Héctor Fermín Domínguez Domínguez once faced a choice familiar to many young Hondurans: leave home or stay and struggle.
As a day laborer, he didn’t see much of a future in Honduras. More than once, he attempted to migrate North to find better opportunities. These were dangerous and uncertain journeys.
He returned to Honduras and got the opportunity to join the Cooperativa Regional De Agricultores Orgánicos De La Sierra (RAOS), an organic coffee growers' cooperative and Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) partner. He now works in quality control at RAOS, verifying the quality of the farmers’ coffee beans for market and helping them find ways to improve their process.
Héctor (center) along with José Ariel Portillo Portillo (left), RAOS’ accountant, and Daniel Pérez García, an SHI field trainer.
After years of uncertainty, Héctor now sees a future in Honduras. He no longer sees leaving home as the only option.
Héctor calls our work with RAOS and partner farmers “una canasta llena de opciones” — a basket full of options — opening doors for young people to grow and thrive in their own communities.
He also sees positive change among the RAOS farmers SHI works with. Many have diversified their plots, which protects the soil while providing a wider variety of produce to sell. Perhaps more importantly, Héctor shared that a sense of opportunity and resilience is also growing among local farmers — he notes how many of them are seeing for the first time how working together can help them all improve their yields and income.
“Small farmers now want to produce more. They encourage each other … and want to do things better,” he shared.
Alongside SHI, Héctor and our partners at RAOS are improving quality of life, opening up new opportunities, and building stability for Honduran farmers and their families so they can stay on the land they love.
Want to help grow resilience and build opportunities in Honduran communities?
