Guatemala Rio Ocho – Huehuetenango

It’s a steep road of the side of El Tapón going up to San Pedro Necta. A small and hilly town around which coffee is grown in small to medium sized parcels. Agriculture is mainly organic certified on this side of the mountain, as the community has chosen this path to sustainability as a competitive advantage to differentiate themselves from the bigger Estates located on the far end of the municipality facing the West.

The strategy has been adapting to the cycles of the region, in which the intense part of the rains often come between September and December creating a delay in the maturation process of cherries that have stood a long period of stress during the hot summer of the area. For the same reason protecting shade and soil biodiversity has become critical. The preparation for the plants going out to the fields with mulch, compost and manure allows for the building blocks of a healthy, productive and long term style of organic agriculture.

Between the warm winds coming from the valley of Río Ocho, the unique rain pattern of this region and the altitude, most of the cherries ripen uniformly over a short period of time. This lends to a shorter harvest season lasting between January and March.

ASODESI has 138 total members, who farm on a total area of about 145 hectares—clearly they are all smallholders. The farmers grow many different varieties, including Catuai, Bourbon, Pache, and Catimor, on farms ranging in altitude from 1400–1800 meters in the San Pedro Necta zone of Huehuetenango, Guatemala.