Sad News from El Salvador
Last week El Salvador was hit by gusty winds that affected coffee areas with winds hovering over 65 miles an hour and destroying the roofs of more than 5,000 homes in rural areas. Since 76% of the crop had already been picked the damage to total coffee production is estimated to be around 4%. However severe to total damage occurred in focalized high altitude coffee areas around the towns of Juayua, Ataco and Apaneca in the Sonsonate and Ahuachapan departments (west part of the country) and also in Chalatenango.
Regretfully, 2007 COE winners in Chalatenango were badly hit with crop losses above 60%, and foliage damage even worse (foliage loss affects next year’s crop). The damage was extensive on Mr. Raul Ochoa’s first place winner La Montaña where 90% of the crop was completely knocked down the ground.
As you can imagine the morale among these producers is low but they are determined to fight back lead by the hope that their coffees have already gained recognition thanks to the COE. We appeal to the understanding of the home coffee roasting community and urge you to continue to support the superb coffees being produced in these regions.