BOGOTA -- Colombia’s weather office warned on Tuesday the nation’s coffee-growing areas may face-off with the sister of the El Niño weather phenomenon in the second half of 2010 after suffering droughts since last year.
Colombia, the world’s no. 4 coffee grower and top producer of quality Arabica beans, saw 70% to 100% less rain than usual from September to March and now coffee farms may suffer from torrential rains from La Niña, El Niño’s sister.
Colombia’s rainy seasons happen March to May and September to November, and the coming season could be particularly severe due to La Niña, said Maria Teresa Martinez, forecast director for the government’s weather office, IDEAM.
La Niña is a cooling of sea surface temperatures while El Niño can produce droughts, which partly helped cut Colombia’s 2009 bean output to its lowest levels in three decades.
"There is a 33% probability that Colombia may experience La Niña. La Niña is just brewing and we will have to follow the phenomenon over the next three months to determine how strong it may be," Ms. Martinez told Reuters in an interview.
Rain-fed agriculture is particularly vulnerable to showers following droughts as water-squeezed soil is unable to soak up excess rains, causing floods and drowning crops.
Colombian coffee production is seen recovering to 11 million 60-kg bags this year thanks to favorable weather, renewed fertilization and a crop rejuvenation program after falling to lows last year due to drought and some trees out of rotation.
Ms. Martinez said El Niño ended in the last week of May. The Latin American nation saw coffee output rise 17% last month versus the same period last year, marking the second monthly rise in output in more than 20 months.
Rains in May were 10%-40% higher than usual in the coffee-producing provinces of Risaralda, Quindio and the North of Valle del Cauca, Ms. Martinez said of states accounting for 23.7% of the nation’s output.
Rains, worms and output
The drought from last year had created fertile conditions for broca worms, which eat bean kernels and damage trees.
Colombia’s coffee federation said that 5% of deliveries in March to dry mills and warehouses it runs had an increase of the pest infestation, up from 3.3% in December.
Rain has allowed trees to get nutrients, but beans are still affected by broca, said Luis Carlos Burbano, head of the coffee cooperative Asprounion, representing 900 producers in Narino municipalities of La Union, San Pablo and Alban.
Farms in Narino -- expected to produce 300,000 70-kg bags this year, most in May and June -- have a 5% broca infection, sharply higher than the usual 1.5% national average but lower than 7% in early 2010, he said.
"We are improving but conditions are not perfect yet," Mr. Burbano said. "In May, we needed 92 kilos of green beans to produce one bag of 70 kg but we must reach 89 kilos. Once we reach that level, we could say conditions have normalized."
In Huila state, which produces 11% of the nation’s beans, 2010 output is seen falling 11% to 1.6 million bags from a lowered revised estimate due to broca and roya fungus, said Hector Falla, who represents producers in Huila. -- Reuters
Colombia, the world’s no. 4 coffee grower and top producer of quality Arabica beans, saw 70% to 100% less rain than usual from September to March and now coffee farms may suffer from torrential rains from La Niña, El Niño’s sister.
Colombia’s rainy seasons happen March to May and September to November, and the coming season could be particularly severe due to La Niña, said Maria Teresa Martinez, forecast director for the government’s weather office, IDEAM.
La Niña is a cooling of sea surface temperatures while El Niño can produce droughts, which partly helped cut Colombia’s 2009 bean output to its lowest levels in three decades.
"There is a 33% probability that Colombia may experience La Niña. La Niña is just brewing and we will have to follow the phenomenon over the next three months to determine how strong it may be," Ms. Martinez told Reuters in an interview.
Rain-fed agriculture is particularly vulnerable to showers following droughts as water-squeezed soil is unable to soak up excess rains, causing floods and drowning crops.
Colombian coffee production is seen recovering to 11 million 60-kg bags this year thanks to favorable weather, renewed fertilization and a crop rejuvenation program after falling to lows last year due to drought and some trees out of rotation.
Ms. Martinez said El Niño ended in the last week of May. The Latin American nation saw coffee output rise 17% last month versus the same period last year, marking the second monthly rise in output in more than 20 months.
Rains in May were 10%-40% higher than usual in the coffee-producing provinces of Risaralda, Quindio and the North of Valle del Cauca, Ms. Martinez said of states accounting for 23.7% of the nation’s output.
Rains, worms and output
The drought from last year had created fertile conditions for broca worms, which eat bean kernels and damage trees.
Colombia’s coffee federation said that 5% of deliveries in March to dry mills and warehouses it runs had an increase of the pest infestation, up from 3.3% in December.
Rain has allowed trees to get nutrients, but beans are still affected by broca, said Luis Carlos Burbano, head of the coffee cooperative Asprounion, representing 900 producers in Narino municipalities of La Union, San Pablo and Alban.
Farms in Narino -- expected to produce 300,000 70-kg bags this year, most in May and June -- have a 5% broca infection, sharply higher than the usual 1.5% national average but lower than 7% in early 2010, he said.
"We are improving but conditions are not perfect yet," Mr. Burbano said. "In May, we needed 92 kilos of green beans to produce one bag of 70 kg but we must reach 89 kilos. Once we reach that level, we could say conditions have normalized."
In Huila state, which produces 11% of the nation’s beans, 2010 output is seen falling 11% to 1.6 million bags from a lowered revised estimate due to broca and roya fungus, said Hector Falla, who represents producers in Huila. -- Reuters
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