(Jamaica Gleaner) Farmers of coffee in Jamaica’s high mountains have witnessed a two-thirds dip in production from pre-pandemic levels.
Jamaica produces many varieties of coffee but two mountain regions define the brew: high mountain and the Blue Mountains, the latter being the highest elevation on the island and the source of premier coffee that is world renowned.
The fall in high mountain production comes amid a double-digit rise in Blue Mountain production.
“High mountain coffee really is in trouble,” said John Minott, general manager of Jamaica Standard Products Limited, JSP, in an interview with the Financial Gleaner.
JSP is the largest producer of high mountain coffee in Jamaica.
In 2023, high mountain production, covering the central and western regions of Jamaica, plummeted to 300 tonnes, which was two-thirds lower than the six-year average of 980 tonnes, according to the Economic and Social Survey Jamaica, produced by the Planning Institute of Jamaica.
Concurrently, Blue Mountain coffee production, in the east, surged to 7,845 tonnes, which was 40 per cent higher than the six-year average of 5,600 tonnes.
“It is not very profitable, and high mountain production continues to decline,” Minott said.
