(1 Oct 2001)
1. Colombian President Andres Pastrana meeting with coffee growers
2. Cutaway Pastrana at podium
3. Audience
4. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Andres Pastrana, Colombian President
"My government has designed and will put in practice a complete set of measures so that coffee will continue to be a source of national pride. What have we done until now and what will we do."
5. Wide shot of meeting
6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Andres Pastrana, Colombian President
"Dear coffee growing friends, what we are announcing today is a new life for coffee. The government will be investing hundreds of millions of pesos so that we can back up the producer, give incentives to production, support scientific investigation, biodiversify, execute Plan Colombia. This is a firm commitment to coffee growers and their families."
7. Various of abandoned coffee plantation
8. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Carlos Gomez, coffee plantation owner
" We are all going to ruin, we are going bankrupt. That is why the president is here today fixing that problem, But the problem is a global one and if they don't fix that we are done for."
9. Pan of coffee beans
10. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Alberto Solar, farm manager
"It is very bad, the chemicals are too expensive, and coffee is too cheap, so it doesn't balance out.
(Q: Do you agree with the help that is being given by the government?)
"Yes I do agree with the help, it's their responsibility. But it has to be sustainable for the landowners."
11. Close shot of coffee beans then pull out to worker
12. Mid shot of wrokers gathering coffee beans
13. Wide shot of coffee plantation
STORYLINE:
In Colombia, coffee is as much a part of the national identity as a mainstay of the economy.
So a worldwide coffee crisis is hurting Colombia's pride as well as its pocketbook.
In response, the government on Thursday announced a dlrs 150 million rescue plan aimed at saving Colombia's signature industry.
Central America and African coffe growers, have been crippled by competition from market newcomer Vietnam, which recently climbed above Colombia to become the world's second-largest producer after Brazil.
Coffee remains Colombia's second most important legal industry, after oil.
But the price drop has hit businesses here hard.
Earlier this year, the national coffee grower's federation announced it would have to slash its budget for commercials featuring global coffee icon Juan Valdez, the fictional Colombian peasant with his striped poncho and his mule.
With producers already reeling under the price drop, nature dealt another blow.
Coffee businesses suffered heavy damage during a 1999 earthquake that killed more than a thousand people and ravaged cities and towns across the coffee belt.
Pastrana's plan is to help modernise plantations and processing plants, streamline marketing mechanisms, extend credit to plantation owners and subsidize farmers when prices fall below a preset floor.
He said some of the money will come from Plan Colombia, a drug crop eradication program being supported by dlrs 1.3 billion in aid from Washington.
In return, the government is demanding that coffee producers inject more dynamic management into an industry it says has lived off its laurels for too long.
The bailout plan may come too late for Carlos Gomez, the owner of a 50-year-old plantation on the outskirts of Armenia, 175 kilometers (110 miles) west of the capital.
Lush coffee bushes on the farm are heavy with bright red and green beans, but even a great crop may not turn a profit this year.
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