Coffee growers feel the heat

Coffee has for several decades now been a flagship product of the efforts to make trade with the developing world fair and to ensure that smallholder producers in tropical countries can make a reasonable living from the produce they export to the more affluent parts of the world. Now coffee is also set to become a prime example of how climate change disrupts agricultural production and endangers the livelihoods of some of the most vulnerable producers. Data from a three-year research project conducted in Kenya, Peru, Nicaragua and Mexico until February 2010 shows that coffee growers in these pilot areas are already feeling the heat as climate change affects their Coffee growers feel the heat harvest. The project, termed AdapCC (adaptation to climate change), has been set up by the UK-based ethical drinks company Cafédirect and Germany’s state-funded Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ; society for technical cooperation). Like tea, coffee thrives only in a very limited range of climate conditions. The project found that, in order to maintain quality and output in spite of the temperature increase, coffee plantations would have to move to higher altitudes at a speed of three to four metres per year. This would be difficult to achieve, as coffee grows slowly and suitable sites at higher altitudes are limited. Research results from all four AdapCC regions suggest that the changes in temperature and rainfall patterns will endanger the viability of smallholders, who still grow the majority of the world’s coffee supply. The AdapCC project has started to develop financial strategies for local producers to survive this crisis. Different solutions apply in different locations, but all will require continued financial support after the project runs out next year. Wolfgang Weinmann, Head of Strategic of Development at Cafédirect, said: “Climate change is real, it’s happening right now, and its effects are most severe for those least equipped to deal with them. Over the past three years, we’ve worked with growers around the world, all of whom are dealing daily with a phenomenon that necessitates immediate adaptation, not just long-term mitigation. While there’s no universal panacea to the problems farmers face, AdapCC has clearly demonstrated that, by working directly with the grower communities, we can collectively combat the effects of climate change.” Mark Chandler from the global research charity Earthwatch is sceptical about detailed predictions: “I think the general outcomes from the [Cafédirect] press release are difficult to interpret,” he says. However, he agrees that things are getting worse for farmers: “I have no doubt that changes in the