Nicaraguan Coffee Ripe but Unharvested: Climate Change Pressure Drives Local Workers to Emigrate

For more professional coffee knowledge exchange and coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

Coffee Harvest Crisis in Nicaragua

The coffee harvest season in Nicaragua's Matagalpa region has begun in January, but many farms lack workers for harvesting. A Nicaraguan grower stated: "The fruits have ripened, but most of them can only end up falling on the ground. In recent years, picking coffee in Nicaragua hasn't been profitable, and now no workers are willing to do this job."

Coffee harvesting requires significant manual labor. Ripe coffee cherries are typically hand-picked and then manually transported. During the harvest season, workers pick several times based on the ripeness of the coffee cherries, then carry the harvested cherries through rugged mountain roads to processing plants. For such hard work, workers can only earn 5 or 6 US dollars per day.

Aura Lila Sevilla Kuan, former president of the Nicaraguan Coffee Association, stated: "The economy of the entire northern region of the country depends on coffee cultivation." Droughts in 2016 and 2017 weakened Nicaragua's coffee harvest. As yields fell below growers' investments, they began accumulating debt. Two consecutive hurricanes at the end of 2020 hit Central America, forcing growers to reduce hiring harvest workers to maintain financial balance.

In recent years, due to increased coffee production in other countries, the prices of most coffees on the market have been suppressed. Coupled with droughts and storms, coffee growers and harvest workers in Central America have had to choose to emigrate. Unemployed harvest workers from Nicaragua most commonly emigrate to nearby Costa Rica, while harvest workers from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala more often choose to head north.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat (ID: kaixinguoguo0925)

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473