El Salvador's new harvest season for coffee beans has begun, with labor shortages posing a challenge.

According to a report by El Diario de El Salvador, Sergio Ticas, President of the Salvadoran Coffee Association, pointed out that this harvest season is expected to require over 150,000 harvest workers. However, the biggest issue is that the young labor force that previously engaged in harvesting has largely moved to the construction and manufacturing industries. Currently, the harvesting work is mainly sustained by elderly and female laborers.

Ticas stated that the harvesting work has begun in the coffee-growing areas at low and medium altitudes, mainly in the eastern regions, parts of the western regions, and the city of Zacatecoluca. These areas started harvesting early because of unusually early rainfall in January and February, which caused the coffee trees to bloom ahead of schedule.

"If the rainfall continues and there is a sudden drought, it may exacerbate the spread of coffee rust disease," Ticas explained.

Ticas also revealed that the peak period of the harvesting work is expected to occur from early November to December, mainly in the coffee-growing areas above 900 meters above sea level.

On the other hand, the Salvadoran Coffee Association pointed out that agricultural costs have also increased, mainly reflected in the 15% to 20% rise in fertilizer costs over the past two years.

Ticas stated that the rising trend in agricultural input prices is closely related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that erupted in February 2022.

In the face of the current situation, the Salvadoran Coffee Association hopes that the banking sector can introduce relief measures for small-scale producers to provide convenient support for paying labor employment costs.