BeanScene Magazine

By Sarah Baker

Looking every bit the farmer in a big city, sporting a white cowboy hat and jeans, Wilson Colindres Cerrato made his first, long trip to Australia for the rare opportunity to see where his coffee beans were going.

Wilson was lucky to make the trip to Australia at all. “I left my home a week before getting to Australia,” Wilson says. He travelled 600 kilometres from his home in Sesesmil Primero in the municipality of Copán Ruinas, to the American embassy in Mexico, where his passport was held for unknown reasons. He also needed an American visa, and in a process that normally takes a week, Wilson became the first person to ever receive an American visa on the same day. After a long ordeal, Wilson jumped on a 40-hour flight to Australia. 

But it was all worth it. This was Wilson’s chance to meet the Australian roaster who distributes his coffee beans all over Australia.

Wells Trenfield, Managing Director of Jasper, Specialty Coffee Roasters, started buying Wilson’s coffee from Honduras five years ago and says the reason he invests in Wilson’s coffee is because of its high quality.

“We want to know who we buy our product from, we want to meet real people, put a name to their product and connect with people,” he says. “It’s all about being part of a network of communication between farmers, importers and exporters.”

At 24 years of age, Wilson is a General Manager of Coaprocl, an agricultural cooperative of organic farmers. The cooperative, consisting of 42 members, has been working with Fairtrade for almost 11 years and is dedicated to the production and marketing of specialty coffee. Wilson came to Australia as part of Fair Trade Fortnight.

Wilson has only been working with the cooperative for six years but says it’s already made such a different to his life and the lives of people in his community. With no family history of coffee growing, he started as an employee at Coaprocl and was later motivated to have his own plantation and become a coffee producer.

“When I started I didn’t know the difference between one coffee bean to another and had no knowledge of existing certifications,” he says. “Now, all the coffee we produce in the cooperative is Fairtrade.”

Wilson says the first few years in the cooperative was difficult for producers as production decreased and economic coffee growth came to a halt. Before the cooperative’s involvement with Fairtrade, the conditions in Sesesmil were terrible for producers; coffee beans plantations were riddled by pollution, contamination and prone to illegal business dealings.However, in recent years conditions slowly improved. Honduras coffee beans must now be washed in purified water and the cooperative established exporting opportunities with Guatemala, The Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia.

Wilson notes that coffee is the most important source of income for families in the rural community of Sesesmil, creating jobs for hundreds of people.

“To receive the benefits and opportunities that Fairtrade brings to my people is very good,” Wilson says. “Fairtrade represents more than the money producers receive for coffee, but a premium that is paid to the cooperative for investment in community projects and economic development and allows us to collaborate education centers in communities, build small bridges to bring communities together and bring joy to children in schools and the lives of families.”

Wilson explains when Benjamin Hernandez first entered the Coaprocl cooperative at the age of 79, he couldn’t read or write. He participated in meetings and when it came time to sign documents with a signature, he would do so with his thumbprint. Most recently, he’s taken advantage of benefits that provide superior study for cooperative members. At 79 years of age, Benjamin went to school to gain an education.

Six months later, he attended another cooperative meeting, only this time, he was able to write his name instead of using his thumbprint as a signature. Benjamin is now 81 years of age and owns a pair of reading glasses to read.

Wilson explains that small farmers are traditionally disadvantaged through conventional trade. However, by working together as cooperatives, farmers that produce a small coffee crop one year can rest assured and celebrate the fact that they will have an income that will cover family needs and support their children.

“Whether a producer harvests 7000 kilograms (or 7 tones) of coffee a year and others only 200 kilograms, they still incur the same financial opportunities,” Wilson says.

With concern that the return price to farmers is limited because of the fluctuating local dollar, Wilson says it’s an advantage to be paid in US dollars because the local dollar in Honduras is very unstable and interest rates for credits are much higher in a different currency.

“It’s a huge advantage to be with Fairtrade because it offers security,“ Wilson says.

He explains that traditionally, gaining loans for mortgage properties is next to impossible because banks question financial stability and income, should the coffee bean price ever drop. However, if the banks see an involvement with a certification such as Fairtrade, their concerns are eased because they are aware it guarantees security.

Financing costs in Honduras is very high and for producers to have access to bank credit is a huge advantage.  “Many producers in Honduras are not with Fairtrade and they don’t have access to bank credits and are obligated to sell their coffee beans at a really low price,” Wilson says.

Wilson notes that producers are becoming increasingly interested in being apart of the cooperative because they are impressed with the lifestyle structure and financial benefits.
“They admire our business because unlike other producers who are not with Fairtrade, we can guarantee our members are treated equally,” he notes.
As for future plans and ambitions, Wilson is already well on his way to making them a reality.

“My dream is to be independent some day, to expand my land, have my own business and be growing coffee, not as a general manager, but as a producer,” he says.  “I hope to keep producing cultivating coffee. I hope the price of coffee holds for a while.”

In the meantime, Wilson can already cross-off a few items from his wish list, including a visit to Melbourne, seeing a Kangaroo, riding a tram and drinking his own Honduras coffee in Australia.