July rains fail again as Tierra Verde coffee faces critical shortage

The rain that fell across Tierra Verde's central valleys last week lasted barely two hours and left the soil barely damp. Coffee farmers from the cooperative towns south of San Vicente reported that their plants, already stressed by June's dry spell, showed signs of leaf curl and delayed flowering. The Federal Agricultural Office recorded 34 millimetres of precipitation in the region for July, against a thirty-year average of 118 millimetres.

Cooperative leaders convened an emergency session on Tuesday to discuss the outlook for the autumn harvest. The consensus was grim: if August and September bring no sustained rainfall, the region's coffee yield could fall as much as forty percent below last year's figure. That would ripple through export prices at the federal exchange and cut income for the roughly 2,800 smallholder families whose livelihoods depend on the crop.

The drought has already begun to test the resilience of Tierra Verde's cooperative system. Some farmers are asking whether the cooperative can advance credit against an expected poor harvest, or whether they should diversify into faster-growing crops. The regional assembly's agriculture committee is meeting next week to consider emergency measures.