Devouring profit - International Coffee Organization

60
For the same percentage of CBB the potential economic losses are obviously much
higher when the farms have intensive rather than traditional production systems. Because
of greater potential losses they may thus resort to too many control activities,
especially excessive spraying.
Figure 13 shows for instance the case of a coffee farm with a productivity of 80
arrobas/ha, where levels of 20% of CBB in the parchment coffee would present losses
of about USD$145/ha. For the same level of CBB but on a farm producing 200 arrobas/
ha, the loss would correspond to USD$484/ha.
Loss in USD/ha/year
532
443
355
266
177
87
0
1% 4% 7% 10% 13% 16% 19%
(%) Infestation level
Coffee
Productivity
80 @/ha/year
120 @/ha/year
160 @/ha/year
200 @/ha/year
Figure 13. Potential economic losses due to CBB for different productivities.
5.5.2 CBB management costs
Since CBB management can vary widely between farms, Cenicafé has developed a
theoretical model that analyses these costs. Two assumptions are made, firstly the cost
of the management can vary depending on the age of the coffee plot and secondly,
the coffee plantation should be split into five plots with ages of between 1 and 5
years, corresponding to the recommended 5 year life cycle of the crop in Colombia.
Table 25 describes the pattern (Duque, 2001).
The model additionally assumes intensive control of CBB which would only be justified
in cases of severe attacks. It further assumes that the cost of the IPM strategy
during the first two years of the plantation is very low and that as the plot ages the
costs markedly increase.
From the costs presented in the table those corresponding to cultural control should
be considered as fixed costs of CBB control and therefore should be executed independently
of the infestation level. However the other costs (biological, chemical, etc.)