A group of industry and government representatives, the National Coffee Congress for Costa Rica, has upheld the nation’s ban on growing Robusta coffee.
Robusta cultivation was outlawed in Costa Rica in 1988 to encourage farmers to grow Arabica, which is traditionally regarded as the higher quality and higher value coffee variety.
Changing climatic conditions are expected to have a dramatic effect on the cultivation of Arabica, while the sturdier Robusta tree is seen as a more reliable crop in the face of climate change.
The move to reexamine Costa Rica’s regulations was supported by more than half of the members of the Congress, but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to change the existing rule.