Bad year for growers of coffee and sorghum Climate change blamed for rare form of roya fungus and yellow aphids

Bad year for growers of coffee and sorghum

Climate change blamed for rare form of roya fungus and yellow aphids

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Mexico News Daily | Wednesday, December 9, 2015

The unpredictability of the effects of climate change have environmentalists and others worried about the future, but minute shifts in weather patterns have already been registered and the effects have been all too clear for coffee growers this season.

Rare pests and ailments have severely affected coffee and sorghum crops in the state of Oaxaca and as far as the Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquacaulture Secretary is concerned, climate change is to blame for the losses suffered by local producers.

Jorge Carrasco Altamirano reported this week that coffee production is down 40% because of a rare and very aggressive variety of roya fungus, or coffee leaf rust.

The losses to the coffee industry are estimated at several million pesos, said Carrasco, as production dropped between 80,000 and 100,000 quintals (a unit of weight equal to 100 kilograms).

The harvest began in November and continues until February, but losses of between 30 and 40% have already been registered, which in the long run will negatively affect the industry’s financial health.

“The federal government has pledged 30 million pesos (US$ 1.8 million) to save coffee crops from this problem. Let’s hope that it becomes more than just a promise,” said the secretary.

An alliance of local governments and agriculture authorities said a month ago the harvest would be the worst in the state’s history. Spokesman Jaime Martínez Ayala, the mayor of Pluma Hidalgo, blamed the state government for lack of action to combat the roya fungus despite meetings that began last February.

Sorghum farmers have not been spared either. Crops in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec were attacked by yellow aphids, which have never been seen in the state.

Farmers in the region lost all their production, said Carrasco, adding that the state government is looking for the means to compensate them. “We’re providing them with technical assistance so they can salvage their lands and plant a pest-resistant strain next year.”

Without specifying the causes, Carrasco also reported that corn production is below expectations, currently yielding only 600 tonnes per year, rather less than the minimum expectation of 800 tonnes. But Carrasco said that production should be at normal levels by next year.