The Indonesian state forest managers have accepted farmer-managed coffee agroforestry in their estates as part of their social forestry program. Access by local farming communities to state-owned plantation forestry supports public motivation to maintain forest cover. However, balancing the expectations and needs of forest managers with those of the local farming communities is not easy. Coffee yields in Indonesia are lower than those of neighboring countries, suggesting that there is scope for improvement. Here we describe an experimental research platform developed through an international collaboration between the Universitas Brawijaya (UB), the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH), and smallholder coffee farmers to explore options for improving pine-coffee agroforestry systems within existing regulations. Located in a former state-owned pine production forest on the slopes of the stratovolcano, Mount Arjuna, in the Malang Regency of East Java, the research platform has seven instrumented research plots (40 × 60 m2), where agronomic practices can be trialed. The aim of the platform is to support the development of sustainable agronomic practices to improve the profitability of coffee agroforestry and thus the livelihood of low-income rural communities. Current trials are focused on improving coffee yields and include pine canopy trimming, fertilizers, and coffee pruning trials, with links to the development of socio-economic and environmental models. Whilst it is too early to assess the full impacts on yields, a survey of farmers demonstrated a positive attitude to canopy pruning, although with some concern over labor cost. The initial ecosystem modelling has highlighted the benefits of coffee agroforestry in balancing environmental and economic benefits. Here we provide a detailed description of the site, the current trials, and the modelling work, with the hope of highlighting opportunities for future collaboration and innovation.
Tag: coffee
Planning for Adaptation: A System Approach to Understand the Value Chain’s Role in Supporting Smallholder Coffee Farmers’ Adaptive Capacity in Peru
Coffee is a major global commodity whose production is sustained by and provides livelihoods for millions of smallholder families in the tropics. However, it is highly sensitive to climate change and the climate risk family farmer’s face from direct impacts on coffee production are often compounded by further impacts on the physical and social landscapes and infrastructure. We examine the vulnerability (sensitivity and adaptive capacity) of smallholder coffee farmers in northeastern Peru via the lens of their central participation in a value chain that mediates access to livelihood assets, affecting their adaptive capacity and aspects of their sensitivity. Using a staged and participatory, mixed-methods approach, we sought to understand the territorial climate exposure, the structure of the regional value chain and role of different actors in supporting farmer adaptive capacity, and assess the vulnerability of the entire value chain (including other actors in addition to farmers). We found heterogeneity not only in the potential impact of climate change on coffee production, future adaptation needs and vulnerability of farmers across the territory (among elevational zones and regions), but in the distribution of vulnerability among value chain actors. Farmers are the most vulnerable actors, simultaneously the most sensitive and with the lowest adaptive capacity, issues stemming from their strong territorial dependence and pre-existing social and economic asymmetries with actors in the coffee value chain who are not as territorially dependent (e.g., private companies). We make the case that supporting the adaptation of smallholder farmers in the study region requires moving beyond a value-chain approach to a territorial systems perspective that more intentionally involves those actors with stronger, locally vested interests (e.g., local governments and institutions) in their adaptation and requires the strengthening capacities of these actors in various areas.
Comprehensive Review of Fungi on Coffee
Coffee is grown in more than 80 countries as a cash crop and consumed worldwide as a beverage and food additive. It is susceptible to fungal infection during growth, processing and storage. Fungal infections, in particular, can seriously affect the quality of coffee and threaten human health. The data for this comprehensive review were collected from the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) website and published papers. This review lists the fungal species reported on coffee based on taxonomy, life mode, host, affected plant part and region. Five major fungal diseases and mycotoxin-producing species (post-harvest diseases of coffee) are also discussed. Furthermore, we address why coffee yield and quality are affected by fungi and propose methods to control fungal infections to increase coffee yield and improve quality. Endophytic fungi and their potential as biological control agents of coffee disease are also discussed.
Risk and time preferences for participating in forest landscape restoration: The case of coffee farmers in Uganda
In recent years, Uganda has experienced widespread forest loss and degradation, mainly driven by agricultural expansion and rising demand for forest products. The adoption of agroforestry is regarded as one of the key strategies in forest landscape restoration in agriculture. While the benefits of agroforestry are widely acknowledged, adoption among smallholder farmers is sluggish. This study analyzes how individual risk and time preferences affect smallholder farmers’ choice of attributes of companion trees within coffee agroforestry systems in the Mt. Elgon region in Uganda. Farmers’ risk and time preferences are elicited using lottery-based experiments, whereas farmers’ choices of preferred attributes for companion trees are determined using a discrete choice experiment. The data from the different experimental designs are combined to establish how risk and time preferences affect the decision to integrate companion trees into coffee farms. Farmers’ choices of tree attributes are analyzed based on random utility models, and farmers’ risk and time preferences are measured using cumulative prospect theory and quasi-hyperbolic discounting. The results reveal that most farmers are both risk and loss averse with high discount rates (impatience), and they are willing to pay more for quality tree seedlings. Analyzing the behavioral parameters in combination with discrete choice data on the preferred choice of tree attributes reveals a close association between farmers’ aversion to risk and loss and high discount rates with preferences for trees that grow fast, improve soil fertility, and provide fuelwood. This study offers unique insights for researchers, extension officers, and policymakers, on how farmers’ risk and time preferences and preferred attributes can be used to tailor agroforestry interventions to be attractive for farmers in different contexts in pursuit of broader forest landscape restoration goals. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Eco-certified Coffee Agroforestry in Indonesia: Reconciling Conflicting Goals?
Global supply chains are undergoing rapid transformations that change the way food is produced in developing countries and traded across the world. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of different certification schemes that require farmers to adopt certain production and quality standards in order for them to gain access to international markets for highervalue products. Such certification schemes (e.g. Fairtrade, Organic and others) are founded on ethical codes that try to address the social and economic conditions of farmers as well as contribute to environmental sustainability. However, there is still an ongoing debate on whether farmers in producing countries like Indonesia actually benefit. This chapter explores coffee eco-certification schemes in Indonesia and, in particular, does a cost-benefit assessment of local standards across the coffee certification value chain.
How much do cocoa and coffee contribute to livelihoods in Africa?
Cocoa and coffee are tree commodities essential to West and East African economies. In West Africa, smallholder farmers produced an estimated 73% of total cocoa production as of 2015, with the average farm size being around one to four hectares (Wessel and Quist-Wessel 2015). These farmers rely heavily on cocoa production, and it constitutes a significant proportion of their household income (Bymolt et al 2018). Since the 1930s, West African farmers have been world leaders in cocoa production led by Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon, competing with Southeast Asia and small volumes from the Latin American countries of origin. Cocoa is relevant to the economies of several countries (Figure 14.1). In Cote d’ Ivoire, although the cocoa contribution to the national GDP has been fluctuating over the years, it peaked at 10% in 2003 and was about 7% as of 2013. For Ghana and Cameroon, cocoa contributes approximately 2-4% to the respective countries’ GDP. Similarly, cocoa exports constituted about 40% of Cote d’ Ivoire’s total export value as of 2016, the highest over the last three decades. Cocoa’s contribution to Ghana’s exports has however, been on a decline over the years, from 52% in 1987 to about 10% in 2016.
Cocoa and coffee in Asia: contrasts and similarities in production and value addition
Cocoa and coffee are important components of many tropical landscapes, at the start of value chains that reach the vast majority of global citizens through a variety of beverages and consumables. Yet, the specific history and current modes of production differ between the three main tropical continents and need to be understood in their historical, ecological, social and economic context.
Vietnam’s Coffee Story: Lessons for African Countries
Coffee represents an important tree commodity for several developing countries across the humid tropics, with massive evidence in Asia (as illustrated in van Noordwijk et al 2022). This is apparent from the commodity’s role as a source of employment, revenue, and a huge influence on the balance of payments. Following Brazil, Vietnam is the second-largest exporter of coffee in the world. It has come from a little-known coffee producer to a commanding player with more than 10% share in the global coffee market in about a generation. In 1990, the coffee production was estimated at 92,000 tonnes and rose to 1,683,971 tonnes in 2019 (FAOSTAT 2019). This places Vietnam at a production position of 59% of the Asian & Oceania total production. This is far beyond the total African production of 18,514 (thousand 60-kg bags) (FAOSTAT 2019). According to the Department of Crop Production of Vietnam (2019), the total land area of coffee is 664,000 ha, of which 93% Robusta and 7% Arabica (CUC TRÔNG TROT). To its national economy, coffee contributes 1.5% of the export revenues; hence, presenting 3% of the GDP and making it the second most valuable agricultural commodity (UNIQUE, n.d.). The export value of the coffee sector in 2015 was estimated at USD 2.67 billion, with Germany and the USA as the largest importers at a share of 13.4% and 11.7% market share, respectively (Thang and Phuc 2016).
Taxonomic and phylogenic appraisal of a novel species and a new record of Stictidaceae from coffee in Yunnan Province, China
Coffee, an important economic crop, is often threatened by fungal infections. During a survey of coffee fungi in Yunnan Province, China, two saprobic Stictidaceae species were collected. Maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian posterior probability of combined LSU, ITS and mtSSU genes supported the placement of our fungal collections within Fitzroyomyces and Ostropomyces with high statistical support. A new species, Fitzroyomyces yunnanensis sp. nov. and a new record, Ostropomyces pruinosellus are introduced. These two species were recorded on coffee wood in sexual and asexual states, respectively. Their taxonomic placements were further supported by detailed morphological and phylogenetic comparisons of allied taxa.
Impacts of land use and land cover dynamics on ecosystem services in the Yayo coffee forest biosphere reserve, southwestern Ethiopia
Land management to increase food production while conserving the environment and associated ecosystem services (ESs) is one of the major development and research challenges of the 21st Century. Any land-use practice or change to obtain a particular ecosystem service affects the other ES positively or negatively. The dynamics of these changes is more marked in biodiversity hotspot areas like UNESCO registered Yayo coffee forest biosphere reserve in southwestern Ethiopia. We used a time series InVEST modeling framework to estimate six ESs and analyze their spatial and temporal dynamics due to land-use/cover change over the last 31 years. Pearson correlation coefficients and k-mean clustering were employed to analyze tradeoffs/synergies and to cluster ESs supply spatially. The analysis also considers land-use change impact in the three management zones (core, transition and buffer) of the Yayo biosphere area. The production efficient frontier is used to identify the optimal combination of ESs and to suggest where an increase of one ES is possible without decreasing the others. Mostly, the highest change is observed in the transition zone followed by buffer zones. Positive correlation (synergies) are observed between regulating ecosystem services. Negative correlations (tradeoffs) are observed between provision ecosystem services. The clustering analysis shows that the spatial ESs can be divided in two clusters (bundle): cluster 1 with “High regulating ESs” that can be characterized by core zone and some forest patches in the central part of the biosphere reserve, and cluster 2 with “High provisioning ESs areas” that can be characterized by cultivated lands at transition and buffer zones. The result shows that the existing ES pairs are far from the Pareto efficient combination(s), confirming that landscape optimization for ES bundles are rarely possible on the ground due to many reasons and indicating the need for well thought land restoration strategies and land management practices that are forest type and context specific.