BOGOTA – According to the director of the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FEDECAFE), Colombia’s coffee production is expected to exceed previous goals and expectations for 2013, after showing a 36% increase in August as compared to the same month in 2012.
The figures will be encouraging to farmers and distributors alike, as Colombia continues to recover from a production crisis that devastated the Colombian coffee market last year.
If early indications hold true, 2013 could mean a strong comeback for Colombia’s coffee industry.
FEDECAFE director Luis Genaro Muñoz cited improved weather conditions and increased mechanization to a trend that has seen a 38% jump in overall production over the first eight months of 2013. Farmers have collected over 6.7 million bags of coffee since January, as compared to 4.9 million over the same period in 2012.
Similarly, the yearly production statistics, dating back to September of last year, indicate a 26% increase in overall production to 9.6 million bags when compared to September 2011-August 2012. Production may exceed 10 million bags by the end of the calendar year 2013.
Industry leaders say that the largely successful implementation of a new direct subsidy program for coffee farmers earlier this summer should bring some much-needed relief from the crisis facing Colombia’s agro-producing sector.
The recent statistics come as small-scale coffee farmers in various parts of the country continue to call for national agriculture reform to address what they say are exorbitant production costs and crippling free trade economic policies.
Source: Colombia Reports
