In 1981, Mr. Francisco Manchamé, a coffee producer farming in Camotán, Chiquimula, established a small plantation of Catimor near Pacamara trees. Spontaneously, by means of the natural hybridization, a plant with characteristics of high vigorosity, very productive and a large cherry was obtained. After several selection cycles that took more than 30 years, the Anacafé-14 variety was completed, which in addition to the aforementioned characteristics, has resistance to rust, drought tolerance and good cup quality.
The natural crossing that gave rise to this variety occurred in the village of El Tesoro, on the Bellas Flores de Oriente Estate, property of Mr. Francisco Manchamé. When the producer observed the new, outstanding characteristics of the plant in 1984, he began harvesting the best cherries and established a new plot solely composed of the new plants. This first plantation gave rise to the F1 Generation.
In 2005, during a visit to one of the plots on an estate owned by Mr. Noé Guerra, a technical advisor from Anacafe Region VII (Zacapa and Chiquimula) detected the new plants, which had been shared by Mr. Manchamé, and aware of the genetic potential, initiated a project to technically validate the characteristics of the new trees. After nine years of research consistently found valuable characteristics such as rust resistance, drought tolerance, excellent vegetative vigor and high productivity, the variety was released generally to the public.
The variety Anacafé-14, as it has been called, is quite short, has abundant branches and has fruits that are elliptical in form form and larger in relation to the standard coffee cherry. Anacafe is currently carrying out adaptability studies in other coffee growing areas in the country.
Anacafe 14 cherries: photo via Anacafe
