ArcGIS Spatial Analysis Services: Copernicus, measures the health of cocoa and coffee plantations
1. Photosynthesis and buffer areas to stop drought advance
Measuring the photosynthesis with the Copernicus Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) product of these four regions in Guatemala, we can identify the benefit of cocoa and coffee to the forest conservation, and also how these regions are acting as a safe zone to stop the advance of desertification with low soil moisture percentages and high soil temperatures. You can see a video of this analysis here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byt5-M6x48w
The four regions are:
1) Cocoa plantation in the department of Alta Verapaz in the north-central area of Guatemala (see figure 1a). The cocoa plantation area is from the Agriculture Ministry's use of land map. This is the official source of the Guatemalan government.
2) Region south of the cocoa plantation with a similar altitude and topography. This region does not have a cocoa plantation and shows signs of desertification. (see figure 1a)
3) Coffee plantation in the western department of Huehuetenango (see figure 1b). The coffee plantation area is from the Agriculture Ministry's use of land map. This is the official source of the Guatemalan government.
4) Area east of this coffee plantation with similar altitude and topography (figure 1b), but with serious signals of desertification and low photosynthesis.
Figure 1a. Cocoa plantation in the department of Alta Verapaz in Guatemala
Figure 1b. Coffee plantation in the western department of Huehuetenango
2. Cocoa plantation in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
The Huehuetengo department is in Guatemala´s western dry corridor, and the coffee plantation is the last defense frontier of the advance of desertification as you can see in Figure 1b.
The historic time-series photosynthesis measures for the four regions span from 2020 to October 2025. In Figure 3, we observe the statistical time series for areas 1 and 2 in Alta Verapaz (figure 1a.) . Figure 3 displays data on photosynthesis using the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR), which ranges from 0 to 0.94. Values above 0.8 indicate excellent photosynthesis, while below 0.75 suggests a medium level, with some risk starting to emerge. Values below 0.58 are concerning and may signal beginning desertification.
Figure 3: data on photosynthesis using the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR), which ranges from 0 to 0.94 of the cocoa region in Alta Verapaz, see figure 1a.
In Figure 3, the blue line shows the monthly photosynthesis of the cocoa plantation from 2020 to October 2025. Most of the time, it maintains an excellent level above 0.75 and even reaches 0.9 during September and October, at the end of the rainy season. The exception is in May 2024, when the indicator drops to a concerning 0.568.
The orange line indicates the photosynthetic level of the neighboring region south of the cocoa plantation. The data show that its photosynthesis levels are lower than those of the cocoa plantation, despite similar altitude and topography, as shown in Figure 4.
The lowest photosynthesis levels occur in May 2024 and 2025. In 2024, it reached an extremely low level of 0.353, and in May 2025, it was 0.484. These values suggest a serious risk of desertification, especially considering they occur at the start of the rainy season. Evidence from across Guatemala indicates the rainy season now begins in June, rather than May. Consequently, the summer and high temperatures now last about 30 days longer than before due to climate change.
Figure 4: Altitude and topography for Cocoa plantation region and south to the area that does not have cacao plantation of figure 1a. We can see that the altitude above the sea level is between 700 and 900 meters.
Figure 4 demonstrates that the altitude and topography of regions 1 and 2 in Alta Verapaz are similar, between 700 and 900 meters above sea level, though this area is not as high as the volcanic mountains, which reach up to 1500 meters. Based on the data, the cocoa plantation appears to act as an oasis of high photosynthesis, functioning as a buffer that slows the advance of desertification into nearby areas.
3. Coffee plantation in Huehuetenango, Guatemala
The coffee analysis in Huehuetenango, shown in Figure 5, reveals a plantation with excellent photosynthesis, contrasting with a neighboring drought-affected region located just 500 meters away with similar altitude and topography. The statistics indicate that the coffee forest acts as a barrier against the expansion of Guatemala’s dry corridor, which extends from the eastern part of the country to the western border with Mexico, as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 5. coffee analysis in Huehuetenango
The blue line represents the coffee plantation in Figure 1b., maintaining a high photosynthesis level between 0.8 and 0.9, except in May 2023, 2024, and 2025, when it dips to 0.7. While 0.7 is decent, it’s lower than the typical levels recorded in the rest of the series. May marks the start of the rainy season and the coffee flowering period, so lower soil moisture could impact crop quality and yield.
The orange line shows the photosynthesis of the drought region from Figure 1b. Although only about 500 meters apart, the photosynthesis levels are lower than in the coffee plantation, reaching 0.75 at the end of the rainy season in September and October, with a peak of 0.78 in 2024. The region experienced concerning droughts in May 2023, 2024, and 2025, with historic lows of 0.48, 0.38, and 0.43, respectively. This data supports the likelihood of a delayed start to the rainy season in several parts of Guatemala.
Comparing these photosynthesis levels with regions of similar altitude and topography, as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Altitude and topography of coffee plantation and the neighbor area with desertification risk. The levels are between 1,500 and 2,000 meters above the sea.
The altitude and topographic levels reveals high mountain areas between 1,500 and 2,000 meters above sea level. The key difference remains the presence of the coffee plantation.
The dry corridor of Guatemala is shown in Figure 7. Look that it extends from the eastern part of the country frontier to Honduras to the western part frontier to Mexico
Figure 7: Dry corridor of Guatemala
From Figure 7, we can see that the coffee plantation in Huehuetenago, western part of the country with the greener regions, is serving as a barrier of the advance of the dry corridor of Guatemala that has divided the country in two parts.
4. ArcGis Spatial Analysis Services to extract statistics from satellite images with Python
This analysis was possible thanks to the high performance image analysis of ArcGis Services programming in Python. Below is the main parts of code to do this calculation.
imagery_layer = upload_imagery_to_agol_userstore(
files=[raster_path],
gis=gis
)
imagery_layer
from arcgis.raster.analytics import compute_statistics_histograms
stats = compute_statistics_histograms(
input_raster=imagery_layer,
gis=gis
)
stats
The result will contain something like:
{
'min': 12,
'max': 245,
'mean': 123.67,
'stddev': 18.2
}]
}
1) The cocoa plantation exhibits higher photosynthesis levels compared to its neighboring region at the same altitude and topography between 700 and 900 meters above sea level.
2) The coffee plantation in Huehuetenango acts as a buffer against the spread of the dry corridor.
3) The rainy season, using this analysis as evidence, now starts in June. This affects the flowering, quality, and quantity in the coffee plantation that expects high levels of moisture in May.