Local Led Innovation in Guatemala's Indigenous Communities: Building Climate Resilience Together

By Heather Hayashi, Isabel Alonzo Flores, Luis Andrés Arévalo, Edwin De León, Rolando Cifuentes, Archie Jarman

A misty May morning in Guatemala's highlands brings welcome relief after a heavy rain. The overcast sky hangs low over deep green mountains, while humid air clings to everything it touches. But stepping inside one of the floating cover structures, the transformation is immediate: the temperature is relatively stabilized, promoting production. This is climate-smart agriculture in action.

"Climate change is strongly impacting the region," explains Rolando Cifuentes Velásquez, director of the Center for Agricultural and Food Studies (CEAA) at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. "By promoting the use and scaling of these technologies, it is expected that farmers will be able to continue producing and harvesting in the future. This has a high impact on the sustainability of food production and local food security, since 60-70% of the products we consume come from small producers."

The locally led Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture project brings together leadership from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), with Cifuentes, serving as principal investigator, alongside co-investigator Luis Andrés Arévalo Rodríguez, who coordinates CEAA's Applied Entomology Laboratory.

A New Path for Traditional Agriculture

In these highlands, where indigenous communities have farmed for generations, climate change threatens traditional agricultural practices and food security. To address these challenges, the project focuses on sustainable, cost-effective solutions including improved floating structures, row covers, and nethouses. These protected cultivation methods in combination with drip irrigation create controlled environments for crop production stabilizing temperatures during extremes while defending against pests — a growing concern as climate patterns shift. Combining these technologies with improved soil health practices and efficient irrigation systems, offers farmers new ways to adapt to changing climate conditions.

The project's effectiveness was demonstrated during recent severe weather. "During the rainy season in Chimaltenango, there was a day with bad winds and intense rainfall. The traditional structures were highly damaged in comparison with the improved structure that was barely damaged, easy to repair," Arévalo notes.

For over 15 years, small-scale producers have used basic protected agriculture structures, often built with fragile materials like red cane or bamboo. The project's improved floating cover design represents a significant advance. "The structure is designed so that it can be easily assembled and disassembled, which facilitates its transportation and storage, mainly due to the land tenure status of small producers who are mainly tenants," explains Arévalo.This practicality matters deeply to local farmers. "For our small-scale growers, each square meter of land is critical!" emphasizes Cifuentes. "The producers are aware of the fragility of their structures and materials, as compared to the improved floating cover, that has higher durability and longer lifetime."

The impact of these innovations is already visible in communities like Tecpán, Chimaltenango, where Ricardo Alfredo Ordoñez represents a new generation of indigenous farmers embracing climate-smart agriculture. After securing financing through local institutions, Ordoñez established a 1,000-square-meter greenhouse that allows him to produce tomatoes year-round. "Agriculture is a constant learning [process]”says Ordoñez, whose success has inspired him to seek additional training in water harvesting and integrated pest management through the project.

Similarly in the village of Chuixilón, Santa Cruz Balanyá, farmer Don Vinicio Raxjal has witnessed remarkable results with protected cultivation. After implementing the project's floating roof structure with mesh and galvanized metal posts, Raxjal saw such promising outcomes that he invested in expanding these practices across an additional 1,000 square meters of production area. His experience demonstrates how combining traditional knowledge with new technologies can transform farming practices while building climate resilience.

Building Success Through Community Partnership

Success stems from recognizing local expertise. "Local farmers and their families know very well the art of agriculture. They have a lot of common sense and know their needs and limitations," Cifuentes observes. "The adoption process will go smoothly and fast when the new technology is economically viable." The project's strength lies in its community-centered approach and evidence-based practices, which unfolds in four integrated phases:

• Establishing baseline conditions through community-led surveys and field sampling.
• Co-creating research trials with indigenous farmers and local stakeholders.
• Implementing field trials using traditional "learning by doing" methodologies.
• Sharing success stories through farmer networks.

This collaborative process ensures that new technologies complement existing farming wisdom. Through partnerships with indigenous growers' associations, women and youth groups, and local institutions, the CEAA team helps communities enhance soil health and water management practices while adapting to climate change. The result? A sustainable pathway for agricultural adaptation that respects and builds upon traditional practices in Guatemala's highlands.

As climate challenges intensify, these early successes suggest a promising future for locally led agricultural innovation. The project demonstrates how "there is a way to generate income at the local level, without the need to migrate," notes Cifuentes. With farmers already planning to replicate these structures in future growing seasons, Guatemala's highland farmers are creating a model for sustainable agriculture that protects both their cultural heritage and their agricultural future. 

This research is supported by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture. For more information on the projects locally led in Central America, visit our website. Want to collaborate? Contact Associate Director, Archie Jarman at rajarman@ucdavis.edu.