Partnering with Peet’s Coffee for Profitable Farms

TechnoServe and Peet’s Coffee are partnering to train more than 500 coffee farmers in Alotenango, Guatemala to increase their coffee incomes in the face of rising production costs.

There are approximately 125,000 small farmers in Guatemala who help produce some of the world’s top washed arabica coffee. However, despite recent increases in productivity, farmer incomes still cannot cover production costs, which have doubled since 2006. In partnership with Peet’s Coffee, Technoserve is working in the region of Alotenango, Guatemala to train farmers using our proven Farm College methodology. The initiative will develop and hire youth Farmer Trainers from participating communities, building a local network of teachers and role models who will ensure that the techniques learned through the training will stay in the community even after the program’s end. TechnoServe will further support the project’s lasting impact by teaching agronomy skills with the power to sustainably boost yields by strengthening farmers’ resilience to the region’s increasingly volatile weather patterns. The project will also strengthen the local coffee sector by incorporating women into the supply chain, not only as participants in the program, but also as Farmer Trainers and leaders of community demonstration plots. The project aims to train 550 farmers in the region of Alotenango with the skills they need to transform their coffee livelihoods.