Increased rainfall caused by the mid-November cold front followed by Hurricane Otto in late November resulted in large losses for Costa Rica’s coffee producers in the regions of Coto Brus and Perez Zeledon.
To date, Coto Brus and part of Buenos Aires, in Costa Rica’s extreme south, have experienced a loss of up to 25 percent this year’s crop, or an estimated 50,000 bushels, according to the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (Icafe).
While in Perez Zeledon losses are also similarly estimated at about 50,000 bushels or 20 percent of the crop.
Other coffee-growing regions of the country also report a lesser degree of damages and losses, said ICafe.
These unusual weather patters caused the plants to flower later than usual in the areas most affected, which meant that the development of the coffee fruits was delayed and thus coincided with heavy precipitation from Hurricane Otto, a highly unusual late-season storm.
The rains caused a significant amount of maturing coffee berries to fall.
High precipitation causes a number of problems in coffee plants from soil saturation and leaf loss, to accelerated ripening, maturation and excessive falling. Calculations by Icafé have quantified the loss at an estimated $15 million.
The damage to coffee plantations is in addition to the damage to roads, bridges and other that will also additional funds to restore.
