Imperatives for Coffee Smallholders Against Climate Change
When it comes to climate change, very little, if anything, is immune from its effects and one of the world’s most beloved crops is certainly no exception.
Across the world, coffee farmers are threatened by the impact of climate change on their trade, with smallholders facing especially daunting prospects.
The effects may be apparent within the industry, but recent studies have been putting the severity of the issue into focus for consumers. For example, a study last year by theInternational Center for Tropical Agriculture, projected that Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia and Colombia — which combined account for 65 percent of global arabica bean production — will experience “severe losses” unless steps are taken to change the genetic makeup of coffee crops or the way in which they are grown.
Like many climate change risks, the effects are most acute at the local level and vary from region to region. They are also complicated by many uncertainties — the nature of climate change means that its disruptions are neither consistent nor predictable. Smallholder farmers will need to work alongside private industry and the development community to mitigate the damage in the most direct way possible — targeted, local agricultural solutions.
Shunichi Kouroki