KOLPING Honduras is a rapidly growing association with many new ideas such as a new focus on ecology and sustainability. Laudato Si has become an integral part of agricultural training.
There are currently 309 Kolping Families and 3,374 members. The association’s work and its projects put a special emphasis on the common good, on poverty reduction, rural development, education and training and the granting of microcredits. Meanwhile, 29 groups of small producers have been established to market their products successfully. In Honduras, microcredits are not granted to individual persons but to the entire Kolping Family who have formulated a project goal together. This strengthens a spirit of togetherness and forges a bond between members, which will help them to create many good ideas together and to gain strength.
In the medium term, Kolping Honduras wants to convert the farming methods of small producers to organic farming. This has already been achieved in coffee farming (with TATICO coffee being one result). Step by step this is to be extended to maize, beans, pumpkins and cabbages. The farmers are taught how they can produce organic fertilizers themselves. This is more effective and also cheaper than buying expensive fertilizers. A newly hired desk officer and specialist in organic farming provides local training for coffee farmers but also small producers. His position is funded thanks to donations from the diocesan association of Paderborn.
