Rio Azul

The story

The Cooperativa Agrícola y de Servicios Varios Río Azul was founded in 1967 in the town of Jacaltenango, Huehuetenango. It is composed of members from the Mayan Jacaltec (Popti) group who have a long-standing history of producing coffee under the Huehuetenango designation.

Challenges

The steep, mountainous terrain of the Huehuetenango region makes the land highly susceptible to soil erosion.

Innovations

Farmers mitigate erosion and maintain soil nutrients by utilizing selective ground-covering plants, and the cooperative maintains centralized quality control by requiring members to deliver coffee in cherry form to a communal wet mill.