Following up on promises of aid to embattled coffee growers, the Mexican government has begun to distribute about 1.4 million pesos to help growers harvest beans in San Luis Potosi state.

The subsidies are a fraction of a much broader program announced in the summer to provide Mexican coffee farmers -- most of whom farm plots of less than 5 hectares -- with $533 million pesos in aid to help them pick the harvest.

The government began dispensing the funds in Puebla and Hidalgo states late last week, according to media reports.

In San Luis Potosi, one of 12 coffee producing states in Mexico, the aid will go to some 1,756 coffee producers in 47 coffee growing areas. San Luis Potosi is one of Mexico's smaller coffee producing states.

The harvest fund is meant to help farmers pay workers to pick the beans and defray costs as a global coffee crisis keeps prices in New York below the average costs of production.

The money is being distributed across the nation's growing areas according to harvest times, which vary from state to state.