Salvadoran coffee production has dropped considerably. In the last 28 years, it has decreased by 83% of its production, the Coffee Association of El Salvador (Acafesal) warned on Tuesday.
Coffee arrived in this country between 1800 and 1815. In 1940, coffee already represented 90% of the total value of the country’s exports. Between 1950 and 1970, Salvadoran coffee growing was the protagonist of a technological modernization, new varieties were introduced, such as bourbon, and the Coffee Research Institute was created.
These factors, together with two decades of political stability, made the country one of the most productive in the world.
world, enjoying a respectful image for its quality.
However, Acafesal highlighted that the last coffee harvest of the 2019-2020 cycle closed at 740,100 quintals of coffee, the second lowest in the last 40 years and is only higher than the 2013/2014 coffee cycle when production fell to 700,025 due to to a severe outbreak of the rust fungus.
If the results of the 2019-2020 harvest are compared with the 1992-1993 cycle, when El Salvador reached its maximum coffee harvest of up to 4.3 million quintals, the sector reduced its production by 83% in the last 28 years.
But what is the reason for this reduction?
According to Acafesal, this decrease was due to the lack of maintenance of the coffee plantations, such as:
“Fertilization, agricultural tasks such as coffee pruning, shade pruning, weed cutting and other agricultural activities that the plant requires for its proper development, this lack of maintenance was due to the lack of financing, for which it was not possible to carry out these agricultural work, “says the Association in a statement.
Acafesal warns that if a rescue plan is not expedited, coffee farming would collapse in the next two years. They assure that they are in a deep crisis that requires policies to renew the coffee park, debt restructuring and technology transfer.
Coffee growing is the main generator of jobs in rural areas, but as it loses its production, so do job opportunities. For the 2018/2019 harvest, 47,756 jobs were generated and in the 2019/2020 cycle it was 37,005, that is, a 23% decrease, which is equivalent to about 10,751 employees who were not called to carry out field or felling work.
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