Workshop strengthens innovation and digital marketing in agricultural and forestry SMEs in the Trifinio Region

• Over four days, producers and technical personnel from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador participated in a training process of the Northern Mesoamerican Resilient and Biodiverse Landscapes (BLF) project, focused on business innovation and digital marketing

From August 5 to 8, at the FARO Cooperative Cultural and Learning Center in Esquipulas, Guatemala, a workshop was held to strengthen the capacities of small and medium-sized agricultural and forestry enterprises (SMEs) in innovation and digital marketing. The event brought together 24 participants from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, including producers and representatives of organizations such as COOSAJO R.L., the Asociación de Desarrollo Verde (ASOVERDE), and the Tri-national Commission of the Trifinio Plan (CTPT).

La capacitación se enmarca en el proyecto Paisajes Resilientes y Biodiversos del Norte de Mesoamérica, del Biodiverse Landscapes Fund (BLF) del Reino Unido, implementado por la Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) y el CATIE (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza), en colaboración con la CTPT y socios locales.

El programa incluyó un repaso de contenidos del taller inicial realizado en febrero y nuevos módulos. Entre ellos, la innovación en pymes forestales y agrícolas, con ejemplos de agricultura 4.0 y el uso de inteligencia artificial y nuevas tecnologías para enfrentar desafíos como la sequía. También, se presentó la experiencia de AGRO-INTRI, iniciativa juvenil de Trifinio premiada en el Hackatón Agromarket.

In addition, specialists from Costa Rica shared virtually how technology—including the use of drones—can enhance agricultural production. The second part of the workshop focused on digital marketing, addressing topics such as building the ideal customer profile, the customer journey, social media strategies, creativity and brand narrative, as well as the development of digital marketing plans with key performance indicators (KPIs).

“Today it is essential for rural enterprises to have a grasp of how to manage digital platforms to position their products and businesses,” emphasized Marianela Argüello, from the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Laboratory: ACTIVA-CATIE, who, together with Juan José Serrano, also from ACTIVA-CATIE, were in charge of delivering the sessions. The participants agreed on the relevance of the topics addressed.

Ludvin Santos Ramos, a technician from ASOVERDE in Chiquimula, Guatemala, emphasized that agricultural innovations and digital marketing “are of great importance, because we must focus on new technologies that adapt to our environment. The course made me see the importance of analyzing what lies behind digital marketing, something that could be applied so that the organizations we work with can sell their products better.”

For his part, Eddie Guillén López, from COOSAJO R.L. in Guatemala, underlined that the workshop made it possible to delve deeper into key concepts: “We have learned quite a bit about innovating within enterprises. Now we are moving into deeper topics, such as Agriculture 4.0 and digital marketing. In our case, as we work with coffee, maize, and beans, these innovations could be implemented in the crops through the technical assistance we provide to our members. It is vital for us to update ourselves and also to update the farmers we work with.”

From El Salvador, Dora Alicia Zamora, an entrepreneur of goat dairy products in Metapán, commented that the learnings will have a direct impact on her business: “Before, we limited ourselves to promoting only within our community, but now we have a different outlook. We plan to create a website and apply new tools that will help us grow and expand our market.”

The workshop was organized by Juan José Sosa and Cristian García, technicians of the Northern Mesoamerican Resilient and Biodiverse Landscapes project on behalf of CATIE, who supported logistics and outreach. As part of the process, a third workshop is planned for September to complement the knowledge acquired and continue strengthening the region’s enterprises.