Devouring profit - International Coffee Organization

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5.3 Economics of
CBB in Guatemala
Several experiments and studies about economic aspects of CBB have been developed
in Guatemala, e.g. Decazy (1989), Ochoa et al. (1989), Zelaya et al. (1989),
demonstrating that this problem has received considerable attention there.
5.3.1 Losses due to CBB
Ochoa et al. (1989) found that losses in weight increased proportionally as infestation
level rose. They estimated losses at two different altitudes, the first at 457 m above
level sea and the second at 762 m. The average function over 3 harvests for the
higher altitude was as follows:
Where:
Y= % of total losses in the harvest (including all parchment coffee qualities, by weight)
X= % of beans perforated by CBB
If we take the case of Santa Isabel, a large Guatemalan coffee estate as an example,
according to Mr. Bartolo Lacan the manager, the average productivity for the last three
years would be around 45 quintals (qq) of parchment coffee / ha.
For this productivity we can simulate potential losses due to different levels of CBB in
coffee fields following Ochoa’s function assuming a price of US$42/qq of parchment
coffee.
Figure 11 shows the losses per manzana (0.7 ha) and the cost of the cultural control,
assuming this is constant at 136 Quetzals/manzana (US$17 at 1999 farm prices). Because
we know losses for different levels of CBB, a loss function can be estimated in
this case, which is as follows.
Where:
Y =
6.46 .
Y= Loss in US$ per manzana
X= % of beans perforated by CBB
So we have now two functions. On the one hand the loss function as estimated and
X