Devouring profit - International Coffee Organization

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tural products are coffee, bananas, sugar and cardamom. Other important crops are
rubber, cotton and maize, the last of which is the staple food in Guatemala. Beans and
wheat are other key crops followed by livestock. Over recent years coffee has often
been first in importance in Guatemalan agricultural exports and makes up about 30%
of the total exports, whilst representing only 13% of the agricultural area (Calvo, 1998).
Coffee production in Guatemala has been increasing despite the relatively constant
area under production (Figure 23) and currently the country has about 262,500 ha 36
planted to coffee. Production has been increasing over the last 5 to 6 years. Between
Hectares Planted
Quintals/ha Figure 23. Area planted in Coffee. Guatemala, 1985/86 – 1997/9837 .
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
50,000
0
85/86 87/88 89/90 91/92 93/94
Coffee Year
95/96 97/98
85/86 87/88 89/90 91/92
Coffee year
93/94 95/96 97/98
Figure 24. Coffee productivity in Guatemala, from 1985/86 - 1997/98.
36 Dr. Francisco Anzueto. Research Manager, Anacafé. Guatemala, 2000
37 Source: Anacafé, Guatemala