Coffland Corp: Coffee Berry Disease: How to Take Care of Your Crops

This epidemic happens in all Coffea species.

Controlling every part of the coffee making process is hard. Most of the producers count with a complete staff who take care of the crops and the farmers. But sometimes nature plays against our will and producers must solve some mysteries.

In Kenya, back in the first years of the 20th century, farmers noticed that some coffee berries had small dark sunken spots. However, they collected the affected berries and discovered that the coffee beans were useless. Its properties were too affected, resulting in a lost crop.

This event led to a scientific study that determined a new natural phenomenon called the Coffee Berry Disease. It only affects coffee berries, but the leafs and flowers can be seen with the same dark spots and a pale pink crust on the lesion surface.

The Coffee Berry Disease host is a little bug species who is scientifically known as C. coffeanum. It has more than one specimen, but not all of them are harmful to the coffee plant. This bug lives around the plant, helping to its spreading. However, the C. coffeanum that affects the crop lives actually in the bean, eating it out.

Preventing Coffee Berry Disease

Infection and disease development is influenced by several factors: temperature, moisture, plant parts, and other microorganisms. That's why is so important to regulate the growing of the coffee fruits during its cropping.

Veteran coffee farmers know how to maintain their harvest, but if they neglect them, the consequences in production phase can be fatal. According to last studies, more than the 50% of the crop is lost by the spreading of this disease.

To maintain clean your coffee plants, you can choose between a plague control certified by chemical experts, that prevents the infection. The most effective already in the market are captafol, chlorothalonil, benomyl, thiophanate-methyl, thiabendazole, and dithianon.

Although, it's accepted to protect your future crops by modifying genetically the beans, that way your harvest will be invulnerable.

Another non-chemical alternative is removing the bugs from the plant manually before its get installed on the fruit or even stimulate an early flowering.

Coffee Berry Disease is a common phenomenon on the coffee crop in Africa, but slowly it has been seen in other countries like Hawaii, Guatemala, and Brazil. Don't worry about it! If you have the proper coffee crop management, it won't be a problem for your coffee business. Here at Coffland Corp, we offer you the last tips to prevent these type of anomalies around the coffee world. Keep reading our entries for more info!