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It has been two weeks since a deadly earthquake struck Colombia’s coffee-growing heartland. The 7.4-magnitude quake’s epicenter was in the department of Chocó, while nearby departments such as Risaralda, Quindío, and Antioquia saw significant damage.
Germán Bahamón, head of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), told Reuters that more than 10,000 coffee-producing families were in the disaster zone, with 8,000 reporting damage to their homes or processing facilities. The FNC will work with the government to help farmers rebuild, Bahamón said.
The Pacific coast port of Buenaventura, responsible for exporting 60% of Colombia’s coffee, paused operations for several days following the quake. Bahamón said that exports were now “proceeding perfectly.”
Despite the damage, Bahamón said farmers are more concerned about the potential impact of El Niño, a climate pattern that can cause drought, flooding, and erratic weather around the globe. “Production itself is not affected by the earthquake,” he said. “Production will very likely be affected by the El Niño phenomenon.”
This year’s El Niño is predicted to be particularly intense, and could impact coffee production worldwide. In Colombia, the FNC expects it to cause an 8% fall in production for next year’s harvest.
Read the full story on the Colombian earthquake and farmers’ El Niño concerns from Reuters here.
Photo by David Restrepo on Unsplash
