Coffee berries growing on a farm in the Blue Mountains on Friday, August 25, 2006. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

John Myers Jr., Farmers Weekly Coordinator

The Coffee berry borer continues to seriously affect the island's coffee industry, causing several shipments of Blue Mountain coffee to be grounded because of poor quality.

Hervin Willis, quality assurance manager at the Coffee Industry Board (CIB), has confirmed reports reaching Farmers Weekly that several shipments of coffee, about 90 per cent of which is the world-renowned Blue Mountain coffee, had to be delayed due to the poor quality of coffee beans being brought in for export. It is understood that a significant portion of the beans had to be rejected as they fail to pass the stipulated quality tests.

General quality problem

"There is a general quality problem to the coffee, among which the major one is the higher level of berry borer infestation in this present crop (2006-2007)," Mr. Willis said. He explained that "from all indication the level of berry borer control that was customary to be expended in the field wasn't done last year and as a result, the Berry Borers got away."

He explained further that when there is a high infestation of the coffee beans with the berry borer pest, it takes a longer time to sort and select good beans that meet the required standards for export, hence the delay in shipment.

While he was unable to provide figures, Mr. Willis said the problem has resulted in a 40 per cent reduction in coffee export when compared with the amount exported last year at the same time. "Comparable figures are showing that last year at this time there was much more coffee (that) had been exported," he told Farmers Weekly.

The coffee berry borer, which feed on coffee beans, is the main pest affecting the coffee industry. The CIB had introduced a special trap that attracts the female pest, but that has not been effective in curtailing the spread of the pest. Mr. Willis said farmers were not using the traps.

The delay in shipment has also had a negative impact on the timely supply of the highly sought after coffee in overseas markets, causing buyers to raise concern about the slow supply. "They have been complaining about the slow progress in getting their shipments, people (the buyers) are concerned that they are not getting it," Mr. Willis said.

At the end of last year, about 400,000 boxes of Blue Mountain coffee were exported, according to Jamaica Agricultural Society figures. This is an increase of 160,000 boxes when compared with the previous year's exports.

In a bid to avoid a recurrence of the problem in the next crop, Mr. Willis said quality assurance officers would be deployed in the coffee growing areas of the island to re-sensitise farmers on the relevant export standards.