Coffee production in Honduras facts for kids
Coffee is a really important crop in Honduras. It has shaped the country's history and helps the Honduran economy a lot. In fact, by 2011, Honduras grew more coffee than any other country in Central America!
History of Coffee in Honduras
Early Days: The 1800s
At the end of the 1800s, growing coffee in Honduras was just starting. There were many coffee farms, but they were quite small. Honduras has great soil and climate, just like its neighbors Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
The biggest problem for Honduran coffee farmers was transportation. It was hard to move the coffee beans from the farms to the coast to be shipped. Because of this, most coffee grown in Honduras was sold inside the country, not exported.
Growing Profits
A new coffee farm would usually start making money about four years after the plants were put in the ground. After seven years, a farm could make a profit of 100 to 300 percent on the money first invested. This shows how profitable coffee farming could be!
In 1894, Honduras produced about 20,000 quintals of coffee. A quintal is an old unit of weight, roughly 100 pounds. Only about 10 percent of this coffee was sent to other countries. This small amount was shipped from two main ports: Amapala on the Pacific coast and Puerto Cortes on the Caribbean coast. By 1900, Honduras exported coffee worth 54,510 pesos.
See also
In Spanish: Café de Honduras para niños
