Fungus threatens coffee crops in Central America

Representatives of the coffee industry in Central America report that the harvest of Arabica coffee is being hit by an outbreak of rust, according to the Reuters site.
Small producers like Graciela Alvarenga, who has a planted area of less than 1 hectare in the region of El Paraíso, Honduras, near the border with Nicaragua, was so struck that now uses the leaves and twigs of their coffee plants as firewood. "I think it will not produce anything this year," said Graciela Alvarenga. "We almost lost the whole farm."
A growing number of coffee producers, as Graciela Alvarenga, say your own unique crops are suffering more damage than the estimates indicated by their associations .
While the International Coffee Organization (ICO) in London, predicted in March that the coffee rust would cut regional output by a fifth, a group of representatives of the coffee industry polled by Reuters in July, predicted a drop of only 4.7%.
"There are many producers claim that the damage will be lower than expected," said Mauricio Galindo, leader of the ICO.
Last year, the disease has reached all coffee producing countries in Central America and Mexico, an area that is home to 20% of the production of Arabica coffee in the world, threatening to drastically reduce productivity and export revenues that are very necessary for some of poorest countries in the hemisphere.
Another problem for small farmers in Central America are the expectations of record harvests of major producers such as Brazil and Vietnam, who come to make the lowest prices. The price of the futures contract more active for Arabica has fallen over 60% since it peaked at $3 per pound in 2011, while production costs rise in Central America and Mexico.
"The rust is hurting us a lot, but the worst are the low prices," explains Felipe Mendoza, producer in an area of two acres in El Paraíso.
However, local authorities report that the losses appear to have stabilized due to decreased of the rainfall, which promoted the development of rust, and due to the efficient use of fungicides.
In Nicaragua, for example, 36% of the production of 126 000 hectares in the country are classified by the Ministry of Agriculture as "contaminated".
Source: Revista Cafeicultura