COVID-19, hurricane, leaf rust triple blow? The coffee harvest in Honduras is in jeopardy in the new season

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The Honduran National Coffee Institute (IHCAFE) states: Honduras 'coffee exports for the 2020/2021 harvest season are projected to decrease by approximately 11 per cent due to the global epidemic not being well controlled, coupled with the recent heavy rainfall caused by Hurricane ETA in Central America, which, in addition to destroying large areas of coffee farmland and dropping immature coffee fruits, exacerbated the pre-existing outbreak of coffee leaf rust, which will be a long-term problem for coffee growers in Honduras.

Francisco Ordoñez, chairman of the IHCAFE board of directors, told Reuters: "It's the 2020/2021 harvest and Central America's largest coffee producer and exporter expects exports of Honduran coffee to fall from 6.3 million bags to 5.6 million bags (60 kg/bag).

Why does COVID-19 affect coffee production in Honduras?

In El Paleso, one of Honduras's main growing regions, coffee growers say they need about 70,000 workers to harvest, but so far this year they have only about 40,000. In this region bordering Nicaragua, coffee harvesting began on December 15 and will continue until mid-February. Freddy Pastrana, a coffee grower, said many workers in Honduras were not worried about outbreaks in Honduras this year, so most were willing to participate in harvesting. But the bigger problem now is the entry of harvesters from outside the border, with Honduran officials requiring foreigners to show negative COVID-19 tests before entering.

But few Nicaragua harvesters go for nucleic acid testing because the test costs $24, which is expensive for many harvesters. So the honduran coffee growers association is trying to persuade the honduran government to set up low-cost quarantine facilities at border posts to get more Nicaragua harvesters to work in honduras.

The honduran region is now harvesting coffee with only a small number of local harvesters, and coffee growers fear that another heavy rainfall before harvest is complete will cause more fully ripe coffee to fall and yield even less. West of Ocotepec, Virgilio Pacheco, a grower, said he had to go to harvesters in Guatemala to convince them to do nucleic acid testing.

How scary is coffee leaf rust?

Coffee leaf rust is a fungus, but unlike most fungi, it feeds on decaying matter (plant or animal). The 8000 rust fungi identified are all "obligate vivitrophic fungi," meaning they need a live host to survive.

Leaf rust mainly occurs on leaves, fruits and branches rarely. After the leaf was infected by rust fungus, there were light yellow water-stained spots on the back of the leaf at first, and there were light green halo circles around the spots. When the spots expanded to 5~8mm, orange powdery spores grew from the stomata, and the spots gradually expanded. Several spots connected into irregular large spots. Later, the center of the spots dried and turned brown. Brown spots could be seen on both sides of the leaf, and finally gradually fell off. Coffee plants could die within several years.

One of the difficulties in fighting coffee leaf rust is that it spreads extremely easily. Because the spores of the fungus are so light and powdery that they can easily spread through the wind and rain, and even through workers 'clothing and tools, the hurricane has also become a fast-track for the spread of coffee leaf rust.

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