To provide solutions to Guatemalan farmers facing climate variability, strategic research processes have been initiated in the Eastern and Western regions through collaboration with international research centers, as well as local partners and producers.
Guest Contribution by Rodolfo Vilchis Ramos
Guatemala has at least three modalities of agricultural production: subsistence agriculture, semi-commercial, and export-oriented agriculture. Subsistence agriculture, in particular, poses a challenge under current climate variability patterns, as it is highly sensitive to temperature and rainfall changes.
In the Western and Eastern regions of Guatemala, subsistence agriculture is typically conducted on hillsides, and prevailing practices contribute to soil degradation—such as burning, excessive soil movement with hoes, and planting along the slope—increasing vulnerability in this productive system.
To provide alternatives that allow Guatemala’s subsistence producers to improve their systems, it is crucial to understand the main limitations they face in their plots and in managing crops, primarily under seasonal conditions. Identifying ways to strengthen productive processes, marketing, and capacity development is precisely what has been done since 2022 in the Eastern and Western regions of Guatemala through the AgriLAC Resiliente initiative.
Visits to plots and dialogues with groups of producers and local stakeholders have been key to implementing the Innovahub methodology in these two regions. This approach focuses on creating spaces for meetings and exchanging experiences to facilitate access to innovation (practices and/or technologies) emerging from strategic research in platforms where different agricultural practices are evaluated to identify the most suitable ones for each region.
Research on these platforms not only has a technical perspective but also considers socio-economic and environmental factors that could impact the successful implementation of new practices at the producer’s scale. In this regard, the hub meetings held in November 2022 in Huehuetenango (West) and Chiquimula (East) were crucial in defining the main research lines for these two regions and providing relevant information for the installation of two platforms, one for each region.
Thus, in the Eastern region, through collaboration with the Ch’orti’ Regional Peasant Association (ASORECH), the San Juan Ermita platform was installed in Chiquimula, on a plot owned by a producer from the Minas Abajo community, San Juan Ermita. Currently, practices related to stubble management—leaving stubble and burning it—topological arrangement—single rows and double-row strips—and crop diversification, particularly the association of corn and beans and the intercropping system with fruit trees (MIAF), are being evaluated.
In the Western region, the Aguacatán platform was installed in Huehuetenango, in collaboration with the Association of Organizations of Los Cuchumatanes (ASOCUCH). This platform compares stubble management practices, crop diversification—with legumes such as beans and fava beans—and also evaluates some corn varieties, including a local variety with yellow grains and others identified by the producer’s name from whom the seed was collected—Santos López, Andrés Pablo, Arnulfo Argueta/Victoriano López—to initiate an improvement process.
The information generated on the research platforms during the first three years will serve as a basis for making recommendations and strengthening the menu of technologies and practices to develop crop plans that contribute to sustainable productivity growth, resilience, ecosystem service management, and competitiveness of agricultural production systems in the Eastern and Western regions of Guatemala.
AgriLAC Resiliente is an initiative by CGIAR aimed at transforming agri-food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its goal is to increase resilience, ecosystem services, and competitiveness of these systems in the region. In Guatemala, the initiative is jointly operated by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Alliance of Biodiversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).