Manuela had good reason to endure a tough start. Her husband had died not long before. She moved back with her baby daughter to her parents’ house at Pasac, a village in southern Guatemala and had to find a job to support herself and raise her daughter.
In past years, Manuela might have tried to find work in coffee growing. That’s how people in Pasac have traditionally made a living. But in recent years, an epidemic of coffee leaf rust has caused big economic losses and forced small farmers to look for productive alternatives to stabilize their income.
Coffee leaf rust is a fungal disease that kills coffee plants. Rust has been around for decades, but it's only been in the last couple of years that it has become a serious threat, due to climate change. Increases in temperature, decreases in precipitation and more frequent extreme weather events are fueling the growth of rust and other pests.
"People were desperate and asking, 'What will we eat? How are we going to live?'" Manuela recalls. Given the risks of relying only on agriculture to subsist, small farmers organized in the Nahualá Cooperative decided to use beekeeping to diversify their incomes and strengthen their food security. That’s when Manuela got involved.
The Cooperative bought 50 boxes of beehives to start with. Bees not only help with income from the sale of honey and other related products, but they also support local agriculture.
“Before we had bees, coffee plantations didn’t have many flowers,” says Manuela. “But now, thanks to pollination done by bees, we’re seeing great results in our coffee plantations and in trees near the apiary. They’ve helped a lot with our coffee harvest.”
Bees are essential to boost food security, because they help many plant species bear fruit. Thus, these busy insects are guardians of biodiversity and the ecosystem.
The beekeeping project in Pasac is part of a larger initiative in 12 municipalities along Nahualate River basin. The initiative is implemented by UNDP Guatemala and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, with funding from the Adaptation Fund.
The project works with farmers and local organizations to support honey production, thus boosting the local economies and helping communities adapt to climate change.
After months working with bees, Manuela is no longer scared: “The world of bees is wonderful! I like working with the bees; they are my friends.”
The cooperative and other local groups train farmers in how to keep bees and produce honey and its derivatives such as royal jelly, propolis and bee pollen.
Manuela hopes to get more women in her community involved in the beekeeping business and to produce a honey made just by women.
“We are discriminated against. People tend to say that women don’t know how to do it, that beekeeping is a man’s job,” explains Manuela. That’s why she says women in beekeeping have to support each other through training and make a difference in their industry.
“We’ve had good results because it made us diversify our source of income beyond just coffee,” says Manuela. “I also want to be an example for my daughter, so she can follow in my footsteps.”
© 2026 United Nations Development Programme
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