Guatemala

Impact

• 29 PERCENT

• 10.2 PERCENT

Key Achievements

One of the major Feed the Future projects in Guatemala reduced extreme poverty by 37 percent and increased daily income by 19 percent among project participants from 2013 to 2017.

Guatemala’s coffee farmers have faced huge losses in production since the outbreak of the coffee rust fungus between 2012 and 2013. Feed the Future responded by providing farmers with access to new seedlings of rust resistant varieties and by providing workers with training on how to properly apply pesticides to mitigate the fungus. Farmers also received advice and training on agricultural practices for crop management, post-harvest handling and integrated pest management. By applying these practices, farmers increased both the sales and quality of their coffee beans. Average coffee yields increased by more than six percent to 26,390 pounds of coffee per hectare during the 2017 harvest compared to the previous year.

Feed the Future also helped farmers diversify their income sources and promoted community savings groups. 124 Food for Peace-supported groups saved a total of $66,756 and disbursed 1,031 loans worth a total of $115,890. Another program, AgriJoven, helped 780 young farmers save $43,000 to help with the purchase of agricultural technologies.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) trained farmers, packers and exporters on compliance with the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act. Activities promoted traceability technology to monitor agrochemical applications, record harvest dates, and crop production location. USDA trained 300 agriculture producers on integrated pest management and other good agriculture practices to enable smallholder farmers to better control pests in their crops. With Feed the Future’s support, FARMFORCE traceability software sold subscriptions to five new export companies, enabling 1,866 smallholders to retain access to export markets.

Feed the Future trained more than 28,000 people on the importance of dietary diversity, protein consumption (from beans and animal-source foods), and water, sanitation and hygiene. Through increased productivity of improved bean and maize varieties as well as incorporation of small livestock rearing and home gardens, families increased the availability of diverse, nutritious foods by 39 percent. Families sold surplus production from their home gardens in local markets, providing additional annual income of $300 per family.

Source

These results reflect information from USAID, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Peace Corps, reported into Feed the Future’s central monitoring system for fiscal year 2017 (FY17). For more information on the indicators above, please view our Feed the Future Indicator Handbook. All dollar amounts are listed in U.S. dollars.

*The change in prevalence of poverty or stunting for this country was not statistically significant, meaning the margin of error of the survey sample was too great to conclusively demonstrate change. For more details on impact data, view the Feed the Future 2018 progress snapshot.