Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture on Sunday said that the government is dedicated and has proven its dedication to aiding the country’s sluggish coffee industry.
In a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture, Juan Camilo Restrepo called the decline in Colombia coffee production in 2012 “troubling and disappointing” and that improvement in 2013 is “urgently required.” Restrepo said that the administration remains determined to assisting Colombian farmers through this troubling period.
The Minister of Agriculture noted that 75% of funds invested into the coffee industry come directly from the national government. Restrepo also mentioned the $33 per load subsidy farmers are currently getting to help offset the declining international price of coffee, which fell 26% in 2012.
A calamitous 2012 production season caused the national government to directly subsidize farmers whose production numbers represented a 33-year low. The dramatic decline, according to Colombia’s National Federation of Coffee Growers [FNC], was due to a myriad of factors including global market fluctuation, torrential rains and a rising peso.
Besides a shifting global market, a heavy rainy season “prevented flowering and sparked an increase in coffee tree diseases” which dramatically affected production goals.
Despite the disappointing 2012 season, the Minister of Agriculture said he remained hopeful that the industry would rebound in 2013.