Status of the Agricultural Industry in Guatemala

Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America. Over half of the country’s 15.2 million citizens live in an urban setting, while the other 48% live in rural areas. With a total territory of almost 109.000 square kilometers, Guatemala is somewhat smaller than Pennsylvania. Similarly, Guatemala has a large Pacific coastline and a smaller Atlantic one, while cool mountains and highlands alongside warm tropical lowlands dominate the geographical landscape. Currently, the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) is of approximately US$120 billion and the country has experienced positive economic growth upwards of 3.5% throughout recent years. Furthermore, the country has a well developed (eco)tourism industry. The Guatemalan national economy is divided into 13% agriculture, 24% manufacturing, and 63% services. However, the agriculture industry utilizes about 41% of the national territory, while another 34% is forested. Likewise, Guatemala’s agricultural industry employs 31% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs about 15% and services employ another 54%. Geographically, Guatemala’s location is strategic because it serves as a gateway between North America (Mexico) and Central America.

Similarly, Guatemala’s natural resources include petroleum, nickel, rare woods, fish, natural gum or rubber, and hydropower. Within the manufacturing industry, Guatemala focuses on sugar, textiles, clothing, furniture, chemicals, petroleum processing, metals, and rubber production. Meanwhile, the country’s agricultural industry has as main products sugarcane, corn, bananas, coffee, beans, cardamom, cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens. Since 2006, Guatemala has been a full member within the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), which has expanded trading and investment opportunities for the country and its domestic industries. This article explores the status of the agricultural industry in Guatemala.

Status of the Agricultural Industry in Guatemala

In terms of trade, Guatemala’s main partners are the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, China, and Honduras. Likewise, Guatemala takes part in the Central American Integration System (SICA), which seeks to foment economic and political cooperation as well as harmonize trade regulations and agricultural standards for the region.

In Guatemala, unfortunately, some 2.5 million people suffer from undernourishment. Similarly, throughout recent years, the average per capita protein intake of animal origin in Guatemala has been of 18 grams daily. Meanwhile, cereals, roots, and tubers represent some 47% of the food energy intake in Guatemala. Simultaneously, land use in Guatemala has evolved throughout the last half century. During the early 1960s, pastures and meadows in Guatemala covered 1.1 million hectares, while arable land totaled another 1.1 million hectares, and permanent crops accounted for approximately 440.000 hectares. Today, pastures and meadows in Guatemala account for 1.8 million hectares, while arable land represents approximately 1 million hectares, and permanent crops accounted for more than 1 million hectares.

Finally, the domestic cereals market in Guatemala has also evolved during the last half century. During the early 1960s, Guatemala devoted over 700.000 hectares of land to the production of cereals and produced between 600.000 and 700.000 metric tons annually. Meanwhile, in 2014, Guatemala devoted little over 900.000 hectares of land to cereals production and yielded more than 1.9 million metric tons.

(Read more about Trade and Agriculture between the United States and Canada)