$30m rescue plan for infested coffee farms

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

GOVERNMENT IS to provide $30 million in emergency aid for the coffee industry to help address the alarmingly high coffee berry borer infestation rate which now threatens the local crop. It is projected that farmers could lose between one-third and half of their next crop and the industry as much as J$432 million if the infestation is not contained. Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke is slated today to announce the allocation that will go towards buying chemical and fertiliser.

The Coffee Industry Board (CIB) has set up a task force to work with the farmers, coffee dealers and coffee growers association, and has begun meeting with them to raise awareness about the gravity of the current situation and the economic implications if left unchecked.

Farmers are being reminded of the importance of proper field sanitation as the first step in this integrated berry borer management programme. The CIB will also continue teaching them how to make borer traps from used plastic bottles, and provide the attractants for use free of charge.

In cases where the coffee berry borer infestation is still high, the appropriate insecticide will be recommended and a co-ordinated spray programme implemented with farmers and dealers. The aim is to bring the infestation down to an economically viable level of less than six per cent.

Factor contributing to failure

The level of infestation has been attributed largely to the failure of some farmers to clean their fields after the last crop, because of late payment for their coffee, which left many without the money to do so. This resulted in a carryover of the pests which manifested itself in higher than usual pockets of 'tenement yard' infestation.

Meanwhile, Mavis Bank Coffee Factory on Monday announced a final price of $3,091 per box for the 2011-2012 crop. A breakdown of this shows $91 per box being the CIB cherry production cess, first payment of $2,000 per box and final payment of $1,000 per box. This is a 20-per cent increase on the final price of $2,500 for the 2010-2011 crop and was arrived at after deducting the cost of fertiliser and other inputs supplied to farmers.

Estimated payout

The company projects it will pay a total of $50 million to some 6,000 farmers for the delivery of 52,000 boxes of coffee from August 1 to December 31, 2011.

According to the payment schedule provided by Mavis Bank Coffee Factory, farmers supplying coffee depots in western St Andrew and St Thomas should have been paid Monday and Tuesday of this week, and those from eastern St Andrew and Portland are to be paid today and tomorrow.

"Our decision is to pay the farmers as early as we have now done, and to continue to provide inputs to farmers supplying cherry coffee to the Mavis Bank Coffee Factory Limited underpins Mavis Bank Coffee Factory Limited's commitment to our farmers and the restoration of the glory days of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee over time," Senator Norman Grant, managing director and CEO, said in a release.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com