Osman Romero Lot #108
عصمان روميرو 108
Osman is the owner of the farm San Isidro, located in the Celaque area of the Copan region of Honduras. The farm is 10 hectares, most of which is in coffee produc- tion but under natural forest, and has been handed down to Osman from his parents. The main varie- ty grown is catuai, but Osman has been planting rust-resistant varieties such as Lempira, IHCA- FE90 and Parainema, mostly for their high production. Osman is a trained agronomist and is an important member of the Aruco cooperative, managing produc- tion and administration. Osman was one of the first producers within Aruco to start producing micro-lots and to try new processing methods, and so was influential in the success of the spread of quality improvements throughout the coop.
The producers will receive about 70% of the FOB price for their micro lots. This year the harvest for all producers
was extremely difficult with increased rains during the harvest and a lack of pickers meaning a large amount of
coffee was lost from either falling to the ground or swelling and splitting on the tree.
All the processing for the ML’s takes place at the Aruco mill to centralise and have greater control over the process to create consist- ent procedures but also to reduce the risk on the producer. The mill is also at 800masl
which gives a drier more stable climate to dry the coffee compared
to up at the farms where the weather can be
less predictable. The coffee will be delivered to the mill where they assess the cherry (take Brix) and decide on the process for the
coffees depending on space and what the producer has done already. The cherry is cleaned and washed and
then floated to remove any immatures. This natural lot was then taken to the beds where it is dried for between 20 -30 days weather depending where it is turned hourly.
