The ingenuity of Colombian coffee growers for the creation of fertilization alternatives has allowed them to maintain the profitability of their farms and continue with the production of the grain.
In just 16 months, it is estimated that the price of a package of chemical fertilizer has increased to around 165,000 pesos. With 32,000 trees, 20,000 of them producing 10,000 kilos of parchment castle coffee per year, it is necessary to have quality fertilizer for crops.
An example of creativity is Danilo Hernández, a coffee grower in Vergara, Cundinamarca, who came up with three actions to deal with the excessive costs of the package of fertilizer. The first of his strategies focuses on mixing the mucilage with lime and letting it ferment for 45 days.
Hernández shared that “the issue of fertilizers is quite complicated, they are too expensive, although the price of coffee is also high.”
In addition, he revealed that regularly on his farm they process the waste of coffee fruits to create an organic fertilizer. Although he recognizes that this type of strategy does not deliver the same yields of the 55 packages of chemical fertilizer that he traditionally used, it does help him guarantee the four fertilizations that his crop requires per year.
The other two alternatives, to balance the budget affected by the costs of inputs, are related to the opening of his Guayacando farm to tourism, and the use of a machine that allows him to reduce labor, save 70% of water and reduce waste pollution.
543 kilometers from Vergara, in Matanza, Santander, coffee grower Paulino Castillo has also had to look for alternatives to offset the high costs of chemical fertilizers.
As a measure, he has resorted to the use of vermicompost, which is a low-cost process that consists of mixing coffee processing waste with manure from his chickens and adding Californian worms. It is essential that the preparation is soaked every third day. With this strategy, Castillo affirms that “a lot of money is saved.”
Veterinarian Alejandro Osorio, who lives in the municipality of La Palma, Cundinamarca, says he has found the formula to face the costs of fertilizers by implementing a “small semi-stabled livestock”. In the case of his farm El Porvenir, which has the rainforest seal for export, they use the manure only to mix it with the coffee pulp, other residues are destined for compost.
The requirement for you to be able to export is that you supply your cows with the least amount of chemicals so as not to affect the manure fermentation process and thus not generate environmental pollution.
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