Coffee's Connection To Central America's Migrant Caravan

What drives thousands of desperate workers to make this dangerous journey? It’s mainly the challenges faced by the region’s coffee farms

- Daniel Bennett

It was President Trump’s inflammatory remarks that brought the world’s attention to the plight of the caravan of migrant agricultural workers trudging through Mexico in the direction of the US border – but were you aware of just how closely the migration is tied to your cup of coffee?

Driven by a desire to escape poverty and violence, the migrants are travelling en masse to reduce the risk of robbery, rape and extortion. It’s reported that up to 80% of the migrants are Honduran. With this in mind, we spoke to Will Corby of Pact Coffee, who has been travelling to Honduras for years and has many connections there.

Will says this migration must be understood in the context of an economy that is almost entirely dependent on coffee growing. The combination of falling commodity prices set by global market trading and the effects of climate change has devastated the income of agricultural workers and smaller coffee farmers across Honduras, as well as its neighbours El Salvador and Guatemala.