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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