The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Luis Felipe Arauz, revealed on Monday that an increase in rainfall during January and February caused a strong increase in the presence of rust in coffee plantations.
Arauz explained that the most affected areas were the early maturing regions such as Pérez Zeledón, Coto Brus and Turrialba, which together cover some 30,000 hectares of crops.
According to data from the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (Icafé), at this moment 40% of plantantions are affected by rust in each of these zones.
The humid climate, warm temperatures, and the permanence of spores of the disease in coffee plantations at the end of 2017 increased the risk for new leaves to get sick,”
said Rónald Peters, director of the Institute.
The fear of the sector is that the necessary measures are not taken to stop the expansion of the fungus before the beginning of the rainy season next May. The MAG together with Icafé and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) hope to avoid further contagion before August’s harvest.
Costa Rica produces two million bushels (bags of 46 kilos) per year, of which it exports 85%.