QCOSTARICA – About 20% of the estimated Coto Brus coffee harvest, for the 2020-2021 period, will be lost, due to the impact of the rains caused by Hurricane Eta and the delay in the arrival of collectors to that area of the country.
The situation has producers in distress, as the rains also blocked roads on the Panamanian side, which may further delay the arrival of collectors from that country.
Meanwhile, a report from the Technical Management of the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (Icafé), presented to the board of directors on Wednesday, November 11, indicates: “significant losses as coffee is at optimum maturity,” in that southern border area.
Other areas to be affected due to the rains and damage to the roads infrastructure are the coffee zone of the Northern Region, which includes peninsular producing cantons of Guanacaste, such as Hojancha, Nandayure, Nicoya and Santa Cruz, as well as Tilarán.
In the rest of the areas little impact is reported, either because the coffe is not ripe or suffers less impact from the rains, as in the case of Turrialba.
Coto Brus harvests between 110,000 and 130,000 bushels (fanegas in Spanish, corresponding to 46 kilos), since production varies in each period due to the biannuality and weather conditions, according to the report by Icafé.
The harvest volume of Coto Brus is only surpassed by Tarrazú, Pérez Zeledón and León Cortes. The regional economy revolves around the cultivation of coffee.