F2F Guatemala Continues to Support Its Hosts Through the COVID19 Pandemic

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The Asociación de Cooperación al Desarrollo Integral de Huehuetenango (ACODIHUE) is an agricultural association that provides financial and technical training, with the goal of supporting smallholder coffee and honey farmers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. ACODIHUE has implemented several activities to help these producers move forward during the COVID-19 pandemic and has ensured farmers understand that the food they produce is vital to their communities, especially when challenging times arise. ACODIHUE has provided masks, hand washing equipment, seedlings for home gardens, supplies for coffee and honey producers, and technical training through a series of Webinars.

Cesar Flores, an Advanced Beekeeper and experienced F2F volunteer, delivered three online trainings in August of 2020. He had volunteered in person through F2F to support ACODIHUE the previous year, where he assessed apiaries located in different microclimates of Huehuetenango, and provided recommendations to increase honey production and quality.  This year, he delivered online webinars on three related topics: i) Feeding Bees; ii) Increasing Beehive Colonies, and iii) Queen Management.

Cesar was thrilled with the participant’s interest in his virtual trainings. Many of the farmers he had visited in October 2019 were present and very active during the question and answer sessions. “The practical nature of the questions asked indicated that the topics were timely and relevant to the participant’s needs. At least one Q&A participant may have salvaged an entire honeybee colony that was at risk of death without the recommended corrective action offered in the training session”, said Cesar.

The webinars went further, more than 200 participants from Guatemala and Latin America were present during the three sessions. The participants certainly enjoyed the webinars and expressed their interest in future training by F2F volunteers. For example, Felipe Brito from Cooperativa Santa María Nebaj said of F2F: “Thank you for your support, all your effort fill me with great joy." Félix Camposeco, ACODIHUE’s Production and Marketing Manager also commented: “F2F colleagues, thank you very much for such interesting presentations and for the support provided to our fellow beekeepers from all the organizations that participated, we hope to continue doing more talks like these”.

These webinars also worked to strengthen the relationship between F2F and ACODIHUE, to ensure they continue supporting farmers in challenging times. They also motivated other NGOs and donors to help these beekeepers. For example, HELVETAS provided supplies to 100 beekeepers for beehive management and honeycomb renewal, Food4Farmers is building on the home gardening skills of the beekeepers to help them generate income, while the European Union and Childfund are focused on women and youth empowerment. 

In the near future, Cesar Flores plans to continue supporting this association remotely on topics such as propolis, beeswax, pollen, shampoos, soaps, and balms. Later, ACODIHUE could benefit from training on value-added bee products and marketing.

“Each honey production season is an opportunity to fine-tune skills and this requires dedication and involvement.” -Cesar Flores, August 2020.

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