COLOMBIA
The Colombian government is setting aside $34 million to help coffee farmers affected by lower prices on the international market. The move is endorsed by the country’s coffee growers federation.
Colombia is the world’s largest producer of washed arabica.
Colombian finance minister Alberto Carrasquilla and Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) head Roberto Velez made the September announcement, Reuters reported.
The federation, representing about 550,000 coffee-growers, will work with government officials to determine how the money will be used and distributed.
“We have just finished the National Committee of Coffee Growers, where the anguish is the low price,” Velez said at the press conference. “We agreed on the creation of a roundtable where we will first agree on the trigger price, and second, what will be the mechanism by which these resources will be delivered.”
Velez estimates farmers need to earn about $1.40 to $1.50 per pound to be profitable. Coffee was selling at 84 cents per pound at the time of the announcement.