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Central America

Alert: Central American Coffee Growers Facing Rust Epidemic

May 6th, 2013 • by Sara Gustafson

Coffee crops throughout Central America are being hit hard by a widespread fungal infection known as coffee leaf rust. The outbreak of the disease, which begins by attacking the leaves and can eventually kill the entire coffee plant, could lower the region's total coffee harvest by as much as 20 percent in 2013. The loss is expected to reach a whopping US$600 million in value.