Disir
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Guerrero's declining coffee production in recent years has been blamed on coffee rust, a fungus that destroys coffee plants and which has eliminated almost 40,000 hectares of coffee crops, reported El Universal. Coffee rust thrives in humid climates, and the landfalls of Hurricane Ingrid and Manuel in 2013 are blamed for creating conditions that allow the disease to spread.
Mexican officials were initially hoping to replant 3,000 coffee plants per hectare by the end of 2016, which would make them ready for harvest in 2020. However, Arturo García Jiménez, director of a local sustainable agricultural organization, said perhaps only half of that figure would be planted due to underfunding from Mexico's secretariat for agriculture and rural development (Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación – SAGARPA).
El Universal reports coffee cultivation in Guerrero began falling in the early 1990s, when the Mexican Institute for Coffee (Instituto Mexicano del Café – Inmecafé), which bought coffee for export, started losing its presence in the area. The subsequent drop in prices disincentivized coffee production, and locals began turning to poppy cultivation.
...When asked what alternative crops exist in Guerrero to alleviate the coffee crisis, Mario Valdez, a former politician in Guerrero, said: "Well, poppy. There are three things that we live on here: one, opium gum; two, remittances; and three, government subsidies … In that order."
Farmers Switching from Coffee to Poppy in Mexico's Heroin Hub
They should have come up with the money.
Mexican officials were initially hoping to replant 3,000 coffee plants per hectare by the end of 2016, which would make them ready for harvest in 2020. However, Arturo García Jiménez, director of a local sustainable agricultural organization, said perhaps only half of that figure would be planted due to underfunding from Mexico's secretariat for agriculture and rural development (Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación – SAGARPA).
El Universal reports coffee cultivation in Guerrero began falling in the early 1990s, when the Mexican Institute for Coffee (Instituto Mexicano del Café – Inmecafé), which bought coffee for export, started losing its presence in the area. The subsequent drop in prices disincentivized coffee production, and locals began turning to poppy cultivation.
...When asked what alternative crops exist in Guerrero to alleviate the coffee crisis, Mario Valdez, a former politician in Guerrero, said: "Well, poppy. There are three things that we live on here: one, opium gum; two, remittances; and three, government subsidies … In that order."
Farmers Switching from Coffee to Poppy in Mexico's Heroin Hub
They should have come up with the money.
