Coffee and tea growers in Kenya are severely affected by climate change

Coffee and tea growers in Kenya now have to face the problems of global warming, and economists say the outlook for cash crops is grim.

According to Kenya's Business Daily on the 17th, scientists have warned that climate change will be permanent, so growers may be forced to completely change their farming methods, including changes in the types of crops they grow. Experts predict that some tea and coffee growing areas will not be able to cultivate by 2050.

Experts say the dry climate will make it harder to grow coffee in central Kenya, while the western region will become more suitable for growing coffee because of increased rainfall. However, the forced relocation has led to a disease management crisis for coffee growers. Coffee leaf rust, which used to be a low-altitude disease, has now moved to middle elevations, while coffee berry disease is moving to lower elevations.

At the same time, tea cultivation has been forced to move to higher elevations, but most of those areas are forest reserves, which means tea production will slowly be forced to stop.

Farmers have begun to feel the adverse effects of climate change on them. Among them, frost is one of the climate disasters experienced by farmers, which is caused by the high temperature during the day to the sharp drop in temperature at night. Farmers say frost and dry weather have reduced tea production by 20%.

Climate change is expected to lead to new pests and crop disasters, according to the Tea Merchants Ethics Alliance (ETP). ETP is working with the Tea Research Foundation to develop drought-tolerant and pest-resistant tea clones.

(responsible Editor: Leo)