Coping with the Coffee Crisis

Download or read book Coping with the Coffee Crisis written by Meike Wollni and published by Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften. This book was released on 2007 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the turn of the millennium, world coffee prices dropped to their lowest levels in 30 years giving rise to the most severe crisis experienced by the coffee sector. The study evaluates the effects of the coffee crisis on the Costa Rican coffee sector and identifies the factors that influence farmers' production and marketing performance. A two-step selection model is applied to analyze farmers' participation in specialty markets and cooperatives and the effects on producer prices. Furthermore, a stochastic production frontier is estimated to explore technical efficiency levels of specialty and conventional coffee farmers. Based on the results of the study, policy recommendations are derived that should help farmers to improve their competitiveness and their ability to cope with the crisis. These include the provision of extension and information, the support of coffee cooperatives, and the diversification of the rural economy.