COLOMBIA NEWS — A dry spell with high temperatures in Colombia’s main coffee-producing region is spreading a borer-beetle infestation in the sought-after mild Arabica beans, according to farmers and the country’s coffee federation.
The outbreak of the fly-like insect known in Spanish as broca is forcing growers to sell to local buyers who pay less than export market prices, crimping profits, said Pedro Echeverria, a farmer in the northwestern province of Antioquia.
An increase in the outbreak threatens to temper a surge in Colombian production in recent years as younger, more productive trees from plant regeneration began to bear fruit. The South American nation is the largest producer of mild washed Arabica coffee, sold to roasters and global chains including Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts.
“Every day it’s getting worse, with more broca in the harvest,” Echeverria said Thursday by telephone from his farm. “It’s all over the province and the main coffee region, with infestation rates up to 12 percent.”
The Colombian coffee growers’ federation, known as FNC, says the outbreak is restricted to five provinces: Antioquia, Caldas, Quindio, Risaralda and Valle del Cauca, with infestation rates of 2.5 percent to 8 percent.
“There were high temperatures between May and August in some areas,” FNC Technical Manager Carlos Uribe said by telephone from Bogota. “When there are high temperatures the broca’s life-cycle shortens and there are more insects.”
Colombia produced 12.1 million bags during the coffee year that ended September, up 22 percent on the previous year. The Andean nation has largely escaped a coffee leaf fungus that has cut output across Central America and Peru.
The broca beetle thrives in dry, hot weather, boring into coffee cherries during their late stage of maturity. The outbreak is erasing profits gained from high coffee prices this year says Jose Giraldo, a farmer with 90 hectares planted with coffee in Caldas province.
“We’re without a market for our coffee because it’s badly affected by broca,” he said in a telephone interview Thursday. “The cooperatives are buying it at very low prices.”
The benchmark Arabica coffee contract has doubled in price this year as a drought in Brazil, the world’s top producer, crimps output.
“It’s very, very serious,” said Juan Arboleda, a coffee farmer with 500 hectares in Antioquia. “This plague has been bad all year, but it became worse over the past month.”
Source: Standard Examiner
