The Nicaraguan government seeks to deprive the business sector of the power to propose its representatives to the National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Farming.
President Daniel Ortega presented an initiative to the National Assembly to modify the Law for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Farming, which among the changes includes that the Members of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise (Cosep) do not have the power to propose their representatives to the National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Farming (Conatradec).
Cultivation of this variety has been authorized in seven departments in the Pacific and in the autonomous regions of the Northern and Southern Caribbean, except in the municipality of Waslala.
Finally, and after months of waiting, Nicaragua has been given permission to extensively plant the variety of robusta coffee, which so far had been kept at limited levels, and has generated controversy over the possibility that it might represent competition for the cultivation of Arabica coffee.
The government will not authorize imports of this agrochemical, in compliance with the Stockholm Treaty which prevents entry into Europe of goods that have used this product in the cultivation process.
The coffee union has stated that the advance payment of withholding tax reduces the trade margin of exporters by up to 40%.
The obligation to pay an advance withholding tax (IR) to the DGI is threatening the competitiveness of coffee growers, especially companies whose profit is on commission on sales that are placed on the international market. The complaint was made by Michael Healy, president of the Union of Agricultural Producers of Nicaragua to Trincheraonline.com.
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."