Women Lead the Introduction of Coffee Hybrids in Honduras: Carmen’s Story and the Collaborative Work between ESCALAR-CATIE and AMUCAFE

• This is the fourth and final life story in ESCALAR’s series, demonstrating that the integration of climate adaptation and gender approaches in the territories of the Central American Dry Corridor of the Trifinio go hand in hand.

The ESCALAR Project— Scaling Climate Change Adaptation Solutions for Resilience and Reduced Migration in the Central American Dry Corridor —promotes the mainstreaming of the gender approach in rural territories. Through technical assistance, policy advocacy, strengthening rural associative enterprises, and climate financing, the project is working comprehensively to reduce gender gaps prioritized in its Gender Strategy.

With this series of stories collected throughout 2025, ESCALAR presents experiences showing how women are expanding their participation in climate adaptation processes and positioning their contributions in the fight against climate change. 

Carmen’s Story

“I already felt capable of sharing and explaining things. That’s why I had the patience, when I planted my farm, to record a video explaining the process step by step, and I shared it with the women participating this year.” (Carmen Regalado, member of AMUCAFE).

The Honduras chapter of the International Women in Coffee Alliance (AMUCAFE) is one of the many chapters of this global organization. Carmen joined the network in 2016 and belongs to the Ocotepeque subchapter, the largest in the country.

Since then, she has witnessed a range of changes in the territory: labor shortages due to migration, volatility in coffee prices, the presence of pests such as coffee leaf rust, and low land ownership among women.

““Legally, the document that certifies that I can be an owner does not exist; or it is under the name of the husband or the husband’s family. Suddenly we may be harvesting high-quality coffee, and at the national level, within the Coffee Institute, we do not appear. Even though women are involved from the beginning to the end of the traceability process,” she explains. de la trazabilidad” expresa. 

She adds that recent severe storms in the community destroyed the farm where she produced specialty coffee. For this and other reasons, Carmen and the women of AMUCAFE have been looking for cultivars adapted to climate change.

In response to the challenges mapped in the region, ESCALAR has incorporated coffee production into its IApA, specifically through the F1 hybrid produced by CATIE at its Headquarters in Turrialba, Costa Rica, and distributed it to rural territories of the Dry Corridor. This has been complemented with technical training, such as planting distances and organized planting by cultivar.

During 2024–2025, ESCALAR has provided genetic material to 65 AMUCAFE women, who have replicated this knowledge in the region and supported the renovation of plots for those who joined during 2025. The F1 hybrid also has early-yielding behavior, so the first harvests are expected in early 2026, marking the beginning of a new stage in the coffee-growing activities of the beneficiaries.

“This is a new variety being introduced into our country and one that we are implementing. More people are already interested; the rest of the AMUCAFE members in Honduras have been informed about what the variety consists of, and they are eager to be part of this beautiful project.”

As a result of this collaboration, AMUCAFE has become the first women’s network to incorporate hybrids into their plots, attracting the attention of the sector. Moreover, they have positioned their voices and experiences as references in working with this genetic material. Looking ahead, they hope to invest the income from these harvests into their household economies.

About the Series

This is the fourth and final story in the series produced by ESCALAR. It demonstrates how the project’s work is benefiting rural women: from implementing agricultural innovations for adaptation in climate-vulnerable communities to creating spaces that strengthen women’s leadership. To read the previous stories, visit: From Drought to Resilience: Lesly’s Story and the First Zamorano Tank Built by ESCALAR in La Labor, Ocotepeque, Honduras – CATIE. and Shared Leadership: The Story of AMUPROCAJ and Its Efforts to Link Gender Equity and Climate Resilience with the ESCALAR Project – CATIE. To access the ESCALAR project’s Gender Strategy, visit this link.