The Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUNIDES), has presented a study entitled "Program For Improvement of Coffee Production for Small and Medium Producers."
Friday, May 18, 2012
From the press release by FUNIDES:
The Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUNIDES), presents the study "Program For Improvement of Coffee Production for Small and Medium Producers (May 2012)" prepared in July by the consultants Julio Solórzano Lanzas and Félix Cáceres Trujillo.
As a contribution towards the improvement of productivity and profitability of small and medium coffee growers in the country, the Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUNIDES), sponsored by the Association of Coffee Exporters of Nicaragua (EXCAN) and CISA Mercon Coffee Group, presented on Friday 18 May, a proposal for a Program For Improvement of Coffee Production for Small and Medium Producers.
On giving the welcoming remarks, the President of FUNIDES, José Antonio Baltodano stressed that FUNIDES is emphasizing the need to accelerate our economic growth to 7 percent a year in order to improve the welfare of Nicaraguans, create more and better jobs and see a faster reduction of poverty. "To achieve these objectives, we need to increase our per capita investment and most importantly, increase the productivity of the economy, ie the efficiency in which we use our resources, whether human, land, buildings or of machinery and equipment", he said.
Leasing plots of land in the country that are not being used could be an alternative for owners who do not have the resources nor the technology to exploit them.
Nicaragua has almost the same amount of unused land as plots farmed with corn, beans, rice and sorghum. Data from the Fourth National Agricultural Census (CENAGRO 2011) reveals that more than 995,500 blocks of agricultural land are being left unused in the country, which means there is an opportunity to lease land and extract profit, as is done in the housing sector.
The coffee trader Ecom will be managing the funds provided by Starbucks, IFC and the IDB for long-term financing to help Nicaraguan coffee growers fight against rust.
From a statement issued by the International Finance Corporation (IFC):
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will provide long-term loans to help Nicaraguan coffee farmers combat the devastating effects of the coffee rust fungus, which has swept through Central America, crippling production and threatening the livelihoods of millions who depend on the coffee industry.
The government will promote the development of coffee in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region based on the robusta variety.
Bayardo Arce, economic affairs adviser to the President, explained that the promotion of the cultivation of this variety of coffee is a consensus decision and will be included within the National Program for Transformation and Development of Coffee Plantations (PNTDC).
In Nicaragua some coffee farmers obtain average crop yields of 35 quntals per acre of green coffee.
A major challenge for Nicaraguan coffee growers is to increase their productivity and achieve technological and administrative renewal.
"In the last ten years the national yield has fluctuated between 7.7 and 12.10 quintals per acre and the average during that period was 10.29 quintals per acre, one of the lowest in Latin America. In Costa Rica it is around 20 quintals per acre," reported Lucydalia Baca in Laprensa.com.ni .
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