Eduardo’s drive to expand his coffee production

Eduardo’s interest and exposure to coffee runs deep. “I have been growing coffee since I was little,” he says. “When I got older, I started working in a plantation nearby to learn about processing coffee. My dad saw this interest I had, and gave me a small piece of land with coffee plants.” Even with this small piece of land, last year, Eduardo exported 600 pounds of green coffee as part of the Young Entrepreneurs of San Miguel Escobar.

But, he’s just getting started. “My ultimate goal is to be a coffee entrepreneur and to make coffee totally sustainable.” This year, when De La Gente began accepting loan requests from the Young Entrepreneurs, Eduardo applied for and was granted a $1,050 loan to invest in fertilizer and equipment for maintaining the land he already owns. “I have always said that having this space in this group is a privilege to be part of and I feel happy and content to be part of it.”

With a vision and entrepreneurial spirit that goes far beyond the current land he owns, he included in his proposal using the loan for the down payment on a six cuerda (local unit of land approximately equivalent to an acre) plot of land high in the slopes of Agua Volcano. Eduardo has already cleared two cuerdas of land and planted lima beans, his first harvest arriving last May. His goal is to continue clearing the land and plant more beans, as well as experiment with other crops, such as peas, while the lower-altitude will be exclusively coffee production.

“Receiving the loan was incredibly positive for me,” he says. “A lot of us have the initiative and will to work in this industry, but we don’t have the capital to really drive that work…It has helped me tremendously.”

Join us in cultivating more opportunities for the Young Entrepreneurs by making a contribution today.