Coffee Rust Threatens Coffee Farmers Across Central America
Two
months into the start of a new coffee-growing season, coffee rust is still
destroying coffee crops and the dreams of coffee farmers hoping for a better
harvest than last year. Coffee rust is a fungus that shows up as yellow patches
on coffee leaves. It attacks the leaves and reduces the plant’s ability to feed
itself. As a result, the coffee fruit will never mature and the harvest will be
lost.
Predictably,
this has an impact on coffee prices, but more important, it can literally force
farmers into poverty and leave them and their families hungry. In mid-2013,
437,000 coffee farmers were affected across Central America, including farmers
in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Mexico, Ecuador and
Honduras---the largest coffee grower in the region.
One
positive exception has been Colombia, which actually saw a 26% increase in its
national coffee yield year over year. The National Federation of Coffee Growers
of Colombia developed a coffee rust-resistant plant strain and farmers planted
it. It worked. Now---that technology needs to be transferred to other countries
and other coffee farms.
For
coffee farmers like Ernestina Martinez, a widowed mother of 8, who successfully
started her own farm several years ago and painstakingly got production up to 4
metric tons, the carnage of the rust-plant fungus has been harrowing. She
destroyed the harvest and is looking for Plan B. She is mournful of what’s
lost, but determined to keep growing.
Part of
enjoying coffee and all of the good health, productivity and contentment it
brings is being aware of where it’s grown, who’s growing it and what hardships
they face. Let’s hope this growing season brings a resurgence of yield and
prosperity for Ernestina Martinez and her peers!
Comments
Soma free internet radio is rockin' 3 (count em', 3, yes, I said 3) x-mas radio stations;
Christmas Rocks
Christmas Lounge
X-mas in Frisko
Currently, here in the command post of International, trans-galactic, world headquarters, we're deeply into some Folgers (long live the Bourgeoisie!) which goes very nicely with Christmas Lounge, thank you very much.