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LATIN AMERICA |
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Coffee Pest Could Push Colombian Growers
Over the Edge
BOGOTA – Colombia’s coffee growers are
facing bankruptcy amid plunging output due
to a devastating pest known as the berry
borer, officials and industry spokespeople
say.
The mayor of Cordoba, a town in the
coffee-growing region of Quindio province,
told Caracol Radio that growers in his area
say the pest has made it uneconomical to
proceed with the harvest.
“There are around 600 coffee plantations in
the municipality and I can say that I know
the owners won’t collect the harvest because
it’s more profitable not to do so. That’s
why the situation is alarming,” Humberto
Turriago said.
The representative of the National
Federation of Coffee Growers, or Fedecafe,
in Caldas province, Mario Gomez Estrada,
said the sharp decline in production would
make it hard for growers to keep up with
debt repayments to banks.
“The situation of low activity is absolutely
lethal,” he told Caracol, adding that
growers “will have a very difficult future
if (the government) doesn’t help them pay
off their debts.”
Officials in coffee-growing provinces are
seeking creation of a fund that would
finance growers efforts to rid their fields
of the berry borer and save next March’s
harvest.
Late last month, the new director of
Fedecafe, Luis Genaro Muñoz, predicted the
sector will quickly recover in 2010.
He acknowledged, however, that serious
challenges lie ahead for Colombia’s coffee
industry, which provides a livelihood for
some 550,000 families. EFE
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