Over the last several years, smallholder coffee farmers in both El Salvador and Nicaragua have been hit hard by leaf rust, a fungal disease which has devastated coffee yields. 
In response to this precarious situation, the Better Coffee Harvest project (Cosechemos Más Café), a four-year, $3.9 million initiative funded by USAID, the J.M. Smucker Company and the U.S.-based PIMCO Foundation, and implemented by TechnoServe, will help 6,000 Central American smallholder coffee farmers (4,000 in Nicaragua and 2,000 in El Salvador) to increase coffee productivity through improved agronomic practices and by countering the impacts of leaf rust. The project will also increase farmer’s access to appropriate inputs and help to diversify crops to improve livelihoods.
In addition to promoting good agricultural practices, the project trains smallholder farmers to improve farm management and relationships with formal buyers and input suppliers.
The project will work in close collaboration with local institutions to increase loans to farmers and access to inputs, including certification of nurseries as suppliers of high quality genetic material for planting.

Farmers will receive training in producing alternative crops to take advantage of market opportunities that can increase incomes and help them diversify their income streams.