripe cherries, pulping as fast as possible after picking, a supervised fermentation and the use of clean water. He and his family and workers are aware of the environment protection and treat properly the residual waters. They are also reforesting with trees such as mahogany and laurel. He and his family take a strong stand against hunting in the farms premises and tree cutting.