Colombia could produce 17 million 60-kg bags of washed arabica coffee per year by 2024 if it expands its tree renovation plan, the agriculture minister said on Thursday. Tree replacements would need to increase to 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) annually, up from some 80,000 hectares this year, Agriculture Minister Andres Valencia said, speaking on the sidelines of the coffee growers federation's annual conference.
An output uptick to 17 million bags per year would be a 20 percent increase from current figures, which have hovered around 14 million bags for four years. "We proposed to the (federation) director and the coffee-growers that we do 100,000 hectares a year with the idea of increasing productivity, which is now around 18.7 bags per hectare, to 22," said Valencia. "Hopefully we can get to 17 million bags (per year) with the same (crop) area."
Valencia said the cost of increased renovation program was being examined, but based on federation figures, a program with an additional 20,000 hectares would cost between $25.5 million and $30 million annually. Colombia spent tens of millions of dollars this year replacing damaged or old trees. The harvest will remain at around 14 million 60-kg bags of washed arabica in 2019, the federation said on Wednesday, possibly helped by dry weather caused by the El Niño phenomenon.