President of the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association Donald Salmon and Dorienne Rowan Campbell, vice president of the association.
With one week left until the sixth staging of the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, coffee growers are excited about the event and the boost it will give to the coffee industry.
Members of the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association (JCGA), who produce around 80 per cent of the world-renowned Blue Mountain coffee, are encouraging Jamaicans at home and abroad, as well as visitors to the island, to attend the festival and partake of this fine Jamaican product.
JCGA President Donald Salmon told Loop News: “I would encourage persons both locally and abroad to support the Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, which is an important event for the rebuilding of the coffee industry and increasing foreign exchange earnings.”
Salmon noted that the coffee industry earns between US$15 million and US$20 million per year. The marquee event is scheduled for next Saturday, March 25, in Newcastle, the area where the famous coffee cherries are grown. The 5,000 farmers in the association are anticipating increased sales of coffee as a result of the festival.
“It’s an important showcase of Blue Mountain coffee. The festival atmosphere is one of positivity in which the farmers are expecting more trade in the future,” Salmon said.
The JCGA represents all coffee growers in Jamaica and produces 80 per cent of the coffee grown in the Blue Mountains. However, only 10 per cent of the coffee produced is exported, a figure which stakeholders are working to increase in order to earn more foreign currency for the country.
With March being recognised as Coffee Month, Salmon highlighted several other activities to boost the sector, including farmers’ workshops in Portland and St Thomas, and the soft launch of a coffee shop in Port Antonio, Portland.
