Hunapu

The story

Hunapu is a project established by Luis Pedro Zelaya of the Bella Vista mill to aggregate high-quality coffee from smallholder producers in the Antigua region. The name is derived from the Kaqchickel word for the nearby Volcán de Agua, which overlooks the valley where these farmers cultivate their crops. The project serves as a collaborative effort to support local growers through centralized processing and technical guidance.

Challenges

Producers in the Antigua region face environmental pressures including the need to manage soil nutrition and pests in a landscape defined by volcanic activity and specific microclimates.

Innovations

The project utilizes the Beneficio Bella Vista mill to provide smallholders with professional technical assistance regarding farm management and nutrition. This centralized processing model ensures consistent quality control for microlots that would otherwise be difficult for individual small farmers to market independently.