UN agency to help Nicaraguan coffee growers hit by low world prices

Moving to aid small-scale Nicaraguan growers hit by the steep global drop in coffee prices, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced plans today to help feed those worst-affected while promoting longer-term crop diversification and the production of more competitive varieties.

"Bearing in mind that coffee cultivation in Nicaragua accounts for almost a third of agricultural employment, the consequences of this crisis are devastating for a country where external debt is 10 times larger than the total value of export earnings," said Loy Van Crowder, FAO’s representative to Nicaragua.

The agency will help feed 3,000 of the worst-affected families - about 17,000 people - in the Central American country, where falling international prices have hurt an economy largely dependent on coffee by reducing income and employment.

In order to prevent food shortages, the agency will distribute 110,000 kilogrammes of black bean seeds, 270,000 kilogrammes of fertilizer and 9,000 basic tools. It is hoped that by the end of the project each farmer will have planted just under a hectare of black beans for their own consumption and to sell locally, a method aiming to open the way towards much-needed agricultural diversification.

The international crisis in global coffee prices has highlighted the need to diversify production to balance out the risks of growing solely one crop, FAO said. The agency plans to help the Nicaraguan authorities in drawing up an income-generating programme both to diversify agricultural outputs and to steer coffee production towards more competitive varieties.