The conditions of most small-scale farmers in Central America are very complicated indeed. With little industry to speak of, Honduras and Nicaragua largely depend on agriculture. In this sector, most crops are commodity crops with cyclical prices and tough demands for continued productivity improvements. Most farmers are not equipped to compete on cost alone. They lack capital and the culture of farming is very traditional and hard to change. So competing on commodity crops is not the way forward for most poor farmers.
Specialty, quality products are. Specialty coffee is one such example, where the highlands of Central America and the fact that the processes favor labor over machinery, makes specialty coffee an excellent product to generate value. Fine cocoa is another good example.
Xoco is committed to social impact. We believe in “first-things-first” – and the first thing is to make a business to work for everyone along the value chain. We also work with the farmers and our employees on issues like workers´rights, health, motivation and basic economics as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility program.
Cocoa is great for re-forestation and to create wildlife corridors. Xoco is committed to promote ecological growing practices and to work with the organizations that certify ecological and environmentally responsible growing.
For further debate on poverty reduction, see for example:
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 Frank poses with Don Pedro of Copan, Honduras. In front, one of Don Pedro´s 1,700 fine cocoa trees, six months old. Don Pedro currently feeds his family of 4 with the proceeds from 2 hectares of pineapple. This provides him with approximately $1,200 net a year, or around 80 cents per day per family member -- defined by the UN as “extreme poverty”.
When his fine cocoa trees are in full production, Don Pedro can net more than $ 7,000 a year with the guaranteed minimum price. This corresponds to around $ 5 per family member per day --well above the poverty limits . Researchers say that an income above $3 a day is the “magic point” where people start to permanently leave the poverty cycle: Nutrion improves, children are sent to school , infant mortality goes down, etc.
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