The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will work with the Nicaraguan Government to assist small-scale coffee growers hit by the global crisis in coffee prices, the Organization said Tuesday.
The FAO will help the countrys authorities prevent food shortages among the worst-affected coffee producers and, at a later stage, will help them diversify their crops and produce more competitive varieties in the international coffee market.
Falling international coffee prices have damaged the economy of the Central American country, largely dependent on coffee, by reducing income, employment and food security for thousands of families in the rural sector.
Until recently, coffee cultivation represented some 30 per cent of the agricultural sectors gross domestic product, half of agricultural export earnings and a quarter of the countrys total exports. Over the last year alone, the percentage of national export has more than halved due to falling coffee prices on the international market.
With production expenses currently higher than commercial value and a credit system riddled with debt, many farmers have been forced to abandon their coffee plantations.
The countrys authorities have requested FAO assistance to safeguard the food security of some 3,000 of the worst-affected coffee-producing families.
In order to prevent food shortages, the FAO will distribute some 110,000 kilograms of black bean seeds, 270,000 kilograms of fertilizer and 9,000 basic tools to 3,000 of the worst-affected coffee producers and their families, a total of approximately 17,000 people.
Black beans are a staple part of the diet in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan variety of black bean is increasingly in demand both in the country and throughout Latin America.
(FN)
