The coffee leaf fungus has affected most of Dominican coffee crop in the past couple of years. As a result the Dominican Republic, traditionally a major coffee exporter, has gone from exporting 500,000 quintals of coffee to less than 90,000 in 2013. Today it is importing more than 40% of the local consumption, according to the participants in the Saving Coffee Meeting that took place in Peralta, Azua last weekend, 28-29 June 2014. The rust-colored Roya fungus has destroyed many plantations, both new and old.
Dominican Coffee Council (Codocafe) spokesman Maximo Gomez said that the rust has affected 90% of plantations because they were aging. He said that the fungus could be controlled with new methods and care, fumigation and fungicides and called for the plantations to be renovated.
The coffee farmer population has now decreased to 40,000, from 271,000. UASD professor Milton Martinez criticized the lack of a coffee support culture. He also criticized the effects of taxation on the sector and joined Gomez in calling for support to renovate the country’s coffee plantations.
For more in Spanish:
http://www.listin.com.do/economia-and-negocios/2014/7/1/328210/Realizan-encuentro-para-salvar-caficultura-de-RD