With coffee prices wallowing at lows not witnessed for over three decades, some farmers struggling to scrape together a living are turning to drugs in desperation, senior industry officials warn.
Farmers in some countries, notably in Latin America, are giving up coffee growing in favor of coca -- the leaf from which cocaine is derived.
"I think in Colombia, it's a big problem," said Pablo Dubois, head of operations at the International Coffee Organization, which represents both producers and consumers. "They are finding now that coffee is not economic -- obviously that makes a big temptation for some people who have the option to switch to cocaine."
Roberio Silva, secretary general of the Association of Coffee Producer Countries (ACPC), told the BBC that there was evidence that Central America and Peru were facing similar problems.
Coffee may be the second-biggest commodity after oil, but, unlike oil producers, efforts by coffee producers to limit supplies to buttress prices have had little success.
Robusta coffee prices recently slumped to just US$448 a tonne, from US$1,300 only two years ago, as new producers, notably Vietnam, have swamped the market.
In Central America nearly 1.5 million jobs are at risk; many farmers have already given up and emigrated.
In Ethiopia, the third-largest African producer, coffee exports fell 20 percent in the 2000/2001 season, and the value of the exports by over 30 percent.
After two meetings earlier this year to try to patch up a faltering retention plan, which started in October last year, the ACPC's efforts to tackle the crisis seem to have hit a wall.
"It's been quite surprising that the continued erosion of prices hasn't prompted any calls for producer meetings," said Andrea Thompson, an analyst at Commodityexpert.com.
This year's crop is set to be another bumper harvest. The worst of the southern hemisphere's winter has passed by in number-one producer Brazil with no sign of the frost damage that might crimp supply.
But there are signs that producers such as Vietnam are now making efforts to tackle the crisis.
The Vietnamese government has been urging farmers to substitute coffee for other crops to diversify production.
But rather than coca leaves, the government has asked farmers to give land over to the production of crops such as jute, tobacco and rice.
Thompson said that Vietnam was also planning to uproot coffee plantations to reduce growing areas by 20 to 30 percent.
Dubois said his organization was also working with the ACPC on a possible scheme to eliminate low-grade coffees beans.
Such measures would be more effective than retention because they would actually eliminate coffee, rather than leave stocks hanging over the market, he said.
But many experts are skeptical about prospects for such a plan.
"I doubt that the countries will be able to find enough money to implement it," said a trader at the Refco brokerage, Jerome Jourquin.
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