Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Sara left losses 40,000 quintals of coffee, equivalent to 4.4 per cent of the more than 893,300 quintals planned for the 2023-2025 cycleAccording to a preliminary poll by the Cafetal Association of El Salvador (Acafesal).
Storm Sara had a higher incidence in the Salvadoran territory between Saturday 16 and Monday, November 18, which also joined the influence of an Intertropical Convergence Zone. In three days, in the coffee area of Juayúa, Sonsonate, 90 millimeters of water accumulated, while in San Pedro Nonualco, La Paz, they reached 93 mm.
Acafesal stressed that the losses are preliminary, as producers from the upper Chalatenango area had not been able to enter their farms until Tuesday. Sergio Ticas, president of the trade union, explained that the main impact is the fall of the mature grain scratched by excess humidity.
Ticas detailed that “damage is at the national level,” but the biggest losses have been quantified on farms located in San Vicente, Ahuachapán, Santiago de María y Berlin (Usulután), as well as in Comasagua, La Libertad, and Chalatenango.
According to the Acafesal, 75 per cent of the production of aromatic is obtained on low- or medium-tall farms that began the short 2024-2025 in October, while coffee plants between 1,200 and 1,600 meters above sea level begin work until December.
Grains dropped after heavy rains generated by Tropical Storm Sara. /Acafesal
Fallen grains end up being damaged on the ground because coffee growers do not have enough resources to hire more workers for collection, in addition to the fact that the sector faces a lower supply of labour due to migration or because people in the countryside are employed in more profitable sectors.
Coffee growers also fear that the abrupt change in temperatures will create conditions for a rust and drill outbreak. Rod is a fungus that is observed in the leaves when they show yellow spots, whose spores spreads with the wind, while the drill originates from an insect that during the summer takes refuge in the grains of the soil and in the winter goes out to fly in search of food, especially the green grain.
The latest roe attack, which occurred in the 2012-2013 harvest, dethroned coffee production to more than half, from more than 1.7 million quintals to 700,000 quintals in the 2013-2014 cycle. A decade later, the sector has not been able to recover these harvest levels.
The Salvadoran Institute of Coffee (ISC) reports that the 2023-2024 cycle ended at more than 893,300 quintals grape gold, 1.8% higher than the 2022-2023 harvest.
Ticas claimed that the ISC – the highest authority in the sector – did not issue any recommendations to producers to cushion the losses. Meanwhile, the trade union urged producers to prioritize the cutting of mature grains and apply fungicides in a step-by-step way to prevent a pest outbreak.
This article was translated after appearing in Diario El Mundo