Due to the impact of the tropical storms Iota and Eta, businessmen of the sector estimate that for the 2020-2021 harvest about 13% of the sugar cane production will be lost.
According to a report by the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (Amah), the rains caused by tropical storm Eta damaged approximately 23,874 hectares of cane, and in the case of Iota, approximately 19,414 hectares were affected.
Because of the weather, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador report annual losses in basic grain and vegetable production of $196 million, $140 million and $37 million, respectively.
According to estimates by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Central American countries that are part of the Northern Triangle, derived from climatic phenomena, mainly drought, annually record total losses in the agricultural sector close to $337 million.
Due to the disasters caused by the eruptions of the Fuego Volcano, it is estimated that losses in plantations in the three affected departments add up to over $12 million.
According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA), the affected departments were Chimaltenango, Escuintla and Sacatepéquez, where coffee plantations, basic grains, vegetables and fruit trees were damaged.
The sector's union has estimated that for the 2017-2018 harvest 2.4 million hundredweight of beans will could have been produced, but due to climate effects, only 1.9 million hundredweight will be collected.
According to the Salvadoran Chamber of Small and Medium Agricultural Producers (Field), with the 500 thousand hundredweight of beans that will not be collected in the period 2017-2018, $25 million will be lost, as each hundredweight is valued at $50.
Losses caused by the rust disease in Honduras amount to 1.8 million bags, 650,000 quintals in Guatemala, 600,000 in Nicaragua, 400,000 in El Salvador, 200,000 in Costa Rica and 60,000 in Panama.
Those are the estimates of the Central American Organization of Coffee Exporters (ORCECA), who was unwilling to speculate on how much income the region would not receive because of declining exports.
Vegetable and milk farming are the sectors most affected by road blocks set up by Indians in the Panamanian province of Chiriqui.
"The closure the American Highway by the Ngäbes Bugle Indians has caused losses to the agricultural sector estimated at $3.2 million, however, the figure may be higher, said Oscar Osorio, head of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA)," reported Prensa.com.
In Costa Rica, October’s excessive rain has caused losses of $2.5 million in the sector.
Abel Chaves, president of the Chamber of Pineapple Producers and Exporters (Canapep in Spanish) explained that the losses include damage to plantations, delays in the preparation of crop areas, damage to farm infrastructure (bridges, canals and roads) and increases in transportation costs to ports of embarkation.
Warnings are being issued that if the heavy rains persist, 50% of the harvest could be damaged and lost.
Benjamin Toledo, president of the Rice Millers Association said that the current crop is expected to be about 500,000 quintals. There are delays in harvesting the current crop due to the heavy rainfall that has prevented harvesters from getting to the crop.
Heavy rains may affect crops of coffee beans and sugar cane.
Producers have been reporting serious effects on the roads leading to plantations and significant problems on the inner walkways, which will makes access to the crops and their removal at harvest time difficult.
"Michael Healy, director of the Union of Agricultural Producers of Nicaragua (UPANIC in Spanish), told the press that the coffee crop this year will begin in the middle of an emergency created by the storm, which will create large losses for growers."
The early onset of the rainy season and the delay in the delivery of improved seed is threatening production.
The agricultural sector may face significant economic losses in grain production if this years rains are particularly intense.
Industry representatives are worried that the late delivery of seed for planting (which was estimated to arrive May 30 instead of April 15) may significantly affect future harvests.
Climate problems in 2010 left $ 78.3 million in losses.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food reported damage to 80.262 hectares of crops and 567 hectares of forest.
"Out of the total losses, $ 65 million were crops, $ 7.8 million in destruction of irrigation infrastructure, $ 3.2 million in the livestock sector, $ 760,000 in forestry and $ 1.5 million in hydro-biological," reports Prensalibre.com.
The Ministry of Agriculture estimates losses of $ 39 million in the wake of storms Nicole and Thomas.
The report by the Regional Operations Authority noted that losses from storm Nicole, last September, amounted to $ 13 million. Preliminary reports put the damage caused by Tomas tropical storm at $26 million.
"That amount will increase, as the impact has not been quantified entirely in the various agricultural regions in which the country is divided," published Nacion.com.
The decline in red bean exports is caused by crop losses in the first term.
Jorge Molina, executive director of the Center for Export Procedures (CETREX) stated that exports of all beans have suffered a total reduction of only 2%, thanks to black bean exports whose main market is Venezuela.
"One thing is red bean, in which there is a decrease, about 30 percent compared to last year, but if you look at exports of beans, these have fallen just two percent. But that is because the black bean black has grown more than a thousand percent, "said Molina to La Prensa.
Floods in 11,000 hectares of sugar cane crops will affect export targets of 2,200 million pounds of the 2010-2011 harvest.
The report reveals flooded sugar cane hectares in Choluteca, La Grecia, Azucarera del Norte, Compañía Azucarera Hondureña and Chumbagua.
Executive Director of Sugar Producers Association of Honduras (APAH), Carlos Melara, told Latribuna.hn, "We are concerned, the crisis is severe because of total losses, in other cases the tonnage and quality of juice."
The financial cost of the heavy rains seen this year equates to 4.1% of the country's GDP.
The statistic comes from a report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC (CEPAL in Spanish), which analyzed data on damage caused to 20 September.
"Tropical storm Agatha combined with May's violent eruption of the Pacaya volcano alone caused losses valued at around $1 billion," reports Prensalibre.com.