Economic Growth Honduras Project #67874

Community Farmers Transform Local Economy & Health

by Red COMAL

Project Report | Mar 11, 2026
Women Sugar Cane Producers Strengthen COMAL

By Mary McCann Sanchez | COMAL collaborator

Packing "Panela Granulada" to Head to the Market

Just as the sugar cane growers in Honduras work to expand their areas of production to provide more nutrients to the country, so too does the COMAL network strive to grow organizationally. Convinced that association and solidarity can transform a small individual plot and the struggle of a single family into a shared effort, COMAL sees farming, marketing and business of opportunities for families and individuals to work together to generate economic returns.

During this period, additional cane producers in the Lake Yojoa Basin joined the COMAL networks, including a cooperative in which nearly 50% of the members are women. All are small-scale farmers: as a cooperative they will cultivate 15 acres of sugar cane, using environmentally friendly methods. It is important to continue to build the base of small-scale producers who can collectively sell both their granulated “panela” (natural can sugar) and their product in traditional solid block form through the COMAL network, thus marketing at a fair price. Together with producers from the nearby El Milagro Farmers' Association in the village of Quebraditas, they will begin their granulated panela production cycle in the coming days. COMAL technical staff and leadership regularly meet with these communities.

The search continues in this region for land to build a training school and the processing plant for granulated panela. The communities thank GlobalGiving for continuing to generate support to make this effort a reality.

Farmers Continue the Tradition of Block Production

Packaged "Panela" Reaches Families' Tables

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Nov 18, 2025
Building Momentum in Cane Production & Processing

By Mary McCann Sanchez | COMAL collaborator

Amidst heavy rainfalls in Honduras in the past three months, the COMAL network has actively progressed in the development of an additional eco-friendly panela granulada (natural cane sugar) processing plant in central Honduras’s Lake Yojoa area.

During this period, the COMAL technical team, the regional committee in the Lake Yojoa area and local cane growers completed the identification of the physical site for building the new plant. This extensive process required considerable travel, consultations with the growers, review of legalities and discernment regarding environmental and economic viability. At the same time, COMAL’s project promoter and the rural social enterprise EAC EL Milagro evaluated the infrastructure in that plant, which is to serve as a model for the new installations, and identified and responded to its needs.

Noteworthy achievements include:

Initiation of purchasing process of 3.5 acres of land available to serve three cooperatives in future plant construction
Extensive conversations with community members who have identified the willingness and need for the incorporation of youth returning from living abroad into the process and seeking social and economic opportunities
Realization of a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats] with 15 cooperative representatives
Installation of a water system at the processing plant El Milagro, using 135 PVC tubes
The preparation of a business plan for the productive and commercial development of small-scale cane producers in the Lake Yojoa basin
A strategic alliance established with the University of ESADE Spain for technical advice on sugarcane processing, benefitting from experienced professionals in the field and providing internships for university students
Strengthening of the principles of economic solidarity among participants

The community of growers and the COMAL network thank GlobalGiving and its donors!

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Jul 22, 2025
Moving Forward April through July 2025

By Mary McCann Sanchez | COMAL collaborator

An important ingredient in practicing economic solidarity is dialogue and consultation. Since our last report in March and with the support of individual donors through GlobalGiving, COMAL has progressed in the organization and planning for an additional eco-friendly panela granulada (natural cane sugar) processing plant in central Honduras’s Lake Yojoa area.

During this period, the COMAL technical team and the cooperative of cane producers met to explore properties where the plant could be built, conducted outreach to two local environmental protection organizations, and met with municipal authorities. The cane producers formed part of a COMAL regional consultation on July 3, 2025 to examine more broadly the aspirations of the community. This regional consultation contributes to COMAL’s strategic planning 2026 through 2030 and provided the following vision: increased leadership of youth in the cooperative; youth in leadership roles; direct marketing channels of panela granulada to consumers; and the diversification of subproducts to generate additional income.

COMAL’s marketing staff was busy during this period analyzing market trends and price changes in cane products, ensuring that COMAL producers received the benefits of currently rising prices in the market. This is one of the important functions of COMAL since traditionally intermediaries purchased raw products from growers at very low prices, without informing them of price fluctuations, and thus pocketing what should be the growers’ profit. COMAL is also exploring new packages sizes in COMAL processing plants: 50 lb. sacks rather than the traditional 100 lb. sacks as a health and safety measure.

In addition to continued production in central Honduras and successful sale of panela granulada produced by COMAL’s two other sites (the model for this project), there are two noteworthy achievements for this site in this past quarter: 1) a dedicated staff person for this project who will assist in organizational and legal aspects for the plant construction; 2) a commitment from ESADE university in Spain, who will provide two post-graduate specialists for business and marketing aspects with an eye to an expanded market and greater return to the growers.

The community of growers and the COMAL network thank GlobalGiving and its donors!

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