Economic feasibility of six smallholder coffee farming associations implementing the Centroamericano coffee hybrid in San Pedro Yepocapa, Guatemala

RATIONALE Access to basic economic information (production costs, losses, etc.) is fundamental to evaluating and influencing the survival of any business. The coffee industry has a vested interest in ensuring the wellbeing of its smallholder farmers (Ponte, 2002), who tend to be from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Bacon, 2005) and do not keep records of spending or income. Through focus groups and Monte Carlo simulation techniques (Mun, 2006) we assessed profitability amongst six smallholder Guatemalan coffee farming communities who received the 'Centroamericano' coffee hybrid: a varietal innovation whose impact on profitability has never been studied in this context. METHODS In 2018, using participatory methods (Narayanasamy, 2009), focus groups were held with nearly 200 members of six smallholder coffee farming associations in San Pedro Y epocapa, Guatemala, who received the high-yielding, coffee leaf rust resistant 'Centroamericano' coffee hybrid through a development project implemented by World Coffee Research and Anacafe. Cost of living, cost and income from coffee production, for traditional varieties as well as the hybrid, and business structure at both the household and cooperative levels were identified for the six cooperatives. Qualitative data were analysed by the constant comparative method and net cash farm income was the key output variable used to measure economic feasibility through Monte Carlo simulation. RESULTS We show that profitability of the ' Centroamericano' hybrid in smallholder systems depends on multiple parameters: it exhibits high productivity, resistance to coffee leaf rust and large bean size but requires more inputs to achieve these. Details, including profitability comparisons of the six cooperatives and between traditional varieties and the hybrid will be displayed in stop-light charts. CONCLUSIONS & PERSPECTIVES We conclude that the ' Centroamericano' hybrid can improve profitability for smallholder coffee farmers ifthe productivity potential is met, but higher inputs and technical assistance are required.