The National Confederation of Farmers (CONFENAGRO) told reporters that according to their calculations coffee production has fallen by more than 70%. This has cost farmers over RD$18 billion over the past four years.
The report was presented by Eric Rivero, the president of the Confederation and Richard Peralta, the director of an important sector of the Dominican Coffee Council (Codocafé). Both men attributed this situation to a lack of government attention and to the erratic policies being carried out by current Agriculture Minister Angel Estevez.
According to information from Codocafe, coffee production in 2008 was 830,000 quintals while from 2014 to 2015 only 135,000 quintals were produced bringing increased poverty to coffee producing areas. In 2016, more than US$100 million in coffee imported from countries such as Vietnam, Honduras and Colombia to compensate for the decline in local coffee production.
The members of the Confederation together with the representatives of the coffee growers are rejecting a bill backed by the Ministry of Agriculture that would create a new entity called the Dominican Coffee Institute. The farmers groups say that the new entity would just bring about more dependence upon the government and its patronage. The news conference was held in the Ciudad Ganadera in Santo Domingo.
16 March 2017
