Global warming | impact of Climate on Coffee cultivation three difficult problems of Coffee Belt transfer and cultivation

There may be no greater existential threat to coffee and the world as a whole than climate change. We often talk about climate change in coffee, and it is generally believed that global warming will have a negative impact on the way coffee is grown. But how exactly does climate change affect coffee? To better understand, let's take a look at some of the ways in which temperature changes damage coffee production.

Transfer planting area

The most significant impact of climate change on coffee production is simply changing where it grows. Historically, coffee has been grown in the so-called coffee belt, the area between the Tropic of Cancer and the North and South latitudes, extending 25-30 degrees on both sides of the equator, where about 70 producing countries live. Coffee needs a specific climate to grow-mild temperatures, warm days and cool nights, obvious rainy and dry seasons, humidity, etc.-and the region in the middle of the earth meets these conditions. However, as global warming causes temperatures to rise, land suitable for growing coffee will move outside the traditional coffee belt. According to the 2018 World Coffee Research Annual report, 47% of global coffee production comes from countries that may lose more than 60% of their suitable coffee grounds by 2050. Further complicating the problem, another study found that 60% of wild coffee varieties may be at risk of extinction because of climate change.

First, the transfer of coffee needs to replant coffee trees throughout the region (not to mention the damage to areas that cannot now support the agricultural products that are usually the lifeblood of the region). For example, coffee, especially high-end specialty Arabica beans, tends to prefer mountainous areas, where high elevations meet many of the climate needs mentioned above. New and suitable land zones may not necessarily be the same mountainous environment.

Unpredictable weather

Climate change not only makes the earth hotter, but also disrupts weather patterns. Coffee is very picky; it is best suited for predictable weather, such as the obvious rainy and dry seasons. Global warming is destabilizing these weather patterns, from floods to droughts to rainy seasons earlier than usual. This may cause trees to blossom prematurely or sporadically, resulting in uneven ripening of cherries, prolonging harvest time and making it more difficult to pick crops at ideal maturity.

Uneven ripening and longer harvests of cherries may prevent producers from maximizing production, thereby reducing already meagre profits. Coupled with many other problems faced by farmers, producers can reduce losses and stop growing coffee altogether, which is an already fragile enterprise.

In addition, extreme weather and natural disasters can even prevent coffee from entering the market. Floods and landslides, as occurred in Rwanda in May 2020, destroy processing plants and disrupt shipping routes between farms, factories and ports.

Higher temperatures mean more threats.

In addition to climate change, the two biggest threats to coffee production are leaf rust and coffee borer, and as the global average temperature rises year by year, coffee plantations become more suitable for both. In addition to unpredictable rainfall, hotter temperatures create an ideal growing environment for Hemileiavastatrix, which is estimated to cause coffee leaf rust, damage crops and reduce yields by up to 82 per cent. Similarly, the coffee beetle likes warm climates, where it destroys crops by drilling into coffee cherries and planting their eggs in seeds.

Reduction of labor force

Coffee harvest is a manual labor-intensive process, which relies heavily on migrant workers. Without skilled workers, especially during the harvest season, when many workers in Central America travel from one country to another, the coffee will not be picked at all, but will die on the coffee vine. According to the Immigration Policy Institute, 21.5 million people become climate change refugees each year, displaced by extreme weather and natural disasters caused by climate change.

Unpredictable weather will not only hinder the growth of coffee, but may also limit the available labor needed to produce coffee. In theory, moving / expanding coffee belts will further disperse coffee production, making it difficult for skilled workers to move around from harvest to harvest.

Transportation interruption

The growers and consumers of most of the world's coffee are different. And it needs to be transported to the final destination, usually by ship. Global sea levels are rising as climate change causes polar ice caps to melt. This will affect the transportation channel. According to shipping and freight resources companies, global warming is causing shipping channels to be diverted, increasing damage to port infrastructure and reducing productivity. These will increase the unpredictability and delay of shipping times as well as price increases. As an agricultural product with meagre profits, coffee cannot be processed.

Even if planting areas change, yields decline, threats increase and prices rise, the fact is that we do not have a comprehensive understanding of how global warming has affected or will affect the coffee trade; this article is only on the surface, all we know is its surface. Without rapid intervention on a global scale, the situation will only get worse.