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...

A crippling drought in Tanzania

A crippling drought since the start of 2011 has decimated the crops planted by the small scale coffee growers attached to Karagwe District Cooperative Union (KDCU) in the Kagera region in the northwest corner of Tanzania. As a result, a large amount of coffee did not flower properly. Consequently, many of the primary societies are reporting that small farmers are going hungry and cannot afford to send their children...

Protecting the wetlands in Uganda

Climate change has ambushed the coffee plantations of Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union (ACPCU)  in south west Uganda. Effects of climate change Drought is a big problem – if the coffee tree does not get sufficient moisture the young beans fall off at an early stage of their development. Lack of rain has also destroyed wetlands across western Uganda, which is vitally important to the region’s ecosystem...

Dying coffee trees in North Malawi

Climate change has wiped out nearly half of the 10 million coffee trees the members of the Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union in the north of Malawi have planted since 2003. Despite its members undertaking to plant one million coffee trees each year for the past eight years, they currently only have 5.6 million bushes available to harvest. Input costs are gradually increasing while output costs are dwindling...