Growing coffee in the shade

In only six years Agroindustrial Sonomoro Coffee Cooperative, a farmer cooperative in the central highlands of Peru, has experienced expansive and quick growth. Because despite the good yields, the families of Sonomoro have a common fear of what the future beholds, having noticed the change of weather patterns and how this has been impacting their crop yields. ‘We have recently experienced a period of drought...

Coffee bushes flower less in Central America

Small-scale farmers and workers who are members of Fairtrade’s Producer Network in Central and Latin America (CLAC) have also been ambushed by climate change. In all Central American countries weather patterns have changes, negatively impacting the yields of the small-scale coffee farmers. Increasingly, they have been experiencing abnormal intense rains and rising temperatures, while heat waves and prolonged...

Floods in South Africa

In 2010, Verste Stuiwer, a vineyard near South African’s border with Namibia, was subjected to a number of floods that destroyed a section of their land. The floods occurred because authorities overseeing the use of dams upstream from their location were forced to open their floodgates to relieve building pressure from seasonal rains that were heavier than usual. The floods put 15 rows of grapes underwater....

A designated wildlife corridor in Malawi

Traditionally, the area to the west of Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre receives a steady rainfall for at least nine months of the year, but this has started to change over the past two decades. Effects of climate change In the past, the farmers of the Satemwa Tea Estate in Malawi could rely upon rain to arrive in November, but now this weather pattern is changing. The rains do not arrive when they expect them...

Mud slides in Malawi

At Sukambizi Association Trust in Malawi tea plants are not producing as much leaf as they should. On average crop yield is down by about 15 percent. Effects of climate change Drought conditions are responsible for an increase in diseases uncommon in the area in the past. A pest called Helopeltis, which looks like a mosquito, has now become a big problem. The adult lays its eggs on the tea plant and when they hatch...