Business
Jamaica: Pest may cause $ 5 million loss to Coffee industry
Jamaica’s famous Blue Mountain Coffee is being decimated by the most harmful pest known to coffee crops worldwide – the Coffee Berry Borer Beetle.
The Coffee Industry Board has had to revise its projection for coffee output for the 2012 crop from 234,000 boxes to between 150,000 and 180,000 boxes as a result of the beetle infestation. This will be Jamaica’s lowest coffee production in decades.
It is estimated that coffee farmers could lose between a third and a half of their production to this pest and the industry stands to lose up to JAM$ 432.5 million (US$5 million) if the outbreak is not contained.
The agriculture ministry has set up a task force to tackle the crisis but farmers are crying that this is too little too late.
All Island Coffee Growers Association President Derrick Simon has said in the media that for months coffee farmers have been calling for help but to no avail.
Simon said part of the reason the problem became so widespread is that many coffee farmers abandoned their fields out of frustration, over the lack of intervention.
He said with the infestation so widespread he is doubtful that the ministry’s intervention can save this year’s coffee crop.
The ministry’s Integrated Borer Management Programme has begun to implement the following initiatives: field sanitation including stripping (removing of green ripe and dried berries from the plants, which will then be buried or burned in a control manner); the use of Borer Traps; a co-ordinated spray program will be implemented in conjunction with the farmers and dealers.
In the meantime, the All Island Coffee Growers Association is renewing its call for the Government to address issues affecting the industry, such as the low box price for coffee and the dwindling markets for Jamaican coffee.
Source: Caribbean360