Selvin Nahúm Melara, Finca El Tontolar and Yuscarán

I’ve started to grow coffees in 2009 and recently I added avocado trees. They provide shadow, as well as a potentially great new source of income...

Many of my friends and family members here in El Pinal have also started diversifying into avocado trees. We are participating in a program supported by the government of Taiwan. 

Contrary to many of my fellow members, I am a fourth generation coffee grower. Most other people’s parents and grandparents grew corn or kidney beans or they held some cattle. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I am more knowledgeable than most though. Because the previous generations almost exclusively grew very tall (five, six meters) trees of low grade coffees, I had to start from scratch when I started to work on my own land.

I was born here in El Pinal and have lived here all my life. Many people think it must be very difficult to live here, in a place with no more than 100 people, an hour’s drive from the nearest, small town. But thew opposite is true. We have strong bonds with one another, live in harmony together, and we can always find a friend or family member who can help us out with any type of problem we may face.

I have 16 siblings, we could easily build our own battalion! Twelve of us are guys, and of those, eleven are Cafesmo members. Currently, I also look after the 3 hectares of one of my brothers, who traveled to the US. He sends some money every month, which I use to pay a worker for his finca too, as I am unable to tend to his land and mine on my own. 

I too have lived in the US for three years. That was long enough to accumulate sufficient money to build my own house when I came back to Honduras. Growing coffee is great, but the proceeds only allow me to afford three simple meals a day, clothes and education for my children. I cannot save any money and if there is an accident or another unforeseen event, there will be no savings at all to face the situation.

That said, with so many siblings and the entire El Pinal family to rely on, I don’t really every worry about this. There has never been a problem in my life that I wasn’t able to solve with the help of our own community. That is a blessing that I don’t think I would enjoy if I lived in a city, and I think that when push comes to shove, being part of such a strong and stable community is worth more than having money. 

Farm facts

2,8 hectares around 1,600 meters, where I grow Catimor and a bit of Parainema.

There’s a lot of natural shadow from pine trees as well as guamo and liquidambar. I have a bit of guave and mango, as well as avocado, for home consumption.

The farm is Fair Trade, Organic and RFA certified.