Economy
Uvelí German
Tuesday 8, December 2020 • 5:00 am
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Everything starts from the moment the farmer prepares the hole where he sows the coffee tree. Then perform compost, fertilization, pruning and shade work for it to develop the plant and bear fruit up to three years.
The producers collect the ripe fruits and sell them to the mills, where each bean is pulped and washed in different drying processes, although some coffee growers cover this part of the chain. Once the bean is ready, it is delivered to buyers and distributed in supermarkets or coffee shops where a cup of American coffee can cost $ 3.12.
But from this Producers only get 1% of the cost of a cup of coffee sold in coffee shops in the United States, where more than 40% of Salvadoran coffee is exported, concludes a study prepared by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
The research clarifies that Coffee continues to be a main export product for the region, despite the fact that since 2018 it has dragged down prices that do not cover the cost of production. According to this study, the crisis “did not affect everyone” in the chain but, above all, the producers who are aware of an increase in poverty.
To identify how much reaches the producer in Central America for each kilogram of coffee sold, a reference was made to how a cup of coffee is sold in the United States, the main buyer of the bean.
23Cups12-ounce American coffee comes out for every kilogram of coffee purchased.
1 %Of incomeProducers receive 1% of the cost at which the coffee cups are sold in the US.
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According to research, The kilogram (Kg) of cherry coffee is bought from the producers at $ 0.29 and 23 12-ounce cups of coffee come out of each kilogram, and each one is trading at $ 3.12. That is to say, $ 71.76 is taken out but the coffee grower only gets 1%.
“Another piece of information is that the price the producer receives, $ 0.29 kg / cherry, is 26 times less than what is paid on average as a tip in the United States. It is concluded that the value of coffee between the primary sector and the consumer is multiplied by about 250 times ”, indicates the research.
A crisis worse than plagues
Due to the price crisis, the Coffee Association of El Salvador (Acafesal) began to report the abandonment of farms or that they were burning them to plant basic grains, such as corn.
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Coffee growing went from representing 40% of agricultural production in 1980 to equivalent to 4% in 2016 in El Salvador. They produce, on average, six quintals per apple. |
Erick Quirós, coordinator for special affairs for the central region of IICA, highlighted that the low price crisis has been more lethal for producers than the same pests, such as rust, which, in the case of El Salvador, plummeted production in 2012 by half.
Quirós considered that the countries that have had strong institutions, such as Guatemala and Honduras, have managed to overcome the consequences of the crisis compared to nations that did not apply technology and knowledge transfer programs. These countries are also the least affected by the ravages caused by climatic phenomena, such as the recent hurricanes of Eta and Iota, which initially left a loss between 15% and 20% of the fallen ripe beans.
For the expert, one of the alternatives to the crisis is to seek new export partners, such as Mexico, which has a growing coffee industry that is equivalent to a purchase of 1.8 million bags in the 2018-2019 cycle.
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