Indigenous women accessing local markets

COMAL Network

April 11, 2024

Second Report for GlobalGiving

Project Title: Indigenous Women Accessing Local Markets

At Network of Commercialization Comunitaria Alternativa (COMAL), our mission is to promote fair market relations for small-scale producers. We seek to strengthen the community economy through the production of nutritious food and the commercialization of products in local markets.  

In rural and indigenous communities, women play an important role in the commercialization of products. Women are in charge of selling products in local markets. However, when analyzing the benefit/cost ratio, it can be observed that in most cases, farmers families do not receive fair prices for their products and the majority of the profit is in the hands of the intermediaries. In Red COMAL we promote training and capacity building processes so that women can have greater opportunity to access the best market and in better conditions.

Main achievements:

In this period we have carried out training and education processes aimed at farmers and indigenous women who are participating in the honey bee production chain, 96 people participated in this process, including 79 women and 17 men from six communities: Cones, Camalote, El Zapote, Llanito Verde in the department of Lempira and San Nicolas and Llano de la Virgen in the department of Intibuca. The topics covered were Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

Technical assistance was also provided to the women in the first honey harvest; honey harvesting began in five apiaries with a production of 400 bottles of honey. The honey has been sold by the women in the local market; as production increases, they will be seeking access to formal market channels in the country's main cities.

On behalf of the indigenous and farmers women accompanied by Red COMAL, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to all the donors who through GlobalGiving contribute to the capacity building of women farmers in rural Honduras.