El Caribe newspaper reports that members of the Dominican Association of Producers of Coffee and Cacao met yesterday with the Ministry of Agriculture to explain that coffee production in the Cibao, the nation’s principal producer, will be 50% less this year due to the "broca" plague that has affected the crop. Some 1,210,846 tareas (629 square meters to the tarea) are planted in the north central Cibao region, or 49.9% of the total coffee planted area of the country. This will be the year of the lowest coffee harvest. In the 1990-1991 harvest, 900,000 quintals were harvested. In 1995-1996 production was 1,055,900 quintals. In the 1996-1997 harvest, the harvest dropped to 749,500 quintals after the plague was detected. Experts believe it will be considerably less this year.
