Widespread blight top factors in coffee harvest collapse

Santo Domingo.-  Widespread blight in plantations, coupled with the limited health and a lack of maintenance controls are the main reasons behind the collapse of Dominican Republic’s coffee harvests.

Valdesia Coffee Regulatory Council member Richard Peralta said the impact of rust in 2014 forced the country to import 200 tons of coffee from Vietnam, Colombia and Mexico, among other countries.

Speaking in the seminar “Coffee growing in the Dominican Republic: Past and Present” organized by the National Agro Producers Federation (CONFRENAGRO), Peralta said the 2011-2012 harvest was 740 tons at around 18 pounds per 4,000 square meters, but plummeted three years later to only 110 tons and just 9 pounds per 4,000 square meters.

“All these factors contribute to Dominican Republic’s coffee plantations becoming less profitable, resulting from this reality the increasingly low production registered in the farms.”

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