Ecuador to Replace 80% Of Coffee Plants To Increase Productivity

  QUITO, Ecuador--Ecuador plans to replace  more than 80% of its coffee crop

over next eight years, aiming to increase productivity and plant varieties

resistant to diseases, such as the roya fungus.

  Javier Villacis, an Agriculture Ministry official, said Wednesday that the

government anticipates spending $120 million to replace plants and provide

technology, support and other services. The aim is to return Ecuador to the

ranks of the world's major coffee producers, as it was two decades ago.

  Currently, Ecuador has about 200,000 hectares of coffee crop, of which a 42%

have been affected by the roya fungus. Growers add their production also has

been curtailed aging plants and climate change, among others factors.

  The renovation plan includes 105,000 hectares of Arabica and 60,000 hectares

of robusta coffee.

  Last year, Ecuador produced about 630,000 60-kilogram bags of coffee compared

with about two million bags produced in 1990. For 2013 the Andean country

expect to produce no more than 400,000 bags.

  In August Ecuador's coffee exports were down about 37% from July, according

to data from the Ecuador's Association of Coffee Exporters, known as Anecafe.