PERU
A positive report on Peru This Week appeared in April about the effort there to recover from the latest coffee leaf rust epidemic. The story describes the losses in the 2013/14 harvest as having “devastated large stretches of crops” but points out that nearly 4 million quintals of coffee (183,600 metric tons) were produced despite the fungal damage.
Estimates for production in the coming harvest suggest coffee production could be from 20% to 28% higher than in the previous year. Work to renew farms will continue under the National Plan for Coffee Plantations Renewal which has already renovated more than 20,000 hectares.
Peru's agriculture minister, Juan Manuel Benites Ramos, toured the United States in April to promote trade with Peru with meetings at the Specialty Coffee Association of America convention held in Seattle, Wash., and a joint briefing with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.