Grant said that the MBCF will pay out approximately $100 million to the farmers who supplied Blue Mountain cherry berries to the factory between August 1, 2008 and February 28, 2009.

The payment includes $13 million in value of fertiliser supplied to the farmers during the crop year to assist the coffee trees with nutrients.

The payments will be made over the next three to four weeks, commencing with farmers in St Thomas, followed by St Andrew and Portland. A detailed schedule will be developed and dispatched to the company's 90 depots across the Blue Mountain region.

Grant made the announcement at a meeting of the Kingston and St Andrew Association of Branch Societies of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) at its head office on Church Street, Kingston, on Saturday, following the launch of its AGROFEST 2009 agricultural show, scheduled for Jamaica College on May 23.

Budgeted production

He said the announcement is an indication of the company's commitment to supporting Blue Mountain coffee farmers, as well as its employees.

"The company employs approximately 350 workers and purchased cherry berries from approximately 5,000 farmers. For the 2008-2009 crop, MBCF has exceeded its budgeted production for the year, but has still continued to purchase coffee from the farmers," Grant said.

"To date, the factory has purchased over 100,000 boxes, or one million pounds of green beans. This represents approximately 30 per cent of the Blue Mountain market. Based on the level of purchase, the factory would have paid approximately $350 million to coffee farmers, as total payment for the crop 2008-2009 for the period to February 28, 2009," he added.

He said MBCF will also commence a berry borer control programme within two weeks, with the support of the Coffee Industry Board (CIB), to assist farmers who supply coffee to the factory to help increase their revenues. It is estimated that damage to the coffee crop by the berry borer pest costs the industry about US$3 million (J$267 million) annually.