Limbiana Ordoñez is very proud of her little coffee farm in the Huila region of Colombia. She loves living there together with her husband and their six children: "I live very happily and am very optimistic about the future" she says and smiles brightly. She increased the production and quality of her coffee simply by implementing the new practices she had been trained in at a Farmer Field School. She learned how to protect the natural resources and enjoys passing on her new knowledge to anyone visiting her farm. Her children now attend a newly built school, which makes Mrs. Ordoñez especially proud, since she herself did not have this opportunity. It was actually at the Farmer Field School that she learned to read and write - the first education she had ever received. Now, she truly enjoys record keeping during her work which enables her to better understand her farm and to make informed decisions like a business owner.

For example, Mrs. Ordoñez was struggling to produce quality coffee. Like many other farmers she was not in a position to improve the income and living conditions for her family. She grew up in poverty with outdated self-taught farming practices. She did not know how to plan, keep records or analyse her farm activities which resulted in low productivity. Most coffee is produced on full-sun plantations using hybrid coffee varieties. Such varieties require the "green revolution" technology package of chemical fertilizers and pesticides which most farmers were not able to provide due to lack of financial ressources and knowledge.

Mrs. Ordoñez' neighbour, Jair Riascos, used to have exactly the same problems before attending a farmer training course. He implemented everything he was taught and decided to become an instructor for his fellow farmers. Jair, who only attended primary school now teaches them how to apply fertilizer, preserve natural resources, keep farmer field books, use the individual protective equipment and many other topics. When Mrs. Ordoñez saw the dramatic changes in her neighbours' lives she grew curious and ended up completing a training course held by Riascos. She also experienced the same remarkable results and so did many other farmers in the region. Mrs. Ordoñez was surprised how easy it was to achieve her goal of becoming a quality coffee farmer: "Before I thought that producing quality coffee was virtually impossible, but I managed to do so with lots of love and patience. I also realized that it is very important to recycle and not to pollute the environment, and that it only takes willpower and few resources."