Food: Sensitive beans: How climate change is affecting coffee

2023-04-16 06:13:04

Groceries
Vulnerable beans: How climate change is affecting coffee

Coffee berries are harvested on the plantation of the Biological Institute. photo

© Andre Penner/AP/dpa

Uganda wants to become Africa’s largest coffee producer. But more and more coffee farmers are struggling with small harvests. You are not alone: ​​climate change is affecting coffee production almost everywhere.

Even after weeks, the rain in February does not stop in the hilly area around Lake Victoria in eastern Uganda. It doesn’t usually rain there at this time of year, but rain and sunshine are no longer reliable. Christopher Bigambo, an 83-year-old coffee farmer from Namawojjolo, a small village 35 kilometers east of Kampala, is concerned: “There used to be a lot of coffee produced and we harvested by the sack. But now that’s not possible.” Other farmers in the region are also reporting massive harvest losses in the past season.

The Ugandan government is a thorn in the side of the dwindling income. Because they actually want to increase national coffee production to 20 million bags per year by 2030 – and replace Ethiopia as Africa’s largest coffee producer.

However, scientists are skeptical about the Ugandan plans because there is a long-term problem behind the crop losses. “We are observing that climate change is increasing the pressure on coffee farmers in almost all growing regions of the world,” says Roman Grüter, bioscientist at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. In Germany, this has long been noticeable in the price. Last year, the European statistical office Eurostat warned that coffee could become a luxury good. In addition to general inflation, this was mainly due to massive crop failures – caused by extreme climates.

In Brazil, these are by no means new. “We can name some very important climatic accidents that we have had in recent years,” says Márcio Ferreira, President of Brazil’s Coffee Exporters. A severe drought in the state of Espírito Santo, the largest producer of Robusta coffee in Brazil, caused the harvest in the South American country to fall from 13 million to 8.35 million bags from 2014 to 2016.

From a scientific point of view, such events are not surprising. In a study, Grüter and his research team found out that coffee suffers far more from climate change than other export fruits such as avocados or cashew nuts. “The Arabica bean in particular is very sensitive to higher temperatures,” says Grüter. The coffee plants love the warm, humid climate of the tropics, but place the highest demands on their environment. Similar to grapevines, changing soil conditions and temperatures have an immediate impact on taste and quality. In the long term, the rising temperatures also create a veritable paradise for pests such as the coffee cherry beetle or plant diseases – even at altitudes that were previously considered safe.

In addition, coffee farmers around the world have to be prepared for short-term extreme weather events such as droughts, storms and floods. According to the Federal Statistical Office, Honduras is the third largest coffee supplier for Germany after Brazil and Vietnam. It is already affected by two effects of climate change. “Coffee production in Honduras has been declining for five years,” said Napoleón Matute, an expert at the Honduran Coffee Institute. The Central American country between the Caribbean and the Pacific is repeatedly hit by hurricanes. According to experts, climate change is not necessarily making tropical storms more frequent, but they are likely to be stronger. At the same time, the number of droughts in the country is increasing.

There are few alternative options and new cultivation regions for the farmers. According to Grüter, Ethiopia and south-west Kenya, for example, are likely to gain new potential cultivation areas; Nevertheless, this is not news that should inspire optimism, says Christoph Gornott, head of the Department of Agroecosystem Analysis at the University of Kassel and at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: “Shifting production to higher altitudes is almost impossible.” Even if temperatures are suitable for growing coffee there, the soil conditions could reduce the quality of the coffee. The beans achieve the best quality in slightly acidic, nutrient-rich soil. In addition, there is a lack of know-how and infrastructure in the new regions, according to Gornott.

But climate change is not only presenting farmers with new challenges in terms of cultivation, the entire value chain is shaking, says Gornott: “In Africa, you can no longer rely on the usual dry seasons and parts of the coffee harvest are becoming more and more common due to mold infestation drying destroyed.”

Another problem, especially in Honduras, is climate-related migration, which is leading to a shortage of workers on the coffee farms there, says coffee expert Matute. Plantations are increasingly being abandoned. People emigrate after tropical storms or floods that cause great destruction. There are around 100,000 coffee producers in Honduras, mostly smallholders.

But even large coffee companies are likely to face problems in the future, according to Gornott. Because they mix different types of coffee to achieve a consistent taste with recognition value. Due to climate change, it will become increasingly difficult to achieve the same quality and quantity in the future. Therefore, there must be adjustment measures now.

Brazil learned from the severe drought almost ten years ago, says Márcio Ferreira from the Brazilian coffee exporters: “The entire coffee production had to reinvent itself.” Producers should have learned to collect water better. In addition, acreage has been reduced in recent decades and productivity increased.

Gornott also sees great potential for mixed crop cultivation. Higher plants provide shade for the coffee, protect the soil from erosion after heavy rainfall and increase the carbon and nutrient content in the soil. This storey extension also helps against the rising temperatures – but only to a degree. “With the current forecasts, we are heading for a warming of three degrees. In this temperature range, we are reaching the limits that can be offset by adaptation measures,” warns Gornott.

dpa

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