U.S. vows to fight coffee-plant fungus
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is teaming up with researchers from Texas to intensify the battle against a fungus that has caused $1 billion in damage to coffee plants across Latin America and the Caribbean, U.S. foreign-aid officials said yesterday.
The so-called leaf rust, or roya, is a yellow-andorange-colored fungus that has swept coffee fields from Mexico to Peru over the past two years, threatening to stunt production and drive up the price of Latin American roasts.
Central America’s arabica coffee plants have been especially hard hit. The plants produce highquality beans used in espressos and gourmet specialty blends that are in growing demand.
In a new program to be formally announced today, the U.S. Agency for International Development is launching a $5 million partnership with Texas A&M University’s World Coffee Research institute that seeks to eradicate the fungus, the agency said.
The partnership will support research to develop rust-resistant coffee varieties and expand the capability of Latin America’s coffee institutions to monitor and respond to outbreaks of the blight, USAID said.
Sharply falling production yields likely would result in U.S. consumers paying more for their favorite roasts, officials said.
The latest effort brings the agency’s investments in the fight against coffee rust to $14 million, officials said.