Huehuetenango may be the most famous coffee region from Guatemala. The highest and driest of Guatemala’s non-volcanic regions, Huehuetenango owes much to the dry, hot winds that come in from the mountains of Mexico’s Tehuantepec plain. The additional heat layers protect the area from frost and enable coffee to grow at altitudes of 2,000 M.A.S.L. Due to the high altitude, nearly all of Huehuetenango’s producers process their own coffee. Fortunately, the region has rivers and streams in abundance, so mills can be placed almost anywhere. Unión Cantinil is a small town north-east of Huehuetenango city, on the north-western slopes of Sierra Madre. As a solution to the coffee prices, producers from Unión Cantinil decided to join forces in 2018 and create a cooperative, Asociación de Apicultores y Caficultores de Unión Cantinil – or AAPICUC. Its objective was, and still is, to promote the environmental-friendly cultivation of coffee while consolidating the economic and social well-being of their families. Made up of small producers with an average of 3 hectares, AAPICUC also pays attention to maintain a democratic and participatory structure for its over 100 producers.

ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

AAPICUC has opted for a full reinvestment of the premiums it becomes when producing and selling organic or fair trade coffees. The organic premiums are use to promote sustainable practices like the renovation or installation of waste water pits and the use of sheep and cow manures as fertilisers. they also suffice to the the implementation of a training program to improve the management and operational skills of its members. Fair Trade premiums are dedicated to the community development and local actions like the delivery of basic food packages to promote healthy diet, or waste collection program to educate the community in better waste-sorting. Thanks to those premiums, AAPICUC could launch a COVID-19 emergency program and deliver its members and the community the basic necessities.