Coffee fungus raising prices

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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. government is stepping up efforts to help Central American farmers fight a devastating coffee disease ? and hold down prices.

At issue is a fungus called coffee rust that has caused more than $1 billion in damage across Latin American region. The fungus is especially deadly to Arabica coffee, the bean that makes up most high-end, specialty coffees.

Already, it is affecting the price of some of those coffees in the United States.

"We are concerned because we know coffee rust is already causing massive amounts of devastation," said Raj Shah, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Shah on Monday announced a $5 million partnership with Texas A&M University's World Coffee Research center to try to eliminate the fungus.

But the government isn't doing this just to protect $4 specialty coffees, as much as Americans love them. The chief concern is about the economic security of these small farms abroad. If farmers lose their jobs, it increases hunger and poverty in the region and contributes to violence and drug trafficking.

Washington estimates that production could be down anywhere from 15 percent to 40 percent in coming years, and that those losses could mean as many as 500,000 people could lose their jobs

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