Corona also strikes the coffee chain in places where we don't see it. We report on the situation in northern Nicaragua and the consequences that threaten. In short: it's getting gloomy.
Actually, our coffee from Finca Santa Rita would now be hulled, sorted by size, and freed from defects. Our team would bag it and transport it by truck to the port of Corinto on Nicaragua's west coast.
But at the moment, everything is different: the coffee is still unsorted in the warehouse in Ocotal, unhulled and unpackaged. The warehouse is operating at a minimum, with coffee tasting only taking place in the lab. Tim Willems, our farm manager in Nicaragua and founder of BridAzul, the dry mill, told me:
We had to send almost all employees home. I can't say yet whether it was a good decision, but it felt right.
Tim Willems
"Social distancing in coffee is hardly feasible," says Tim. Lifting heavy sacks, sorting coffee in groups, packaging – all of this is unrealistic without physical contact or two meters of distance. Ultimately, the health of the employees outweighed everything else for him, and he didn't want to offer any more work that would endanger them. Many families live in very cramped conditions across generations. The risk of infection in rural areas is very high within families.
Furthermore, Nicaragua's healthcare system is very weak, and Corona is also hitting Nicaragua, even if the government only reports 10 infections and 2 deaths. If you don't test, you don't find. At the same time, however, cases of pneumonia are dramatically increasing, many with fatal outcomes.
In Nicaragua, gloomy theories are once again circulating on social media, with everyone accusing the government of blatant cover-ups: pneumonia just happens, while Corona could be prevented. If Corona is the cause of deaths, then the problem is homegrown. If it's pneumonia, then that just happens again and again.
Day laborers don't do home office
Our partners' decision to temporarily send their employees home was difficult. They knew that their employees needed to earn money and that many would look for odd jobs. Nevertheless, our partners wanted to protect and send their employees home. A difficult decision. They are now trying to provide support in the form of food.
Advance wage payments are currently almost impossible because the coffee has not yet been sold and the last few months have swallowed up a lot of capital. Emergency safety nets, such as those currently being distributed quickly and unbureaucratically to companies in Switzerland, Germany, or Austria, are not available everywhere. Not in Nicaragua either. We, as partners, are now more challenged than ever.
Corona not only highlights the differences in handling the crisis but also structural and social inequalities. Day laborers cannot continue to work from home. The government in Nicaragua is resorting to the vocabulary of class struggle and loudly shouting: "Only the rich stay at home!" It is even said to have stated before Easter week that people should recover from this Corona discourse and go on vacation to the beach. The government also invites people to demonstrations for health and against Corona – people march in masses through the streets.
The Finca as a retreat
Tim and his team manage two farms on site, Finca Santa Rita and Finca el Arbol. Most employees would be back in their villages, but a skeleton crew would remain on the farm to keep it running. At the end of the day, a coffee farm is a farm; there's always something to do.
It's quiet on the finca, and you don't notice anything. However, there is work to be done right now that can hardly be completed on time with a small team alone.
Difficult harvest 2019/20
Last year's harvest, which should actually be on the ship soon, was difficult. A long dry spell in large parts of Central America shortly after flowering caused the cherries to grow unevenly. The seeds in the cherry, the later coffee beans, were sometimes poorly developed or not at all.
From southern Mexico, through Guatemala, Honduras to Nicaragua and Costa Rica and Panama, yields decreased due to drought by between 10 and 40%. That is massive. Various dealers have told us that even average qualities from Honduras sold for a price that can usually be obtained for a microlot.
Status Santa Rita
At Santa Rita, we have a loss of about 35% in exportable coffee compared to the previous year. The reasons are, on the one hand, the mentioned drought, and on the other hand, our renovation program.
Since 2017, we have been renovating the farm piece by piece. We thin out the plantation and first prune very old trees – if they don't sprout stronger in the following year, we remove them as well and thin out the stock per hectare to about 1100 trees. Now, some of the old trees did not respond to the drastic treatment and were removed. Because, if the input (fertilizer and labor) for a plant is greater than its output, then it must give way.
Next year, there will be even less yield at Santa Rita because we have just thinned out the tree population again. However, we expect the first harvest of 1000 Variedades, which should also yield about 10 bags.
No access to fertilizers and pesticides
Since the political unrest began in Nicaragua two years ago, the local currency has lost significant value, and imports have suddenly become more expensive. Nitrogen, for example, on which synthetic fertilizers are based, became between 30 and 40% more expensive.
The majority of fertilizers in northern Nicaragua are imported from Honduras, but now Corona has arrived: the border to Honduras is closed. Anyone who now needs fertilizers or pesticides faces a huge problem. The scarcity has caused prices to rise dramatically again. But if fertilization is not done now, the next harvest will again be smaller. A vicious circle.
Those who have focused on organic farming methods are somewhat less affected in this regard, provided that the input can be produced on the farm itself. However, this requires a lot of know-how, which is only available in specific areas, and exchange with experts who are currently not traveling around.
Got lucky
In January, our team widely planted Canavalia, also known as Jack Bean. This vine species bears large leaves and spreads like a mesh over the ground. The reasons for planting were:
- Large leaves cover the ground =
- less irritation from UV light
- less water loss
- less erosion
- drastically reduced weed growth, which could compete with plants for nutrients
Now, Canavalias are also strong nitrogen fixers. They store it and slowly release it back into the soil. Especially in times when it is difficult to get nitrogen-based fertilizers, Canavalias and other nitrogen fixers help a lot in an emergency.
What now?
A prognosis for the coffee situation is difficult. Information is fragmented, and communication from the government is almost non-existent.
However, what we do know is the following:
- the coffee export of our coffees is not yet foreseeable – we are cautiously estimating the arrival of the coffees in October
- many producers cannot invest in the farm because they
- were able to produce less coffee
- and were able to sell less of it
- which will lead to a smaller harvest next year
- the import of fertilizers and pesticides is severely limited
A few months ago, we sharpened the future direction of Finca Santa Rita. We want to produce organic coffee and become largely independent of external inputs. The current situation strengthens us in this endeavor, shows the urgency, and motivates us – even if and because we know that the coming months in Nicaragua will be very difficult.
What Corona means for the coffee chain will be discussed on Sunday in this webinar: Coffee & Corona. Challenges, Chances, Change.
https://kaffeemacher.de/blogs/kaffeewissen/santa-rita
