The last extension approved by the Legislative Assembly to suspend seizures for unpaid credits granted through the Environmental Trust for the Conservation of the Coffee Forest (Ficafe) and the Emergency Fund for Coffee (FEC), expires on the last day of the year.

These producers contribute 70 percent of the crop in the country and if they do not pay banks will proceed to seize their farms.

To avoid the move, Acafesal is requesting a new extension of at least two years, to allow the owners to recover and pay off their debts, amounting to nearly 151 million dollars.

Reactivating trusts is a “concern for the entire sector,” said Sergio Ticas, president of Acafesal, who specified that three months ago they met with representatives of the Salvadoran Coffee Institute (ISC) to request a new extension, but they received no response.

According to insiders, Ficafe was created in 2001 together with the financial system to support producers in the midst of a crisis of low international prices, while the FEC was established in 2000 to grant an advance to coffee growers of 25 dollars for each hunderdweight of green coffee.

The situation worsened after the attack of the rust plague in the 2012-2013 cycle and the collapse of production to less than half, which forced the issuance of a transitional law to suspend Ficafe payments until December 2018.

That period was modified at the request of the producers for 2021 and in January 2022 the third extension was approved.

According to the union, outstanding obligations amount to 125 million, while FEC reports a little more than 26 million dollars. Adding to economic woes are the unfulfilled government promises of restructuring and financing the renewal of coffee stocks through the Trust for the Rescue of Coffee Growing (Firecafé), which was approved by the Legislative Assembly in May 2021, entailing 640 million dollars.

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