Government announces creation of a crisis table for the coffee sector within the National Plan

The Minister of Production, Iván Ontaneda, launched the National Plan for the Reactivation of the Coffee Sector

The creation of acrisis tablefor the coffee sector announced this Friday, March 12, the Minister ofProduction, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fishing, Iván Ontaneda, as a measure within the launch of theNational Plan for the Reactivation of the Ecuadorian Coffee Sector,in which we will also seek to promote the origin and sensory profile of specialty coffee.

Ontaneda made the announcement in Jipijapa, Manabí, where he pointed out that this crisis table will be the way to monitor the sector's bottlenecks weekly, although he assured that it will be the next government, which will take office next May, that will have to continue with work.

“The next government has the moral obligation to follow this route, because this is not a route simply proposed in this government, you have proposed it, we are going to articulate it so that this becomes a reality,” said Ontaneda, who during the event received two recognitions, one from the Jipijapa Chamber of Commerce and another of the National Association of Coffee Exporters of Ecuador (Anecafé), for its commitment to the coffee sector.

According to figures fromCentral Bank of Ecuador, the country exported $70 million in coffee in 2020, with a reduction of 13% in values ​​and 12% in volume, compared to 2019. In the last 3 years,Germany, Russia, Colombia, PeruandJapanThey are the 5 main export destinations in this sector.

Meanwhile, the minister revealed other details of the plan that seeks to increase productivity and have new genetic materials that, according to Ontaneda, the Government already has.

"Today the Government is developing them (the genetic materials) and has them, they have to be propagated, credits are needed, long-term and adequate credits with grace periods that allow the coffee grower to invest, and behind all this thousands of sources of employment," said Ontaneda, who recognized the barriers generated by the pandemic situation, but highlighted that the export sector was not paralyzed and, to date, 17 virtual fairs, generating a record of non-oil exports in 2020 $15 billion.

He added that the value chain of this productive sector is a source of employment for more than105,000 familiesEcuadorians, for which he assured that the Government has participated in the renovation and rehabilitation of more than80,000 hectaresof coffee throughout the country.

Meanwhile, in the face of low national production, he pointed out that coffee growers have the goal of achieving the50 kilograms per hectare harvested, which will represent a total of3 million quintals annually, divided 50% into the robusta variety and the remaining 50% for the Arabic type.