Colombia Coffee Growers Turn To Genetics for Better Crop Yield
NTDTelevision
2011-11-17
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In Colombia, three successive years of harsh rainy seasons have dramatically reduced coffee production. Now farmers are turning to genetics to help increase their yield. Here's more.
Colombia is betting on genetic research to adapt coffee crops to climate change, as farmers come to terms with harsh rainy season that has threatened production.
The Andean nation, the world's top producer of high-quality Arabica beans, is increasingly relying on science to recover coffee output, after three years of lower-than-expected production.
Jose Ramon Collazos, a 56-year-old coffee grower whose farm sits high among the hills of Huila province in southern Colombia, is among those tired of rain.
[Jose Ramon Collazos, Coffee Grower]:
"[The rainy season] has been a very serious phenomenon, because even though we have done all the work of fertilization and controling the plants heath, there is nothing we can do about the rain. It has affected us greatly, decreasing production in our coffee fields by between 30 and 40 percent."
The weather has also led to an increase in the roya, a fungus that attacks the coffee plants leaves and can cripple entire crops.
Through genetics, eight roya-resistant varieties have now been developed in Colombia.
The seeds are being distributed to regional coffee cooperatives, which then allocate them to growers.
Carlos Armando Uribe, coordinator from the Colombian Coffee Growers Association, explains how the climate has caused such serious problems for the industry.
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In Colombia, three successive years of harsh rainy seasons have dramatically reduced coffee production. Now farmers are turning to genetics to help increase their yield. Here's more.
Colombia is betting on genetic research to adapt coffee crops to climate change, as farmers come to terms with harsh rainy season that has threatened production.
The Andean nation, the world's top producer of high-quality Arabica beans, is increasingly relying on science to recover coffee output, after three years of lower-than-expected production.
Jose Ramon Collazos, a 56-year-old coffee grower whose farm sits high among the hills of Huila province in southern Colombia, is among those tired of rain.
[Jose Ramon Collazos, Coffee Grower]:
"[The rainy season] has been a very serious phenomenon, because even though we have done all the work of fertilization and controling the plants heath, there is nothing we can do about the rain. It has affected us greatly, decreasing production in our coffee fields by between 30 and 40 percent."
The weather has also led to an increase in the roya, a fungus that attacks the coffee plants leaves and can cripple entire crops.
Through genetics, eight roya-resistant varieties have now been developed in Colombia.
The seeds are being distributed to regional coffee cooperatives, which then allocate them to growers.
Carlos Armando Uribe, coordinator from the Colombian Coffee Growers Association, explains how the climate has caused such serious problems for the industry.
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