Across Central America, coffee farmers are facing an enemy that is nearly impossible to fight: coffee rust. The rust moves quickly, harming local economies by wiping out large portions of coffee crops which small farmers rely on for their livelihood. The farmers cannot effectively fight the rust. Even while putting large amounts of the little money they have toward pesticides and treatments, there is little guarantee that the treatments will stop the rust. In many cases, it does not, and some farmers have lost up to 60 percent of their harvest. The logical answer would be to turn to the growth of food crops, but the soil in many parts of Central America does not allow the growth of food crops. Coffee is all that will grow. The children of many farmers have had to postpone schooling, as their parents need them at home to help with duties that other workers would be ordinarily brought in to do when the economy was still strong.
Coffee rust has shown weaknesses in both the economy and the surrounding environment. The rust has been getting worse over the past 2 to 3 years, and does not show any sign of slowing. If farmers continue to lose such a large portion of their crop, chances are they will not be able to sustain themselves and will turn to alternative jobs. However, there is hope for the future. Organizations set up for the specific purpose of fighting the rust have begun to show farmers how to prune and regrow their plants. In the meantime, they are also showing them how to plant food crops along with coffee, to provide food to the farmers and their families while saving their future plants.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/business/international/fungus-cripples-coffee-production-across-central-america.html?_r=0
"The logical answer would be to turn to the growth of food crops." While this may be true, it is especially hard for those without many resources to make this adjustment. Also, the production of a "cash crop" often proves more profitable for small farmers.
ReplyDeleteAlso, while it is true that for the individual farmers, the coffee rust is causing severe problems, at least in the US this shortage has proved a boon to the industry as a whole: NASDAQ shows a fairly large upward trend in share prices since last November. http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/coffee.aspx?timeframe=1y
I always hate to hear about stories like this because in order to making a living the farmer only produces a cash crop and when his crop starts dying he has no other options. I'm glad to see that organizations are actually trying to help these farmers and address the problems they are having. It's also interesting to see how the industry is affected by the shortage. In the long run the consumer is going to be affected by this too because coffee costs have increased, so price of coffee will also have to increase. I wonder if any of the big coffee companies have taken steps to help fight this rust problem? It could only help them to try and help the farmers. If at a minimum it gives them good press.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that there are companies that are trying to prevent this problem. Because these farmers are only producing their cash crop they are not doing so well. It is sad that their children are having to postpone their schooling, which will also hurt the economy in the future. I think the economy will be helped when companies help farmers plant food with their coffee. Although the coffee industry is not doing well, I think they are taking the right precautions to help get back to where they were.
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