75% of the world’s poor are small farmers making the transition from subsistence to successful commercial farming. They farm marginal land that is eroded or susceptible to erosion. Farmers need assistance in conserving land and increasing income, but access to environmental and agricultural extension is extremely modest.

SID works with Mayan coffee-growing families in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala's poorest department. Coffee is the major cash crop, and farmers grow high-quality coffee on steep mountainsides that are highly susceptible to erosion and landslides. They do not conserve their mountainside land and coffee is an ideal crop for doing so.

SID contributes to the sustainable production of coffee by helping the majority of coffee farmers in a region learn and adopt the practices that increase their income and conserve their mountainside farmland. SID provides assistance to women so they participate equally in the technical assistance and in building their family coffee businesses.