The Costa Rica Coffee Institute (ICAFE), in an interview with local media, reported that the sector faces serious losses that have been caused by climatic events that occurred at the end of last year and by a lack of labor of Nicaraguan origin. which was caused by the recent reforms to the General Migration Law, approved by the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Mullo.
Martín Hidalgo, technical manager of ICAFE, stated that the first effects recorded by the sector were linked to the climatic events that occurred between November and December of last year, including a tropical wave, a hurricane and a convergence zone, which “had “an impact at the national level, affecting practically all areas of the country.”
“We had the evaluation of fallen fruits at that time, with quite high damage, for example, in the area of Pérez Zeledón and Los Santos, at that time we estimated a loss of about 230 thousand bushels fallen to the ground,” he explained.
The official highlighted that they also identified damage due to falling coffee fruit in the area of Los Santos, Western Valley and Central Valley, although he explained that much of this “has not been accounted for.”
Coffee is lost due to lack of pickers
Hidalgo also stated that the effects also occur, as a second factor, “mainly due to the labor problems that arose as a result of the new policy of the Government of Nicaragua, in which some actions were established for all those workers who were involved in the harvest, who did not have a regularized status in the country.
“All of this generated a fairly large output and caused the harvesting speed to be affected and therefore the rain events that have occurred in this month of December generated a significant drop in grain,” added Hidalgo.
The reports we have are about 10 or 15 percent of ripe fruit falling to the ground. Unfortunately, this phenomenon of climate and labor has made it difficult for us to take advantage of the very good prices internationally. If we establish the initial loss we had of 235 thousand bushels and place an average sales price of about 279 dollars, we would be talking about a loss close to 60 million dollars in loss at the level of coffee activity in the country.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica estimates, according to local media reports, that 90% of the workforce dedicated to harvesting agricultural production in Costa Rican territory are migrants.
Coffee pickers of migrant origin, according to figures from said ministry, represent at least 60 percent of the workforce in that sector, that is, about 45,000 out of 74,000 pickers.
In the news that has been spread in Costa Rica, they attribute the lack of Nicaraguan labor to the restrictive measures and criminalization that the Nicaraguan regime has imposed against irregular migrants. However, the reason could lie in the fact that coffee cutters from Nicaraguans who traditionally traveled to work in Costa Rica have migrated to other countries, mainly to the United States.
In recent months, even Nicaraguan coffee growers have complained for the same reason and on the farms they are aware that the main problem of the lack of labor for harvesting the “golden grain” also has its origin in the migratory wave of recent years that has forced almost 10% of the total Nicaraguan population to flee poverty and repression.
