Colombia Coffee Federation Government Support Growers Affected By El Niño

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Concerned about the repercussions that El Niño is having on the income of Colombian coffee growers, Colombia's National Committee met recently to discuss strategies to support coffee growers. Different support alternatives will now be evaluated in teams and presented during the next committee meeting.

The current weather phenomenon has been ranked by multiple agencies as one of history's three more severe manifestations of El Niño.

Colombia's National Committee consists of the chief executive of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), representatives of the country's 15 departmental Coffee Grower Committees, the national planning director, and the Colombian Ministers of Finance and Public Credit, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Commerce Industry and Tourism.

The committee agreed to consider, with Colombia's Department of Social Prosperity, the possibility of granting access to coffee growing families to socioeconomic stabilization programs that satisfy basic needs.

It will also explore the feasibility of launching a program to reactivate coffee production. The program will include crop renovations to recover coffee plantations affected by El Niño and will be funded by the National Coffee Fund and the government of Colombia.

The FNC said it is about to conclude a comprehensive field study based on a statistically significant sample of more than 7,000 farms throughout all coffee growing departments. The results will contribute to guaranteeing that the support alternatives respond to the specificities of El Niño's impact on Colombian coffee growing.