Devouring profit - International Coffee Organization

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On average the share of CBB management of total production costs was 3.8% which
is lower than in other countries studied, e.g. Colombia where the share is about twice
that. The CBB cost also varies with farm size. Table 23 shows the CBB cost estimated
for three farm size categories.
Table 23. Cost of CBB management according to farm size.
If we take into account that the survey was carried out in year 2000-2001 before the
subsequent fall in prices, it is likely that farmers are currently prepared to spend less to
control CBB, leading to increased levels of infestation.
In order to establish the case for control, costs have to be less than estimated losses.
This is best done graphically and Figure 9 depicts potential losses together with the
CBB control cost. It should be noticed that when the loss line crosses over the CBB
cost, an equilibrium point is reached, meaning that for this particular loss, the cost of
the IPM strategy matches the loss. Using a graph of this sort can help to make a
rational decision on whether to control or not, assuming that the farmer can estimate
future losses. In reality the farmer does not resort to a graph but may make some form
of mental calculation which approximates to this. It would be interesting to know
more about how farmers arrive at their control decisions since this might guide future
extension efforts as well as research aimed at helping them to come to the right
decision.
In practice, because farmers do not sample, and extrapolation some months ahead to
harvest losses is difficult, they will probably tend to expend too much on control. Over
Figure 9. Crop losses and estimated average CBB management cost (horizontal line).