Guatemala Declares Agricultural Emergency

Revelation 6:5,6 NCV When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse, and its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard something that sounded like a voice coming from the middle of the four living creatures. The voice said, "A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, and do not damage the olive oil and wine!"

A coffee tree fungus has blighted the nation’s coffee crops to the point the government has declared an Agricultural Emergency. The fungus, which causes trees to lose their leaves, has infected at least 70% of the nation’s coffee crop.

The infection, called “coffee rust”, results in fewer beans and significantly lowered quality of beans.

Coffee is the nation’s overwhelmingly largest export. Coffee growers say the infection could result in hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs.

“If we don’t take the needed measures, in 2013-2014 our production could drop by 40%,” Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told the AP. He did not comment on the financial impact created by layoffs of the workers.

A University of Michigan researcher working in Mexico on coffee plants reported the disease is so virulent that he has lost a third of his plants and that remaining plants had lost four-fifths of their leaves.

The nation is not the only one impacted by the fungus. Honduras and Costa Rica have also declared national emergencies. El Salvador and Panama are expected to soon join the list of nations.

Leave a Reply

To have your avatar appear when commenting, please signup for the Gravatar service. Your email address will not be published.

 characters available

To have your avatar appear when commenting, please signup for the Gravatar service.