Some Central America coffee farms see storm damage

GUATEMALA CITY, June 2 (Reuters)- Tropical Storm Agatha, which killed at least 180 people across Central America, spared most of the region's coffee farms but some growers said on Wednesday they were not so lucky and face major losses.

Agatha, the first named storm of the 2010 Pacific hurricane season, slammed into the Guatemalan coast near the border with Mexico on Saturday, causing rivers to overflow and wash away villages.

Dozens of people were still missing in Guatemala and rescuers struggled to reach remote communities after the storm cut off roads and destroyed dozens of bridges.

Guatemalan growers group Anacafe estimated storm damage could reduce overall 2010/11 production in the country, Central America's No. 1 producer, by 3 percent.

In May, Anacafe told Reuters the 2010/11 crop would reach 3.76 million 60-kg bags, up 10 percent from the previous cycle. The coffee growing season runs from October to the following September.

Guatemalan farmers in the region where the storm hit hardest over the weekend said they suffered damage.

"What we lost most is land, coffee plants," said Andres Cotuco, manager of a group of 112 growers in western Guatemala that produces an average of 920 60-kg bags a year. "We've had landslides. We're evaluating with our associates, one by one."

Guillermo Campa, president of a cooperative of 150 small producers in western Guatemala, said he expects to lose about half of the harvest because of flooding and mudslides.

"We've had very serious damage because of all this rain," said Campa, whose group produces about 1,180 60-kg bags a year. "Landslides brought down coffee crops. We lost almost all of our organic fertilizer."

The floods destroyed some roads and bridges in neighboring El Salvador, complicating access to coffee farms, and knocked some ripening coffee cherries off trees, which could have an impact on this season's output.

But the extent of the damage was not yet fully known.

High quality coffee from Guatemala and El Salvador, grown in the countries' rich, volcanic soil, is generally hand-picked on small farms, and the gourmet arabica beans fetch top dollar abroad.

Damages to individual farms can be a blow to U.S. specialty buyers who focus on estate-grown coffee.

Some Guatemalan crops had already been battered by the Pacaya volcano which exploded two days before the storm, spewing a thick layer of ash and small rocks on coffee farms around the colonial tourist town of Antigua, which is known for its top-end beans.

ICE July arabica coffee futures on Wednesday dropped 1.15 cents to finish at $1.3540 per lb, after hitting a three-week high of $1.3810. There was no clear indication the Central American storm was significantly affecting prices.

"The greatest risk, that will be verifiable after the next eight days, is the loss of still-ripening cherries," El Salvador's national coffee foundation, known as Procafe, said in a statement.

Agatha's heavy rains left soggy soil that could have damaged plants in certain areas, Procafe said.

Some farmers in Guatemala said they were concerned prolonged humidity could cause a devastating fungus on the plant leaves.

But Anacafe said plant disease caused by the rains is unlikely to be a major problem for the country's crop overall. Landslides on farms were largely avoided because coffee trees stabilize the soil. (Additional reporting by Leslie Josephs in Mexico City and Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; editing by Jim Marshall)

From: Reuters