Early March 2025 saw both coffee seminar and festival in St Andrew with bumper crowds in attendance.

The showpiece annual event is sponsored jointly by Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining (MoAF&M). Coffee farmers should be the main beneficiaries of the event but they are oftentimes priced out of the activities with an entrance fee of $5,000 per person which excludes other expenses like food, transportation, etc — too expensive for some of the poorest farmers in the sector. The festival is seen by coffee farmers as a ‘big man thing’.

Nonetheless, the objectives of the event are to promote Blue Mountain coffee as a world-class brand, to encourage wider use of the product locally and internationally, to inspire greater investment in the growing and processing of the crop and to improve the welfare of farmers and their communities.

Sadly, these objectives are largely unrealised. International markets are declining due to high price demands and only 30 per cent of Blue Mountain coffee is used in local blends, compared to 70 per cent imported coffee from South American countries.

Down market coffee, the worst of the lot, is used in the hotels which would be a major market bloc for Blue Mountain coffee. Hotel operators claimed that local coffee is too expensive and will negatively affect their room cost, but where is the Government in the marketing of local produce in the tourism sector. Local coffee could be treated more favourable in the hotel trade, where it could be offered along side with imported coffee, like different types of alcohols and wines with different price points that has not affected room costs, etc.

The reality is that coffee conglomerates worldwide are trimming staff. Starbucks has cut 1,100 corporate positions from their 360,000 jobs in 2024 and the situation is similar for the Chinese companies Luckin, Cotti and Pacific Coffee, which are undergoing restructuring as a response to world price fluctuations while at the same time Panama Geisha coffee is experiencing robustness in sale.

Also major coffee-producing countries have set up taste validation workshops for 2025 and Jamaica is not listed among them. This is where government could partner with the Jamaica Coffee Growers Association, purchasers and roasters/manufacturer to bring these connoisseurs here to validate the coffee from which a marketing platform would be established and price points determined.

Jamaica continues to export green beans instead of roasting a larger amount of the Blue Mountain coffee into value-added products. Limited value-added facilities exist locally, with about 25 per cent Blue Mountain coffee being processed through value addition (roasting, grinding and packaging).

Farmers are getting $10,000 per box for coffee. Expenses for reaping, transportation, labour and inputs reduce the growers return to about $4,000 per box.

The festival’s attempt to attract investment in coffee is retarded by poor road conditions, inadequate extension officers with only one per parish (St Andrew, St Thomas, Portland) that comprises the Blue mountain zone, difficulties to get loans at affordable terms, poor collateral and absent of a coffee crop lein system. And why there is no coffee crop lein, which is a cash flow collateral system, but remained untapped for coffee farmers although the produce is sold to limited sales outlets with long history of good reputation.

Government failure to invest in roads, properly organised extension delivery service and research for coffee farmers is directly responsible for the low yield of average 23 boxes per acre.

An acre consists of 800 trees and with the required inputs and agronomic husbandry, where each tree could yield an average quarter box which would be 200 boxes per acre instead of 23 boxes. This is the manifestation of poor extension service, lack of government support and inadequate marketing structure.

Some properly managed farms are yielding are up to 0.37 box per tree or 300 boxes per acre. These yield figures change the profitability outlook, and if achieved coffee would be ready for new investment all other things being equal.

Jamaica Agricultural Regulatory Authority (JACRA) is tasked with responsibility to deliver extension and quality assurance for coffee farmers but the complaints are echoing louder every day because JACRA is unresponsive to these two fundamentals. Besides, the plan to have Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) assume responsibility for all extension services is still not done.

Additionally, the Observer article dated March 9, 2025 quoted a senior JACRA officer saying the taste profile of Blue Mountain coffee has deteriorated due to climate change without revealing the research findings to validate such a claim. Taste profile can be affected by many things such as varieties, post-harvest handling, poor husbandry; insufficient nutrients, etc. Nonetheless, the buyers are convinced that Blue Mountain coffee is inferior to Geisha from Panama or Robusta from the coffee growing countries of Africa according to the JACRA officer. And yet the locally grown Arabica is preferred to Robusta, Geisha, Tipica, etc, but research is needed if the Blue Mountain coffee should remain predominantly Arabica or mixed with other varieties

In fact, JACRA need to design research programmes with Bodles Research Station and the universities to include representative samples of coffee farmers for research findings to be accepted and impactful. Work should begin now with some prolific varieties in the Blue Mountain geographic zone and in the high mountain areas for both better yields and taste profile before any changes are approved..

The coffee festival could not address all these issues but it was designed to promote Blue Mountain coffee, not to suppress it, and since TEF and RADA developed Agricultural Linkage Exchange (ALEX) in 2017, was coffee sale a part of this much talked about e-commerce platform which generated sale of $40 million in the first two months of 2025.

ALEX needs clarity. Does this $40 million include imported food stuff (Irish potatoes, vegetables and fruits) or did it factor for produce like coffee, the spices, livestock and value added products.

It’s puzzling to hear of ALEX strong performance with sale engagements of approximately $450 million in 2024 when the year experienced two hurricanes (Beryl and Raphael) which helped to trigger two quarters of decline in the agricultural sector that has been declining from 2022.

The recent tomato glut in St Elizabeth and the obfuscation in coffee market seem to escape the tentacles of ALEX because it’s after farmers have lost heavily, RADA senior officers are claiming that they have now identified markets for the tomatoes and that it was not a glut but poor distribution problem, which thickens the puzzle about the use and application of ALEX and where were RADA marketing officers when this massive tomato crop was planted. Similarly, did ALEX integrate Jampro to convince hotels to use even 30 per cent of Blue mountain coffee in their offerings as how government used the law to force local coffee manufacturers to use a minimum of 30 per cent Blue Mountain coffee in their formula.

Maybe ALEX farmer base of 2,000 is too minuscule to impact 250,000 registered farmers of which the tomato growers belong but not connected to ALEX e-commerce platform, although RADA share ownership with TEF for ALEX. This platform must not be allowed to diminish any further and should be topical to RADA monthly meeting to where TEF should be invited.

I was involved with the development of ALEX in it initial stages as CEO of RADA and a member of TEF oversight committee and still hold it in high regard but would love for it to be integral platforms marketing local produce instead of being used as festival showpiece.