Rust might slash coffee sales by $5 million or roughly 30% for this current crop, say experts.
As a result, coffee players will launch a fertilizer drive to stem the spread of the deadly rust. They will offer the fertilizer upfront to farmers to rid rust which essentially robs the beans of nutrients rendering them useless for reaping.
It’s a disease that’s also spreading into Central America causing millions in damage.
Coffee earned Jamaica US$13 m in 2012 but about five prior it earned twice that amount. But the sector has been hit by lower demand, storms and rust.
Senator Norman Grant head of the largest Jamaica Blue Mountain processor–Mavis Bank Coffee Factory makers of JABLUM says, “while efforts have been made to control the coffee leaf rust disease, the industry is still under threat as this account could cost the industry as much as US $5m of revenue for the current crop. A national emergency response is required to address the spread of the disease.”
jamaicamocha 