In the rural highland communities of Guatemala, many households rely on smallholder coffee farming and seasonal day labor on coffee plantations as a primary source of income.

With only one annual coffee harvest, families are forced to survive on meager earnings to sustain them throughout the whole year. Without access to alternative income generating activities, families struggle during the lean months between harvests when savings dwindle and families face seasonal hunger.

The economic instability of coffee farmers is heightened by their reliance on mono-crop production, making them especially vulnerable to environmental factors effecting annual yields as well as fluctuating market prices for coffee. Even in the absence of an agricultural crisis, addressing the economic insecurity of coffee farming families constitutes a pressing issue.

By working with coffee farmers to develop business skills, our Sustainable Livelihoods program aims to combat economic instability and diversify incomes.

Pueblo a Pueblo’s ​Beekeeping project provides the tools, training, and support necessary for rural coffee farmers to undertake cooperative beekeeping and honey production as an income generating activity. Interested groups of men and women, who depend on coffee farming and harvesting as their main source of income, are identified for participation in the beekeeping project.

Pueblo a Pueblo provides beneficiary groups with the  necessary materials and trainings to start up their own cooperative apiary. Over the course of three years, beekeepers receive training and support for successful beekeeping, honey production, business management, financial administration and product marketing.