Honduras can boost coffee output by up to 50 percent in the next five years by training small farmers in more productive tree care and fertilisation methods, authorities said on Tuesday.
David Valeriano, director of the Honduran Coffee Institute, said a new program to increase productivity could boost output as high as 4.6 million 60-kg bags in five years, from 3.07 million bags forecast for the 2005/06 harvest.
"We are promoting a plan to increase productivity from an average of 8 bags per hectare to between 11.5 and 15 bags in the next four or five years," he told Reuters.
Valeriano said the additional production would take place without increasing the 276,000 hectares (682,000 acres) of land already planted with coffee, even though some areas virtually abandoned during a long price crisis were being recuperated by farmers more optimistic about future prices.
Most Honduran coffee is grown on plots of less than 10 hectares (24.7 acres).
"Our technicians are offering training in growing regions and organising groups to improve productivity. Relatively stable prices have also encouraged growers to fertilise more and care for their plantations," Valeriano said.
Honduras is also working to boost quality and sell its best beans to specialty markets to improve the image of its coffee.
Honduran coffee sells at a discount of several cents compared to the benchmark New York Board of Trade "C" contract.
Comments
Comments are closed.