A Path to Income for Latin American Farmers

Traditionally Latin American coffee was grown in the shady understory of forests, but starting in the 1970s, hybrid plants were developed which could be grown in full sun on monoculture plantations, requiring the use of herbicides and nitrogen-intensive fertilizers.

In recent years, however, the market for specialty premium coffee has increased significantly. Unlike plantation coffee, premium coffee is best grown in at least 35 percent shade, often on steep hillsides in small plots. As a result, there are more opportunities for small plot farmers to grow these premium varieties, but the plants require special care and have a long flowering cycle, making them an impractical income source for many poor farm families in Latin America.

IDE realized the potential of specialty coffee and theorized that affordable micro irrigation might enable more poor farmers to grow high value coffee in cooperative settings where it could be collected and sold to global markets for higher prices.

What We're Doing

In 2007 IDE introduced drip irrigation trials in Jinotega, Nicaragua, on small farms nestled in a protected biosphere. In addition to preserving the old growth forests, we were immediately able to reduce labor and water use dramatically. We also discovered that the direct application of water from drip systems cuts down the production time for each tree from 3 years to 2 years, and increases yields by up to 60 percent. With average income gains of $600 per acre, growing specialty coffee has now become worthwhile for poor farm families.

IDE is currently setting up a program to distribute drip systems and other micro irrigation equipment to smallholder coffee farmers and small scale horticultural farmers in Nicaragua and Honduras. We also have plans to expand to El Salvador and Guatemala.

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