Coffee agency informs pest cut output

NAIROBI: Kenya has warned farmers that thrips, deadly and difficult to detect pests, may attack coffee farms this year and cut production of the beans, the state-owned Coffee Research Foundation (CRF) of Kenya said on Friday.

Kenya is a relatively small grower of the commodity but its speciality beans are famous for their high quality and are much sought after for blending with those from other countries.

The east African nation's coffee crop is traditionally susceptible to attack by pests and diseases such as the destructive Coffee Berry Disease, which attacks during the June-July window when the country experiences low temperatures across most producing areas.

The coffee research foundation warned farmers that the new pest attack by thrips is likely to worsen when the cold season is over, expected to be in sometime in August. It was unclear how much of the crop could be lost to the pest.

"The thrips have a potential to destroy crop though farmers may find it difficult to detect their presence due to their tiny nature," Joseph Kimemia, director of research at Kenya's Coffee Research Foundation (CRF) told Reuters.

"The tiny insects suck juices from the coffee leaves causing them to turn pale and we urge growers to be on the look out for such symptoms as well."

Attacks on crop by the green scales infestation as well as the Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) diseases are also likely to increase, the agency warned.

"If we could get some rains over the coffee growing areas in the coming weeks the effect of the thrips attacks could be mitigated because the insects thrive in dry weather. The rains could wash them off the crop leaves," the agency said.

In the 2007/08 crop year, the country witnessed a terrible bout of the Coffee Berry Disease that cut its output by 23 percent to 42,000 tonnes.

The industry regulator, Coffee Board of Kenya (CBK), said it is monitoring crop in key growing areas for cases of CBD.

"There have been no serious cases of CBD attack so far but we are closely monitoring the situation," Loise Njeru, managing director at CBK told Reuters.

The CRF in 2010 unveiled a new coffee variety named Batian that is resistant to the two worst diseases that plague the country's cro

Researchers estimate Batian could help to cut production costs by up to 30 percent due to its ability to resist Coffee Leaf Rust and Coffee Berry Disease.

The Agriculture Ministry expects the east African nation's coffee export earnings to rise by 5-10 percent in the 2010/11 season thanks to good prices and improved output.

Copyright Reuters, 2011