Waking up to world coffee crisis

Small farmers, especially in Latin America, are being driven into poverty by the plunging price they get for coffee beans.
By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 11, 2002

TEZUMAPAN, Mexico -- Three years ago, Esteban Romero's small coffee plantation in the cloud-covered uplands of Veracruz state produced just enough money for his family to get by.

But world market prices have fallen so low lately that he wonders whether he can afford to harvest another crop.

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