Coffee!

Coffee!

We have a love for coffee in Gig Harbor, but our team has a greater appreciation that we gained directly from the farmers here in Haiti. One of the programs that World Relief is involved with is training coffee farmers on better pruning techniques.

Coffee plants can grow quite tall, but the harvest diminishes as the plans get taller. WR staff members Oscar and Flavins are showing them a new method. A coffee tree has several stalks and if a stalk is cut about two feet from the ground, that stalk will produce much more coffee in the following year because new, healthy shoots grow. The farmers were hesitant to cut the stalks as there was still growth on the top of the stalks. So some of them started with just a few plants to test it out. The plants are now shorter but with a significant increase in yield. After seeing the results, they were eager to do the rest of their fields.

The results were amazing, but what was more amazing was the enthusiasm and commitment of the farmers. We met a farmer named Joel and who eagerly showed us the results. We walked around the farm, and he demonstrated the pruning techniques, and we were able to try our hand at it.

The special part is now these farmers are training and helping other farmers to learn the new techniques. The communities are working together to help each other prosper and provide for their families.

So the next time you have your coffee, pray for the farmers who are growing the beans, and appreciate their hard work.