MILADIZ MEJIA REYES-WASHED-HONDURAS

Miladiz Mejía Reyes currently lives in Las Vegas, Santa Bárbara, 4 years ago she ventured into the coffee business, and she has been producing coffee for 2 years.

She worked for 20 years as an administrator in a mining company in the area, she started as a secretary and little by little she rose to become an administrator of a department of the company; During this time, to go to her work, she passed through coffee farms, which started in her a desire to have her own farm; So for a while, he prayed for that wish to be fulfilled.

In 1995, a neighbor of hers offered to sell her a 2-hectare plot of land, but at that time she did not have enough money to buy it; but 3 years later, at the insistence of her neighbor and offering her a more affordable price, she decided to collect her savings and she bought it, even though cultivated nothing at that time.

Then, another neighbor offered her a property at the same place in exchange for a 4x4 car that Miladiz and her husband had, they accepted the deal in order to increase the area of her farm. In addition, her sister gave her another plot of land at the same place, since she could not work on this property.

Miladiz saw all these opportunities as blessings and as an answer to her prayers, so 4 years ago she decided to apply for a loan at her job to start her coffee farm; At the same time, her brother-in-law offered her a Parainema coffee nursery and even offered to plant it, which motivated her to start her coffee farm. in this way, she obtained the first lot of Parainema coffee.

Lately, a couple of years ago, she became seriously ill, for which she made the difficult decision to retire from her job, but this was positive for her since it gave her the opportunity to be more attentive to the farm.

Seeing that her future depended on the coffee farm and that it is something she likes to do, she sought more information on how to improve and stand out in quality, since the farm has a great altitude.

Last year she learned about the San Vicente specialty coffee project and with the help of a neighbor she was able to prepare her first micro-lot of specialty coffee, beginning a new stage in the production of her farm looking for better markets.

The coffee comes from El Cedral village in the Santa Barbara Mountain, a mountainous massif of more than 121.3 km2 of surface and a maximum height of 2750 meters above sea level, which is mostly a virgin forest reserve declared a national park since 1987.

Most of the native people of the region began to grow coffee in the 1940s, mainly in the lowlands, although it was always a secondary crop. Starting in the 1970s, coffee became the main crop in the area, driven by the rise in prices at that time, with Typica and Bourbon the most used varieties; Since then, coffee has been the basis of the economy of these communities and an important cultural element.