Roya flushed

摘要

When Jesus Maria Aguirre saw his coffee bushes wither away, he knew that he had lost the sole source of income for his family. "We would go to collect coffee and would come back with our baskets nearly empty," says the Colombian grower, recalling the pernicious effects of the "coffee rust" fungus, or roya. The fungus stunts the growth of the fruit of arabica coffee plants. It infected about 40% of Colombia's crop between 2008 and 2012. Production plunged from a high of 12.6m 60kg bags a year in 2007 to just 7.7m bags in 2012. As supply from Colombia shrank, international buyers turned to growers elsewhere. What Mr Aguirre went through then is now the lot of farmers throughout Central America, the Dominican Republic, southern Mexico and Jamaica. Production there fell by 30% between 2011 and 2013 because of roya, reckons the International Coffee Organisation, usaid thinks it has caused $1 billion of economic damage in Latin America since 2012. This time Colombians are the ones taking advantage.